Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/7294

7294 Fighting selfish love....

February 27, 1959: Book 77

You only should possess a small amount of selfish love and you will find it easy to fulfil My commandments of love for God and your neighbour. Selfish love cannot be small enough, for this alone prevents the human being from performing selfless neighbourly love which is, after all, the most important thing in earthly life if the soul is to reach perfection. But selfish love clings to every person as a legacy of the one who is devoid of all love, who loves himself above all else or he would not have become My enemy and adversary, who lays claim to everything himself and wants to take all authority away from Me. He alone wants to possess, and every kind of selfish love is a demand for possession, hence an acceptance of his plans and a distancing from Me, Who is love Itself. As long as selfish love still prevails within the human being he will not care about his neighbour nor change his nature into love, which first of all requires curbing his selfish love. And so you humans can only ever be informed of the fact that you are still subject to My adversary's influence as long as your selfish love is still predominant, and that should motivate you to fight against yourselves.... Your should always oppose you own wishes with your fellow human being's hardship and try to consider your fellow human being consistently more and do without for his sake. Then your soul will progress greatly, in fact, only the degree of your selfish love enables you to assess the state of your soul, and you should never believe that your work of improving your soul is right as long as you haven't overcome your selfish love, which is the best indicator for your soul's maturity. But you can rest assured that I will help you overcome yourselves if only you have the sincere will to achieve this degree of maturity where your neighbour's fate is closer to your heart than your own. Then you will also receive strength, because I bless every sincere will and help you not to weaken in your determination to become perfect. However, without this fight against your selfish love it is not possible, without this fight you will never selflessly take care of your neighbour, you will never experience the feeling of love which wants to please as long as you are still imbued by desiring love, which is My adversary's share. And he will keep you enchained until you have freed yourselves by being victorious over your selfish love, which is a major advantage for your soul and which can only mature if the human being eagerly improves himself, if he constantly tries to fulfil My will which is always merely expressed in My commandments "Love God above all else and your neighbour as yourself...."

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers