2916 Fulfilling the divine commandments.... temptations of the world....

October 9, 1943: Book 37

It is much easier to submit to the desires of the world than to fulfill the divine commandments, because what the world demands of people is also the desire of man himself, i.e. it appeals to the body of man and is now also sought by him. The divine commandments, however, demand renunciation of what the body desires in favor of the neighbor who is now in need. Thus the body's desire has to be put aside, it has to renounce for the sake of the soul, then the human being lives his life on earth in accordance with divine will, which brings him spiritual success. The fulfillment of the divine commandments is therefore an overcoming of oneself, an overcoming of all bodily desires and a constant sacrifice of what is dear and valuable to oneself.... It is not easy, i.e., it requires a constant supply of strength, because man must resist temptations in order to test his free will, because the body's desires threaten to make him fickle again and again and he constantly needs strength to resist them. But without inner struggle no spiritual progress can be achieved, and without temptation there is no merit in remaining steadfast. And so the world will always want to push itself forward, the divine commandments will always demand a willingness to sacrifice, while the world tries to make the enjoyment of earthly pleasures the human being's purpose in life, and it takes a strong will, a deep faith and a conscious striving towards God to surrender the world and to find complete satisfaction in the fulfillment of the divine commandments. The strength from God must enable the human being to do the latter, it must permeate him and make him feel God's love, then his activity of love will also increase, it will make the human being himself happy, he will no longer feel it as a sacrifice but unselfish neighbourly love will make him happy, and he will no longer miss the world but willingly give it up for what he exchanges for it.... for the love of God, which now flows to him in the form of strength and which surpasses all earthly pleasures many times over in value. Then the body will no longer desire the world either, but it will participate in the soul's work and find satisfaction in it, for a loving soul has conquered its body, it is dominated by the spirit within itself, and the body also submits to its desire, it spiritualizes itself like the soul, as soon as God's love can become effective in it through unselfish neighbourly love....

amen

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