Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/6113

6113 Self-criticism: thoughts.... love....

November 19, 1954: Book 66

Where your love is, there will always be your thoughts. And if you now want to practice serious self-criticism, just pay attention to what you mainly think about.... For your thoughts are free and you don't need to hide them from your fellow human beings, thus your thoughts will always reveal your innermost desire or what moves your heart the most. And now examine whether they are earthly or spiritually directed.... and make an effort to turn them away from the earthly and towards the spiritual as far as possible.... Make every effort to make God and His kingdom the aim of your desire and to detach yourselves from everything that belongs to the world.... So let not the world be your love, but God.... For God will truly reward your love better than the world. God will show you love again, and to possess His love means to gain life and beatitude, to receive light and strength and one day to enter eternal life when earthly life is over.... But anyone who loves the world more can only receive worldly goods which are transient.... which certainly embellish his earthly life but envelop his soul in darkness. And at the end of his life the human being will not be able to take any of it over into eternity.... You can easily test yourselves if you pay attention to your thoughts, and therefore you will be warned and constantly admonished to let your thoughts wander upwards.... For even if the gain is not immediately obvious to you.... it will be immeasurable when you pass over into the spiritual kingdom.... And even on earth you can already receive abundantly, for every spiritual thought will be taken up by the inhabitants of the spiritual kingdom and blessed for you.... You establish contact with them, and since their aim is always God, they will also direct your thoughts towards God and impart a spiritual treasure to you which will always correspond to your desire.... Do not let the world dominate your thoughts.... displace it and occupy your thoughts more with the kingdom you will one day enter.... And the more you succeed in detaching yourselves from the world, the more the aim of your thoughts will be God.... Your love will always be more directed towards Him, and the return of His love will mean unimagined bliss for you. You will live, for you will receive light and strength from Him and can now be blissfully happy in the spiritual kingdom in uninterrupted activity according to God's will....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers