Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/2478

2478 Diminished work of the spirit....

September 19, 1942: Book 33

The power of the spirit is constantly at work as long as the human being feels drawn to the eternal deity, i.e. as long as he has the desire to intimately connect with God and receive His grace. However, the power of the spirit is not always equally effective because the desire in the human being is also expressed to varying degrees. The strong desire to love God leaves no room for any other thought in the heart, and therefore the spirit from God can also fill the heart because it is granted unhindered access to it. However, as soon as the desire is weakened, i.e. the person also has worldly thoughts in their heart in addition to the desire for God, the work of the spirit is restricted.... it cannot work unhindered and is therefore not felt to be exceptionally effective. But its work remains until man pays more attention to the world than to God.... But once the spirit from God is effective, worldly desires will never prevail, for the human being no longer wants to miss the divine gift and repeatedly struggles to devote himself to God without restraint. spiritual food satisfies man far more than fulfilment through the world, and therefore anyone who has once received spiritual food will hunger for it, even if the world with its temptations repeatedly pushes its way forward and wants to make man weak. Contact with the spiritual world, which is established through heartfelt desire for God, is the source of deepest wisdom for man, and once he has drawn from it, nothing else will satisfy him completely, and therefore he will thirst for this water again and again, and as soon as he thirsts, he will also be fed from the fountain of eternal life.... God does not leave people in spiritual adversity who long for Him, yet at times He allows them to feel the adversity in order to increase their desire for Him so that the spirit can express itself more strongly again, for God knows the state of every individual person's soul and thus He also recognizes the soul's weakness and the decrease in spiritual hunger, and thus He allows the human being to go hungry at times in order to make him aware of his adversity if he disregards the heavenly father's grace. And in such adversity the child flees to the father again and establishes an even closer bond with Him. And God's strength and grace will flow to him again and there are no limits to the working of the spirit....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers