Awakening of the spirit .... love ....

B.D. No. 1949 June 12th 1941

A so-called awakening of the spirit will always take place when self-refinement has taken place through active neighbourly love. Every labour of love purifies the soul and thus breaks the shackles of the spirit, for the spirit slumbers in man as long as the covering is still thick. Now, however, strength can be implored through heartfelt prayer for this act of detachment of the spirit; although this will always happen on the path of active love, a person who prays will also be more easily able to work with love. For a person who prays has a certain humility within himself and therefore serving is not difficult for him either. Every prayer conveys strength, and what a person requires great willpower for, he can easily master after fervent prayer. The power of prayer is immense and yet it is not recognized enough. This is why people sometimes have to struggle a great deal before the spirit in them is released, whereas fervent prayer leads them almost effortlessly to the heights. Prayer in spirit and in truth unites the human being with God, i.e. he himself seeks the connection to Him, and since God Himself is love, the human being's feelings must now express themselves in love .... But a work of neighbourly love likewise draws God as love itself .... But love frees the spirit in man so that it can unite with the spiritual outside of itself, from which light and strength, i.e. knowledge and power, is imparted to it. Only then can the human being's nature become as it corresponds to divine will and the soul will mature and develop upwards in earthly life ....

Amen