Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/6565

6565 "He who believes in Me.... " Love works....

June 7, 1956: Book 70

You can always abide by My word.... And My word will always teach you the same, that love comes first, that the commandment of love is the greatest and most noble commandment, because the fulfilment of this commandment cannot be avoided if you want to enter eternal beatitude. And love will always express itself in some way, because love is strength which is active.... which therefore means that it expresses itself through works, or also that an activity of love will always be recognisable where the human being's love has been kindled, where My divine commandments are fulfilled.... It does not matter in which way this activity expresses itself, for it need not always be visible works, care of a different kind, whether spiritual or earthly, can also be regarded as a work of love.... always provided that true unselfish love underlies this activity. For equally good works can also be carried out which are certainly also beneficial for the fellow human being but which lack the motive of love.... These works are dead and will not be able to give life to the soul one day, just as, conversely, love does not necessarily need to be apparent and yet can determine a person's thoughts and actions.... Love, then, is of first priority.... and only this love makes faith come alive.... Thus no one will be able to say that he has a firm faith if he does not live in love. Without love no-one will recognise Me Myself in Jesus Christ either, even if he does not object to these teachings and thus wants to outwardly profess his faith in them.... He cannot possess this faith without love. Therefore no-one will be able to refer to his faith in order to be saved who has refrained from working in love, because he is incapable of living faith, because he only intellectually professes a faith in order to partake of the blessings of faith known to him.... because My words read: "He who 'believes' in Me shall have eternal life...." Without love faith is dead; a person may perhaps be intellectually convinced of the way of life of the man Jesus on earth, of His death on the cross and His act of Salvation.... But he lacks inner conviction and will never be able to recognise Me Myself in the man Jesus and thus convincingly acknowledge Jesus Christ as the One with Whom I became one through love. Because he lacks love himself he lacks all realisation, My spirit cannot enlighten him and his thinking.... And what he says is only the result of intellect, a dead knowledge without life.... a faith without love is not the faith I have spoken of that will bring you eternal life.... but all of you can kindle love within yourselves because I have placed the spark of love within you.... and that is grace.... You therefore are saved "through My grace".... because without this special gift of grace you would be completely powerless and could not attain life for ever.... That you are allowed to embody yourselves as a human being on this earth is likewise a grace, a gift from Me, which is not your merit, for your will was and still is directed against Me when you begin earthly life.... But all of you have the same right to attain life, all of you only need to use the gift of grace in the right way, all of you only need to give your will, which is completely free, the right direction.... Thus you will never be determined or chosen by Me to be saved, instead, you alone choose the fate of salvation or damnation.... and only ever by how you make use of My gift of grace, how you behave towards the spark of love within you.... For you must kindle this spark within yourselves in order to be able to enter everlasting life after the death of your body. Everything emanates from love: brightest realisation and thus a living faith, which inevitably also results in redemption and intimate union with Me.... Love, however, never remains inactive, it will always express itself in works, be it of a spiritual or earthly nature, for it is a power which constantly remains active....

Amen

Translated by Christian Taffertshofer