Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/5329

5329 Serious reminder to remember death....

March 4, 1952: Book 59

None of you humans knows how long you will live on earth, none of you knows when the hour of your recall will come, and none of you knows whether you still have the time to prepare for your end. And you humans should always remember that you could already stand before your judge tomorrow, that He will demand an account from you for your earthly way of life, for the use of your will, for your actions and omissions.... And you should also imagine the consequences of your conduct on earth and therefore seriously endeavour to live in such a way that you need not fear the hour of your recall, your last day. The fact that you are allowed to live on earth is a grace which you should make use of or you will bitterly regret it, for you can gain an infinite amount on earth but also lose an infinite amount. You have the strength to work for a blissful life in eternity, but if you use this strength wrongly, so that you only want to make your earthly life beautiful, then your recall from earth will be a misfortune for you, because you will lose everything you own and will not be able to display any of the possessions which are of value in the world of the beyond. Then you will never be able to return to make up for what you have missed, you will have to create a bearable fate for yourselves with great difficulty because you lack the strength which was abundantly at your disposal on earth. You are still alive and indifferently ignore indications of your end, admonitions and warnings, the life of your body makes you secure but you don't think about the life after death.... Seriously consider the hour of your departure from this earth and ask yourselves what you may take with you, ask yourselves what spiritual possessions you have acquired. Will you have much to show for it? Will the thought of death frighten you? Will you be able to stand before your judge without fear because you have lived according to His will? Seriously consider your situation and change it if it does not seem satisfactory to you, for there is not much time left and no one knows when he will be called away.... None of you can prolong his life by just one hour when his time is up, but each of you can achieve it that there is no hour of death for him but only an entrance into eternal life.... Everyone can gather riches on earth which he takes with him, which are imperishable and guarantee him a life in the kingdom of the beyond.... and what is therefore possible for you, that you should try to achieve, for on the other side it will be unspeakably difficult for you to make up for the shortfall you have through your own fault if you don't recognize your purpose of earthly life, if you only work for the life of the body but not for the life of the soul on earth.... Use every day that is still given to you, for all too soon the hour of death will come for you when you stand before your judge....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers