Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/8523

8523 The condition to attain perfection on earth....

June 9, 1963: Book 90

Consider, you humans, that you are weak as long as your soul still lives on earth in the flesh, and that you therefore always have to request strength from Me if your want to reach your goal.... your perfection.... while you are still on earth. For only the strength from Me will strengthen your will, which is weak as long as the adversary can still influence a person because he is not perfect yet. Your determination especially will always be undermined by him, and I died on the cross for the sake of reinforcing your will, hence you must avail yourselves of the graces acquired on your behalf: strength and reinforcement of your will. And your weakness will always manifest itself such that you are not yet able to completely detach yourselves from the world.... Admittedly, you still live in the midst of the world and therefore have to do justice to all demands.... But there is a difference whether you just fulfil your duties or still want to enjoy earthly pleasures yourselves, whether your heart has already freed itself from worldly wishes or still has earthly longings.... For then your will to achieve spiritual perfection is still weak, its aim for Me and desire to unite with Me is not undivided.... You still make concessions and thus have to 'apply force'.... you must seriously try to accomplish detaching yourselves from the world and this requires strength which you have to request time and again, and which you will also always receive....

Hence it is crucial as to which direction your sincere will turns to.... towards Me and My kingdom or towards My adversary.... And again it is your degree of love which determines the choice of your will's direction, for a heart full of love will always find Me and My kingdom more desirable than the earthly world.... Therefore you should first examine yourselves as to how far you have overcome selfish love.... to what extent you are filled by selfless neighbourly love, for this is the same as love for Me, and only this love establishes union with Me.... not the mere longing for Me, which can be selfish love as well in order to gain the highest delights of blissful unison with Me.... However, the right love for Me is only demonstrated by unselfish neighbourly love. And only this raises the degree of love. As long as you still desire small pleasures for yourselves you should also try to give a little pleasure to your neighbour, yet without calculating earthly or spiritual advantages, but urged from within by the desire to give happiness and joy. Such selfless demonstrations of love will refine your nature, you will find your own happiness in giving pleasure because your love will grow increasingly stronger and at the same rate diminish your love for the world. And this is why you should seriously call yourselves to account as to whether you love your neighbour as yourselves....

Your perfection depends entirely on the degree of love you attain on earth, and you can only be called 'children of God' if you acknowledge that your fellow human beings likewise originated from the Father and you therefore also love them like one brother loves another and do everything for him that you would like to have done to yourselves. Always subject your neighbourly love to serious criticism and work at improving yourselves.... request the strength from Me and you will reach your goal, yet you won't be able to achieve anything by your own efforts.... But I want you to perfect yourselves on earth, consequently I will also help you in every way as long as you seriously want it.... Yet you will always have to apply force as long as this world still keeps you captivated.... If, however, you can detach yourselves from the world then the attainment of the goal will also become steadily easier, and then you can rightly say 'My yoke is easy, and My burden is light....' Then you will no longer need to use force, then you will be full of strength, and then you will only strive towards Me.... for the love in you is the strength which indeed achieves anything. And you can also understand that a loving human being is full of humility.... which expresses itself in his conduct towards his neighbour to whom he gives his love.... Never forget that neighbourly love is the indicator.... and that you will have to prove your love for Me through selfless neighbourly love....'for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?' And thus your will can indeed be inclined towards Me and this also guarantees that I will take hold of you and not let you fall again....Yet the degree of your perfection is determined by yourselves and only ever by the degree of love for your fellow human being.... But you can attain it if you sincerely subordinate your will to Mine, and then you will always think, act and want like I do Myself, and you will surely reach your goal on earth.... to unite with Me in order to be eternally happy....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna