Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3279

3279 Work of redemption.... suffering.... free will....

October 5, 1944: Book 43

The graces of the act of salvation are far too little utilized and therefore humanity has to suffer excessively as a result of the sins it now has to bear itself. Jesus Christ took humanity's guilt of sin upon Himself and thus also the consequences of sin.... the suffering with which people must atone and by which they shall be purified. If he now avails himself of the graces of the act of salvation, then he thus accepts the help which Jesus Christ assured him of, which He acquired for people through His death on the cross and which can be availed of by anyone who acknowledges Him and His act of salvation. This is a special grace, because according to divine justice every human being has to atone for his wrongdoing himself, but God was satisfied with the overwhelming love of a human being Who wanted to atone for people's sins with His death and accepted this sacrifice. People are now relieved of this atonement, sin is taken from them and also guilt.... thus also the consequence of sin.... suffering. But understandably only those people who, by acknowledging Christ and His work of redemption, place themselves in the circle of those for whom Jesus Christ died. He died for all, but he who does not acknowledge Him excludes himself; he rejects the grace.... the help.... He now also has to bear the guilt of sin alone, and thus he also has to accept suffering as a result of sin in order to atone for the first time and to change his mind through suffering, so that he will still turn to the divine redeemer, because without Him he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And thus only those people are redeemed who believe in Jesus Christ, for their sins are also forgiven. But people can never count on forgiveness of sins if they do not make use of the grace acquired through Christ's death because they do not acknowledge the divine redeemer, because they reject His act of salvation or are completely negative towards Him. For if the human being's free will were not decisive, i.e., if the act of salvation were effective on all people without distinction, so that the grace of it, the obvious help, would be granted to every human being, then all suffering would be unnecessary, then the world would already be redeemed from the hour Jesus Christ died on the cross, then all guilt of sin would be redeemed and this would mean spiritual ascent for the whole of humanity without exception. For sin would be eliminated from the world because Christ redeemed all people.... Free will, however, would have been overridden and thus becoming perfect would also have been made impossible.... But humanity is free to avail itself of the graces of the work of redemption through conscious acknowledgement and deepest faith in Jesus Christ, the divine redeemer. Through this acknowledgement the human being places himself under Christ's cross, he belongs to those for whom He died and whom He released from their weakness of will through His death on the cross and who can now strive upwards and are constantly supported with strength and grace which is available to them without measure. For Jesus Christ redeemed the human being from the powerless, completely weakened state which was the result of sin, He delivered him from the power of His adversary as soon as he avails himself of the grace of the act of salvation, as soon as he believes in Him and recommends himself to Him and His grace....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers