Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3510

3510 Spiritual food.... "Seek ye first the kingdom...."

August 10, 1945: Book 45

God feeds the hungry and He waters the thirsty.... He gives the soul and the body what they need for their earthly progress, for His love does not leave His creatures in need. He gives the soul the bread of heaven, and if it accepts it and gratefully feasts on it, He also takes care of the body, offering it in its time what it needs for earthly life. He feeds the hungry.... who carry a desire for nourishment of the soul.... This is a prerequisite, for the food He gives to people from heaven is precious and will not be wasted on people who do not pay attention to it, who are full of worldly pleasures and have no desire for nourishment of the soul. But God does not take care of their earthly needs either, instead He leaves the care for them to himself. They, too, will be able to cover the body's needs, for they will be helped by the opposing power to tie them all the more to the world and thus to themselves. But it will always require the strength of the human being himself, his vitality, to procure for himself what he needs. But God supplies His own with what they need, provided they first desire the nourishment of the soul.... His word, which makes the will of the father in heaven known to them, which preaches His love, wisdom and omnipotence to them, which instructs them, gives comfort and strength and is true refreshment for the soul of the person who receives it with a hungry heart. He will confidently be able to leave the care of the body to God, Who truly knows what he needs and in fatherly love takes care that His children do not suffer lack. He lovingly offers His word, the nourishment of the soul, to people so that they can fulfil their earthly task and successfully complete their earthly life.... He wants to make it possible for them to reach the aim, to become free from every external form and to enter eternity as beings of light. That is why He gave man life.... thus He will also preserve it until the human being has reached his aim if he seriously strives for it. And thus He will also provide the body with what it needs to sustain itself, He will take good care of it so that it can fulfil its earthly task. He feeds and waters people spiritually and earthly.... But He demands hunger and thirst of the souls.... This is a condition which the human being has to fulfil in order not to lose the father's care, he has to desire spiritual nourishment because this is at the same time a desire for God Himself. To be fed by God Himself is a gift of grace of immeasurable value.... But God never hands out His gift to unworthy people who do not respect the giver and also spurn His gift if it were offered to them. Spiritual nourishment is incomparably more valuable and the life of the soul more important than the preservation of the body, the earthly body, which is transient. But God does not let the mortal shell of a human being go hungry and starve, if his soul strives to gain eternal life.... if his soul hungers for the bread of heaven, for the nourishment which fatherly love offers it as the word of God, which gives strength for upward development.... He gives the body what it needs, as well as the human being puts the nourishment of the soul before all other needs, and He will guide the human being through every adversity of the time according to wise discretion, always taking the human being's spiritual life into account, He will consider him as it is good for his soul, for His promise is: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all else shall be added unto you...."

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers