Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/7291

7291 Food for the soul must be desired to be effective....

February 23, 1959: Book 77

According to desire you will receive.... For even if spiritual nourishment is supplied to you without desire it will not serve you as nourishment as long as you don't feel hunger and thirst for it. You must therefore 'desire' to be fed and watered yourselves, then you will also receive the right nourishment and your soul will be strengthened and progress in its development. Now the body makes its need known, it announces itself when it needs nourishment for its maintenance. The soul, however, often cannot assert itself because it only expresses itself quietly and its voice is then not respected. It is still pushed back by the body, which first claims for itself what the soul, however, also needs. But the soul cannot be satisfied with purely earthly food and earthly drink.... It needs other nourishment, and this has to be provided by the human being's will by leading the soul to the lord's table where it can receive unlimited nourishment. The human being's will is always ready to provide for the body, but it is far more necessary to provide for the soul, for it will outlive the body when its hour has come. Then neither food nor drink, nor all medicine.... will help the body. The soul, however, remains and is now in a state corresponding to its care during its existence on earth. You humans should always bear this in mind and, out of this consideration, spur on your will to meet the soul's needs, to provide it with food and drink and the right medicine for its state, and the soul's fate in eternity will thereby be assured, it will not need to live in want in the kingdom of the beyond but will have its full life. Thus the human being must consciously provide the soul with food and drink, he must impart the word of God to it which is the soul's proper nourishment and ensures its eternal life. The human being himself must want to receive the word of God so that the soul will be satiated and strengthened on its pilgrimage across earth. Then the soul will also draw strength from the nourishment offered to it, which it cannot receive in any other way than through God's word. And as soon as only the human being himself desires to hear God's voice, his desire will also be fulfilled.... God Himself speaks to the human being in many ways.... He intervenes in the human being's thoughts, He comes to him in the form of a book, He speaks through the mouth of a servant, or He Himself speaks to His child when it goes directly to the father and wants to hear His voice.... The soul's desire is always granted, no soul remains without invigoration which seeks to satisfy its hunger and comes to the lord's table.... which, however, always has to be prompted by the human being's will, which therefore has to happen consciously, otherwise even the most delicious food, the direct word from above.... offered by God Himself.... would have no effect on the soul. For what is not desired would be a gift of grace without desire but which does not exert any compulsion and therefore remains ineffective. This is why people can often receive this gift of grace without recognizing it as such. Then the words, which God's love guides to earth, remain entirely without impression, which will touch and delight a desiring soul in the deepest way. But if the effect of the divine word on all people were the same.... irrespective of their desire or indifference.... then it would have a compelling effect on the soul, and every soul would have to ascend but the will would have become unfree, whereas the soul nevertheless has to decide in freedom of will to accept or reject.... The soul needs strong nourishment if it wants to mature and progress, and it is also offered to it at all times, but only the inner desire is decisive as to what strength the soul draws from the nourishment.... which is why the human being must also know about his soul's needs and about the responsibility if he denies it the nourishment it requires, if he does not pay attention to its needs and the soul is weak and wretched when death approaches the human being and it has to leave his body. The soul itself has been indifferent in its desire, otherwise it could have pushed the human being from within; and the soul itself must now also bear the consequences of its indifference, for it remains.... It is the actual I of the human being, which cannot pass away. This is why the human being is instructed again and again but not forced either, for the soul must freely decide in earthly life, and it must now also bear the consequences of a wrong decision in the kingdom of the beyond....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers