Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3163

3163 Afflictions and trials are means to attain perfection....

June 20, 1944: Book 41

The trials and affliction imposed on a human being are rarely recognised as a means to attain highest perfection. God knows every individual person's degree of maturity, He knows their hearts, and He truly does not miss the slightest movement which speaks for or against Him. And therefore He also knows which degree of development each human can still reach, and accordingly He will bestow suffering or strokes of fate upon the person if the possibility still exists to thereby raise the soul's maturity. Before its embodiment as a human being the soul knew full well what would happen to it during its life on earth, it entered its final embodiment in full agreement by hoping it would emerge from it victoriously. It beheld its pleasures as well as its sufferings on its path of life and yet did not let them frighten it from going, since, on the other hand, it also knew of God's help and His grace and foresaw the possibility to completely outgrow matter and dispose of its shell for good. For this reason so many a soul accepts a particularly difficult earthly fate, because it also foresaw the consequences of a correctly lived earthly life and knows the final goal and deems it reachable. Yet in earthly life it loses its past awareness, and therefore it fails to make use of the opportunities and is in danger of not reaching its goal. And therefore God provides it with help by creating opportunities on earth which enable the soul to mature fully. And then the human being will have to surmount greater opposition, as suffering and sadness are given to him on earth for which he has to appeal to God for strength in order to overcome them. A life without battle would always keep him at the same stage of development and he would have lived his life in vain. It is not that he has to atone for his sins on earth, like it is wrongly taught, but it only matters that he moves from the abyss, in which he still finds himself, to higher spheres, that he transforms himself into a being of light, that he works at improving himself by discarding everything which still prevents him from receiving an undreamt of abundance of light.

He must effectively purify a still opaque shell through suffering and misery, he must remove every impurity from it so that the light will then be able shine through it, for this purification has to take place of a person's own will, it cannot be implemented by God without the human being's will. Suffering and love are the only means to be cleansed from all impurities, and a great extent of suffering is the expression of great divine love at the same time, which wants to help the person to become such that God can make him infinitely happy in eternity. Sorely afflicted people on earth are therefore especially seized by His love, even though it seems incomprehensible to them. Life on earth is short compared to eternity, and one day the soul will look back with gratitude and praise on its short time on earth in which the suffering resulted in its higher maturity which it would never have attained without suffering. A person on earth has immeasurable blessings at his disposal so that he can endure even the worst suffering if, in heartfelt prayer, He draws strength from God, for He has assured him of this. He will let no-one leave Him without having strengthened him who confides his adversity to Him in firm faith so that He can and will help him. For the suffering is never greater than the One Who imposes it, Who has truly enough power to help people in every need. Therefore, always keep His love, wisdom and omnipotence in mind if you are burdened by severe suffering and you will feel comforted and patiently wait for His help....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna