March 12th, 1919
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.
Let me write a line. I am not going to write a long message but one that is very short. You are now in condition to receive our messages, and I wish to write for a while on the importance of knowing the way to the Celestial Kingdom which has been written you before, but I wish to add to what you have received. You have been told that the only way to obtain that Kingdom is by the Divine Love coming into your soul and changing it into a thing Divine, which partakes of the very Essence of the Father Himself. Well, this is a correct explanation of the operation of this Love on the soul, but in order to get this Love there must be earnest supplication on the part of the seeker, and a mere mental desire for the inflowing of the Love will not suffice.
This is a matter that pertains to the soul alone and the mind is not involved except, as you might say, to start the soul's longings and prayer. When you think that you are longing for this Love and have a mere mental desire for its inflowing, the Love will not come, because it never responds to the mere mind and must always be sought for by the soul's longings. Many men have the intellectual desire for the Love of God, and upon that desire rest, and believe that they have the Love and that there is nothing further for them to do; but they will find themselves mistaken, and that instead of possessing this Love they have awakened only the natural love, and in a way, started it towards its goal of the purified soul, like the first parents before the fall, and will not experience the transformation that comes with the possession of the Divine Love.
It is no easy matter to have these longings possess the soul, and men should not remain satisfied with these mere mental desires for they will not be benefited by such desires, except as I may say, in the way of having their natural love purified. The longings of the soul comes only from a realization that this Love is waiting to be bestowed, and that the soul must become active and earnest in its endeavor to have this Love come into it, and then the transformation takes place.
From this you will see how utterly impossible it is for the devotee of the church to experience this Love or to have the longings of the soul which are not aroused by the observance of the church's sacraments, and the duties which it imposes upon them. They may be ever so zealous in their attendance upon the church services and in complying strictly with its requirements as to doing those things which it prescribes. It is with them all a mental process but the soul is not affected. They may think that their desires are from the soul, and that a response will come, but in this they are mistaken and the soul lies dead. Only when the soul's longings are started into activity are prayers of the worshiper answered.
So you will see that a man may be apparently devout and full of zeal for his church and the teachings of his creed, and yet will not be benefited so far as the progress of the soul is concerned.
Let not your desires be only of the intellect, but try to bring into activity the longings of the soul, and do not rest satisfied until a response shall come, and it will certainly come, and you will know that the Love is present working its transforming power upon the soul. This is all I desire to say tonight. I am pleased that you are now in condition to receive our messages and hope that your excellent condition will continue. With my love, I will say, good night.
Your own loving grandmother
Ann Rollins.