Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/8466

8466 What is prayer in spirit and in truth?....

April 13, 1963: Book 89

This is your actual task, that you enlighten those who are mistaken, that you give truthful answers to those who ask questions and that you thus bring light into the darkness.... For humanity walks along in darkness, their thinking is misguided and therefore they do not recognize the right path which leads to Me.... to the final perfection. Truth alone can bring about this perfection, but never error or lies.... And if you, who want to serve Me, want to give clarification you must first receive it from Me yourselves, because only I can convey truthful knowledge to you.... And therefore you should come to Me with all questions which move you, so that I will answer you and thus train you to become teachers who will now work beneficially amongst their fellow human beings.... When you pray to Me it is only important that you intimately unite with Me, that you don't call upon a distant God like a being Who is inaccessible to you, Who certainly has great power and therefore you hope for help from Him.... from Whom, however, you consider yourselves far away but would like to make use of His power because you are in need.... Such a call gives Me no pleasure.... But if you see your Father in Me, Who lovingly cares for all His children.... if you now converse with your Father in all humility, if you trustingly present your adversity to Me and thus have entered into an intimate bond with Me through your trust, then this is a prayer which I hear because it is a living call from the child to the Father.... Such a prayer has nothing veiled, nothing secret, it is also nothing formal, but something deeply felt in the heart.... Hence it is a true prayer where the child's heart exposes everything before the Father, where it spreads itself out before Him and confesses its weakness and helplessness and is therefore also valued by Me as such, for it demonstrates profound humility and love for Me and I can now pour out the cornucopia of My grace in abundance. Then you will pray in spirit and in truth, and then you can also safely hope for fulfilment, for as soon as you are devoted to Me with love you will only address such requests to Me whose fulfilment will not harm your soul, because your love for Me enlightens your spirit and your thoughts are already far more turned towards the spiritual kingdom than towards the world and its illusory goods.... But now consider the nature of the prayers which are mostly uttered by people. Consider that a true prayer in spirit and in truth requires a 'withdrawal into the quiet chamber', by which I only want to be understood that at the moment of prayer the human being must mentally withdraw into the chamber of his heart. And no matter how short the prayer is, if it is only a call to Me in adversity.... But this call has to come from the heart, and then a prayer truly needs no learned words or a certain form.... for I understand the babbling of a child and don't want to hear any high-sounding words which have already been born again by the intellect or which are taken over by other people.... This is why a mass prayer can only have a beneficial effect if everyone prays silently in his heart, even if everyone has the same request, for as soon as masses say the same prayer aloud they have to use a specific form, and then it will not be possible to have a confidential dialogue with Me which alone guarantees the fulfilment of the request. You humans can achieve a lot through right prayer but for the most part you don't pray right.... As soon as you believe in a God your heart shall impel you to unite with this God in thought, and then you will speak to Him like a child speaks to its father, and then you will pray correctly, you will pray in spirit and in truth, whereas formal and general prayers usually lack the intimate, confidential bond with Me, which, however, is entirely human, because external impressions always have an effect and therefore the withdrawal into silence is required. But you cannot expect any particular blessing for the souls from loudly spoken formal prayers, from general prayer actions, except for those people who are able to completely close themselves inwardly and pray in their heart.... who don't listen to what their fellow human beings say aloud.... I only want to explain all this to you so that you will understand why so many prayers remain unanswered and why I require of you a prayer in spirit and 'in truth'.... Only the core is ever valid before Me, not the outer shell, and I see into a person's heart and cannot be deceived by lip prayers or daily habits which are performed soullessly. However, if a person calls loudly to Me in his heart's distress, then such a call is also proof that it is not just a form but deeply felt internally, and this is how it is also valued by Me, Who always endeavours to help in order to prove the Father's love to My children.... because I also want to win your love. And therefore you should always give account to yourselves when you pray whether you first establish a child's heartfelt relationship with the Father or whether you are satisfied with a habit, with a form, with prayers which cannot reach My ear. For prayer to Me is also an immense gift of grace, because you can thus establish the bond with Me at any time and thereby also provide the evidence of having passed the test of will, which is the purpose and goal of your earthly life....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers