Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3454

3454 Intercession for the poor souls....

March 2, 1945: Book 45

The night of death surrounds all souls who, at their departure from earth, are far from God through an unloving way of life, through their affiliation with God's adversary and are therefore of completely wrong will. These lose their vitality with bodily death and are now completely powerless and lightless at the mercy of the powers of darkness, which try to pull them ever deeper down in the spiritual kingdom, i.e., their will becomes ever more and more serviceable to evil, and it can also unfold power downwards because this comes to it from below. But in order to let the will become active in the right direction they lack strength. And thus these souls would be irredeemably lost if loving beings did not take pity on them.... people on earth who remember them in silent intercession and convey strength to them through a prayer of love which directs their will towards good, or also beings of light which again and again come close to these powerless souls and try to persuade them to change their will. But strength can only be given to them by these beings of light when they themselves are willing to use this strength to work in love. Thus the will of these souls has to change first, and the intercession of people on earth helps to achieve this. For the soul is powerless and unable to change its will by itself. If strength is not imparted to it through intercession then it is at the mercy of the forces of darkness, and the ascent upwards, the release from the dark power, is unspeakably difficult and requires a long time. For the soul is in profound ignorance, and therefore it is also completely unwilling to change its situation in the beyond. Prayer for the erring souls in the beyond is so extremely necessary if these souls are to be helped, and people should use every opportunity for these poor souls, because people still have strength at their disposal which the suffering souls in the spiritual kingdom lack. It is an act of neighbourly love which cannot be valued highly enough when people help the souls in their greatest need, in their helplessness, because they are at the mercy of evil forces without strength and without light. Every prayer for them wrests them from those powers, and as soon as the soul has felt the benefit of a prayer given to it in love it is grateful for every help, and it also uses the power of prayer in the right way.... It turns its will away from evil, it has sensitivity for the suffering of other souls, and it begins to feel love itself the more love is given to it through people's prayer.... For loving prayer melts the hardest cover, and therefore not enough love can be given to the souls which have departed from earthly life in dark spiritual night and remain in complete powerlessness in the beyond until their fate is eased through intercession. Then the light beings' efforts to impart strength to them will also be successful as soon as the soul is willing to use this strength to work with love. For then its will is in the right direction, it strives upwards, and this will is now also taken into account. Yet people's intercession on earth is necessary for the time being so that the completely broken will will rise up and not become active in the wrong direction.... But the strength of love brings about a change of will. And then the soul will be saved, for it will begin its slow ascent, it will have escaped the powers of darkness because love is stronger and a loving prayer can snatch the soul from darkness....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers