BY MOON MYUNGHO · MAY 17, 2015
May 14, 2015 – Frankfurt, Germany
Keynote Address
Sun Jin Moon, International President, FFWPU
Guten Tag.
Dear respected elders. Beloved brothers and sisters. We gather today absolutely centered on our Heavenly Parent and our Beloved True Parents.
Thank you very much for joining this special program in honor of the 50 year history of our movement here in Europe. I am deeply moved and honored to be here with you today to celebrate this treasured legacy.
Of course, we have a worldwide family, with brothers and sisters all over the world. We are deeply saddened of the tragic and destructive earthquake that occurred again recently in Nepal. Many Nepalese lost loved ones, and many of the cities have been without power, drinking water or sanitation. Our movement has been growing very strong in Nepal, and earlier this year we convened an interfaith Blessing for more than 70,000 people in Kathmandu’s main stadium, with the Vice President and other dignitaries present. True Mother loves Nepal and appreciates the great work of Blessed families in Nepal. After she learned of the devastating earthquake, she donated $1 million for emergency humanitarian relief efforts.
Let us offer a moment of silent prayer and reflection for the people of Nepal. Namaste.
Thank you very much.
As you know, I was recently with True Mother in Austria. Perhaps some of you were there for the programs, including the Little Angels Performance, as well as True Mother’s speech at the United Nations. These were wonderful programs and everyone was so inspired.
True Mother is leading the providence forward with wisdom and unshaken determination. She sends her True love to all of you.
True Mother gave a lot of thought to her decision to come to Europe. She told me that this historic tour has two main objectives or goals. First of all, she wants to express eternal gratitude to our brothers and sisters from around the world who have sacrificed and sincerely worked to carry forward Heaven’s providence. Secondly, she wants to chart a course for us to fulfill and encompass the full spectrum of true love for all humankind, and to substantially establish God’s Kingdom of Cheon Il Guk.
I have given a lot of thought to both of these goals, and I will do my best to try to convey to you True Mother’s heart and some of the essence of her message.
In preparation for this tour, I have spent a lot of time doinghoon dok hae and spiritual conditions. There is nothing more precious than True Parents’ words. They anchor our lives and provide eternal wisdom for our growth and guidance in the face of any storm or struggle.
When we look at our world today, we sometimes feel overwhelmed by the struggle and devastation we observe. It can blind our vision. But, at times like these, we can turn our hearts and minds to True Parents and follow their example. True Mother reminded us just a few days ago, when she spoke at the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna, that both local and global struggles arise because we do not know our true origin, our Heavenly Parent’s and True Parents’ absolute, unique and unchanging True Love. It is also remarkable that as we share our True Mother’s heart with our European brothers and sisters, this is also a national holiday honoring the ascension of Jesus Christ.
Europe and the Providence
I have also been reviewing the truly amazing and remarkable history of our movement in Europe, and Germany in particular, beginning with True Parents’ visit in 1965, establishing holy grounds. When I look back on all that has been accomplished, and reflect on the faithful course of True Parents and the early members of our movement, I am truly humbled and awestruck.
Europe has played such a central role in God’s providence. I think, for example, of Christian history, which has been integrally linked to European history. Jesus’ disciples carried the Gospel throughout Greece and Rome, and eventually, following Constantine’s intervention, the Roman Empire embraced Christianity. Today, we have the headquarters for 1.2 billion Roman Catholics based in Vatican City. Geneva is home to the headquarters of the World Council of Churches. At the same time, Europe is home to all the world’s great faith traditions, where all have been welcomed in an atmosphere of religious freedom, protected by the rule of law.
In Divine Principle, so much of the history known as the “last 400 years” of preparation for True Parents, took place here in Europe, with the Reformation, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the rise of modern democracy, free market economics, and the scientific revolution. Even the vision for the United Nations has roots in Europe.
This is a great history and legacy. And yet, we also recognize that Europe has had at times a painful and troubling history, characterized by separation, turmoil, war, destruction, divisiveness, and disbelief. Even religion itself has often been a source of division and destruction, giving rise to devastating wars of religion, inquisitions, anti-Semitism, and persecution of “the other.” These sad realities have left a long legacy of pain and suffering for the European people. If we reflect on the world today, we can see that we are still fighting many of these same wars, pitting members of the same human family against one another.
Even science, economics, and technology have their dark sides, giving rise to weapons of mass destruction and unsustainable practices. Rather than cooperating together, nations are often seeking only their own interests, frequently at the expense of other nations and peoples.
True Parents have always loved and invested their heart and soul, and resources, in the development of our movement in Europe. They fully understood Europe’s providential role, as well as its painful history. They wanted so much for Europe to help God’s providence and usher in an era of peace centered on True Parents. As such, the nations of Europe are called to embrace each other, and the entire world, as one family under God. What a glorious, but difficult task.
True Father describes the conflict of providential history as follows:
God is the center of goodness. Satan is the center of evil. The history of humanity has been the history of struggle between good and evil–between God and Satan–working through men and women. But the respective strategies used by God and Satan have been exactly opposite. Satan, being arrogant and greedy, always attacks the side of goodness. God’s camp is always hit and suffers, but this gives God the opportunity to bring justice. The side of good is vindicated and occupies new territory. Satan’s side must withdraw and decline.
For example, in World War I, the belligerent nations were ultimately defeated. The same was true in World War II, where the Axis powers, after initially attacking, were finally defeated by the Allies. Every exploiting power will ultimately decline, while whoever suffers persecution for the sake of good will ultimately be raised up by God.
My own life is representative of this. I have been struggling for the sake of good and the cause of God, but the opposition has been relentless. Years ago, I was tortured and beaten, and I have been imprisoned numerous times. One would think that my movement would die out and be forgotten, but the opposite has occurred. I have built a worldwide foundation, and have continuously advanced and prospered. (Father)
Aju?
Yes, these words are profound. True Parents’ life course and their teachings provide so much amazing wisdom and insight that helps us understand our world, our history, and the current challenges, the conflicts and the turmoil that are all around us. True Parents’ words and Divine Principle provide us with the practical tools that allow us to peacefully resolve these difficulties.
What I say to you today has value only if it is linked with the universal truth of our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents. Therefore, I hope through this speech you may be encouraged and inspired to study and delve more deeply into the true word and the sacred blessing that our Heavenly Parent has tried tirelessly for millennia to convey to all of humankind. The gift of truth comes alive only to those who, like divers searching for pearls, are willing to dive down to the depths of the ocean to retrieve them. And it is only fully manifested when we share that truth with others. This gracious gift opens the way to True Love and goodness. We should treasure these gifts and share them with others, just as our Heavenly Parent and True Parents continually share them with us.
Nothing will please me more than if my message today inspires you to intensify your study of True Parents’ words.
True Parents love Europe and unconditionally love each and every one of you. Each one of our early Blessed Central Family members are a treasured saint and patriot of our Heavenly Parent’s and our True Parents’ legacy. Recently we observed the passing of Rev. Reiner Vincenz in America, and True Mother gave great and loving attention to his seonghwa, his ascension. True Parents worked closely with the Vincenz’s and with many of the early European members, such as the Werner family, the Koch family, the Blanchard family, and the Kae Hwan Kim family.
In Vienna True Mother personally presented an award to many of the elder European Blessed Couples, acknowledging their many years of attendance to True Parents and their dedicated service to advance the providence in Europe and the world.
True Parents always had a special place in their hearts for those brothers and sisters from Europe who ventured to serve as underground missionaries for our movement in countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The code name for this mission was “butterfly”. They risked their lives. Many of them suffered imprisonment. At least one of these missionaries died while in prison. They will never be forgotten.
True Mother, therefore, made a special acknowledgement of these great men and women of the “butterfly” mission, and presented them also with a special award in Vienna, to acknowledge their heroic sacrifice and service. These brothers and sisters, and many others were absolute altruistic victors on the side of good. They are our heroes, buttressing Heavenly Parent and True Parents as they make their way forward, in the face of unspeakable persecution and attack. I offer my deepest heart of gratitude and love for these precious families.
Over the years, I heard many reports about the CARP movement in Europe, when Germany was a divided nation during the Cold War, a front line in the conflict between communism and democracy. My eldest brother Hyo Jin oppa, was a true filial son and led CARP members here in 1987, calling for an end to the Cold War and the Berlin Wall of division. That victory in Europe and those historic photos are a precious legacy for our family and grandchildren. I deeply thank each of you for your sincere faith and devotion in making that victory possible.
As part of their last world speaking tour, True Parents together visited several nations in Europe—Spain, the UK, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Greece—in 2011. At that time, True Father spoke to more than 3,000 people in Berlin. I know this opened a path for more blessings in Europe, and I thank each and every one of you who helped make this possible.
Of course, I know that our movement in Europe has also faced opposition and challenge. Even True Parents were at times blocked from entering countries in Europe, particularly when the Schengen entry ban was in force for 12 years. However, you all worked together, mobilizing our friends and Ambassadors for Peace, and you succeeded in having that unjust entry-ban overturned. That is why True Parents could eventually and triumphantly tour Europe freely.
I say these things because I want to express my deep appreciation to each and every one of you. You, especially the elder members, have lived lives of faithful attendance to True Parents, through thick and thin, living principled and righteous lives even though you often faced prejudice, persecution and opposition. Through it all, you have been victorious on the side of goodness. I am eternally grateful and honored to be here together with you, and to be part of this tour with True Mother. I pray that our Heavenly Parent may eternally bless you and your precious families.
As we stand at this juncture, I feel as though we have come full circle. The 1st generation together with True Parents, have laid this glorious foundation over a 50 year course, setting roots deep within the Western world. For half a century True Parents have enlightened us and blessed us with such grace and true knowledge. Now, the 1st generation has given rise to a 2nd, a 3rd, and ongoing generations of Blessed Families, and True Mother has come at this time to re-invigorate and re-water these precious roots. True Mother has absolute hope that our new circle of life, carrying on a legacy of victory in Europe, will come to bear glorious fruit for the whole world.
As True Father stated in the passage quoted earlier, Europe has been a providential tipping point on the worldwide level in the struggle of our Heavenly Parent to restore the fallen lineage. I know you personally experienced this struggle, in the form of persecution, direct attacks and a suffering course that have continued up to this day. Even though we may have endured, survived and recovered from these difficulties, now is the time to flourish and thrive in order to bring about not only a victorious fulfillment of all of Heavenly Parent’s and True Parents’ hopes for this region, but also lasting peace and liberation for all of humankind.
It is for this reason that True Mother, knowing the providential significance of Europe, has come to re-awaken, revive, and bring sincere love and encouragement to our European brothers and sisters. However, such a precious gift and grace require our response. Now more than ever we must unite and work together to build a glorious future, realizing vision 2020 and substantiating theCheon Il Guk era.
The Origin
In order to map our path to a glorious future we must follow the steps and inherit the wisdom of those who have gone before. In this way, we come to know where we should be headed.
We must know our true origin. From those deep roots we can start to grow and progress even further on our own path and journey. But no matter what step, pace, style, or skill you may have individually, there is only one way to walk, one foot in front of the other. But even this act of taking our first wobbly step does not come automatically.
For example, when you took your first step as an infant, who was there to hold, buffer, urge, praise, and teach you to do so? Who nurtured, sacrificed, and gave you all the resources to be healthy so you could even take that first step? It is your parents, your mother and father. If we trace human history back to its origin we find God. If we truly understand Principle, we know that God is our heavenly parent, the perfect union of masculine and feminine energy from where all life began.
Our Heavenly Parent created everything out of a heart of love and a desire to have a perfect object partner, a perfected man and woman, the True Parents. Once the position of True Parents is established it is possible to build a True Family, and ultimately one family under God. If this had been fulfilled, it would have given our Heavenly Parent the greatest joy.
Sadly, we know this did not happen. Our Heavenly Parent is suffering due to the loss of the ideal standards of True Love and True Parents that occurred within the first family. We understand this to be the fall. From this legacy of fallen humankind, we struggle daily to find our way back to our Heavenly Parent. This is humanity’s tragic reality. Until now, that is.
TPs have shown us the way out of the darkness. We have been nurtured and guided on the path of restoration, and engrafted to the true olive tree. We have been given the light of truth and a road has been cleared and paved for us, so that we can be liberated from the long history of human suffering.
How then is it possible that we are sometimes still afflicted by confusion, doubts, hardships, and struggle? If we know our Heavenly Parent’s truth, then why are we not perfected yet? Why, if we have the Divine Principle, can we not run like spiritual Olympic gold medalists?
In True Mother’s recent speech she gives guidance about where we are on the growth chart that shows our spiritual and professional development. She counsels us about how we should train ourselves in order to achieve Cheon Il Guk. Please let me share her profound words:
What I would like to ask you now is, in your entire life, what can you say you can be proud of before Heaven? Throughout your entire life, you’ve lived in difficult conditions yet you worked with the mindset thinking, “I am grateful, and I will do my best to further develop what I have.” However, I honestly believe there are not many of you who lived like that. A few days ago I said to the leaders, from now on we are in a new era as we enter the third year of Cheon Il Guk. Everyone, all the Blessed Families of the Unification Family, must move forward with a unified will and unified determination centered on True Parents. Be healthy, be strong, and grow very profound and deep roots. Become model families and stand tall before the entire world. Testify about True Parents. Testify that your families received the Blessing from True Parents, lived in the same era, and have fulfilled their responsibilities as Heavenly Tribal Messiahs. In so doing your families will establish a legacy of becoming true olive trees that will remain for generations and generations, with roots so deep that your lineage will continue on in the way of True Parents for two, three or four thousand years into the future. As long as we attend True Parents and become one with them, we will always be eternal; we will be eternal, do you understand?(True Mother – March 6, 2015)
Even after 52 years in service to her public mission with True Father for the sake of humankind, she still has hope, and she urges us to reach our “eternal” victory despite all our inadequacies. She begs us to leave behind an “eternal” legacy of which our descendants can be proud and on which they can stand strong.
As we celebrate 50 years of Europe’s church history, can we, as true filial sons and daughters, hold our heads high in front of our True Parents? Can we boast of anything we have accomplished in our lives, when so many of our own family members may be drifting, or when so many members of our tribal messiah community still do not know the truth about True Parents?
I ask each one of you to reflect on these questions. On a personal level, I know that I have not done enough. Surely I cannot boast about any accomplishments in front of True Parents. I know that I am indebted to our True Parents.
But it is not enough just to admit one’s shortcomings. We must fulfill our portion of responsibility! We each have our own 5% responsibility, as individuals, families, tribes, nations and as a global community. This portion of responsibility has yet to be fully exercised and applied. And yet, I know we can do it, by realizing vision 2020.
That is why it is absolutely essential that we stand with our True Parents and return to the foundational roots of the Principle, True Parent’s words. Let us awaken! Let us work to re-train our minds, spirits and bodies; let us upgrade all our capacities and achieve optimal health.
Aju?
I know European brothers and sisters can achieve this goal. True Parents have and always will believe in, give unconditional love to, and have eternal hope for all our European Blessed Families. Now is the time for us to give this grace to all the people of the world. I know Europe can now write a new chapter in its history. The True Love that was providentially planted here can now be spread to the entire world. Let us be true filial sons and daughters to our True Parents and realize this dream, the dream that our own parents, our True Parents, and our Heavenly Parent have always dreamed of. Let us be the ones who set the eternal legacy of True Love and goodness for all humankind.
The Path We Must Walk
This is not an easy course. True Parents know better than anyone that this course of restoration is filled with unimaginable indemnity and suffering, for they have walked this path and made it to victory only by going through this ring of fire. We know from the Divine Principle that we inherited the legacy of original sin, and only through the course of restoration can we become engrafted onto the true olive tree. But as we have witnessed in our own lives and those of members of our own families, restoration is neither simple nor automatic.
Just because someone joins, works as a missionary, and gets Blessed and has a family, it doesn’t mean that perfection is readily achieved. Is any great achievement easily achieved? No, it takes practice, practice, practice. We must apply the Principle with sincerity in every single conscious moment of our lives, as individuals and as families. Only in this way, can we function at a world-class level. Only in this way will it be possible for all 7 billion people of the world to come to understand True Parents’ teachings. Until this is accomplished, we cannot rest, acting as though we have completed everything.
Imagine that you are a parent with many children, and one child cannot walk. Where does your heart and attention turn? Parents cannot rest until all their children walk strong and tall. Even if one child is crippled, a parent will give their own life to nurse that child back to health. Parents have this heart, because this is Heavenly Parent’s and True Parents’ heart. We need to understand this root of True Love. To do so we must go back to the beginning, back to the basic truth that never becomes old or without significance for our lives until we perfect it.
In my own life, as I walked along this path, I felt at times like a cripple, an underdog, the least qualified member of the family. There has been no boasting in my life, for I have always felt inadequate, like I was never enough. Even after graduating from Harvard, I felt like I had still so very far to go.
However, no matter where I was at in my stages of growth, True Parents and our Heavenly Parent always gave me unconditional True Love and guidance, never giving up hope, and never ceasing to make conditions so that I could succeed and flourish on the path. True Love opens the way for each of us to walk and stand tall again. I owe everything to True Parents. If I were to ignore or deny this reality, my conscience would never be at peace.
But, can I be happy if I can walk and others cannot? If you have been disabled, you, more than anyone, do not want others to experience what you have endured, not even your worst enemy. That is why it is so important that we come together as one human family, inheriting the true heart of our Heavenly Parent and True Parents. If we do this, we can make all of humankind strong, healthy and able to walk this path without disability.
I would like to read from our True Father’s speech, True Family and I, where he explains the fundamental struggle we face as individuals on the path to restoration:
Where does the struggle between mind and body originate? We inherit life from our parents and from the parents of their parents. If we continue going back in this manner, we eventually arrive at the first generation, that is, the first human ancestors. It is a fact that the struggle between mind and body originated through a problem in the conjugal love of Adam and Eve. Our life originates in our parents’ love. Since this struggle began before any of us were born, we have to conclude that the problem relates to the circumstances in which our first parents entered into a love relationship with each other. The love of Adam and Eve was not a love of true happiness. Instead, it was conflict-ridden love. Because the roots of our life are in this love, we must conclude that the conflicts in our inner self originate there.” (True Father, True Family and I)
From the time of the fall, the steps of humankind on the path of restoration were obstructed by a “conflict ridden love.” Men and women throughout history have been forced to walk each step of their path with struggle, discord and disharmony warping each movement, and creating misalignment, aches, and pain. We became beings who, despite our best efforts, only suffered and stumbled through life.
Can anyone here claim absolute mind and body unity? Raise your hand if you can?
I am not surprised to see no hands going up. My hand is not up either. Only True Parents have completed and mastered everything.
This is why it is so important for us to always strive to re-connect to the origin and find the light to lead us out of our struggling course. To illustrate this point, there is nothing more eloquent and succinctly profound than True Mother’s words:
As we work toward the opening of the Cheon Il Guk era, you must be able to find the perfected, original mind while carrying out your own responsibilities. Do you understand what I mean? You must find your original mind by yourselves. You should be able to edify yourselves upon the standard of absolute faith in, absolute love for and absolute obedience to True Parents….You must become one with True Parents through the Holy Spirit and the truth, through the true teachings and through the three main scriptures…. Each one of us should be able to realize a world centered on God and say before going to the spiritual world, “I have achieved everything.” Otherwise, our future generations— the third and fourth generations will face difficulties. We cannot let that happen. (True Mother February 21, 2015)
The first point True Mother highlights is about the significance of our “original mind.” This is our conscience. This is the heavenly GPS system to guide us out of darkness. It is the divine light and direct link to our Heavenly Parent’s heart. As true mother said “we must find our original mind by ourselves.” We have the responsibility to listen to that inner light and voice, and take action to get in shape and compete on a worldwide scale.
I know that I have not lived a perfect life and that I have moments of doubt and struggle, but as I have seen True Parents go their course, the voice inside screams at me to help them, to ease their burden, to not sit by and watch or add to their suffering. This is why no matter how inadequate I am, or how inadequate you may feel yourselves to be, we, as filial sons and daughters, must serve, care for, and bring victory for our True Parents. We have been given the gift of true love, life, and lineage. If we do not honor these blessings, we are not fit to be eternal sons and daughters of True Parents.
When I recently read True Father’s words on conscience, from True Family and I, I was moved to tears. He outlines the path we must take as filial sons and daughters. Here is an excerpt from that speech:
…If you study yourself, you will notice that your conscience knows everything about you. Your conscience is closer to you than are your own parents. It desires to possess eternal love and to be embraced eternally in God’s bosom. When we marry, we separate from our earthly parents, but not from our conscience. The conscience exists with us prior to our birth on earth. It loves us, and its mission is to transform us into eternal sons and daughters of God. In this sense, the conscience does not need a teacher….Until today, we did not know that the mission of the conscience is to convert us into unblemished, true sons and daughters of God….The role of the conscience for a man is the same as that of a compass for a ship….The conscience’s ambition demands the maximum amount of love. It wishes to possess the Absolute Being.
Who, then, can be the absolute object of God’s love? My answer is: a true human being!…Just as a man wants his object of love to be infinitely more valuable than he, God also wants man, His object of love, to have infinite value. A person of that value is a true person. We did not know that Adam and Eve were meant to be that kind of man and woman. No one has known that we were created with such value. If we were given such a high aspiration in our conscience, it is because God is the subject partner and He wants man to be in the position of His object partner. He did not want man and woman simply to be a part of Him, but rather to be completely different personalities. God allowed us to have such an elevated power of conscience because He hoped that we would be one thousand or ten thousand times more valuable than Himself. You must understand this very well. (True Father, True Family and I)
When we realize the eternal true love and infinite hopes our Heavenly Parent have for us, how can we not listen to our heavenly inner voice to guide us?
Many times in life we get lost or confused by the noise or distractions that lead us away from our original mind. Many complain about the many challenges swirling around them. This brings further disillusionment and sometimes despair. But as True Parents have shown us, our guide is always there. We just need to listen and follow that glowing path of True love. Had we fulfilled our responsibility we would not be where we are today. If we look at the history of our movement, I am sorry to say, there are many times when we did not fulfill our portion of responsibility. This is why we always need the help of the Word to train and hone our ability to listen to and obey our true conscience.
The Present Time
As you know, True Mother appointed me as the International President of FFWPU. I know that my foundation is not enough for me to stand in this position. And I never expected to take on any major leadership responsibility.
Nevertheless, I could not say “no” to True Mother. For too long, I have witnessed her lonely, silent and suffering course over many years. I cannot simply withdraw. I know I have to become a person who can stand and help carry our True Parents’ burden. I have seen the burden she must carry on a daily basis, especially since the time of True Father’s ascension. I only want to serve our True Mother. Perhaps that is my only qualification for this mission.
Still, every day in my heart I feel truly sorry to True Parents because I am lacking in many ways. In those moments of doubt I return to the Word and it gives me strength and inspiration.
I know that you are aware of challenges we face as a movement. While we all came to expect external challenges from what we sometimes call “the outside world”, none of us were quite prepared for the internal challenges we face. However, these challenges should make it even more obvious that we should study True Parents’ words and follow our true conscience. Your faith, your truth, your divine light is not dependent on a pastor or a religious leader; it is in your divine connection with Heavenly Parent’s True Love. If you experience doubt or you lose your way, just return to the origin, the root, the word, your true heart, conscience, and center, and you will find your way back on the path of True Love.
Even though we are going through a time in our movement when there are voices of confusion and discord, we must not lose sight of our center which resides in True Parents, in the Word, and in our own conscience. They serve as our compass so that we can navigate with an even hand, even while sailing on stormy seas.
During these turbulent times, some of those near and dear to us may have fallen into confusion or discouragement. In order to regain their trust and win their hearts, we must practice true love, and what True Parents calls the “forgive, love, and unite” philosophy.
Of course, “forgive, love, and unite” is not simply some “cheap grace.” Rather it comes on the foundation of sincere repentance, apology, and acknowledgement of our own inability to fulfill our portion of responsibility. We have all fallen short of the ideal. Therefore, let us take responsibility at this time to restore the lost ideal.
True Parents have had to indemnify the tragic failure of Adam and Eve, and the painful legacy of the Cain-Abel struggle and division throughout history.
After thousands of years of providential history, marked by countless setbacks, True Parents have re-established the center point. Let us never let go of that center. Only by learning from True Parents’ words and emulating their example can we become true filial sons and daughters. True Parents are eternal and they have completed everything, restoring the position lost at the time of Adam and Eve. However it is our responsibility as filial sons and daughters to honor True Parents’ legacy and to practice and perfect True Love for our tribes and future generations. That is our responsibility and path, to restore a world of true brotherly and sisterly peace for all humankind and creation.
Then as true filial sons and daughters of True Parents, more than any other people on earth, we should know our eternal center, our birthplace, and our true origin. It is only because of the complete unity of True Father and True Mother, as True Parents, that we can be blessed with true love, life, and lineage. However, this center is only secure if we, as filial sons and daughters, honor and share it with others.
Human history diverged from the ideal path and, as a result, we are all suffering under the weight of the fall, unable to pull ourselves out of this swamp. If we look around us and we still see war, suffering, and division, can we just remain inactive and point at others for not fulfilling their portion of responsibility? No. We must emulate True Parents’ example, practice living for the sake of others, unify the realms of Cain and Abel, and carry forth the providence until we are victorious! We can only be victorious if we become one family under our Heavenly Parent and True Parents. That is our path, the truth of vision 2020, and the heart of Cheon Il Guk.
We must reflect on this point, and study hard to honor our holy genealogy revealed in the Cham Bumo Gyeong. We must grow each day and study in earnest about our divine roots and origin.
True Mother, remains steadfast and true to her responsibilities as our True Mother, as the remaining True Parent on earth. She is not simply the mother of 14 children. She has never seen herself that way. She is the True Mother for 7 billion people, the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parent, all separated from their true origin and root.
It has been my constant prayer and hope, since True Father’s Seonghwa, that the True Family and all Blessed Central Families could unite as one family to love and support our True Mother, during her most trying times, especially after she was no longer able to live together, side by side with our True Father on this earthly plane. For the past three years I have attended True Mother. Not a day goes by in which she is not loving, praying, offering devotion, and reaching for a connection with our True Father. Indeed, that connection between them is eternal and unbreakable.
I have personally witnessed amazing signs of Heavenly Parent’s and True Father’s love through nature and the natural environment. I have seen miracles of natural energy pouring out love from our True Father to True Mother, expressed through rainbows, beautiful sunny days, changes in the weather, or uncanny behavior in animals. It’s as if all of the creation is rushing to greet True Mother wherever she goes. Each day we feel Heavenly Parent and True Father extending their embrace through nature, sending love and hugs to us.
I only hope that we can all come to emulate the true wisdom of our natural universe and do our part to love Heavenly Parent and True Parents, and most of all our True Mother during her time here on earth. Although Heavenly Parent and all of his glorious manifestations in the natural world inspire us, we also know what happens when we do not live according to True Love and our 5% portion of responsibility.
When we reflect deeply on the world around us, we come to recognize that the earth is also calling out to each of us to live a true life, in accordance with our conscience. We know that if we cannot fulfill our mission, then our responsibility is passed on to the next generation, making their course of restoration through indemnity much more difficult.
We are witnessing devastating natural and man-made disasters on our planet. We can no longer deny that we are on an unhealthy path. The conflict-ridden path of war, suffering, hatred, and greed, is destroying our families and the earth. With no earth there can be no glorious future for our human family. There can be no sustainable peace if we do not all do our part to absolutely unite with Heavenly Parent’s and True Parents’ truth and their example. We must be One Family under Heavenly Parent, and become filial sons and daughters, as well as loving brothers and sisters. Let us create harmonious True Families that embody True Love, and that are sincere, caring stewards of all life on this earth.
I never will let go of this hope that we can all come together as one family, and work together to realize True Parents’ ideal of Cheon Il Guk.
I will do my best to serve our True Father and True Mother, and I will continue to pray and hope you can all join us as one united family. They are the one and only origin of all humankind. True Father has given us the truth, the word, and he has lit the light for all of us to come out of the darkness. But, we also know that for 52 years he did not do this alone. Can any of us be sons and daughters without a mother? Think about it deeply and rationally. Nothing can be manifested or birthed without a mother. All of human history has been incomplete without a True Mother. True Mother has shown us the way of absolute faith, love and obedience. She has made it possible for true love to be manifested substantially in our lives. She is the only woman who became absolutely one with our True Father. Together, as the true son and daughter of our Heavenly Parent, they completed and fulfilled heaven’s Will on the earth for eternity. We must emulate and honor that legacy with absolute faith, love and obedience.
True Mother
I stand before you today with a feeling of deep gratitude and appreciation for our True Mother. She has lived her entire life with a clear vertical attendance to our Heavenly Parent.
Her responsiveness to Heavenly Parent’s providential Will has been the constant thread that runs throughout her life. Prior to meeting our True Father, True Mother was nurtured and protected by heaven. Dae Mo Nim raised True Mother as the only begotten daughter of God, and not simply as her physical daughter. Dae Mo Nim had received guidance from Heaven telling her that True Mother was to be the bride of the messiah.
Heaven protected our True Mother during the perilous period of Japanese occupation and the rise of North Korean communism, culminating in the Korean War. So many times she could have been killed or prevented from going forward, but she remained under Heaven’s protection.
Then, miracle of miracles, she met True Father. Think about it. True Mother was just a young girl of 16. How could she possibly have had the external wisdom and maturity to enter into this relationship at such a young age? Knowing True Father’s position, we cannot begin to imagine that his Blessing with True Mother was some accident. Rather, she is our miracle. It was heavenly destiny, and vertical duty that guided True Mother.
From 1960, True Mother lived day and night with True Father, for over 52 years. Can you imagine living one day with True Father? I heard from many leaders who told me that when Father visited their nation, they could never rest for a moment, and when he departed, they would collapse with exhaustion. We are celebrating 50 years of our movement’s history in Europe. Think of what it must be like to spend more than 50 years directly attending our True Parents? Even from afar, without being responsible to directly attend True Parents, we are out of breath trying to complete our missions,
Just imagine True Mother’s situation, in attending True Father without any break over 52 years. What an amazing accomplishment! What an unprecedented victory! None of us—-no child, no member, no other being living on earth—-can claim this victory.
When I asked True Mother how she survived and gracefully endured her history of indemnity, she said in her heart and in her soul she always knew her mission; it wasn’t taught to her by any elder. She knew her inner voice. It was Heavenly Parent’s voice and she completely followed it no matter what. She is the only being remaining on this earth who has completed the absolute path and shown the way of absolute faith, True Love, and obedience.
While writing this speech I came to understand more deeply that I am in the presence of a woman who has divinely mastered her mind-body relationship, and fully developed her conscience. She bases every decision on her True Love for our Heavenly Parent, our True Father, and the 7 billion children on the earth. I am always in awe of our True Mother.
We are so blessed to have our True Mother. She is still young and strong. Her health is improving day by day as she keeps a strict schedule of exercise. Her mantra of living for the sake of others, LFSO, includes the goal-set to live Longer, Faster, Stronger, and Onward! Even though I am decades younger than True Mother, I find it hard to keep up with her. She has a divine constitution. She is going on 73 years, yet from the moment she wakes up in the morning, she attends to her public mission, without rest. Each and every day she hears endless reports from around the world. Without fail, she is absolutely consistent in giving unconditional aid, hope, and sincere devotion and prayers for all of Heavenly Parent’s children, so that each of us can stand tall, be well, and healthy.
I completely and bow down before True Mother. She has the full authority of True Parents, the authority of True Father. They are completely one, indivisible, our eternal True Parents.
Neither Heavenly Parent nor True Father could fulfill the providence of True Parents without True Mother fulfilling her own portion of responsibility. Heavenly Parent has been waiting for the True couple, the True Parents, for all time. If you look at human history, you see that it is riddled with so much suffering for woman and children. In all religions and civilizations women have been paying indemnity for the fall. All the imbalance of the human family—the wars, the genocide, the greed and suffering—is because there was only one side to the coin being continuously flipped. There was no level playing field. It was, rather, a rigged game, Archangel’s game. Therefore, throughout history, half of humanity has too often been enslaved, abused, undermined, tortured, and neglected. Likewise, children have too often been orphaned, abandoned, murdered, and forgotten.
When we do not honor our parents we cannot have our complete dignity. We cannot love our true self, our divine self, our complete self. We could never become complete without finding the missing piece of the puzzle, the missing link, and the key; the other half of the divine light that makes us whole. We absolutely need our parents, our mother and father. If we separate from our parents, we lose something absolutely essential to our being.
If you look at the history of civilizations to this day, we recognize that almost without exception they have been patriarchal. This is because there has been no true mother. For this reason, we see all around us human rights violations against women and children and disharmony among the members of our global family.
But if you look at the world today, the balance and harmony intended for man and woman is being slowly but surely restored. This is because for the first time in history a woman in the position of the only begotten daughter, True Mother, completed her mission. She has absolutely fulfilled her course of absolute true faith, love, and obedience to True Father and our Heavenly Parent, for the sake of the whole world.
Referring once again to the speech, True Family and I, True Father says:
…Centering on the love of the True God, my wife and I are cleansing all the polluted elements that originated in the false family formed through false marriage. This false marriage was caused by false love, false life and false lineage, which stemmed from the false, fallen parents….
….through True Love, we have purified the world of conscience and the spirit world. By doing so, we have achieved True Parents’ position. Thus we are able to sow the seed of True Love, the seed of True Life, and the seed of True Lineage, which signifies the unity between God and human beings, to the couples participating in the International Holy Wedding, the ceremony of resurrection bequeathing this great Blessing.
…As you probably know, Reverend Moon and his spouse are known throughout the world as the True Parents. If it is true that as the True Parents, we are connected to God in true love, true life and true lineage, I would like you to remember one thing. Beginning from a true family and you, a realm of liberation, liberty, unification and happiness will begin. This will allow the hope of peace to sprout upon the earth. (True Father, True Family and I)
What amazing words! AJU! Can we give applause and eternal gratitude to True Parents!
Brothers and sisters, let us also continually strive to build a community that embodies the true love ideal that we have been taught. Let us be known throughout the world as “the live for the sake of others community,” the community that radiates joy, love, warmth, character, virtue, care for others, and wisdom, all of which derive from our True Parents.
I am entirely indebted to True Mother. It is due to her amazing life and sacrifice that any of us, the True Children, could be born. But as her physical and spiritual children we must study with even more sincerity about our true origin, and unite completely with our True Parents. Only in this way can we fulfill our mission as their true filial sons and daughters.
I will do my very best to attend and serve our True Parents. It is only when we uphold the true dignity of our divine origin, our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents, that the path of salvation opens up to future generations, all humankind, creation and us.
True Parents
True Parents exist because both True Father and True Mother were raised up by Heaven and fulfilled their responsibilities. It is only through True Parents that we understand and can directly experience the full manifestation of our Heavenly Parent, as a perfected couple, a man and a woman, a unified husband and wife.
Each one of us is here today because of True Parents; they are our absolute origin.
Our marriages, our families, our understanding of God’s providence, and even our achievements in life are all indebted to the life, love and sacrifice of True Parents.
True Parents fulfilled and completed their mission as the perfected son and daughter of our Heavenly Parent. They also perfected the true bride and bridegroom position. For the first time in history we stand on the victorious foundation of liberation that allows humankind the possibility to be freed from the false legacy that began with the fall of Adam and Eve. The privilege of the Holy Blessing is the key that True Father and True Mother bequeathed to all Blessed Central Families, making possible a glorious new future of True Love, joy and peace.
If True Parents completed their mission, what does it mean for us, as true filial sons and daughters? How do we completely fulfill our missions? How do we create an ideal family and an ideal community? To accomplish these goals, it is most important that we understand our roots, our common origin, our true conscience, and on that foundation grow into a true garden of true olive trees.
As we know, Adam and Eve were to have been our True Parents. But they fell. Jesus, then, came to establish the position of the True Parents. But he faced bitter opposition and persecution. Had he been supported, then perhaps he could have fulfilled “the marriage supper of the lamb”. But we know what actually happened. Jesus was forced to go the way of the cross, as a sacrifice. And, sadly, the providence was prolonged for another 2000 years.
At long last, however, True Parents have finally come!!! God’s true son and true daughter were Blessed in marriage in 1960, and together they carried out the fulfillment of providential history. They opened the completed testament age, and the age of Cheon Il Guk, establishing the lost center of true love, true life and true lineage. Through the Holy Blessing, one family at a time, they re-built and restored Heaven’s ideal of Three Blessings and the Kingdom of Heaven, on earth and in heaven.
As in Jesus’ time, many disbelieved, shunned and rejected that salvation. Even Jesus’ own disciples betrayed our lord and savior. Think of the indemnity, the fateful consequences that, throughout history, followed from that grave mistake. If you look at the wars we are still fighting today, you can see the same sad history repeating itself. Put yourself in Jesus’ time or era, and ask yourself what kind of person would you be? Would you stone him or let him go the way of the cross?
We are here in Europe and we know the history of devastation and the world wars that scarred this land. Now we have our True Parents, and we are tested on a whole new “completed testament” scale. Can you let the True Parents of heaven, earth and humankind go the way of the cross? Or, will you honor True Parents with your life, and embrace and share the grace and Blessing you have received, so that the entire world can come to know the truth of True Parents?
There are obstacles along this journey of faith; we are each tested on our path out of darkness. As my father, our True Father, said to me once, when I was a disillusioned, disbelieving youngster,
“The truth is the truth. Even if you cannot accept it now, it is eternally true….You will eventually [come to know this], and no doubt with difficulty, find your way back…We are teaching you the truth. Even if you choose a different path, you will return here….Follow with absolute faith, love and obedience and you will be saved.” (Father)
He said this at a time in my life when I scoffed at those words and felt he didn’t understand me. Now I know it was me who did not understand our True Parents. The truth is the truth. We cannot escape it. It is our center, our origin, and it leads us to the completion of our stages of growth. It brings enlightenment, and leads us from ignorance and darkness. There is no other way, but to realize this truth and honor it, by going the way of absolute faith, love and obedience.
I do not claim to have all the answers, but I know the truth resides in the Word, and the perfected example of our True Parents as one complete being. No matter where we are standing on the stages of growth, we should offer our absolute faith, love and obedience to our completed, eternal, unchanging True Parents.
I hope we can all attend them as true filial sons and daughters, realizing vision 2020 and Cheon Il Guk. It is a path of absolute True Love and peace, not “conflict-ridden love” and war. Let us stop the insanity of war, hatred, greed, separation, violations of human rights, destruction and division. We have been enlightened by True Parents, so let us act accordingly.
My Offering
What I hope to offer during my term of service, as International President, is to expand the foundation of our movement worldwide so that many more millions of the people of this world come to know and love our True Parents.
In order to accomplish this, however, we each need to grow internally and externally, renewing our faith and expanding our capacities. We need to practice “absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience”, just as we pledge each time we recite kajong mengsae, our family pledge. In addition, we should practice karma or chongsong, our sincere devotion and conditions, not only to move the heart of heaven, but to unite our mind and body so that we can impact and transform the world. These exercises are part of our 5% portion of responsibility.
These practices are not burdens. They are our dharma. They empower us to fulfill our responsibilities on our path of restoration. They usher in opportunities that open our eyes, on the way to fulfilling the glorious vision of our True Parents.
Let us reflect once again on True Father’s words:
…Only love transcends all barriers. When you are united with God in true love, you have dominion over all of God’s creation, both physical and spiritual. When you live completely for others, you are reaching the very essence of God’s own being. God’s vibrations become your vibrations. God’s feelings are naturally transmitted to you. Living this way, you become a resonant body of God’s heart and love. As much as two tuning forks resonate together, you and God always resonate together….
That is the ultimate, original state of the human being. When you achieve that state, the love of God becomes your love, the life of God becomes your life, and the blood lineage of God becomes your blood lineage. The world which God created becomes your world.
It is by going this way of absolute oneness, knowing our origin, the genesis of True Love, that we can become true filial sons and daughters. Only with absolute faith, love, and obedience toward our True Parents can we ever hope to achieve complete oneness or wholeness or enlightenment. This relationship with Heavenly Parent and True Parents is eternal; it is a relationship that we must cherish and uphold with all our being. Never let anyone try to separate you from your unique and precious relationship with Heavenly Parent and True Parents.
Conclusion
At this point, I would like to share several of the action steps I emphasized in my inaugural address. I hope you will take these to heart. Of course, they are not my own ideas, but rather they represent what I have learned from True Parents, and know to be True Mother’s central concerns at this time in our movement:
First of all, let us uphold True Parents as the absolute center of our movement. They are the ROOT, and there is no life apart from this ROOT. True Mother is not separable from True Father and therefore is not separable from the True Parents. True Father and True Mother are absolutely one. No matter what else may happen around us, Heavenly Parent’s Providence moves forward centering on this absolutely true union of True Father and True Mother. True Father lives eternally in True Love, Life and Lineage, with our True Mother. True Mother is our living parent on earth and True Father our eternal father in Heaven. We, as their true children, must absolutely honor and completely attend them with absolute faith, love, and obedience.
Secondly, let us practice tribal messiahship, reaching out to everyone we meet and sharing True Parents vision. Whatever our area of responsibility, career or service, we can build our “tribe” of friends, associates, contacts, neighbors, and Ambassadors for Peace. We can establish our 430 network, by serving, loving and teaching them about our True Parents.
Thirdly, let us be ever vigilant in working to fulfill our own portion of responsibility. Even when others around us may be spreading negative energy, let us always be sources of the positive energy that can renew our movement and restore this world. We cannot be inert or bogged down in past losses; we must move forward, take action, and train ourselves to be like True Mother, living “longer, faster, stronger, and onward.”
Fourthly, let us maintain the core tradition of Hoon Dok Haeon a daily basis. Over the past two years, True Mother has focused intensely on preparing the three primary texts that distill the essence of True Parents teachings: Cheon Seong Gyeong, Pyeonghwa Gyeong, and recently the Cham Bumo Gyeong. By daily reading of the Word, we become re-connected as a Blessed Central Family to the origin and core of our faith. Don’t let a day go by without allowing yourself to be nourished by the Word. The Word will protect and empower you and your family.
The word links us to our Heavenly Parent. The Word is True Father’s spiritual, messianic legacy which he bestowed upon humankind. This legacy has been completed by True Mother’s absolute harmony with the divine word. Together, True Father and True Mother cleared the path for all of humankind to be born, or reborn and engrafted as true children of True Parents and Heavenly Parent. It is only because of their victory that we have the doors to Heavenly Parent’s Love, life and lineage open to us today.
Fifthly, let us understand that not only the human world is an expression of our Heavenly Parent, but also the entire creation, all living things and all material things. They are all forms of energy. Like our conscience, they are reflections of our Heavenly Parent. We, therefore, as the sons and daughters of our True Parents, should be the best and most loving, caring stewards of the environment. This earth is our home; it is our garden. That is why it is so tragic that we have allowed the earth, air, oceans and all living things to be desecrated so that they “groan in travail.” The time has come to build a world of True Love that extends not only to all brothers and sisters, but also to the entire physical world.
Sixthly, let us always respect, honor and obey our conscience, and let us never betray or bring pain to our conscience. In this way, we will become virtuous men and women of True Love, joy and gratitude? The conscience always guides us towards a sincere life of True Love, a life of living for the sake of others and honoring our true legacy as filial sons and daughters.
Seventh, it is paramount that we deepen our faith and, on that foundation, take action in the world. Let us never stop growing and deepening our understanding of the Word. Let us become more loving and more compassionate, and apply these virtues in our daily lives, so that we can transform this world.
In closing let me say that, as we made glorious strides toward realizing the 2020 Vision through the recent events of Foundation Day 2015, we should keep our focus and determination going forward.
In August we will honor the closing of the third year since True Father’s passing. This will be a very important occasion. We honor True Father, and at the same time we unhesitatingly move forward centering on and absolutely attending our True Mother. That is how we honor his legacy.
Let us work together to fulfill True Parents’ vision.
We are richly blessed. We have our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents leading the way, and unconditionally loving us and raising us up. For this reason, we have the power to change the world. So let us pledge our devotion and energies to fulfill the hope of all the ages, a world of universal peace, balance, True Love, and prosperity.
I pledge my service to our Heavenly Parent, to True Parents, and to each of you. Let us work together to advance the true victorious providence and complete our mission of Vision 2020 and Cheon Il Guk.
May our Heavenly Parent bless each and every precious family member here today, and throughout the world!
Kamsahamnida, Danke Scheon, and Namaste!