Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/6127

6127 Fighting against oneself, desires and overcoming them....

December 6, 1954: Book 66

Kill your body if you want to give life to your soul.... This is not to be understood that you should ill-treat your body, that you mortify yourselves or disfigure yourselves, for such only testifies to a defective intellect, an aberration of human thinking and a disregard of what I as creator have given you, it signifies a disregard of the work towards its creator.... What I ask of you is that you kill the desires of the body, that you overcome yourselves, that you don't fulfil the desires of the body, which only apply to its well-being, and thereby cause your soul excessive damage. This fight against bodily desires is truly difficult, it demands your entire will to renounce, it demands a voluntary renunciation, a denial of that which seems appealing to you. It is truly a struggle for which you need strength, yet this strength will come to you if only you are serious about your perfection.... if you truly intend to reach the aim on earth, to become perfect. For your perfection depends on the state of your soul but not on the state of your body. And the body and its passions were given to you for the testing of your will.... For the time on earth the body therefore comes to the fore, it wants to assert itself in its demands, and all its desires and cravings are suitable to displace the soul's desire, for again and againit comes forward and seeks to determine the human being's will, to grant it fulfilment. The soul, however, cannot express itself obviously, and if it makes itself known in the form of thoughts these thoughts are quickly suppressed again, and it requires great strength of will to listen to it and to neglect the body for its sake.... This requires strength of will, thus the human being must fight against the desires of the flesh, against everything that is beneficial to the body but detrimental to the soul. I call you to this fight against yourselves, against your desires.... I call upon you, for it is only the struggle of the soul against the body.... But the soul is imperishable, and one day it will have to accept its fate according to its state of maturity, which, however, is a very low one if the human being considers the body first and lets the soul starve.... Fight the battle against your desires, kill your body, only give it what it needs to sustain its life.... but turn everything else to your soul, which can only mature if it is thought of more in earthly life than the body.... I will bless such a battle, and it will certainly require all your willpower in the beginning but it will also always become easier the more you overcome yourselves, for I constantly provide you with the strength to overcome if only you seriously want to do so yourselves.... and then you will surely reach your aim....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers