Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/2371

2371 power and will on earth.... and in the hereafter....

June 17, 1942: Book 32

What a privilege the state of free will is for the being, it only realizes after the death of its body, when its bodily shell has been taken from it. Then it is either in a state without light and strength and cannot change anything itself.... then it thinks back full of remorse and longing to the state on earth in which it did not make proper use of the freedom of will.... or it is in a state of light itself and gratefully remembers that God left it the freedom of will and that this gave it the state of light. Recognizing the unused time on earth will be very bitter for the being in the beyond, for it means, as it were, a step backwards for the soul to no longer possess something which was free to it in earthly life. And it cannot re-acquire free will at will, instead, in the beyond it first has to do what the willpower gives it.... it must want to use its soul for the benefit of other helpless souls, only then will the being regain the state of being able to use its will. But often an inconceivably long time passes, whereas in earthly life high spiritual successes can be achieved in a short time if the will is used correctly.... In the beyond the soul realizes that both were at its disposal on earth, freedom of will and strength to carry out the will, whereas now it has to struggle for strength and the supply of it is again dependent on its will, i.e., that the desire for strength does not supply it with such, but that the will to use this strength correctly must first be there before it can flow to it. And this will must comply with the commandment of love, only then will the strength be available to it to work in the beyond. There is no restriction of strength for earthly life if the will desires to use it, yet the human being only rarely utilizes this grace he is entitled to.... He accepts the life force, but is content with little where there is much at his disposal. The realization of this triggers an agonizing state of remorse, which torments the being until it can now constantly receive strength through the will to use the strength conveyed to it by beings of light for the souls suffering with it in order to help them. Now an activity of love sets in and thus the ascent upwards. It tries to make up for the deficiency which its earthly life has earned it, and it lets its will become active and now fulfils the task which the human being should already fulfil on earth.... to be active out of free will in love.... For only activity in love makes the being completely free. Every bound state is a torment, whereas freedom means bliss. In earthly life the state of constraint is already loosened insofar as the being has free will and can shape its spiritual state in the beyond according to this will and therefore final freedom or renewed constraint is the soul's fate after bodily death....

amen

Translated by Doris Boekers