Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/7819

7819 Worldly pleasures?....

February 7, 1961: Book 82

You have been granted a small measure of self-love by Me, and therefore you may also enjoy the pleasures of life as long as they do not affect your soul's salvation. And to recognize this only requires a will turned towards Me, it only requires the firm resolution to live according to My will and to reach your spiritual aim which has been set for you for your earthly life. If this will controls you, that you want to return to Me again, that you don't want to go against My will, then you are also on the path of return to Me, then you have already passed your test of will to a certain extent, you have inwardly professed Me, and then you will also reach your aim because I will support you in every way. And then even the small pleasures you occasionally prepare for yourselves earthly will not harm you. For then you will know exactly how to measure yourselves because you will obey the voice of conscience which warns you against every exaggeration. You can confidently be happy with the happy, you can enjoy your existence if only you always remember your neighbour so that he is not sad while you are happy, for then he is in need and then you should help him.... Therefore I have given you the commandment to love your neighbour as yourselves. And if you observe this commandment then you also have the right to prepare little pleasures for yourselves. And everyone will also know which pleasures are permissible if he is already on the path of spiritual striving, if he does not exclude Me from his thoughts, if he puts salvation before everything else for his soul, for then he can only enjoy things which are no danger for his soul. Then he will have a fine sense if and when he violates My will because he does not want to sin, just as, on the other hand, he will have an aversion of his own accord to worldly pleasures which harm his soul. Love your neighbour as yourself.... This commandment therefore also contains a certain entitlement to a measure of self-love, and you should only ever make sure that you don't exceed this measure. For it also obliges you towards your neighbour, to whom you should then bestow the same measure of love. Therefore, if you no longer had the slightest self-love, then the obligation towards your neighbour would also only be slight. But blessed is he who reduces self-love in favour of his neighbour.... For he truly fulfils My commandment for My joy.... But the small pleasures which you sometimes give yourselves must never be a diminution of your love for your neighbour, and you must also be willing to give them away at any time if you can help your neighbour by doing so. And you will also always recognize what is right and what is wrong as long as you want to maintain the bond with Me with a pure heart.... you will not act against My will, and you will also be protected against temptations of all kinds as long as you seek to fulfil My will alone.... For then you will inwardly resist all such temptations and also receive the strength to resist from Me. For I act like a true father towards you who want to be and remain My children, and a father protects his child from every danger...._>Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers