Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/7563

7563 Neighbourly love....

March 31, 1960: Book 80

You will always benefit when you look after a neighbour in need.... because you will always be fulfilling My will which is expressed in My commandments of love for God and your neighbour. But you should practise love for your neighbour of your own free will, you should feel prompted from within, only then will you kindle the spark of love in you, and only then will your soul mature. Your every thought, word and action has to be based on love if it is to have a spiritual effect, or you will only ever accomplish earthly duties without the slightest gain for your soul....

It is always just a matter of love.... of the inner urge to do good, to help where it is needed, to please and bring joy to where the opportunity presents itself.... it is a matter of the person's inner nature which should become completely absorbed in its love for Me and the next person, which overcomes all selfish love and is completely imbued by love, so that I Myself can be present in him and thus work in him through My spirit. Then the human being cannot be anything but good and will always live in unity with Me, then the earthly world can no longer tempt him but in thought he will always be in the spiritual world since the spirit in him determines his every thought and intention.

But as long as a person's thoughts are held captive by the world it will not be possible for him to develop love in himself, for then the world will still appeal to his selfish love and this will be satisfied first, which will always be at the expense of the next person. In that case he has to be noticeably confronted by his fellow human being's suffering; he has to see a lot of misery in order to motivate himself to help and to enable the spark of love within him to ignite so that he feels the benefit of a good deed. Hence much tribulation has yet to be experienced on earth, because love has grown cold amongst people, because My messengers of love are hardly ever appreciated and thus the spiritual hardship, which can only be remedied by love, is also extensive.

People's lack of love is spiritual hardship which always entails earthly hardship too, therefore the latter will continue to increase in the last days in order to still touch human hearts and awaken in them merciful neighbourly love. However, only a few people will escape this spiritual adversity, for selfishness is gaining the upper hand and that also means that worldly love will become ever more widespread, that people will become enslaved by matter and in their pursuit of it also prepare their later fate, that they will again become matter which they had already surmounted in the past.

And there is only one way out from this banishment, and this way out is and remains love.... Not even My love can release you from the commandment to practise love, for love is the first law, and without love no one can become blessed....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna