Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/2480

2480 Worldly attitude.... only love redeems....

September 21, 1942: Book 33

The worldly attitude harbours the greatest danger for the soul, for it is held back from spiritual striving, it is demanded to take the body into consideration.... thus the will, the thinking and feeling of man is only directed towards creating all comforts for the body. And consequently the soul is prevented from willing the spirit within it, the spiritual is therefore disregarded and the soul either stops in its higher development or it regresses if the physical desire predominates and the human being turns more and more towards the world. For the spiritual realm will never be compatible with the earthly realm.... Worldly fulfilment will never bring salvation to the soul, man can never walk above and below at the same time, he will always have to do one at the expense of the other. And people do not consider this.... All their endeavours are directed towards the comfort of the body, and the soul must live in want as soon as the body's desire is fulfilled. But in what error do people walk when they believe that they fulfil their duties to God by following external ceremonies.... What God demands of people is a living faith in Himself and His word, which must also result in acting in accordance with the word of God. This word teaches the transience of everything earthly, and it gives knowledge of the meaning and purpose of life on earth and of the state of the soul after bodily death.... According to the word of God, life on earth must now be lived in order to shape the state of the soul after death into one full of light. And therefore everything that is earthly, i.e. transient, must be disregarded and only the imperishable soul must be considered as long as the human being remains on earth. However, the soul cannot develop progressively as long as it is prevented by physical desire from uniting with the spirit within itself. And the latter can only happen through working in love.... The neighbour must be considered more than one's own body, the human being must put aside his own "I" and be absorbed in loving his fellow human beings.... However, he who thinks only of himself is still so earthbound that it is difficult for him to detach himself from the earth.... Selfish love is the greatest obstacle to ascent, for selfish love is the opposite of neighbourly love, and only neighbourly love is truly redeeming, only neighbourly love signifies spiritual progress for the soul, and only neighbourly love shapes the human being in accordance with God's will. But every action that lacks neighbourly love is a purely formal act, something external that has no inner value and does not contribute in the slightest to the soul's transformation. Only love redeems, and if a person does not practice love, his soul will be lost for eternity....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers