Dr. Joon Ho Seuk’s message from the Korean monthly magazine Tongil Segye
We sincerely pray for True Father's recoveryBeloved brothers and sisters, warmest greetings! I offer my deepest appreciation to all members who are offering much prayer and jeongseong for the sake of True Father’s speedy recovery and health.
True
Father has put up with everything I
am fully aware that all members of the Unification Family
worldwide have been overwhelmed with great shock, concern and
inexpressible sorrow due to True Father’s illness. With so
many members in shock and distressed, the International
President, Rev. Hyung-jin Moon, personally took the podium at
Cheon Bok Gung last Sunday (7.2 by the heavenly calendar) and
gave a detailed explanation on True Father’s illness. In
addition, he emphasized that we should all become of one heart
through offering greater jeongseong for True Father’s
health. Even at this time (7.5 by the
heavenly calendar), True Father is in critical condition. His
doctor has said that this week (7.3 ~ 7.9 by the heavenly
calendar; August 20-26) will be the most critical. Currently,
we, the Unification Family, are in a state of emergency. Even as
I am writing this message, the circumstances are such that we
cannot relax even for a moment. Dear
brothers and sisters, Up to this time,
despite his advanced age of 93 years, True Father had time and
again harshly pushed himself well beyond his physical
limitations. While leading the providence, he has been offering
deep jeongseong constantly with a serious, restless and intense
heart, unable to even find sleep at night, all for the sake of
victory of Foundation Day. Though we are
unworthy, True Father always turned on the lights in the early
morning hours and presided over hoondokhae for, on average, five
to six hours each day in order to establish the hoondokhae
tradition for us. He has immersed himself in the hoondokhae
jeongseong while repeatedly pushing himself to his limits, once
speaking for twenty-three hours and forty minutes, and once for
twenty-two hours and at other times staying up all night without
closing his eyes. Last autumn, while his
legs were in a cast, True Father would still stand up from his
wheelchair. He once spoke to an audience for more than four
hours while remaining standing. Even when he returned to Korea
after presiding over many providential initiatives in the United
States, he would not indulge in taking the time to adapt to the
time difference or take rest due to the fatigue incurred from
his journey. As soon as he returned, he would preside over
rallies and gatherings to speak and offer jeongseong. And this
is not something that happened just once or twice. Notably,
unlike most ordinary people, True Father had already gone
through much physical tribulation and many difficulties while
shouldering the heavy and crucial will of Heaven under the
providence of restoration. Thus, it was inevitable that all of
this would accumulate within his body. True
Father has been imprisoned six times during his life. Including
the helicopter incident, he has overcome more than seven
life-or-death situations. During his time at the
Heungnam Special Labor Camp he had to suffer, for two years and
eight months, the laborious task of filling bags with
nitrogenous fertilizer and carrying them. It was a harsh ordeal,
where one team of ten people had to fulfill the quota of filling
1,300 bags a day. Even professional laborers would have
difficulty filling an average of 700 bags a day. In this light,
the forced labor at the Hungnam prison was just one method the
communist captors used to mercilessly kill people. Most of the
people imprisoned in this labor camp ended up suffering
hemoptysis within half a year and tuberculosis due to the toxic
ammonia acid, and countless prisoners died within a year and a
half to two years. Although Heaven blessed True Father with a
healthy body, he was not exempt from the adverse effects on his
physical wellbeing. It was truly a victory and nothing less than
a miracle that he was able to survive under such
circumstances. During Japanese
imperialistic rule and later under communist dictatorship, True
Father was whipped and suffered harsh torture that rang his
bones and shook his flesh. More than a few times he vomited
blood. He suffered countless atrocious and brutal tortures whose
descriptions we would not bear to hear. Even after arriving in a
free and democratic world, he faced persecution, scorn and
contempt countless times, and was again imprisoned. True
Parents shouldered even our burden True
Father said “Even now, if one person were to look into my
heart and speak a word of sympathy, I would burst into tears and
they would flow like a great waterfall.” However, True
Father kept all the pain and bitter sorrow of the past years in
his heart, sublimated through true love. All these tribulations
he overcame with the indomitable spirit of getting up eight
times after collapsing seven times, all for the sake of God’s
liberation and salvation of humankind, and fulfilling God’s
will for the realization of a world of peace. In
1997, on the foundation of his tremendous work and jeongseong,
True Parents at last proclaimed Chil Pal Jeol—“The
Declaration of the Realm of the Cosmic Sabbath for the Parents
of Heaven and Earth.” True Parents would find repose
because they had laid the foundation to rest completely, from
the era of the individual to the era of the cosmic kingship.
However, True Parents did not rest at all. Instead, they carried
on with even greater urgency than before, marching ahead with
eyes unwaveringly on the goal. Thirteen
years later, on 5.27 by the heavenly calendar in the 1st year of
Cheon-gi (2010), True Parents held the “Assembly for the
Settlement of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind
and for the Proclamation of the Word by God’s Substantial
Self.” Through this assembly, True Parents proclaimed to
the cosmos that they had ultimately perfected, completed, and
concluded the providence of restoration. They proclaimed this on
the foundation of having perfected, completed and fulfilled all
their responsibilities and mission to come to this earth and had
accomplished everything. Furthermore, this proclamation was made
on the foundation of having completed their firm establishment
in heaven and on earth with the stature and authority of the
king of kings, the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.
Consequently, it was only natural that True Parents should
comfortably rest and enjoy a time of peace. Yet,
what happened? Did True Parents comfortably rest? Are they
enjoying a sense of peace? Even after The Declaration of the
Realm of the Cosmic Sabbath for Parents of Heaven and Earth, or
after having achieved everything and attained victory through
the Settlement of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and
Humankind and for the Proclamation of the Word by God’s
Substantial Self, True Parents did not rest for a single
moment. True Father continued to subject his body to extremely
harsh and serious challenges beyond his physical limitations. He
further invested himself completely with life-or-death resolve,
indeed bringing suffering on himself while walking the path of a
pioneer. Regrettably, I think these circumstances might have
detrimentally affected the health of our elderly True
Father. This year alone, he has visited
the United States four times as he spearheaded the providence by
himself. On 3.4 by the heavenly calendar, the day he was
departing for the United States a second time, he told the
members “Today I am once again going on the path of a
pioneer,” indicating his resolute determination towards
God’s will, the deep resolve of a pioneer that he has
shown throughout his entire life. What do you think is the
reason for this? It is because we have
been unable to fulfill our responsibility and mission as tribal
messiahs. True Father has once again taken this on in order to
somewhat lessen, if not alleviate, our providential burden and
portion of responsibility. He did this in order to guide even
one more person towards salvation and the path to the kingdom of
heaven. When we think about for whom True
Parents, especially True Father who leads the providence while
pushing his aging body at 93, is following this precipitous
path, we should repent hundreds and thousands of times and ask
for forgiveness. Yet still this would not be enough. Beloved brothers and
sisters, To this day, not only were we
unable to decipher True Parents’ heart, we have trampled
on their hearts too many times. We have burdened True Parents
not only physically but also in their hearts with a heavy weight
and deep pain. Our inability to become one as brothers and
sisters has caused indescribable concern and pain to True
Parents. I think that it is because of
our being unfaithful and undutiful sons and daughters, True
Father’s heart has been deeply scarred and grieved, which
has had the aftereffect of undermining his health. In that
sense, we are all undutiful sons and daughters before True
Parents. We must clearly confess this transgression and pray in
repentance. We should fervently pray to God and True Parents for
forgiveness. Dear members, At
this time all our brothers and sisters worldwide are of one
heart and mind in offering jeongseong for the sake of True
Father’s health. Taking this opportunity, the brothers and
sisters who have become distant in heart from True Parents
should repent for the past days, and be reborn as the new people
True Parents would wish them to be. They must come back to True
Parents’ bosom. During this state
of emergency all members should unite. Furthermore, let us unite
with our central Abel figure, the International President, Rev.
Hyung Jin Moon, whom True Parents have appointed as their
successor and heir, and fulfill the way of absolute faith,
absolute love and absolute obedience that we have failed to
accomplish before True Parents. Let us sincerely atone, through
our tears, for our disloyalty and faithlessness of the past. Let
us pledge and take action to fulfill the dutiful way of loyalty
and filial piety. True Parents have lived
in hardship and have offered jeongseong throughout their lives,
pushing their physical bodies beyond their limits in order to
give us even greater blessings and greater love. We
should poignantly feel how much love we have received until now.
We should feel, deep in our hearts, that we are fortunate to be
people who can experience this happiness. Currently
True Mother is devoting her entire being to caring for True
Father twenty-four hours a day. And as she has done in the past,
True Mother is sharing the tribulation, sorrow and all of the
accompanying pain that True Father is going through. Finding no
sleep, hardly having time to eat, she is offering deep
jeongseong solely with the ardent wish for True Father’s
recovery. In reality, True Mother herself needs to rest in this
situation where her heart and body are exhausted from nursing
True Father. We should offer our deep consolation to True Mother
as well. Beloved
members, The
inexpressibly difficult circumstances continue even now. True
Mother is doing her best not to lose her calm. She is doing her
best not to show tears and instead is encouraging the
members. As
you are aware through the announcement from the World Mission
Headquarters on 7.1 by the heavenly calendar (August 18), True
Mother conveyed to the regional presidents and a few of the
heads of providential organizations who came to visit True
Father at the hospital on behalf of all the members worldwide,
that “for us there is no stopping” in terms of
carrying out Heaven’s will and providence. Although True
Father is fighting strongly against his illness, True Mother
expressed her concern for us, comforting the members in the
field, telling us not to be disturbed, but to continue on
unwaveringly. She also reminded us that we should have the firm
resolve to achieve everything that True Father has been striving
to accomplish. True
Mother reminded us that although we have all worked hard until
now and done our best, we need to now feel that the standard of
having done our best is no longer enough, underscoring that we
should “work harder, ten times or even a hundred times
more; the harder you work, the more Heaven will remember you.”
Mother once again emphasized that there is no stopping on the
way and asked that we do our utmost in the preparations for
victory of Foundation Day. In
keeping with the words of our True Mother, there is no stopping
for us on the way. Let us do our best to create the ideal world
of one family under God, which is True Parents’ desire.
Let us become true filial sons and daughters who accomplish
without fail the responsibility and mission as tribal messiahs
given to blessed families in this era along with privileged
grace, so that we can welcome Foundation Day in victory and
return glory and praise to True Parents. Let us now truly pledge
to God and True Parents that we will walk the path of loyalty
and filial piety, and put our firm resolve into
action. Furthermore,
our first and foremost priority at this time is offering even
more prayer and jeongseong for True Father’s recovery and
health. Throughout the world, members of the Unification Family
are even now offering fasting and vigil night prayers. There is
the saying, “Sincerity moves Heaven.” True Father
will surely regain his robust strength and health as he once
had. I take this opportunity to offer my deepest appreciation to
all members who are offering prayer and jeongseong. Once
again, I ask for even greater jeongseong from all our brothers
and sisters so that True Parents can be restored to a state of
peace and joy even one day sooner. My
heartfelt appreciation goes to our brothers and sisters who
constantly yearn for True Parents, who think about God’s
will and who sincerely carry out their work. I pray that you may
always be overflowing with Heaven’s abundant love and
blessings.