Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/5578b

5578b Free will.... (after talking about "fasting and praying"....)

January 16, 1953: Book 61

A community can lead to great blessings but it can also easily fall flat, the will of the individual is always decisive as to whether spiritual success is achieved. Anyone who voluntarily tries to shape himself in such a way that I Myself can take abode in him, I will also always reveal Myself to him for the blessing of those around him who have the same will to make contact with Me again. Each person is solely responsible for himself, for his soul, and therefore no person can be spared the work on his soul, and this work consists of discarding faults and weaknesses and acquiring the virtues which stamp him into a divine being. This work of the soul cannot be done mechanically through the performance of formal actions which, for example, lack love.... On the other hand, success can be increased if the human being carries out planned self-education, if he consciously fights against all kinds of cravings and vices, if he renounces everything that is a danger to him and does that which brings him closer to Me, if he is celibate and avoids that which, as part of My adversary, can also hand him over to the adversary. Anyone who has much cause to sin should avoid these occasions; anyone who fears danger should avoid it if he feels too weak to be able to offer resistance.... But anyone who only practices love again and again will become strong in spirit and also be able to cope with every temptation. For love cannot be replaced, no matter how much a person mortifies himself.... Love is the solvent of the spirit and its strength, and where love is present every desire is also displaced, the 'ego' recedes and the fellow human being comes to the fore, and the strength of love works miracles which now understandably also have the strength of faith as their reason, which can be so great in people of open will that My spirit is prompted to express strength in excess. Everything is good that leads to self-shaping towards love.... The person who can renounce himself fights his self-love and transforms it into love for his fellow human being, to whom he would like to supply that which he renounces himself in order to help him.... Then love underlies self-emptying, and then it is beneficial for the individual's spiritual development, then the human being lives in love, then he voluntarily renounces that which is still indispensable to the other. And I bless him for it.... but I also bless every spiritual striving, every proof of will to live to please Me. For anyone who strives towards Me will also irrevocably reach Me, no matter which path he takes. The will towards Me is the guarantee that he will reach Me. Therefore it is up to every person in which way he fulfils My commandments of love for Me and his neighbour if only his firm will is to fulfil them and he therefore unites with Me in prayer.... Then I will always meet the supplicant, then My spirit will be active in him and his activity will always be recognizable according to the degree of love, according to the strength of love which fills the person who wants to work for Me and for My kingdom....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers