Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/6997

6997 Love of God must be demonstrated through love of neighbour....

December 19, 1957: Book 74

You can only ever prove your love for Me through unselfish works of love for your neighbour.... And I require this evidence from you, for you cannot love the father Whom you do not see if you deny your love to the brothers you see. You all came forth from Me, My love created you and you were also love in your original substance. The fact that your love now changed was an act of turning away from Me, and this act also repeated itself towards your fallen brothers, for you were no longer capable of love. The return to Me can only take place in love, thus you must feel love within yourselves and then you can also unite with Me again. But then the feeling of love is not limited.... the love in you grasps all beingness, and in all naturalness it also turns towards your fellow human beings, your neighbour, and it will also express itself towards the neighbour. And only then will you provide the evidence that love is in you, that you also love Me and that the return to Me is now also assured. But if you believe that only emotional feelings are to be understood as 'love for Me', then your love has not yet been kindled, because this inevitably also includes your neighbour, because true love is My inheritance and also does not exclude any of My creatures. For I cannot be satisfied with emotional impulses which easily rise in many people and just as easily fade away again when other impressions move the human heart. But anyone who performs works of love for his neighbour with unselfishness has experienced a change in his nature, the person places self-love behind selfless love for his fellow human being, and this person also gives Me proof that he loves Me.... For I Myself can now work in him and impel him to increase his love, because it is also applied in the right sense. However, practicing neighbourly love is often the cliff for people where they fail. Many people pretend to love God, but words alone are of no use. And the deed must be done to the fellow human being, only then can one speak of 'love for Me'. And as long as people's main thoughts are the improvement of their own well-being, they will only lie to themselves if they pretend to love Me.... But the bond with Me will be completely different for the person who observes the commandment of neighbourly love, who does not need this commandment either and yet is absorbed in caring for his fellow human beings. He will communicate with Me in all informality, he will always feel Me close to him, for he allows My presence within himself precisely through his love for his neighbour. He will also by no means need to do without My care of love, for as he distributes himself he will receive, and his love for his neighbour will again and again prompt him to give, be it earthly or spiritual goods.... and again and again he will therefore also be allowed to receive earthly and spiritual gifts and be blissfully happy in My love, because he knows where the gifts come from, because he knows that he has a faithful father in Me Who holds his life and his destiny in His hand. He knows that he is safe but this firm confidence is only given to him by the love which embraces all his fellow human beings and which only ever impels him to help earthly and spiritually. And I demand this love from you humans, the love for your sisters and brothers whom you know to be in need. Only then will you prove your change of nature, only then will you be on the safe path to Me, which you can only reach through love....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers