Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/7439

7439 Man shall become the overcomer of the world....

October 28, 1959: Book 78

The world will always emerge with its demands, it will constantly imprison the human being, for as long as he is still placed in the midst of this world, he must also come to terms with it, i.e. bow to the demands it makes on being human. But nevertheless it makes a difference whether the human being allows himself to be completely captured or separates himself inwardly from it.... whether the human being succeeds in becoming master of everything worldly that still seeks to bind him. Insofar as the body is to come into its own, the world will never become a danger, and this is always under the control of the human being himself. He must never let bodily desires have the upper hand, he must himself limit and delimit where the body pushes itself too far, because then the soul is always in danger of being neglected. And the soul and its needs are the most important thing in earthly life, the human being should not forget that, but then the world cannot become a danger to him either. But since the world is the realm of God's adversary and his endeavour is and will always remain to keep the human being from working on his soul, he will always make use of worldly means in order to achieve this.... He will push worldly desire forward, and if the human being pays too much attention to it he will forget the soul and it will have to live in want while the body can indulge itself. Therefore you humans must be very careful not to get entangled in worldly desires, you must avoid every worldly stimulation and withdraw from it, you must try all the more eagerly to procure spiritual pleasures for yourselves, and the body's desire will be quieted because the soul is often also able to make the body inclined towards its desire, because the body often also feels good when the soul is granted proper strengthening and satiation through spiritual nourishment. If the soul also succeeds in making the body inclined then the danger of the world will be overcome, then the body will also only demand from the world what it needs for its preservation, but it will no longer stifle the soul's desire through its craving, it will then have overcome such, and the world will then only exist as a necessity for earthly life, yet no longer as fulfilment of secret desires and cravings. But it demands constant attention, constant good will and constant work on oneself.... For the battle waged by God's adversary for the souls will continue as long as the human being stays on earth, and again and again he will try to gain influence over the body through the world, which then can very easily drag the soul down with it to the level it had already overcome. Yet the human being's good will, the will to reach God and to fulfil His will, will also constantly be of help to him, and one day he will reach the aim.... He will have to fight or else serve in love.... Then all worldly hunger will fall away, then the soul will already have become so strong in overcoming that it will have the body completely under its control.... Then the body, too, will willingly separate itself from everything that belongs to the world, and it, too, will only find happiness and bliss in what the soul and its spirit now offer it and what can also spiritualize earthly substances as long as the human being dwells on earth....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers