Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/6372

6372 Effect of distress on faith....

October 6, 1955: Book 68

In times of great earthly adversity some people find their way back to their God and creator as soon as all earthly hope in them is destroyed and they no longer see any other way out than to call upon God for help. They have not yet completely lost their faith in God, only it has been suppressed by the world, by the influences of their fellow human beings and their own indifference.... This is why the thoughts always resurface when a person is in earthly adversity.... Faith can now become great strength through the often miraculous help through which God now expresses Himself.... And then the earthly adversity will not have been pointless, it will have helped the human being to progress spiritually, and his path can now lead ever further.... he will no longer lose faith, and the soul is saved for eternity.... But how many people sink back into their worldly life and also immediately give up faith when they see themselves in carefree living conditions again, when the earthly adversity is over.... Even if they have obviously experienced divine help they are more inclined to regard such as a coincidence, and they turn away from God again to now sink deeper than ever into their faithlessness.... to serve the world more than ever and thus the one who is lord of the earthly world.... Trying to win these people back through renewed adversity is mostly hopeless, for now they are increasingly helped by God's adversary, because they themselves have devoted themselves to him through their obvious rejection of God.... And they will always become more addicted to the world because they will always be considered more worldly by it. These people will certainly be approached by God in many ways, thus they would be able to find their way back to Him if they seriously took themselves to court.... Yet it becomes increasingly more difficult for these people because their desire for matter becomes ever more intense and the great earthly hardship before remains a spectre for them which they believe they can escape through increased earthly striving.... And they do not consider that everything is transient, that everything can be taken away from them at any time if it is in the will of the one Who created everything.... Their faith in this God and creator has probably been lost, yet deep in their hearts there is always the inexplicable fear of renewed strokes of fate.... So man also knows that there is a power that is stronger than he is and that he is at the mercy of this power.... He can believe in it, but he does not want to burden himself with this belief and therefore intellectually rejects something which his innermost feelings must accept.... He does not want to believe and is therefore far more responsible for his actions.... And God's adversary uses this very unwillingness and rewards him with earthly goods.... But every person can find his way back to God at any time.... He will be helped in every way, but it is always up to him how he decides....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers