Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/8601

8601 Only servant love leads to perfection....

August 30, 1963: Book 90

In every phase of your ascent development you had to serve, because every work of creation had its purpose and its destiny; nothing has been created senselessly by the creative power, which wanted to lead the once fallen beingness up again. As man you certainly cannot everywhere recognize a serving purpose, but the creator Himself let Himself be determined by His wisdom and love to assign a task to all His creations, through the fulfilment of which always only the purpose was reached that the spiritual bound in it reached up step by step. Therefore the beingness in the mandatory state covers an endless long way of development, as this has already been announced to you men many times. But only that can be decisive for the last perfection, what is accomplished by the being in free will; only the serving as man is decisive of the once fallen being in the stage of free will. Man must serve in love, then he becomes active in free will according to the will of God and comes to perfection still on earth. Love will always express itself in serving.... because love always makes an effort to make the object of love happy, to help it. And serving love is a pure divine love; it is not directed wrongly as once that it only satisfied itself, but it always only has the well-being of the neighbour as its aim and therefore always expresses itself in serving.... What now man undertakes in serving love will always be blessed and always lead to the last perfection. But if he neglects works of serving neighbourly love, then he irrevocably remains on the same level of his development, and there is also the danger that his self-love increases and he sinks back, that his earth life is an idle run, because he is no longer forced as man.... Anyone who serves in selfless love also fulfils divine will, and he approaches his God and creator again, because serving love is also evidence of humility, because the human being now no longer exalts himself, which once caused his fall.... The whole of creation serves, albeit in a state of compulsion, and the once fallen spiritual now covers the path to God in this state of compulsion, but in this state it cannot reach the final aim, which has free will as its prerequisite, otherwise the being would eternally remain a judged being and would no longer correspond to the original state, where it was freely exposed and could freely create and have an effect.... It must absolutely receive this freedom again and now exactly again move in divine will, although it can also use its will wrongly. And man has to make this decision during his earth life to become again what he was in the beginning. Therefore he is to serve.... And that requires a putting back of self-love, a forming of oneself to unselfish, divine love, which always only wants to make happy.... what is not easy for man at first, but can be achieved during earth life, because all aids are offered to him that his self-love changes and man only still thinks of his neighbour and through this also proves love towards God and therefore approaches Him again, as he once moved away from Him in free will. And whether you men also believe to perfect yourselves by performing acts and customs.... as long as these do not consist of works of serving neighbourly love, they are worthless before God and do not contribute to your upward development. You can only perfect yourselves through serving love, because this alone testifies to your free will to return to God. And He will also again and again create opportunities for you where you are prompted to serving love, where you can stand by the neighbour in spiritual and in earthly trouble, where you can help, comfort and protect all who get into trouble and cannot free themselves from it. The earthly progress before through all creations was certainly difficult and sorrowful, but you certainly reached ascent through it, because you were prompted by natural law to be of service.... But in the stage as man it is far more difficult for you, because you must overcome yourselves, your free will must become active to do what you were forced to do before through natural law.... You must serve.... but are no longer forced to do so, but your will alone decides.... And therefore you also bear a great responsibility for your earthly life as a human being.... you can sink back again but also reach the highest height.... you can unite with the eternal love Itself through serving love, and then your aim will have been reached on earth, you will have found union with your God and creator, you will return as children to the father from Whom you once originated as creatures...._>Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers