Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/2421

2421 True community of souls from an inner drive....

July 27, 1942: Book 33

A heartfelt community of souls should unite people with each other so that they will strive upwards together and spur each other on to live a life of love and profound faith. True community is conducive to the maturing of souls, yet people must strive for it of their own accord, they must feel urged in their hearts to give their love to their fellow human being and thus seek each other out in order to cultivate a spiritual exchange of ideas, in order to give and receive what they possess or desire in terms of spiritual possessions. As soon as coercion is exercised, i.e. a community is formed according to plan which people are supposed to join, its value is diminished, for it then lacks the intimacy which constitutes the value of a community in the first place. And this is why such endeavours will rarely be of benefit to the soul which are supposed to be works of love but which, at best, are merely prescribed actions which are supposed to testify to a sense of community.... which are supposed to be works of neighbourly love but which are carried out without an urge of the heart.... which are only done in order to feign outwardly a community which, however, lacks the inner spirit of love. Rather, this is a mechanical performance of certain duties that have nothing in common with active neighbourly love, because it is not the deed itself that determines the value of an action, but the degree of love in the heart of the person who performs it. However, a person is in danger of ceasing to act in love if he is systematically encouraged to do so in a community. An intimate community of souls, on the other hand, promotes loving activity of its own accord and people feel urged to do good deeds because they are not demanded of them but are carried out entirely of their own free will and therefore only have real value before God....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers