Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/2551

2551 Detachment from earthly goods.... deprivations....

November 15, 1942: Book 33

Free yourselves from the bonds of the world and you will achieve the greatest success, for what the world offers you only lasts for a short time, but then you will recognize your shortcomings, for you have only lived for the world and have no other success to report than to have stood in worldly honour. A life on earth in limited circumstances, a life of simplicity and unpretentiousness, on the other hand, can bring you spiritual goods of incalculable value. You always have to remind yourselves that earth is only a short time of preparation for the actual life in eternity, you have to consider that you cannot take any of the earthly goods with you, that reputation and fame are invalid in view of death, that earthly knowledge is worthless in eternity. You must also consider that the body passes away and with it the comforts it desired.... Only the soul remains, whose state corresponds to the pursuit of spiritual possessions on earth.... And if you go along on earth in utmost unpretentiousness and think of your soul at the same time, then you are to be called abundant when you enter the beyond, for only now does life on earth have an effect. And this state is of eternal duration as soon as it is a state of light, but it means endless agonies for the soul which refrained from spiritual endeavour on earth and only strived for earthly success, earthly well-being and earthly wealth. As soon as the world still entices you, as soon as you expect success from it, this will always happen at the expense of the soul, for where the soul earnestly strives and struggles for perfection, there the desire for the world dies.... Where the soul seeks God and wants to live to please Him, the pleasures of the world are ignored. This is the right life on earth, although man should fulfil his duty, i.e. use his vitality for the benefit of his fellow human beings, as it is the divine will. For God has given every human being his task for earthly life, the fulfilment of which contributes to the attainment of maturity of soul, so that love for one's neighbour is the driving force and the human being is willing to place himself and his strength at the service of his neighbour. Increased enjoyment of life, however, reduces the soul's success, for spiritual striving ignores the world, but worldly pleasures make spiritual striving impossible. And therefore choose and decide what you deem more precious, earthly possessions, wealth and reputation and an eternal life in darkness or an unnoticed earthly life in simplicity, which you use to shape your soul in order to then be able to enter a light-filled beyond, which will richly compensate you for all privations.... People only think about the present, and they try to gain everything from the present, and yet life on earth passes by quickly and they are faced with eternity, which they could shape into a marvellous one for themselves if they did not value the present, the time on earth, so highly. Therefore, try to free yourselves from what the world offers you.... For it is vain dazzle, it is poison for your soul and a constant obstacle to your soul's work. Seek God alone in this world so that you will have found Him when you enter that world which is the real life for the soul. For God is your bliss, and His love seizes you who, for His sake, disregard the earth's goods....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers