Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/2750

2750 Means of grace love and prayer....

May 23, 1943: Book 34/35/36

This is the most effective means of grace, that the human being practices love, for an activity of love provides him with immeasurable strength, and the strength from God is a grace which inevitably leads towards perfection. If the human being practices love he also strives for union with God, Who is love in Himself, and everything that calls for God will be seized by Him and given His grace. Man must give something if he wants to receive.... he must give love if he wants to receive love from God again. And God's grace is proof of His love, which is available to all people if only they want to receive. And they manifest their will through works of love, which then also secures them an abundance of grace. Another means of grace is prayer, which in turn expresses the will towards God.... which testifies to his helplessness, his weakness, in which the human being turns to God for His support, for strength or grace.... Whoever sincerely calls upon God for His help for his earthly way of life, whoever entrusts himself to Him in all his weakness, the father in heaven mercifully and full of love draws him to His heart, He provides for him, He supplies him with strength so that he can fulfil God's will, He constantly remains with him with His grace, and thus his life will also be a labour of love, because the strength from God stimulates love, because the strength from God is His emanation of love, which again impels to love. Love and prayer are the most effective means of grace which make a person's earthly path of life easier and ensure complete success for his soul. For God Himself is with those who live in love and take refuge in prayer, who are therefore in closest contact with Him and whom He will therefore never leave without help because they belong to Him, because they long for Him and have therefore found their way back to Him from Whom they originated. However, God also considers those people with His grace who are still distant from Him by constantly leading them to opportunities where they can acquire grace by constantly giving them the opportunity to take refuge in Him or to work in love.... However, He does not force people to do so, but leaves it up to them whether or not they should make use of the grace that flows to them. God's love and grace wants to encompass all people, yet the human will has to declare itself willing to utilize it, otherwise God's grace cannot flow to it, even though it is available to it unmeasured. People who have no connection with God through loving activity or conscious prayer do not feel God's grace so noticeably either, for what comes from God can only be felt in the heart; the strength from God only ever impels the heart to become lovingly active, only then does the life force come into action so that the human being carries out what his heart impels him to do. And thus all grace is the means to inner spiritual perfection.... Grace is an aid for the ascent of souls and is therefore only felt by those who desire to ascend.... The others, however, do not pay attention to it, they ignore it when the voice of the heart speaks to them and would like to impel them to work with love.... therefore, when God's grace wants to flow towards them, they close themselves off to it and do not utilize it, consequently it cannot become effective in them. But a person cannot reach spiritual perfection without God's grace, and therefore his spiritual degree of maturity remains low as long as he does not make use of God's grace.... as long as he does not ask for God's favour and acquire God's grace through eager loving activity. For these are the most effective means of grace, which inevitably lead man to the heights, which guarantee his perfection....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers