Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/5442

5442 Spiritual decline.... Urgency of helping co-operation....

July 19, 1952: Book 60

A spiritual mission must be undertaken and carried out completely voluntarily, for all compulsion prevents its effect. But the free will to do so arises from love, from love for Me and for one's neighbour, otherwise a person would never offer himself to such a mission, which only has purely spiritual causes and pursues a purely spiritual purpose. If love for Me and for his neighbour impels a person to lead him to Me because he knows that the distance from Me has a disastrous effect on his fellow human being's soul and because he knows that I take pleasure in every soul which returns to Me again, only then will he be successful in his mission, because love is the strength which brings about success.... I can only make people realise their spiritual adversity, the will to remedy it now has to awaken in the human being's heart and impel him into further action. Although I Myself Am always the driving force, it is My love which I bestow upon you, who want to serve Me, which constantly keeps the desire alive in you to help those who are in need.... And My love can affect you in this way because you are of good will.... The danger of spiritual decline is immense amongst people, nothing leaves a deeper impression anymore, no matter what they encounter.... everything is viewed purely earthly but no spiritual meaning or explanation is ever recognised. Mankind can no longer be influenced in any way, even the greatest disasters only affect them insofar as their own possessions are lost as a result, but those who are not affected themselves only take note of it, yet the event does not leave a deeper impression. Scorn and derision only affect those who believe to recognise a spiritual connection; people are very superficial and it is unspeakably difficult to touch their hearts so that they open themselves to the spiritual influence and come to recognition. It is also unspeakably difficult for you, who have taken on this mission, to be heard by the people of the world.... And yet you are still best able to make them think because you live amongst them and yet walk a path which is unknown to them. They have no desire to follow you on this path and yet they wonder where your path might lead.... The very fact that you walk among them and think and act differently from them can make them think, and that is what is necessary in order to be able to continue to influence them. But I know about every soul, about its degree of maturity, I also know that only a few can still be won and I will not leave them to their fate but send you on their way. I Myself can only influence them through you, and that is your mission, that you create the connection between them and Me, that you give Me the opportunity to speak to people without forcing their will.... They will not recognise Me but listen to the words as emanating from you, and yet they will remember some of these words because My power is at work where they only listen to Me.... No encounter you will have is arbitrary, just as no event around you is pointless and purposeless, yet the human being's will itself decides the effect on himself, on his soul. I rejoice in your co-operation, yet you also have to carry out this work entirely of your own free will, which is why I cannot prove the importance of your work to you through unusual signs but only require your faith that I need you during the last days before the end because immense spiritual hardship prevails on earth as well as in the spiritual kingdom, and that I bless you for your will to help and your loving cooperation....

Amen

Translated by Sven Immecke