Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/1903

1903 Overcoming matter.... higher development of the soul....

May 1, 1941: Book 28

The soul should develop upwards and must be able to detach itself from the world and its joys and sorrows at any time. Only then will it have overcome matter. For only then is the will to ascend stronger than the world, only then can it mature and receive spiritual wealth when it no longer desires earthly things. The more difficult it is for it to soar into the spiritual realm, the greater is its merit when it nevertheless manages to fly upwards. For by overcoming the resistance it gains strength, provided it implores divine assistance. The will of the person who decides to ascend will truly be rewarded. And what the soul gives up, it receives back a thousandfold; what it gives is earthly-transient, but what it receives is spiritual good, which has eternal value. And therefore the human being should desire this spiritual good from the bottom of his heart, only then can it be offered to him....

The meaning and purpose of life on earth is the higher development of the soul, and this will always have to mean a struggle for the soul, because without struggle there is no progress. Something always has to be overcome in order to achieve success. Whose life now passes without a struggle, his spiritual maturity is questioned, thus his life would have been lived uselessly. This is why man will never be granted a completely carefree life on earth, for this would be a lack of divine love for him. But God has only one goal, to educate spiritually mature beings, and therefore has to put them into a constant state of struggle so that they have the opportunity to mature. Yet people do not recognize this as a proof of God's love but mostly accept the fate imposed on them unwillingly. Yet struggling and suffering in submission only earns them the reward of higher development.... Accepting everything as God's mission and seeking to overcome it with the help of divine strength brings the soul to that state of maturity which is the goal of life on earth. For only then does he bow to God's will, only then does he submit himself and his will to his creator, and only then does he recognize earthly pleasures as a danger that he had to overcome in order to come closer to God. For the demand for strength brings him the radiance of divine love and unites him more intimately with God. Man can therefore only find union with God if he surrenders to Him without resistance, by giving up everything for the sake of one goal.... to reach God.... The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, and as long as the soul considers the body and thus turns its will towards it, the spirit is gagged, which wants to ascend.... Thus the soul must fight against the flesh, it must not respect its desires, but give freedom to the spirit. The soul must willingly separate itself from the body in order to unite with the spirit, even if it costs a struggle and seems unattractive. And that is the meaning and purpose of life, that man daily resists the desires of the body, so that he becomes its conqueror and gives the spirit in him the freedom to soar up into the spiritual regions, to receive spiritual goods there, and thus to gather imperishable wealth for eternity....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers