Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/5513

5513 Wrestling in the spiritual world.... intercession and recitation of the gospel....

October 22, 1952: Book 61

It is an incomparable struggle in the spiritual world, for the number of lower spirits increases immeasurably and they constantly multiply because the people departing from earth are completely under the spell of the one who rules the kingdom of darkness. It is a seemingly overwhelming task to redeem the souls from this kingdom; it is a struggle on the part of the world of light which is only ever conducted with love and requires excessive patience and perseverance, for again and again the dark beings are active to hold back a soul wanting to escape from them, which is why the struggle takes place, as it were, between the beings of light and the forces of darkness for the souls of people who are not yet completely hopelessly enslaved by God's adversary. But the will of the souls has to be stimulated so that it demands upwards, because then the beings of light can intervene with their power, whereas before they were not allowed to use any power at all. And this effort to direct the will of the souls is incomparably difficult and often also without success. Whatever the souls are reproached with, they are unbelieving and accept nothing. And yet they must not be abandoned by the beings of light because only perseverance leads to the aim. Nor can they face the souls of darkness in all their fullness of light so as not to force the will to listen to them. They must appear in the same envelope and illuminate their hardship as if from within themselves in order to induce them to change their situation. Their love touches them charitably, but the spiritual hardship of the souls is often so great that they are dulled and no longer accessible to any instruction. They can only be won over by repeated attempts, because their hardship also becomes more unbearable the longer they resist. If the beings of light are supported by people on earth through intercession or mental attention to the gospel, the souls will be more willing to listen to them because they receive strength which weakens their will to refuse, and then the light beings' efforts will also be successful. People's thoughts on earth can work true miracles in the spiritual kingdom.... As a result the souls are moved into a certain urge to be active, they feel a strength which they now want to use, and they suddenly have the desire to improve their wretched state, they look around, as it were, for an opportunity to escape their present situation, and they will also always find helpful beings.... beings of light which, however, are not recognizable to them as such, which now assist them in word and deed. The beings of light will not tire of guiding those entrusted to them to ascent, only the first beginning is often incredibly difficult before the soul's will is willing to listen to them. For then the opposing forces ceaselessly endeavour to influence them adversarially and reject all who want to help them. A person's prayer on earth can then have an unspeakably beneficial effect, for the strength thereby imparted to the soul is always used in a positive sense. It is as if the soul then recognizes the hostility of the lower forces and the light beings' will to help, and it already turns willingly towards the latter and away from the lower forces. Help must be brought to the souls from one side if they themselves have not yet recognized what is at stake. And therefore loving intercession is the surest supply of strength because it is also perceptible to the being which is still turned away from God as a benefit and it then uses the strength, i.e. changes its will.... thus, through the influx of strength it gives up its resistance and is now easier to guide and influence by the beings which want to help it to ascend.... The struggle for these souls is unspeakably difficult but yet not hopeless, and therefore the beings of light do not tire and do not let up until they have drawn the souls out of darkness into eternal light....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers