Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/6980

6980 The right prayer....

November 30, 1957: Book 74

A right prayer in spirit and in truth will always reach My ear. And you pray correctly when you speak to Me like a child speaks to its father.... when you entrust all your needs to Me or even just send a single call to Me in your adversity.... when you hold intimate dialogue with Me, i.e. believing that I hear you and also expect My answer, that you imagine what your father would answer you.... For as soon as you pray correctly you will also think correctly, always in devotion to Me and My will. But no prayers are of use to you which you have learned, which you can also say without thoughts which can very often only be a form because they are not felt by the heart. And therefore a true prayer can only be said in silence, where all external impressions fall away, where you devote yourselves to Me and speak to Me undisturbed as your heart tells you.... This is why I have told you: "Withdraw into your closet...." I only want to hear the voice of a child, and I will always open My ear to it and also be exceedingly pleased to hear the requests which the child now expresses. Anyone who is able to pray correctly has thus also established a child's relationship with the father, which is a prerequisite for reaching the aim on earth: the union with Me, which is the purpose and aim of earthly life. But anyone who only sees God and creator in Me will not be able to speak to Me confidentially either, there will always be a gulf between him and Me which I would like to see bridged and which is why I often let the human being get into such distress that he calls to the father in his distress. Admittedly, the right relationship between child and father also presupposes a living faith, and thus, again, only a loving person will pray correctly because he recognizes Me as his father to Whom he takes refuge in his distress. But you humans don't know how graciously you are considered by the fact that you may come to Me without hesitation when you are depressed or in dire need. You don't know how gladly I lean down to you when I hear sounds of love, when you turn to Me and desire help from Me. For you once severed your bond with Me yourselves, but I want it to be restored, which you prove to Me through a right prayer. Anyone who sincerely prays to Me is no longer separated from Me, he acknowledges Me as his God and creator, and he also wants to be like a child to the father, thus he wants to enter into His original relationship. Therefore, a right prayer is already a passed decision of will, and a person who has now established the child's relationship with the father will also constantly receive the strength from Me to become as he was in the beginning. He will be able to reshape his nature, for every intimate contact with Me, every prayer in spirit and in truth makes it possible for My flow of strength to overflow into him. Thus he will always receive spiritually, even if an earthly request remains unfulfilled for him, because I recognize this as beneficial for his soul. But what he receives spiritually compensates him a thousand fold for what I have to deny him for the sake of his soul.... And thus every prayer is far more about the contact between the human being and Me, for this can only be established by the human being himself, although My love is always willing to approach the human being. And therefore only the prayer sent up in spirit and in truth can be valued or receive blessings, because such alone also guarantees the intimate bond which, however, will be very questionable with formal prayers of any kind.... For then the human being does not use prescribed words but speaks to Me in a most childlike, trusting way. And I gladly listen to him because it makes Me happy to hear the voice of a child which gives itself to Me in love. And a loving child will not only ask Me for earthly things, it will also request spiritual goods because it wants to reach Me and longs for unification with Me in its deepest heart. And its gain will truly be great, for it will be abundantly provided for by My love....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers