Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3194

3194 Test of the heart necessary to recognize the gifts.... free will....

July 20, 1944: Book 42

Every spiritual gift triggers happiness as soon as it is recognized as such. And this judgement must be made by the heart, in association with the intellect, but not by the intellect alone. Consequently, the will to reject must not resist the heart and grant the intellect alone the right to judge. Then the effect of strength will never be felt, for it does not tolerate resistance, i.e. the strength becomes ineffective where it is opposed. God's love does not compel, and compulsion would be any proof. But it would be proof if the divine gift would always and in all cases trigger a feeling of happiness, even if the human being is not willing to acknowledge it. This feeling would then force him to accept the gifts from above, and thus no human being would then stand outside of their working, which would mean that a change in people's thinking would result in their higher development in a short time, yet always compulsorily, thus without their own will. Such higher development would not correspond to God's wisdom, and therefore the human being will not feel any effect in himself who only lets his intellect become active where his heart should carry out an examination. But he will lose a great grace, a grace which could promote him very quickly if he let it take effect in himself. Therefore it is very difficult to persuade people to accept the divine word as long as they do not have the will to believe that God is the giver of it, thus as long as they doubt such activity on God's part. The mere assumption that God could express Himself in an extraordinary way would weaken the will to reject, and he would examine it impartially and thus let his heart speak, which truly advises him correctly. For the strength from God would touch the heart so beneficently that it would recognize the divine origin by it and accept it unconditionally. The human being is completely free to decide how he will respond to the gift offered to him from the spiritual kingdom. All compulsion of will is eliminated, and therefore the gift of eloquence will also be reduced to an unwilling person so that the human being will not be influenced against his will, for God in His love certainly offers Himself but does not impose Himself. The conveyance of His word to earth is in any case an act of grace which humanity does not deserve, since only rarely does a person have the will to establish such an intimate connection with God that the strength from God can flow over to him and that.... the word of God.... can only be offered where it is desired. Yet God is satisfied with the will of one person who desires the truth in order to pass it on to those who are in need of it. And thus humanity is given a delicious gift and does not recognize it.... It does not make use of a gift which comes to it undeservedly, it does not take hold of the father's hand Who seeks to snatch it from darkness.... it hesitates where it should accept immediately in order to make use of every day, in order to mature in realization, in order to make the word of God its guiding principle for its earthly life. The gifts of grace will increase in the last days but the human being's freedom of will will always be respected, thus no gift will ever appear such that the human being will be determined to acknowledge it as divine. Anyone who opens himself to the gift of grace, who in profound faith in God does not deny its significance for spiritual development, will feel profound happiness, yet anyone who does not believe such an effect of God's love to be possible because he is unbelieving or only calls a dead faith his own will remain empty and unimpressed. And therefore only individuals will feel the effect of the gift of grace and mature in their soul because they are of good will....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers