Book 11 CEREMONIES AND HOLY DAYS
Chapter
1.The Etiquette of Attendance
Section
1. A Life of Attendance 1139
Section
2. Living in Attendance to God 1143
Section
3: Attending True Parents in Daily Life 1152
Chapter
2. Church Services
Section
1. Church Service and Prayer 1157
Section
2. The Meaning of Tithing 1167
Section
3. The Practice of Hoondokhae 1170
Chapter
3. Ceremonies and Rituals
Section
1. The Blessing Ceremony 1175
Section
2. The Seonghwa Ceremony 1185
Chapter
4. The Daily Life of Blessed Families
Section
1. Proper Conduct for Blessed Families 1190
Section
2. The Standard of Love in the Family and Respect between Husband and
Wife 1199
Section
3. Blessed Family Practices 1205
Chapter
5. The Holy Days and Anniversaries
Section
1. Holy Days 1213
Section
2. Anniversaries 1233
Book 11 CEREMONIES AND HOLY DAYS
CHAPTER 1 The Etiquette of Attendance
Section 1. A Life of Attendance
1 You should live a life of attendance and encourage each other to be strong in doing so. Up to now you received salvation through a life of faith, but from now on you will find salvation through attendance. If humankind had not fallen at the outset, you would attend God as your way of life. Attending God is something you do with your whole heart in your daily life. Wherever you go, you should always feel that your father is in front of you and your mother is behind you, and that Heaven is with you at every moment, to your right and left, above you and below you. When you, as Unification Church members, carry out your mission, your public responsibility in the church, you may run into difficulties that you cannot resolve on your own. When this happens, you should purify your mind, cleanse your body with a bath, and pray sincerely to Heaven. When you pray, ask God for His guidance, and He will show you the way to go. If He does not, it is only because your heart does not reach the standard of Gods heart; if it does, He will surely answer you. If you entrust everything to God and rely on Him when you face difficulties, keeping a prayerful heart, God will guide you in the right direction through your intuition. (150-294, 1961.04.15)
2 In this age you are justified by living in attendance to God. You attain salvation through attendance. Previously, you were saved through paying indemnity. However, you must now enter the age when you attend Heaven. There must be a nation where everyone lives in attendance to Heaven. Jesus was chased out because he did not have such a nation. It is the same for you. You must go forth holding on to the Word that I am conveying to you. Satan has no power to deny the Word. Since even Satan recognizes God, if you substantially build a family that is aligned with the Word and with the heavenly world, then centering on your family you can freely expand your foundation. How can a nation emerge without families? It is from our families that our tribes can emerge. Centering on our tribes we can create our nation, and from that point God's world will emerge naturally. This is the expansion that will take place starting from blessed families. (354-222, 2001.09.27)
Now is the era when we live in attendance to God
3 The Unification Church does not talk about the kingdom of heaven based on faith alone. We say that the righteous are justified by attendance, that we are saved through attendance. But to attend God you need to know Him. It is not a problem to attend Him once you understand the teachings of the Unification Church. Once you truly understand them, you will know God and find it natural to attend Him. Having said that, I ask you: how regularly do you feel God’s presence? How many times during your twenty-four hour day do you feel His presence? Can you expect to be saved through attendance if you attend God two hours a day? You should need God more than you need to breathe and seek Him more desperately than a choking person gasps for air or a dehydrated person craves a drink of water. God is more essential than food. (033-231, 1970.08.16)
4 You have to know God’s situation and circumstances, understand His heart, and then think of Him as you would your father. He is your Father, my Father and our Father. Why should learning about God, listening to Him and attending Him be our way of life? It is so we can come to understand God’s circumstances and heart as they were expressed in the pages of the Bible. It is to understand that God is our own Father, who has been wounded, trampled upon, rejected and torn to pieces. (8-253, 1960.01.17)
5 The standard for true relationships is the parent-child bond of heart between God and human beings. No one in authority can undermine this bond of heart, for it is eternal, unchanging and unique. It is a bond with absolute authority. When you come forth with this authority, all beings bow their heads before you. When you move with the authority of this bond of heart, the entire universe follows you. This is an ironclad rule of the universe. (007-105, 1959.07.26)
6 If you do not have the courage to embrace people of all different colors and live with them as family, you will not be able to attend God in the future ideal world, the kingdom of heaven. That is why in the Unification Church there is interracial marriage among members of different skin colors. I encourage Koreans, Japanese and Americans to intermarry. If I did not do that, would not be able to take the lead responsibility in helping all humankind enter the world of the heart. If I did not do so, people would ask why, among the people of different colors, I only loved people of one color and did not make the condition to love people of another color, so I encourage Koreans to marry people of all colors. (177-068, 1988.05.15)
7 A life of attendance is not easy. It is not easy for you, and it is not easy for me either. If I have to deal with an issue concerning attendance, I cannot sleep. I know that unless I attend God, He will be restricted; that without me He cannot be liberated. It should be the same for you in attending me. You should make me feel that I am powerless without you, because only when you expand the scope of your activities can I broaden the stage of my activities. Therefore, you should understand that you determine the circumstances that surround me, and you should have a heart to create an expansive environment for me in all spheres of life. Again, a life of attendance is not easy. You must attend God with more heart than the heart of parents who love their children. Your parents took care of you for twenty years or more, but God has been raising His children for tens of millions of years. Tens of millions of years have passed since humankind emerged. For tens of millions of years God invested Himself and devoted Himself to meet the Son whom He has yearned for. Just because you have devoted yourself, do not think that you have offered all that you have. Even after devoting yourself you should think it is still not enough. (301-186, 1999.04.26)
8 God is near you. His concern for each of you exceeds that of anyone else. Everyone thinks that their own parents love them the most, but God’s love is greater and deeper than that love; it is deeper and greater than any human love in this world. Hence, you should become people who can feel Gods loving embrace and call Him Father. You should become true sons and daughters who can experience God’s internal heart, in the position where you can say, “Now I know my Father’s sorrow.” If you can become such sons and daughters, you will become the owners of the kingdom of heaven in which you attend God. No one will be able to take that kingdom away from you. (002-235, 1957.06.02)
Our mindset during a life of attendance
9 God is not a fantasy. He is not just an idea or an abstract concept. He leads and guides our daily lives. He is always with us as the master of our daily circumstances. He does not exist just so that we can attend Him, but to live together with us, sharing love. All my life I have been fighting battles in circumstances where God could not be properly attended. No matter how hard the world opposes a person like me, and no matter how hard Satan strikes me or tries to undermine me, they cannot prevail as long as Heaven approves of me. Since I have this foundation, whoever attacks me ends up toppling over. (168-112, 1987.09.13)
10 In order to attend God, we need to begin by placing Him in the midst of our heart and mind and then become completely one with Him in our body. Without doing so, there is no way for us to liquidate the devil’s world. That is why we view this time as the age of attendance, the age when we are justified by attendance. We are saved through attendance. God is not a distant God way up in the sky. We should attend God as our subject partner in our daily life. How do we attend Him? By using the law of indemnity, we must unravel all the sorrowful and painful circumstances that God has endured throughout the ages of history. (144-274, 1986.04.25)
11 Why do we seek justification through deeds, justification through faith, and justification through attendance? Without justification, good and evil cannot be distinguished. The evil world cannot be separated from the world of goodness. God is the standard of righteousness and goodness. The way God believes, the way God works, the way He attends— God must always be at the center. Satan cannot accuse righteous people who resemble God. (161-219, 1987.02.15)
12 God believes, works and lives in attendance; if we live with the same standard, then we will create an environment where Satan cannot intervene in our life. Although we may be within Satan’s realm, if we establish the standard of righteousness that makes an environment where we can be with God, then Satan will withdraw. That does not mean that attendance in the Completed Testament Age is the only thing that will remain after the Old Testament Age based on deeds and the New Testament Age based on faith have passed. We need all three: the works of the Old Testament Age, the faith of the New Testament Age, and the attendance of the Completed Testament Age. Even in the Completed Testament Age we need to have faith and do good works. They are inseparable, by the same logic that tells us that growth occurs based on the formation stage, and completion happens based on the growth stage. This is particularly so at this time because justification by attendance means developing our lives in order to usher in the era of the kingdom of heaven. (161-219, 1987.02.15)
13 In the Old Testament Age, sacrificial offerings were made to lay the path for the Son to come. In the New Testament Age, the Son was sent and sacrificed to lay the path for the Parents to come. The blood of Christians was shed for the Second Advent of the Lord, paving the way for the True Parents to come. The age of the Unification Church is the age of the True Parents. It must pave the path for God to descend to the earth and dwell upon it. Because God has come to the earth, we can obtain salvation through attending God. This is how history is developing. We sacrifice things of a lower level in order to recover the Son. The Son has to live, even if it means sacrificing the creation. All things of creation are in lamentation because they cannot experience the glory of God’s love and the realm of His children’s love. (177-158, 1988.05.17)
14 What kind of devotion should true sons and daughters offer? It should not stem from a life of mundane reality. Instead, you should offer devotion of hope, glory, loyalty and attendance. If this is the kind of legacy you leave behind when you pass over to the next world, the kingdom of heaven will belong to you and Heavenly Father will be your Father. Until now, you have offered devotion while going the course of indemnity. However, from now on you should offer devotion to join the realm of attendance, so that you can offer attendance to Heaven. Those who are able to do this will join the first resurrection. In order to join the realm of attendance, you must have the heart to comfort God. God is a grieving God, and you can comfort Him by making painful conditions of devotion through which you can participate in God’s sorrowful circumstances. The providence of restoration introduces us to these circumstances, by revealing the indemnity conditions that people have made before God. (17-245, 1967.01.29)
15 From now on, you must lead a life of righteousness through attendance. By leading a life of attendance we can become a family of filial children, patriots, saints and divine sons and daughters. In the Era before the Coming of Heaven we fought with Satan. That time has now passed, giving way to the Era after the Coming of Heaven, the era of the kingship of peace. This is inevitable. It is necessary for each one of us to follow this path. It is not someone else’s path, but yours. If you do not follow this path, you will have trouble in the next world. (492-237, 2005.04.16)
Section 2. Living in Attendance to God
1 As you receive more of God’s love, you become larger, gradually leading more people and organizations. If you have laid a foundation to receive love from the people of a whole nation, you can make that nation one that can move the world. Because of this principle, you must lead a life of attendance. You need to lead a life of attendance in order to receive God’s love. You must serve and attend God first. What must you do if you wish to receive God’s love? God comes to us with perfect love, so we too must invest something that is perfect. The Korean maxim “Sincerity moves Heaven” expresses this heavenly law. To offer devotion means to do your utmost internally and externally. You must offer everything, combining your words, your attitude, your mind and thoughts, all your actions, everything in the internal and external realities of your life. In Korean this offering of devotion is called jeongseong. (78-031, 1975.05.01)
2 When you get out of bed in the morning, you should offer your first words to Heaven, and you should offer your first step out of the house to Heaven as well, by stepping first with your right foot. By cultivating habits like these, your life becomes a life of attendance. In your attitude every day, you have to adopt a principled standard. (17-296, 1967.02.15)
Attitude and law in a life of attendance
3 Where are you now? You should be aligned with me day and night, wherever you are and wherever you go. I live with God, totally investing my life for Him, totally aligned with Him, moving in the same direction as He moves, in step with Him. Now, the three—God, True Parents and you—must become one. We need to act in concert. It is a matter of life and death, so all three of us must come together and unite at one point. That point is the beginning of the realm of resurrection. It is the connecting point where the Father and I become one, and where you and I become one. It is where we three unite with one mind and one heart. Therefore, you must lead your life in accord with the Will. In order to do so, you have to understand what the Will is. Since you do not, I am asking you to pray. If you pray, I will surely appear to you and teach you. (031-321, 1970.06.07)
4 We cannot claim even a single square inch of land as our own property. God gave everything we have. Since God gave it, it must be returned to Him. No matter how small, everything came from God, and therefore we must return everything to God as things He values. The fruits of history will appear when we do. Since we received them as God’s gifts, we should give them back the same way. You should become a person who can do this. Until the world belongs to such people, this earth cannot become the kingdom of God. Why do you think I meet people and listen to them twenty- four hours a day? It is for God. Therefore, you too must meet people and listen to them, on God’s behalf. You must feel their difficulties for His sake. Even while we live on earth, we have to connect to life in the heavenly world. (35-284, 1970.10.25)
5 When you went pioneering alone in the remote countryside, you wished fervently that Unification Church members would visit you. You were anxious whether someone among the church members might have fallen sick. Your heart yearned to see the members closest to you, wishing to see a church pastor or me. You should yearn for God in this same way. If you do not yearn for God every day, you cannot attend Him. Whomever you yearn for, that yearning should always pierce you to the bone. When it gets late, if you say, “It’s already midnight, let’s go to bed,” this will cause God to worry. There is no day or night in the kingdom of heaven. The lateness of the hour is not an issue for those who live in the world of heart. (17-293, 1967.02.15)
6 "When you are hungry you say, “I’m hungry! I want something to eat!” But for whom do you want to eat? Do you want to eat for God, or for yourself? You must eat for God. By doing this, you make your body a perfect holy temple of God. You should think, ""God inside me is hungry and is telling me to eat.” When you eat with this mindset, your meal becomes sacred. It is the same when you breathe, when you go to the restroom, or when you do anything else. When you listen, you are not listening alone. Likewise when you see or touch something, do not think that you are doing it alone. When you relate to people, even when you relate to Satan’s world, you need to think that it is God who is relating to them through you. When you talk, you should think that God is speaking through you. When you are totally one with God, you can live. Even though your living, thinking and loving are centered on yourself, it will still be lawful. Even though you live, think and love centered on yourself, your living, thinking and loving will be centered on God. That is the principle. (92-166, 1977.04.03)"
7 As a person who is attending God, how much does your happiness bring joy to God? When you are hungry you are grateful to eat, and when you attend God, you should have even greater gratitude. You should always attend God—when you eat, when you wear something nice, even when you are sad or face difficulties. By living this way, you will leave behind good stories that God will keep in His heart. (17-291, 1967.02.15)
8 God wants to caress the things of creation through the hands of the person whose heart is one with His. God wants to embrace all His children through the Son and Daughter whose hearts are one with His. God eagerly waits for His sovereignty to be established by the bride who is one in heart with Him. God is eager to see the day when this world will be governed by sons and daughters who are one in heart with Him. Have you ever thought about all this? The more you think about it, the more awe-inspiring it becomes. When you think about how God’s desire is not only connected to you but also to the world and even the cosmos, you cannot deny that you belong to God the Father. Therefore, you should think that your mind belongs to the Father, your heart belongs to the Father, your consciousness, your intuition and all your senses belong to the Father. You should establish the viewpoint that everything you feel and perceive belongs to the Father. You should do everything in your power to realize God’s desire. Our path may lead to death, but no matter how fearful it is, we must overcome with a strong heart and conviction. We will have the power to laugh at death and go beyond it. (008-295, 1960.02.14)
9 There are laws for attending God. When you violate them, God is very displeased. Parents can be affected by one word from the child they love. With just one word a child can drive a nail into his or her parents’ heart, or remove a nail from their heart. Likewise, because God loves humankind that much, if His children offend Him with even the slightest mistake, He can become hurt or angry. That is why I constantly strive to make God happy. (17-287, 1967.02.15)
10 When we look at six thousand years of history from a vertical perspective, we see that in the Old Testament Age, God gathered His people, and in the New Testament Age, God gathered His children. In this way, history has been flowing in reverse. In the world today there are people trying to build the kingdom of heaven centering on the concept of the people of God. There are also people who are trying to build the kingdom of heaven based upon the idea of heavenly children, the idea of heavenly siblings, and the idea of heavenly couples. You should know how to observe the laws of the kingdom of heaven in your daily life. To build the kingdom of heaven, you must observe the laws of the kingdom of heaven as required by Heaven. Based on the laws of the kingdom of heaven, you must also live the lifestyle of the kingdom of heaven. And based on the lifestyle of the kingdom of heaven, you become one through the love of the kingdom of heaven. The Word is the standard for the laws of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore you need to live based on the Word. This is the path you should walk. (001-337, 1956.12.30)
11 You may be able to experience God’s grace through prayer or the work of the Holy Spirit because of the cooperation of spirits in the spirit world. Originally, human beings were created to mature spiritually as life spirits and then divine spirits. We are meant to have the Spirit within us. If we cultivate our spirituality centering on the power of the Spirit of God within us, we will gain the ability as divine spirits to perceive things spiritually, even when we are not helped or guided by spirits from the spirit world. Once you reach that spiritual level, whenever God feels sorrow, you too will experience indescribable sorrow welling up within. For instance, if you feel indescribable sadness when bidding good-bye to somebody, it means that person is entering a path of sacrificial offering or another path for which God feels great compassion. It will be one or the other. If you can actually feel that, and stand in the position where you have this kind of intuition and communication in your sphere of life, it means you are a person who experiences the Spirit. (040-297, 1971.02.07)
12 When the True Parents live together with human beings on earth bound together by relationships based on the heavenly principles of natural law, on that day the work of God to establish morals and ethics based on the original human nature will spread throughout heaven and earth. Why are so many unhappy young men and women fleeing from their families? It is because love based on Heaven’s law was lost. Hence, to save all families, the Parents of Heaven and Earth must emerge who can enable God to dwell within their own family. Jesus cannot become the Savior if he lives alone when he returns to earth. How can he save fallen humankind? He can do it only from the position of a parent. God is the Father of true love. Therefore, Jesus must come to the earth as the Father, and with the qualifications of a parent, He must personally save humankind. He comes with the heart of a parent, to v save his children, whom he can hear groaning in the world of death and calling out to be saved. (21-156, 1968.11.17)
13 As object partners of the subject partner, we must not complain. To complain is rash and self-destructive. Therefore there is no place for complaint in our life of faith. In our life of faith there must be only gratitude. God is our eternal subject partner. Therefore, as long as we are destined to live our life along with Him, we I should not deviate from His law and His way of life. (58-310, 1972.06.25)
14 Heavenly principles of natural law are established when we human beings observe the proper order. Among subject partner—object partner relationships, God stands in the position of the absolute subject partner. Anyone who ignores that subject partner cannot become His object partner. If you want to become an absolute object partner before the absolute subject partner, you must become absolutely one with Him. If you do so, everything you see, hear and feel, even the love you feel toward your family members after returning home from work, must be for God, because you stand as an object partner before Him as the subject partner. This is what it means to become one. If you do this, your family will never perish. (58-311, 1972.06.25)
15 What is it that will last until the end? It is the way of life that God and human beings share, a viewpoint that they share regarding how to live. That viewpoint on life itself should also be the same; there should be a view of life and a worldview shared by God and humankind. Our relationship with God should not be based on only a vague understanding. This forges an eternal bond, an inseparable relationship. It never should have happened, but God and human beings separated and now must reach a level of relationship higher than what it was before the Fall. This requires that we advance our quality of life to where we are one with God every day, all the way to the world level. (65-127, 1972.11.05)
16 Now the quantity of indemnity you have paid will be transformed into love and be connected to your very essence. The time has come when you must observe the laws of a life of attendance. As a woman, if you have received the Blessing, your husband is necessary for love. Saying your husband is necessary centers on the mind that loves your husband. Your love is the measure. How much do you need to love him? If you say that you need to do so absolutely, then you need to stand in the position of an absolute object partner centered on absolute love. This is the exact position in which God is situated. Everything about God is absolute. The beginning and the end, and even the process, are absolute. (518-296, 2006.02.26)
The path of filial piety: sincerity moves Heaven
17 What does it mean to serve someone with all your heart and all your will, and offer your utmost devotion to that person? It means you are willing to offer your life for that person. That is the full measure of devotion. Where is the limit of your heart and mind? When you devote yourself to someone with all your heart, it means you surrender your life for that person. To serve with all your will and devotion means to put your life on the line. The saying, “Sincerity moves Heaven,” refers to what happens when your sincerity transcends all limits and you put your life on the line in offering devotion for the other. God cannot ignore those who offer devotion at the risk of their lives, putting their life on the line. (38-242, 1971.01.08)
18 What is the core thought that we find on the path of the providence of restoration? It is to follow the path of a sacrificial offering. What is a sacrificial offering? We were told to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37) The outcome of loving with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind is simple. It means that you put your life on the line out of your love for God. It does not mean that you are forced to do it. It means that you do it willingly, feeling an inexpressible joy. (48-114, 1971.09.05)
19 When I prayed kneeling down on the floor, my tears never dried. I even had calluses on my knees. In Korea there is a saying, “A tower built with devotion will not collapse.” We must offer devotion to God. We must reach a state where we are crazy with yearning for God. If God dwelt on Earth, He would want to visit His children a thousand times a day. But because He does not dwell on Earth, He cannot do so. That is why He sent me to you on His behalf. This is the special reason that you cannot help but love me. You would not feel like loving me without a reason. During the three months of bitter cold in the winter, the tears of my prayers would completely soak through all the cotton insulation in my clothes. Think about how desperate I was. I had showdown prayers with God, face-to-face, stabbing the floor with a dagger, and not just once or twice. (060-213, 1972.08.17)
20 Whatever you do, whether eating or drinking, sitting or standing, and regardless of whom you are with, what is most essential is that you demonstrate a childlike heart before your parents. You don’t receive this through knowledge. Are you going to live in God’s presence, bragging, “I am Dr. So-and-So”? That is something He doesn’t need. The question is how you can stimulate God to love you. There is only one path: “Sincerity moves Heaven.” There is no other way. (78-040, 1975.05.01)
21 You should not complain. There is no room for complaint. What I am saying is, you should not think of yourself. You should not hold on to concepts like “my possessions” or “my love.” Thinking about God, you should have the heart that if you complain, it would cause great pain to our Heavenly Parent, and that because you have the chance to understand His circumstances and inherit His tradition, you will inherit it, follow Him, and comfort Him. If you shed tears with such a heart, God will be with you. But God will not be with you if you shed tears centered on yourself. You should shed tears for God and the Parents. Such is the altar of the Unification Church. Such is the life of attendance in the Unification Church. (114-281, 1981.10.20)
22 Even though I might collapse from hunger and exhaustion, my only thought has been how I can walk the path to fulfill what God needs me to fulfill, and how I can shoulder the cross that I might be required to carry along the way. You, however, are not even preparing yourselves to go on such a path. Although you know that you can be saved through attendance, you are just brazenly watching me. You should not be standing still with that kind of mindset. Whether we are asleep or awake, we should move forward for Heavenly Father and His nation. We must dissolve His bitter sorrow, even if it means that we die tens of thousands of times. Whoever has the courage to do that should be able to carry a cross on behalf of God in addition to his or her own cross. That is why at this time we must work for Heavenly Father and His nation, and become the filial sons and daughters whom the Father can summon. We are the people who were born for God’s sake; therefore we must become filial sons, filial daughters, patriots and righteous men and women. This is our mission. (13-233, 1964.03.22)
23 You should not leave yourself even a moment to think about saving face, keeping your dignity or even feeling hunger. You should focus on activities for God’s Will even more than on a child that is sick. But if you can’t, you should at least have the kind of absolute obedience that won’t let you sleep at night when you don’t understand what I am doing, and sets you running to me at 2 a.m. to ask about it until you do understand. This is the kind of life you must live. That’s what I mean when I say that salvation comes through attendance. It’s how I have always lived out my relationship to God. I cannot relax even for a second. After my body was struck, I was even more determined to stay on the path of indemnity to comfort God. (21-070, 1968.09.09)
24 If you are in difficulty and in pain, go and pray in a quiet room with the door closed. If you still cannot find an answer, pray even more deeply and more seriously. Invest more time in prayer. As I walked this path, it was normal for me to pray more than twelve hours a day. Imagine that you are diving thousands of feet deep into the ocean. What would you have to overcome? What would you have to endure? Prayerful people seldom make mistakes. They can find the answers within themselves. Once you experience the taste of prayer, you will find it more delicious than any meal and more fun than any hobby. When you reach that level of spirituality, you will immediately know what is good and what is bad in your environment. (128-172, 1983.06.12)
25 Unification Church members must pray. Pray to set aside your desires about the clothes you wear, the food you eat and where you live, and pray for humility. How much prayer do you think is needed in order to liberate humankind and God? We should pray as if we were facing the most serious situation in human history. Prayer solidifies your resolve to follow the path, no matter how difficult it may be. Constant prayer, twenty-four hours a day, will bring God to you. If someone is thinking about you, you will want to go and visit that person. It is the same for God. God seeks those who are thinking about Him more than about anyone or anything else, and who are striving to dedicate themselves to Him. (128-172, 1983.06.12)
26 In longing for God, you should shed so many tears that your eyes are blinded and your nose is clogged with mucous. Your uncontrollable weeping should make your chest ache. That is how much you must long for God. A son may desperately cry out, “Father!” as he is being dragged to his execution. Another may mournfully call out, “Father!” as he is leaving for a far- off country. When we call out “My Heavenly Father!” our standard must be higher than that. (50-289, 1971.11.08)
27 God is suffering hardships because of me, because of my family, because of my nation, and because of my world. So it makes sense that I too should suffer hardships because of myself, because of my family, my society, my nation and my world, and that I should do it for God. I am saying that, together with the Republic of Korea, we should suffer hardships on behalf of God. That is my philosophy, and it is also God’s philosophy. Some people look for chances to secretly impose burdens on others, even when everyone is already suffering hardships. These spineless people think that others should shoulder all the burdens instead of them, and if they could, they would sell even God for their own personal benefit. You have to be somewhat foolish to follow God’s path. In a certain sense, patriots appear to be rather foolish people, even somewhat stupid. They have the character of a bear, with a kind of slow- witted generosity that, if someone took a piece of their arm, they would say, “Oh, that’s not enough, go ahead and take some more!” (26-142, 1969.10.19)
28 To this day, I have been enduring hardship for the Will, day and night, and I am not about to stop. Those who have not attended me closely do not know me well. As soon as I open my eyes from sleep I kneel on the floor and pray. Why do I live this way? It is because, even in the middle of the night, my beloved children who are spread all across the world are depending on me. If I cannot be there to offer devotion with them when they pray to God, shouldn’t I at least keep up with them and not fall behind them? Because I pray immediately upon waking up, God forgives me for not praying with them while I was asleep. (26-138, 1969.10.19)
29 What kind of person am I? I am a person who possesses only one talent: I just go straight ahead no matter what. Some people ask why I always do things that everybody vilifies and scorns, instead of quietly going a more convenient way. It is because I can reach the pinnacle only by overcoming the opposition of many people. On the other hand, most of you are thinking only about how to take detours around the difficulties. Why do we need to separate from the world? It is because even the love of our natural parents will take us off target. God has been following a straight path, and we must do the same. (097-257, 1978.03.19)
30 I am a lonely and solitary man. I could come this far only because I understand that God is as lonely and solitary as I am, and that He understands me. I know that the mission I must pursue until I die is to fulfill even a portion of God’s Will and desire—to expand His foundation in even one area. That is why I am gathering together people who can live for God. Because I was born as God’s son and because I feel responsible to establish His Will, I have not accused those who mocked me, nor have I sought revenge against those who beat me. Instead, I have persevered with love and fought my way forward, sometimes staggering, sometimes trudging ahead with my back bent over, and sometimes crawling on my belly. Through all of this I have maintained only one thought: how to establish God’s tradition and bequeath it to the world. (82-047, 1975.12.30)
31 Here is what True Parents have to do. They need to win every battle, enter the deepest place in God’s heart, liberate Him from bitter pain and sorrow, and establish His realm of victory on earth. You need to feel grateful to God that the True Parents have emerged on earth. You need to be aware of the misery of God, our vertical True Parent, which has been dissipated finally, because He has sent the Lord of the Second Advent to earth to liberate all humankind. Now we have entered an incredible era. Because of True Parents, we can pledge to become God’s filial sons and daughters and we can then strive to realize that pledge. (235-021, 1992.08.24)
32 How serious are you about following the way of the Will? I have been walking it all my life without even my wife and children knowing what it involves. Only God and I know that. It has been lonely. No one knows the path I had to follow. With God’s help, I, a solitary man, have brought amazing results. With this achievement I have raised issues fundamental to society. I have triggered a wave of innovative thought in this world of declining democracies. This has made me a controversial figure. What I have accomplished is not because I am great, but because God has been with me. (82-047, 1975.12.30)
Section 3: Attending True Parents in Daily Life
1 From now on, you must live with True Parents. God is in the position of the grandparents. True Parents are in the position of the mother and the father, and you are in the position of the first son. The lesson is that three generations should live together. You should live with the feeling resounding in your heart that God is with you and True Parents are with you. (131-097, 1984.04.16)
A life of attending True Parents
2 Are you True Parents’ true sons and daughters? What are true sons and daughters? Being true children means a connection based on the true lineage. Of course a relationship with true children is formed through true love, but we should be connected through true lineage. If you are connected through lineage, you must take after your mother and father. Do you resemble me? Your eyes are blue, mine are black, and our hair color is different. I have a round, Oriental face. So for you to take after True Parents, what really matters is how much you resemble our essence. You should be able to say, “I resemble you in defeating Satan and in loving God absolutely’’ That is how you should resemble me. (170-237, 1987.11.21)
3 How much should you love me? You should not love me from a position that has traces of Satan’s world and is tainted with love from that world. Go beyond that by loving me more than you love your parents, spouse and children who were born in Satan’s world. That is why in the Bible, Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matt. 10:37) This conclusion applies to all of us. He also said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Each of us carries our own cross. To carry the cross means to resist and overcome the power that pulls us in the opposite direction. When we reach this point we shed bitter tears. (178-098, 1988.06.01)
4 The Blessing is the culmination of everything. So, at that moment, with whom should you establish your relationship? You couples cannot move forward to perfection on your own. You can do so only through True Parents’ love. Everyone, whether good-looking or not, takes after their parents. In the Unification Church I am teaching the way of the True Parents. This is your blessing of all blessings. The hope of humankind is to meet the True Parents. Even at the cost of your life, you must meet the True Parents. Even if you lose all of history, all of the present age and all your descendants, when you meet the True Parents you will regain history, the present age and the future. Meeting the True Parents is a blessing. (35-236, 1970.10.19)
5 Everything comes down to meeting the True Parents. The coming of the True Parents of humankind is the desire of history, the desire of all nations, the desire of all ideologies, and the desire of the entire providence. Their appearance is unprecedented and will never happen again. It is the turning point of history and comes only once. From the perspective of eternity, a person’s lifespan is just one breath. (51-355, 1971.12.05)
6 Carry my picture at all times. It will protect you and empower you to withstand any hardship. Moses performed miracles and signs to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, away from the Pharaoh, and guide them to Canaan. When the Egyptians’ firstborn suffered afflictions and were killed, the Israelites marked their doorposts with the blood of a lamb for protection. Likewise, when you carry my picture with you, the spirit world will watch over you and protect you. (130-290, 1984.02.07)
7 When the Israelites were about to leave Egypt, they were able to avoid calamity by marking their doorposts with the blood of a lamb. In the same way, carrying my picture can protect you. The spirit world can recognize it even if it is in your pocket. It serves as a mediator by which your ancestors can connect to you. They understand that it is a good channel by which they can do this. If you carry this picture with you, you will not have accidents or trouble. Without it, you are more likely to run into problems. Such incidents will occur all the time, and by that, you will recognize the value of my picture. (132-191, 1984.06.01)
Human morality and filial piety
8 Ethical and moral teachings have always held that parents have to love their children, that children have to be filial to their parents, and that there must be a distinction between husband and wife. These virtues, transmitted down to the present day, are the cornerstone of the Three Principles and the Five Moral Disciplines of human relationships as viewed in Confucianism. These days, however, such traditional customs and norms are changing. When we see the changes that are penetrating daily life and the social environment, we know that we are in the Last Days. The Messiah, a global leader, must appear to deal with these problems. (11-019, 1960.12.11)
9 According to Korean etiquette, you have to receive something from someone older than you with both hands. This signifies that Heaven’s love is received only when both parties, symbolized by the two hands, have a perfectly balanced relationship. There is an expression, “A person’s mind is Heaven’s mind.” The purpose of all the rules in human societies is to form relationships based on the way of the conscience. These rules serve to bring balance in relationships. They place man and woman on the same plane, with love as their axis. Therefore, we should always balance our relationships, with the heart of saints who love the world and the heart of divine sons and daughters who love God. This calls us to be humble before others. (171-237, 1988.01.01)
10 According to the eastern way of thinking, the older person should walk in front of the younger. This is because the older person was born earlier. This is how we create an orderly environment. The person born later should stand behind. Right or left, front or back, above or below; each should take their appropriate position. These views on keeping the proper order in relationships are eternal, and do not change. (168-252, 1987.09.27)
11 In a Korean family, when the parents rise in the morning, their daughter-in-law, who is already awake, goes to them and pays her respects. Then she folds up their bedding, cleans their room and prepares their meal. This is a norm in Korea. In order to indemnify fallen history, we must establish the law of filial piety as the highest among all laws. In the nation, filial piety should be the highest of all laws. (31-275, 1970.06.04)
12 In certain cultures of the world, people observe a three-year mourning period after a parent has passed away. The children offer meals to the spirit of their departed parent every morning and evening. Whenever they leave or return home, they pause before the altar set up for their departed parent and greet them. This is a law. You have to do even more than that. From the viewpoint of the Will, your behavior does not meet the standard of Heaven’s expectations for propriety. Far from it! A husband and wife should report their daily schedule to God together, before they go out to work. Upon returning home from work, they should again report to God together. Only then should they eat dinner. You need to understand this God-centered standard of life. It regulates all these things very strictly. There are distinct rules of family life for women and for men. You should systematize these incredibly important heavenly norms and live by them. They outline the path you must walk. (31-275, 1970.06.04)
13 The more difficult your life is, the more valuable your achievements. Younger people naturally look up to the oldest family members as if they were God; so you must demonstrate something different when you get older. The difference should be a deep heart that penetrates the bone marrow. So too, blessed couples should inspire adoration, such that people can’t help but think, “How happy the wife of that kind of husband must be! How happy the husband of such a wife must be!” (021-088, 1968.11.03)
14 You have heard about human moral norms, but not about heavenly moral norms. What is the origin of human moral norms? If you dig into their origin, you will find that they are based on the conscience. Most laws have their basis in Roman law, which may be considered the foundation for the current world civilization. However, moral norms arise from the conscience, not from laws. The foundation of the conscience is goodness itself, so the standard of goodness is the standard of the conscience. When we do something wrong, we are deviating from goodness and our conscience tries to correct us. Of course, we cannot form a universal social system that is in accord with the pure conscience without laws and regulations. But, in the end, human norms are fundamentally rooted in heavenly principles. (033-044, 1970.08.02)
15 In order to establish human norms for relationships, we need the original principled way. In order to establish the original principled way, we need the heavenly norms of relationships. Centering on what do they emerge? They emerge centering on absolute love. Centering on what does the original principled way emerge? It emerges centering on the authority of life. Today, loyalty is the representative norm of human relationships. Centering on what does it emerge? It must emerge centering on eternal fidelity. Today, do you have a heart to relate with others according to the norms of heavenly relationships? If you have such a desire, you should have friends whom you can trust from the bottom of your heart, just as you would trust God. One step further, you should have at least one sibling, parent, or spouse whom you can trust as you would trust God. With this in place, you need to transcend the family and expand your relationships to the society, nation, and world. This has always been God’s hope. (4-146, 1958.03.30)
16 We are told that there is no greater love than loving your neighbor as yourself. That is the greatest love. If you are pierced by bitter sorrow because you were unable to love your parents, then love your neighbors instead with greater love. If you do, a situation will arise when you will be able to demonstrate filial piety to your neighbors as if they were your parents. Even if you are unable to serve your parents with filial piety, Heaven will recognize your investment of filial piety toward your neighbors as having greater value than filial piety to your parents. (085-130, 1976.03.02)
Section 1. Church Service and Prayer
1 When you come early for church service, the extra time is an offering to God. Its value is beyond compare and cannot be purchased even with ten thousand pieces of gold. Therefore if you come late to the service, it is as if you are stealing that time from God. You should be on time for the service. It will enable you to indemnify what you have failed to do. That way you can still stand before God. Then you can come closer to Heaven with a better heart than you had the day before. (036-125, 1970.11.22)
2 Please do not say, “I am going to church because of so and so.” People who say, “I am going to church for my beloved sons and daughters” or “for my beloved husband or wife” will not be able to sustain their faith. They should rather go to church for God’s sake. Why then do you go to church? It should be because of God. You should go to church to make God your own and to find God’s love and make it your own. (8-162, 1959.12.06)
The Sabbath and Ahn Shi Il
3 When you go to church to worship God, you need to wear holy robes. I am not talking about outward clothes, but about the holy robes of the heart. If your heart overflows from within when you hear the sermon and sing the hymns, Heaven will work through you. When the fallen ancestors were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they shed tears of sorrow. In contrast, when you encounter God, you should be able to shed tears of joy with a smile on your face. Nevertheless, people cannot shed tears of joy upon meeting God unless they have first shed tears of sorrow. I am telling you, do not lose God. Do not lose sight of God, whom you’ve seen with your own eyes. Do not lose God, whom you’ve heard with your own ears. Do not lose God, whom you’ve touched. Most especially, do not lose the God who came into your heart. As long as you do not lose Him, no one can interfere with your connection to God. No person, no matter how great and powerful, can separate you from God once He has entered your heart. Therefore you must attend God, who penetrates the heart so intensely. (9-296, 1960.06.12)
4 God has led history for the purpose of saving you. So you should thirst for God’s grace and learn to inherit it. You did not join the Unification Church based on your own merits; you joined based on the sincere devotion that God, your ancestors and the church offered on your behalf. The Unification Church has been working very hard in order to find each one of you. This huge debt must therefore be repaid. (018-095, 1967.05.24)
5 What is the purpose of keeping the Sabbath holy? It is ultimately to bring salvation to humankind and to establish the nation that God desires. Christians keep the Sabbath holy to sanctify themselves and to strengthen the church’s purpose of saving human beings. The reason we observe the Sabbath is to advance the path to salvation. But more importantly, it is to save all humankind and seek God’s providential nation and world. This is God’s ultimate desire. (69-240, 1973.12.30)
6 Human beings must like what God likes. God designated the seventh day as the Sabbath day and declared it a day of rest, which we also observe. Yet although six thousand years of history have passed, God Himself has not been able to rest. He has not been able to take pride in His own Sabbath. Even Jesus, despite emphasizing the importance of the Word of the Gospel, which includes the Sabbath, could not enjoy even one day of glorious victory. All he could do was cling onto history and battle through the providence for the past two thousand years. Therefore he has not had a day when he could express his pride before God, a day when he could take his rest with all humankind. Since God and Jesus have never been in the position to take rest, we cannot rest either. Therefore, before the Sabbath comes, we are bound to confront wars, to experience pain, and to face death. Only after we overcome these hardships with resolute determination will we be able to taste the day of Sabbath. (5-025, 1958.11.09)
7 When you come to the church, you must bring all your family members with you—your parents, wife and children. You should also bring along your older brother, older sister and everyone else. How many bloody tears have you shed to witness to your parents, your cousins, your in-laws and other more distant relatives? Have you ever desperately struggled and prayed all night long with all of your devotion, offering yourself as a sacrifice, in order to guide even one person to God? This is the question. You must become the center of your environment in order to move forward. (41-090, 1971.02.13)
8 Now the Sabbath day (Ahn Shik Il) has passed, and the Day of Complete Settlement and Attendance (Ahn Shi Il) has come. However, even on the Sabbath day God did not want to rest. He came to re-create human beings, and there was still so much more indemnity that needed to be paid. Since we are saved through attendance rather than through the Sabbath day, Ahn Shik Il, we call it Ahn Shi Il. Because we are saved through attendance, if we simply use Ahn Shi Il, Unification Church members everywhere will understand its meaning. Thus by keeping the eighth day, we embark upon an amazing era. By observing the eighth day as Ahn Shi Il, we are blessed to pass through the gate that opens to the ideal heaven and earth and enter the world of attendance. That will bring safe settlement to the Blessing, and a new beginning. (445-288, 2004.04.19)
Devotions and prayers during church service
9 When you gather on Sunday and offer bows, you are not restricted to the place where I am. The many Unification Church members working on this earth in different nations face the headquarters where I am, offering all their devotion and praying with tears. They do it even when the people of the world chase them and drive them into a corner. We should praise those who offer such sincere prayers by saying, “Amen!” Members at the headquarters have responsibility not only to serve and honor God but also to represent the hearts of those members around the world. Hence before Sunday service you should prepare yourself for three days with the heart of anticipation. You should desperately pray for the happiness and well-being of all people and resolve to connect them to the authority of resurrection and life that can revive them. With such a mind you should enter the church door and attend the service with heartfelt emotion, choked with tears for God. (020-284, 1968.07.07)
10 When you are offering devotion, you must not come late to the service. If you do, you should be so ashamed that you cannot hold your head high and should feel that you are the sinner of all sinners. You must pledge to be on time for the service and offer even greater devotion than others. How can you call out, “Oh, God!” when you do not even come on time? You should not offer your devotion in order to be seen by others. Let it be an offering of devotion that you come to church on foot rather than by car. Instead of just praying after you arrive, you should pray even more earnestly before you come. This is how you can offer devotion that no one else sees. The more you distance yourself from your surroundings and from the desires that secular people pursue, the more your devotion will accumulate. (42-235, 1971.03.14)
11 You must absolutely honor the words you speak when you come before God. How can someone who does not keep his or her promise be given grace? Such people will give up along the way. God does not randomly visit just anyone but relates only to those who earnestly yearn for Him. At the very least you should be on time for the service. (11-134, 1961.03.26)
12 Some among you are parents and some of you are children. Regardless, when coming before God, being punctual is more important than anything else. Again, I underscore that you must be on time. If you are unable to observe the appointed time for worship, you are bound to miss out. God wants a sanctified environment and an utmost pure heart. If you fail to be punctual and then sit in the back, then even though you sing praises, God does not want such praise from you. (11-132, 1961.03.26)
13 When you enter a sanctified, holy place, you should first pray for God’s sake. It is the time when you are to meet the Lord, so first you should pray for God. Next you should pray for Jesus. Only by praying for God will you come to understand the heart of God, the heart that He experienced throughout history. Only by praying for Jesus will you come to understand the heart of Jesus, the heart that he experienced throughout history. Then you should pray for the multitude of Christians who fought for the Will. Following each and every footstep of the innumerable saints and sages since the Fall of Adam and Eve, you should pray to God, “Please allow me to become an offering to liberate them from their bitter sorrow.” Then you should pray to the saints and sages, “Please cooperate with me. I know you have bitter sorrow on account of the work you left unfinished on this earth, but I am living to fulfill it.” After that you can pray for your beloved children and then pray for yourself. That is the way of heavenly law. (007-328, 1959.10.18)
14 Whenever I pray, I pray with a heart that exclaims, “Father! You have always been guiding me!” I pray, feeling responsible that today I must save even one more life for God. I pray as one standing at a crossroads, where I can either bring a life to the Father or be manipulated by Satan. When I preach, unlike other preachers in the world, I do not pick the topic of the sermon and prepare it in advance. I just try to say what the Father wants me to say, according to what He needs at the time. If I feel I have not met that standard, I pray and pray, investing my whole being and praying desperately with tears. I pray worrying about the path that each of you must go. (11-131, 1961.03.26)
15 You must offer devotion from the position of conviction, declaring, “I have absolute faith!” You must stand in the position of having absolute faith in God and the Will. Only when you stand in that position will God cooperate with you. When you pray, you must have no doubts that your prayer will be answered. You should be able to pray, “Father! I am the only one who remains. Without me, this nation will be ruined and this world will be ruined. O Father! I am the only one who remains at this crucial point, despite Your toiling for six thousand years. I am the only one who is close to fulfilling Your Will. My position is that crucial. Although I am not yet fully prepared, still You have given me the order. Therefore I will prepare myself with the conditions and foundations that will enable me to follow that order on behalf of my people. Is it not for Your providence of restoration?” (31-290, 1970.06.04)
16 When you pray, you should first pray for your nation, then for the world, for the angels and your ancestors in the spirit world, and then for the liberation of God. Without knowing what you should do and how the fortune of this world is changing, do not just pray, “O Lord, please send me to the kingdom of heaven.” That is not what you should do. Today, in order for you to liberate Jesus from his pain and suffering, history must testify of you: “You deserve our sympathy’’ Your ancestors must testify of you: “Among our descendants, you alone stand tall. You saved all of history’ and then go even further: “You accomplished the missions of a son and a parent, of a loyal subject and a filial child, by taking responsibility for your people at this time.” (14-065, 1964.05.03)
17 You should pray, “If I cannot become the son or daughter You want me to be, I will walk the path of a servant to save Your sons and daughters. I will lay rocks and boards to build a bridge or place stepping-stones so Your children can cross over.” If you pray like that, God will support you. The prayer, “Take care of my sons and daughters,” is not a prayer God can support. You must first bless the saints of the world and then pray for yourself, in that order. Otherwise no matter how many times you pray, your prayers will have no effect. You must know how to pray. Those whose faith is for their own benefit will abandon God after they receive blessings, because their goal is to receive blessings. Once they do and things are going well, they will fall away. (127-027, 1983.05.01)
18 As you receive grace and experience the spirit world, you will naturally know what to include in your prayers. Then if you study the contents of your prayers and compile statistics of their results, you will notice that the method and content of your prayers are improving, becoming more public. Fallen human beings would fall flat on their backs if they tried to pray for world-level issues at the beginning stage of their prayer life. They first pray for the salvation of those who are closest to them—their beloved parents, sons and daughters and spouse. However, as time passes and their prayers develop, the content of their prayers changes. What do people who know about God’s Will pray for? They do not pray for their families; they pray for the world. Also, they know where they are, what kind of situation they are in and where God wants them to be, and they are determined to pioneer through paying indemnity at the position where God wants them to be. Such people are wise. (016-303, 1966.07.31)
19 When you pray, pray for the specific people or the particular matter that is on your mind. Do not just pray in general; you need to keep those people or that matter in mind. Then you establish a relationship of subject and object partners, and the law of giving and receiving begins to unfold. A subject partner and an object partner give and receive, and by praying diligently and offering full devotion, you create a place where that reciprocal action can take place. Also, you should pray with a sincere heart that reaches beyond the thousands of years of human history. It is sacred and marvelous to call out to God, offering devotion with a heart beyond the thousands of years of history and in total oneness with Him inside and out. When you do, you will become substantially one with God. Then the single word “Father” that you call out will carry the greatest beauty within it. (025-128, 1969.09.30)
20 People whose prayers are the same today as they were yesterday are not really leading a life of faith. Even though you see the same thing every day, you should notice something different about it. Then you can enter the mysterious world of faith. Once you enter the incredible world of faith, you can discover a new world. Although you do the same thing, praying every day, because you have come to like it and find it enriching, you will grow in your faith as you continue doing it. (066-109, 1973.04.15)
Pledge service and the Family Pledge
21 When we share rice cakes in the presence of True Parents, this act of sharing means that we become one with God in spirit. That is, we become one body with Him. Eating rice cakes together means to influence the parents to become one, the family to become one, relatives to become one, the world to become one and those whose mind and body are divided to become one. Unification Church members should offer pledge service every week. The day to offer pledge service is a holy day, and on a holy day we partake of holy food. The reason we share this precious holy food is to alleviate the bitter sorrow of God, who did not have a chance to experience that in Adam’s family, due to the Fall. Pledge service is conducted in this format, with the heart of offering congratulations and best wishes to God and True Parents, in order to relieve God’s pain. (280-289, 1997.02.13)
22 Unification Church members are expanding the pledge service from the level of Adam’s family to the levels of tribe, people, nation and world. By expanding it so, it becomes a ritual to support the world to become one by attending God. Therefore all week long you should eagerly await the time for eating the holy food as if it were all you wished for. Offering and sharing the holy food is a time to attend God; it is a time when you can relate directly to God. Therefore blessed families throughout the world should honor this time and keep it as a tradition. (280-290, 1997.02.13)
23 I established pledge service, and it is truly amazing that all of you are able to have pledge service with me every day. By showing that True Parents honor this ceremony, I want blessed families to respect this ceremony and pass it on as a tradition to their sons and daughters. You must teach your children that pledge service is a crucial time for the family. Through this ceremony we can create bonds of heart, connecting the children with their parents face to face in the family and also .connecting them vertically with the True Parents. Altogether these relationships form the four-position foundation and link three generations as one. This is the time when the four-position foundation and the three generations can become one. You must teach this to your children. (280-290, 1997.02.13)
24 All of you should do pledge service with your family every Sunday. It is the ceremony in which blessed families make their declaration. Satan cannot invade such families. That is why we recite My Pledge. We are to be proud of the one sovereignty, proud of the one people, proud of the one land, proud of the one language and culture centered on God, proud of becoming the child of the One True Parent, proud of the family who is to inherit one tradition and proud of being a laborer who is working to establish the one world of the heart. By this proclamation you announce that you have no relation to Satan’s world. It is a proclamation ceremony that lets you resolve the mistakes you committed, or responsibilities you did not fulfill, during the week. (210-282, 1990.12.25)
25 How beautiful it is to see a mother and father holding their child’s hands and sitting together in prayer! We must set the tradition in our families of offering bows in the morning to greet God and True Parents. Offering three bows signifies that we go to meet True Parents, who then bring us to meet God. (119-306, 1982.09.13)
26 Even if you are alone, when you offer a bow to God and True Parents, do not think that you are doing it by yourself. When a man comes to offer a bow, he should think he does it with his wife standing beside him. Likewise, when a woman comes to offer a bow, she should think she is doing it together with her husband. If the man and the woman think this way, it shows they are united as one. It signifies that blessed members should become totally one. (242-128, 1993.01.01)
27 All families should display True Parents’ picture. The family should bow before it together, forming a four- position foundation. Three generations ought to bow. The four-position foundation involves three generations. Three generations should offer a bow—grandfather and grandmother, mother and father and children. After establishing a four-position foundation, when you bow in the name of True Parents you are outside the domain of the Fall. In this situation, because God has direct dominion over you, you have established a realm of liberation. Hence all the good spirits in the spirit world can come to earth and protect you, just as the archangel was meant to protect Adam’s family. We have entered such an age. (211-350, 1991.01.01)
28 When you bow during pledge service on Sunday, to whom are you bowing? You are bowing to me, your Teacher, and to your family. You bow to serve and attend the Heavenly Parent and True Parents as the King and Queen. You bow to inherit the kingship from them. You are busy and occupied with many things, yet what could be more important than that? Children should bow to their parents, and parents should bow to each other. You parents must teach filial piety to your children. In this movement, the lives we lead should be models to others. (297-119, 1998.11.19)
29 When you offer a bow, you who are on earth are not the only ones offering it. Because we focus on the spiritual realm, the heavenly kingdom and God, it is certain that blessed families and the angelic world become completely one and bow together. Furthermore, if you are sincere and earnest in heart for your beloved ones, then your mothers and fathers, even your friends who have gone to the spirit world, can be brought down to join you. You can bring down more than 72 generations and as many as 120 generations. You have not yet been able to establish a national-level foundation, but once you do, all this will be possible. (298-059, 1999.01.01)
30 The Family Pledge never existed in history. Now that the Family Pledge has appeared, families under Satan’s dominion living on the earthly plane will have no place to go in the future. The appearance of the Family Pledge signifies that I met the standard of having indemnified four thousand years of history through the forty years that have passed since the victorious foundation made during the Second World War was lost. On this forty-year foundation, the kingdom of heaven can now begin on earth. The recurring phrase in the Family Pledge is, “Our family...by centering on true love.” You recite this phrase repeatedly throughout the Family Pledge. “True love” here refers to God’s love. It means that we are connected to true life and true lineage by the true love of God and True Parents. (266-143, 1994.12.22)
31 Previously we recited My Pledge, but from now on we will recite the Family Pledge. In history there never was any such thing as the Family Pledge. This is an amazing fact. Now that the forty-year course of restoration through indemnity has been brought to an end, the time has come when the world can move centered on me, Rev. Moon. This is why the Family Pledge has emerged. The worldwide unified Christian cultural sphere established after the Second World War was destroyed, but now centered on me it has been restored, although conditionally, based on my victorious worldwide foundation. (263-110, 1994.08.21)
32 The term “Family Pledge” has appeared for the first time in history. The Family Pledge was established because the family was lost by a man and a woman. Therefore God and humankind must establish the model family that can be welcomed based on the original standard of the family that has nothing to do with the Fall. Unless we do, we cannot build the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven, which is composed of families that God can rejoice with and dwell with on earth and in heaven. Hence it was inevitable that this pledge would be established. (274-115, 1995.10.29)
33 The objective of the Family Pledge is to create the backbone of the family. What are we trying to do through the Family Pledge? We are trying to attend the Heavenly Parent, who is like the backbone of the family. If we find His true love and love Him, God will come and visit our family. We should bring our mind and body into oneness and become couples whose minds and bodies are united. Then God will come and visit us. If our mind and body are fighting, God will never come to us, not ever. True love cannot exist under such circumstances. (386-177, 2002.07.17)
The mindset of a church leader
34 A witnessing leader or pastor is like the high priest of his or her region. A church leader prays for the people, even losing sleep. As the high priest makes offerings in order to save the people, the church leader must toil and offer full devotion. To find the necessary answers, the church leader must become one with God. He or she does so by becoming a sacrificial offering. Church members are not the sacrificial offerings; the pastor is. From now on your leadership should be comprehensive, not just intellectual. Members are the flesh and pastors are the bones. The flesh should cover the bones well so they will not be exposed. (9-080, 1960.04.12)
35 After working hard for a public purpose, I fall asleep without realizing how tired I am. Then in the morning I wake up totally refreshed. From this experience I realize, “Ah, this is the principled way to live a life for Heaven!” If I were to think, “I slept only three and a half hours last night when I should have slept at least six hours,” my entire body would feel as if it weighed a thousand or even ten thousand pounds and would feel pains all over. That is why I tell you not to have such thoughts. (044-161, 1971.05.06)
36 When I stand before a person who is totally devoted, I am at a loss for words. As the leader of the Unification Church, when I am considering which of two people is better, I do not consider which of them is better-looking, but rather which has a better inner orientation. I examine whether their mind is public or personal. If you walk the path of public life embracing this principle, you will never perish. Therefore be mindful of how you manage things, how you treat people, and how you attend Heaven. (31-261, 1970.06.04)
37 When you take your first step in the morning, you should consider whether or not it is for a public purpose. And when you go to bed after finishing your daily work, you should reflect on whether the day was spent for a public purpose or a personal one. Furthermore, at the end of the year you should look back at your past year, or at your entire life up to that point, and reflect on whether you led a public life or lived just for yourself. It is based on this criterion that life and death are weighed on the scale of judgment. Keep this principle in mind, so that at each step on your journey you will exercise good judgment and keep to the public path. (039-076, 1971.01.09)
38 Once you take up a responsibility, the next thing is to fight and struggle. You must persevere in that struggle even to the death, saying, “I am willing to give up my life.” In your lifetime, you should lay the foundation to bring at least three people who oppose you to natural submission, and in this battle you may not use any means or methods that are not acceptable to God. Also, in the service of God’s Will you should not lead the life of a taker. Rather, you stand in the position to give. (14-013, 1964.04.19)
39 When you become a leader, you have to stand truly in the position of a doctor who tries to cure a patient’s illness. If an ill person’s spiritual situation begins to deteriorate, you have to make an effort to cure the person’s heart, shedding tears day or night, oblivious to time. That is a spiritual leader. How many nights have you stayed up trying to save lives? How busy have you been trying to save lives? When you go to the spirit world, such deeds will become the objects of commendation. The barometer of character will reflect them. (69-165, 1973.10.31)
40 Even if a member falls away, you must never be discouraged. A very interesting phenomenon occurs when a member falls away; someone else who resembles that person joins the church. He or she has a similar personality, similar speech and even a similar way of walking. From every angle, the new person who joins bears an amazing resemblance to the person who fell away, and yet is much better. When you see such a phenomenon, you can understand that sincere investment of devotion is never lost. This is absolutely true. When you become acquainted with someone, you must not think the relationship ends at simple acquaintance. Especially if you met that person based on Heaven’s guidance, you should never forget him or her. If the person stops coming to the church, you must not cut off or malign him or her. Even if the person falls away, never abandon that person. (42-163, 1971.03.04)
41 Before you speak or teach, first you must feel God’s heart. Do not just talk. Instead, put God’s heart first before your words. You should always be humble. When you give a sermon on Sunday you should do so with the intense feeling and focus of woman in labor. You need to direct all your attention to it. Standing behind the podium, you need to feel like a pregnant woman on her way to the delivery room. If you reach that level of heart, you need no other preparation. The issue is not the content of your sermon or how well you speak. The issue is whether your heart has reached that level. (96-168, 1978.01.03)
42 During the sermon, a boundary line is drawn that determines whether someone is bound for heaven or hell. Suppose a person comes to our church thinking, “I’ve always wondered about the Unification Church. Let’s see how it is!” But if the sermon is disappointing, he or she may think, “What kind of sermon was that?” The sermon has, in effect, cut that person’s lifeline. Therefore you should regard giving the sermon as a momentous matter, even more so than a judge rendering a verdict in court. You have to understand that as a preacher you are in a fateful position that can make many dozens or hundreds of people stand or fall. If you are a leader with a certain responsibility, you should not neglect it and thereby cause your subordinates to disrespect you. You have to invest your efforts so this never becomes the case. That is why it is difficult to be the person in charge. It is an extremely daunting position in which everything about your identity is exposed and revealed. (96-169, 1978.01.03)
Section 2. The Meaning of Tithing
1 After you joined the Unification Church, you learned the term “restoration through indemnity’’ To accomplish restoration through indemnity there must be a sacrificial offering, and in making that offering you must have a heart of devotion. It would be wonderful if you could simply do things the way you think they should be done, but God cannot receive your offering based on how you think it should be made. That will never happen. The offering for the indemnity condition represents your very life; it is sacrificed in your place. Therefore you need to become one with that offering, and love that offering. When you make an offering and that offering is sacrificed, you should shed tears in your heart, feeling the same pain it does. This can be likened to Abraham offering his son as a sacrifice. You too ought to present your offering with a heart so connected to it that the link cannot be severed. You need to make a sacrificial offering from this position. That is why you should offer what is most precious to you. When you make a material offering, if you offer something used or left over, you will be punished. In that case, it would be better if you had not made the offering at all. (63-338, 1972.10.22)
2 If we look into the background of tithing, it is quite fearful. In biblical verses about tithing, we are told to offer God one-tenth of what we earn. Those of you who question tithing, please know that offering only one-tenth of one’s income is as if one offered everything. Suppose you want to put on a feast to celebrate your parent’s sixtieth birthday or the king’s birthday. You would prepare a whole cow or pig, the best you could find, and offer all of it at the feast. Yet would they eat it all? Certainly not! Of course, they would accept and receive everything, but they could not eat it all. In fact, they would eat very little. Still, offering it sets the condition that they received everything and ate it all. (31-239, 1970.06.04)
3 A tithe means that by offering one- tenth of your material possessions to God, you make a condition equal to having offered all you have. Although you do not offer everything to God, the one-tenth that you offer with sincere devotion nevertheless holds that value. By offering one-tenth as holy, God considers the remaining nine- tenths holy. The person who tithes will never perish. As the days go by, his storeroom will be filled with abundant material blessings. (31-240, 1970.06.04)
4 If you want to make a relationship with God by offering devotion before Him, the offering you make must be totally pure and brand-new. You cannot make a devotional offering with leftovers. Thus when you tithe, your tithe should be pure, something in which you invested your utmost heart and mind. That is a sacrificial offering. A sacrificial offering should be pure. If you are to offer your son, you must offer your best son. This is because your offering represents yourself. (048-085, 1971.09.05)
5 If you tithe with sincere devotion, you will never starve to death. Your descendants will never suffer for want of material things. This is principled. However, you must invest devotion in your tithe. This is the essence of faith. Offering your tithe casually is not acceptable. Your offering represents your own life, so you have to offer what is most precious to you. The most precious thing to a human being is his or her life. Hence a sacrificial offering should be made as if you were offering your own life. That is why, by offering material things for the sake of restoration through indemnity, your sins can be washed away. (63-338, 1972.10.22)
6 The number ten belongs to God. Human beings own the numbers up to nine. The number nine has been considered a bad number because all the numbers up through nine are under Satan’s dominion. Thus today, if we return the number nine to God and connect it to God on earth where Satan is the lord, then God can have dominion over us. In this way, God can restore all the numbers up through ten. Thus if you believe in God and bring the number nine to Him, all possessions within the realm up through the number nine can be separated from Satan’s realm. That is how the term “tithe” came to exist. (150-300, 1961.04.15)
7 God does not need money. Money is needed only as an object for making conditions so that fallen human beings can form a relationship with Him. Is it for God’s sake that you are making donations? God does not need money. Any time, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, God can make as much gold and as many diamonds as He wants, so why would He need money? God needs it only as a condition by which to save all of you. So instead of thinking that you are making a donation for God, think that you are donating for your nation or for the world. You are offering donations to fulfill the purpose of saving others. You are not offering them for God’s sake. (126-123, 1983.04.12)
8 It is by no means easy to nurture another human life. You cannot do it without devoting yourself. You cannot do it with things you have already used. Nor can you do it with leftovers from the food you have eaten. You must firmly reject that concept. This is even more the case if an offering is for God. You should offer the first portion of anything to God. You ought to offer to God what is pure. He will not be with you if you offer something impure. He will not be with you if what you offer is not brand-new. You must not use leftovers to make sacrificial offerings, because leftovers are defiled. Anyone to whom God gives special grace would immediately recognize this. That is also why I discourage you from going to defiled places. (030-133, 1970.03.21)
9 If after offering devotions you receive a special blessing, you should always offer a donation of gratitude to God. Heaven does not want petty cash. It must be money for which you invested your heart and mind with devotion. You should not just casually donate the money you find in your pocket. Before you donate, you should keep it with you at least three days as a way of sanctifying the money. You should invest your life and assets. I offered all my possessions to God. With the things I offered created a bridge for all the material things in the world to cross over to God’s side. Anyone who does the same will prosper for eternity. That person’s descendants will be blessed. (166-319, 1987.06.14)
10 When you handle donations and offerings that were given with heart, if you do not recognize their value they will judge you. Even a king can perish if he errs in his conduct by mistreating someone who is dedicated to God. By mistreating that person, he will be considered a traitor to Heaven. For this reason, I do not treat lightly anyone who makes devotional offerings. (018-143, 1967.06.04)
11 Whenever a special event is celebrated, on that day you need to bring a gift and offer it at a place that displays the Unification Church flag and True Parents’ picture. You should dedicate the commemorative gift on behalf of your people, nation and family. This is not something for me to take for myself but rather to give back later to your country and descendants. Whenever you celebrate a joyful occasion or throw a banquet for a special event, you must prepare something with sincere devotion and dedicate it to God as an expression of your heart to repay Him. That is a life of attending Heaven. (355-179, 2001.10.04)
Section 3. The Practice of Hoondokhae
1 From now on, you should do hoondokhae. You need to buy books for it and establish a regular schedule. Your family members should gather for hoondokhae. Even when I am alone on a mountain, when it is time to do hoondokhae, I do it by myself. When it is hoondokhae time, if you are sleeping you should wake up and do it. In the future, God will not treat people who are ignorant of the Principle as His true people. (614-291, 2009.08.14)
2 My words will connect you with me. The more deeply you understand them, the higher the level you will reach in offering your devotions and the more the heart of God’s love can dwell within you. That is why I am asking you to do hoondokhae every day. The person who says the taste of hoondokhae is better than food, that hoondokhae is better than making love, will grow infinitely. These words are a collection of the serious and intense moments of my life that were proclaimed before heaven and earth. (308-212, 1999.01.05)
3 No one knows the value of God’s words as much as I do. Up to this time, all these words were veiled, but you should know that I had to overcome life and death situations in order to deliver these words. They are imbued with God’s heart, spoken during the most serious of times. Once I start speaking about the hidden stories behind them, the spirits who were moved in the early days to be involved in those events will be connected to us. Then you will feel overwhelmed by emotion and receive enormous grace. By reading these words we again recollect those stories, and this can awaken those spirits who worked before and inspire them to continue working with us. Then the cooperation of the spirit world working behind the scenes in our time can result in works many tens and hundreds of times more powerful than before. (327-248, 2000.07.30)
The origin and meaning of hoondokhae
4 The mother and father of a family should do pledge service and set an example for their children so they too will be eager to attend. When children see their parents eagerly awaiting this time with joy, they should be able to say, “We want to learn what our mother and father are learning!” We parents should leave such an example for them. Children should also see their parents hold hoondokhae gatherings. The words shared there are not available anywhere else. Since I am the one who inaugurated hoondokhae, they exist only within the Unification Church. You should establish the tradition that you enjoy attending hoondokhae so much that you forget to eat, and that you would pass up meeting a guest or anyone else if it interfered with hoondokhae. This is how to put your family on the right path. You have to establish such a tradition for your sons and daughters. (345-306, 2001.06.24)
5 The words are to flow. If you stop their flow you will have a cross to bear. They will become a burden for you and cause you to collapse. Hence you should enable them to flow to your mother, your father, your cousins, your neighborhood and so on. The more they flow, the more they will expand, and by your results they will become a huge river. Then wherever you are, with these words you will be influential enough to make a great impact on your area. (435-215, 2004.02.05)
6 The Chinese character hoon (訓) of hoondokhae consists of two characters combined: “words” (言) and “stream” (川), which mean “the words that flow.” Therefore these words do not die. If water remains still for just one week, it will begin to stagnate. Therefore water needs to flow. If a father hears these words, he should teach them to his sons and daughters. If a grandfather hears these words, he should teach them to his grandchildren. If a mayor hears these words, he should then teach them to all the citizens of his town. They should flow like water, from higher ground to lower. Hoondokhae is the eternal business of sharing God’s words. The Chinese character dok (讀) consists of two characters combined: “words” (言) and “sell” (賣). It means to sell the words. Even if you give these words to a thousand people, you will not suffer any loss. This is an eternal business. The money you gather will eventually run out, but these words will never run out. (435-216, 2004.02.05)
7 The Chinese character hoon (訓) consists of two characters joined together: “words” (言) and “stream” (川). The stream is water. Water flows. Water lives only when it flows. As the character hoon symbolizes the Word as water, the words need to constantly flow in order to remain alive. When water is still it stagnates. As water flows from higher to lower ground, the words need to be passed along over and over. To be clear, water has to flow; water that does not flow becomes murky. Pure spirits dwell in clear water. Hoondokhae is like water. If you trap water, it will turn foul. The character dok (讀) combines the characters for “words” (言) and “sell” (賣). Accordingly you should give or “sell” the words as if you were a salesperson. This meaning lies within the word hoondok. (371-188, 2002.02.27)
8 When you share my words with others, you become their ancestor. Convey my words to people who are enslaved to the fallen world, and to the spirits who have fallen into hell. Then this will happen. If you do not know my words well, buy a collection of my speeches and share it with them. The more you share the words, the greater wealth you will accumulate. By conveying the words to people, you become their eternal ancestor. Your heavenly fortune, position and rank in heaven will be determined according to how often you shared the words and how much effort you made to re-create people into citizens of the heavenly kingdom. That is why I am teaching you this incredible truth. The words of hoondokhae are the words I have spoken, but they are not my own words; they are the words of heaven and earth. (435-217, 2004.02.05)
9 It may seem as if I speak at random, but in fact my words fully explain the Principle. Before long I will have to go to the spirit world. That is why I am now reviewing the content of the words I spoke with all my heart and devotion over the course of the past fifty years, to evaluate how they will impact the world after I pass. I am the champion of hoondokhae. From whom did its words originate? They originated from God. Since I know this truth, I cannot take hoondokhae lightly. (321-285, 2000.05.09)
How to do hoondokhae
10 Prepare in advance the hoondokhae content relevant to each of the 365 days in a year. A unified hoondokhae program must be implemented throughout the whole world. You should be able to say, “The hoondokhae reading for today is...” Whether eating or occupied with work, whenever you have the opportunity, you should discuss and converse on the content for that day. (314-038, 1999.12.30)
11 From this time forward, hoondokhae should be the ultimate form of education. You must read the content again and again. Mark the words by numbering them as you read, so the next time around you can read important parts that previously took you one hour in just thirty minutes. This can be done easily. This is how you should educate people to cultivate their spirituality through hoondokhae. The books I leave behind are your teacher. I am telling you to study them, not just read them. (291-146, 1998.03.06)
12 Do hoondokhae during your lunch break or whenever you have spare time. You should read first, and then have the group read out loud in unison, keeping the same pace. Train yourself by reading at home. Then you can keep the same pace at church when you lead the group to read together in unison. Husband and wife as a rule do it together at home. If the husband attends hoondokhae service at church, he should tell his wife which part he read that day. Then she should read that same part so they can keep on the same page. (314-038, 1999.12.30)
13 How can you get the maximum benefit from doing hoondokhae? After passing out the hoondokhae books, begin by having one person read aloud. Then have the reader call on someone else to read, and so on. Train them to do it this way. If ten people gather to do hoondokhae, make sure that one-third of them asks questions on the parts they are interested in. If there is not enough time, allow just a few people to ask questions and then discuss each one. This system of learning is more effective than a lecture. If you read a hoondokhae book this way three times, you will clearly understand its content. (296-330, 1998.11.18)
14 When doing hoondokhae, it is better that the participants take turns reading a portion of the book rather than just one person reading it to the group. Decide up to what point each person in the group will read, and then designate the next person to continue. While reading the book, each reader should be moved by his or her own voice. If readers cannot feel moved by themselves, they need more practice. Therefore anyone who may be designated to read should practice reading the book at least ten times before reading in public. I do the same thing. When I have a speaking tour, although I know the content of the text I wrote, I still make the effort to saturate the words with a prayerful heart. (296-331, 1998.11.18)
15 From now on, whenever you do hoondokhae, do it in a group and share the reading aloud among multiple readers. One person should read one section and then designate another person to read the next section by calling out his or her name. Establish the tradition of calling each person to read next by name. You can address important points or questions the group wants to raise. You can set the standard, saying, “In today’s hoondokhae the content to be studied is this, and we must absolutely maintain such-and- such as our principle.” (297-110, 1998.11.19)
16 1 have lived according to the Will, trying to build the kingdom of heaven on earth and in heaven by fulfilling the dutiful way of loyalty and filial piety and the dutiful way of saints and divine sons and daughters. This has brought me into a precious relationship with God. In order that you do not fall short of that standard, each of you must establish and uphold it within your family. Only by doing so will you return to the Garden of Eden, where God will allow you to be in the realm of His direct dominion. Only this standard will spread out in thousands, even tens of thousands of branches and remain forever. In order to bequeath the tradition of the True Parents, I started this tradition of hoondokhae. Until I did so, you did not know anything about the True Parents’ situation. (289-307, 1998.02.02)
CHAPTER 3 Ceremonies and Rituals
Section 1. The Blessing Ceremony
1 The Blessing is not just for people. Nor is it just for heaven and earth. God bestowed the Blessing by investing everything from the foundation of His internal heart. If that Blessing had been realized exactly as He had planned, the glory of victory would have filled heaven and earth. Amid such a world, God would have rejoiced in the families of people who embodied Him and fully inherited His heart. Upon establishment of that family-level foundation, humanity would have accepted the holy enterprise of Heaven as its own holy enterprise, and people would have built the eternal and infinite blessed land of happiness. This was God’s ideal and desire. (12-279, 1963.07.26)
Significance and value of the Blessing
2 You need to know how amazing blessed families are. The Blessing is to perfect the individual, to perfect goodness, and to multiply children. It is to perfect people as individuals, perfect their relationships as husband and wife, and multiply goodness through their children. It is the core, fundamental requisite for all people. (081-316, 1975.12.29)
3 If Adam and Eve had not fallen, they would have reached the focal point, the ideal intersection of vertical and horizontal love. Through their union, they would have attained total oneness and harmony. Besides instituting the love of the true ancestors of humanity, they would have been the starting point of true life and true lineage. Their wedding ceremony was to have been not just for themselves as human beings; it was also to have been the wedding ceremony for God. God would have entered their hearts, and the external God and internal God would have united as one. That was to have been the original wedding ceremony, having nothing to do with the Fall. What I am saying here is revolutionary in the world of religion. (223-267, 1991.11.12)
4 What is the Blessing? If you consider man as the East and woman as the West, then the Blessing is the union of East and West at a central point on a horizontal plane. What is the power that unites them? It is love. Man and woman were created to unite as one through love. That is why, after they reach maturity, a man and a woman find their way to the place where they can attain union. That place is their central point. That central point is where God can vertically descend and dwell. When a man and a woman place God’s love at their center, where His vertical line joins their horizontal line to form a 90-degree angle, they become one at the center of a 360-degree circle. If our first ancestors had become one based on God’s love, they would have become God’s bodies. Who are Adam and Eve? They are the substantial bodies of God. That is why, in the biblical book of First Corinthians it is written, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple...?” (1 Cor. 3:16) Our bodies are God’s temples. If even fallen human beings can be His temples, then the original substantiation of God’s duality, the unfallen Adam and Eve, would naturally have become the original temple, the dwelling place of God in the human world. (143-236, 1986.03.19)
5 God has the dual characteristics of plus and minus. When God’s dual characteristics are divided, the plus characteristic is manifested as a man, Adam, and the minus characteristic is manifested as a woman, Eve. When Adam and Eve unite together to embody God’s oneness, their union is substantiated in their children. In this manner, the first, second and third generations are formed with God at their center. Within these three generations, problems arose in the second generation, that is, the generation of Adam and Eve. They failed to become one under God’s love. If Adam and Eve had united in God’s love, they would have established the bond by which God could have come to dwell with them. Then their children as well would have been connected to the standard of love, and formed their own relationship with God. This is called the Blessing. (32-239, 1970.07.19)
6 The marriage Blessing was instituted as God’s Blessing for the liquidation of debts. Through the Blessing instituted in this age, all debts are liquidated for the first time in history. In other words, although formerly we were destined to die, all our debts are remitted through the Blessing as a condition. You should, therefore, feel that the Blessing of the Unification Church is more precious than all the good things that have been done since the beginning of history, piled up in one big heap. You should feel that the connection of love, life and lineage you have acquired through your bond with the True Parents is so precious that it cannot be exchanged for anything else. That is why you should invest everything you own—your mind, your body, even if you have to sell your property—for the Blessing. (216-222, 1991.04.01)
7 The Blessing of the Unification Church is performed so that God’s incorporeal life, love and ideal can be manifested in form. To put it another way, the Blessing is to connect us to God’s life, love and ideal. That being the case, where does God rejoice? He rejoices at the place of the Blessing. When God rejoices, His life, love and ideal all have a livelier bounce. (091-235, 1977.02.20)
The Engagement Ceremony and the Holy Wine Ceremony
8 At the Engagement Ceremony for the Blessing, I raised my hands and pronounced a benediction. With that benediction, I could incorporate the women of the world into Adam’s family, in the place of Eve who had been separated from that family. I could thereby form a conditional bond of blood with them. That is the change of lineage. Henceforth, each woman of the world who has gone to the spirit world should attend me as her elder brother, husband and father, centered on True Mother. (314-141, 2000.01.02)
9 If the God-centered True Parents had emerged in the Garden of Eden, they would have bequeathed the Blessing on behalf of God to their descendants for generations to come. If only they had believed in God, those True Parents would have inherited the Blessing from Him, and you, in turn, would have inherited it from them. Accordingly, I am bestowing this Blessing on you. By inheriting it, your sons and daughters will be born in the new eternal realm of victory, not the fallen realm. They can become sons and daughters who go up instead of going down. (101-299, 1978.11.07)
10 What are the conditions to receive the Blessing? To reach perfection, you cannot pass through the formation, growth and completion stages all at once. That is the Principle. You receive the Blessing at the completion level of the growth stage. Afterwards, you still need to follow the seven-year courses: a seven-year course before marriage, a seven-year course after marriage, and another seven-year course centered on your family. You need to go through these three seven-year periods for a total of twenty-one years. Upon the foundation you make by going through this twenty-one-year course, I should be able to achieve the foundation for a nation. I must reach that level. Now we have to conduct some ceremonies. First comes the Engagement Ceremony, next comes the Ceremony for the Restoration of Eve and then the Ceremony for the Restoration of Adam. These ceremonies are to restore the heart and change the lineage. (101-299, 1978.11.07)
11 The Holy Wine Ceremony is the ritual of infusing God’s body into your body with new love. Since you have only one body, you need to transform it with God’s love. This is the meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony. The Bible records that at the Last Supper, Jesus blessed bread and wine and gave them to his disciples. He referred to the bread as “my body” and the wine as “my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:26-28) Likewise, it is only by inheriting the new lineage originating from God’s substantial self that you can be cleansed of the original sin. You cannot participate in the Blessing without going through this ceremony. The Holy Wine Ceremony is the ceremony to change your lineage. (35-245, 1970.10.19)
12 You inherited a lineage defiled by the Fall; therefore, you need to change your lineage. Without doing that you cannot rid yourself of original sin, and without ridding yourself of original sin you cannot rise to the level where you can receive the Blessing and become true children. That is how the Principle operates. The Holy Wine Ceremony is the ceremony to change your lineage, and it thereby removes the original sin that occurred at the Fall. In other words, it is a ceremony to transform your flesh and blood. (35-210, 1970.10.30)
13 The fact that you participated in the Holy Wine Ceremony means that you received the blood of the Blessing. It means that you are joined in a relationship with True Parents through their love, life and lineage. Consequently, you have become True Parents' kin. It is a ceremony of Blessing when my blood is infused into a person who otherwise would be destined to die. In other words, my blood is transfused into that person so that that person carries my blood. It is only when you drink the holy wine that I can bless you. In distributing the blood of the True Parents, the order of the Holy Wine Ceremony is that the woman drinks the holy wine first. Likewise, when receiving the Blessing, the woman precedes the man. The woman drinks half the cup of holy wine first. (457-181, 2004.07.03)
14 The Holy Wine Ceremony is a ceremony of restoration through indemnity. For this ceremony, you men begin in the position of the archangel. That is why you are supposed to offer your lineage and everything else. Only then can it be a condition for restoration. I then conduct the ceremony through Mother. You are in the same situation. By going through the Holy Wine Ceremony, you assume a restored position that is the same as that of the Parents. The woman receives the holy wine first. She bows to True Father, receives the holy wine, and drinks half the contents of the cup. Then the man bows to the woman. While the woman is drinking her half, the man keeps his head bowed. At that time, the woman is in the position of mother. Her position is the same as that of True Mother. So when the woman drinks her half of the wine and hands the remaining half to her husband-to- be, and he drinks it, they are bonded. Thus the man can rise to an equal footing with the woman. (113-309, 1981.05.10)
15 Since Eve fell because of the archangel, in the course of restoration Eve needs to stand before Heaven through Adam and then restore the archangel. This is the purpose of going through the Holy Wine Ceremony. When the ceremony is conducted, I offer the holy wine first to the woman. That part of the ceremony is to restore the lost Eve. Through the Holy Wine Ceremony, she becomes one with me in spirit, heart and body. It is an absolute, internal covenant. (46-234, 1971.08.15)
16 Holy wine is not easily made. I am saying that wine cannot become holy wine just as it is. Holy wine is made in the presence of God, Satan and numerous angels in the spirit world. It contains twenty-one elements that you are unaware of. The wine contains every element necessary for the process of restoring humankind and the world of creation. When I made the holy wine, spirits came from the spirit world and begged to be allowed to drink a cup. They knew that by drinking the holy wine they could be restored, so they came to me as a group and asked if they too could be given the same benefit. They knew that I could do such a thing. However, I am not here for the spirit world; I am here for the physical world. That is why I told those spirits, “You need to wait,” and I first gave the wine to you who worked hard for the Will. (46-234, 1971.08.15)
17 The holy wine needs to contain ingredients that symbolize the love of the Parents. It should also contain something that symbolizes the blood of the Parents. Hence when you drink it, you become one with the love and blood of the Parents. These are what constitute the holy wine. The holy wine is made with ingredients that symbolize everything - the land, the sea and the sky. It contains three kinds of wine. It also contains other elements symbolizing all things of creation. Drinking the wine signifies being born anew spiritually and physically. Without this ceremony you cannot remove the original sin or change your lineage. And without changing your lineage, you cannot reach the standard of perfection and become one with God’s love. The Holy Wine Ceremony indemnifies all this. (35-211, 1970.10.18)
18 At the time you received the Blessing, you participated in a ceremony to change your lineage. Twenty-one consecrated elements were required to make the holy wine. They included airborne fruit, fruit borne on trees, fruit on the ground and fruit underground, plus the most precious elements from the mineral kingdom, plant kingdom and animal kingdom. All these elements had to be free of any conditions for Satan’s accusation. After the holy wine was thus made, it had to be stored for seven months, without any problems occurring during that time period. It was not simple to make this wine. (215-111, 1991.02.06)
The Blessing Ceremony, the Indemnity Stick Ceremony, and the Three-Day Ceremony
19 In Eden, God was unable to conduct the wedding ceremony of Adam and Eve. They married of their own accord and thus connected to Satan’s lineage instead of God’s lineage. The Blessing Ceremony uproots this and reconnects Adam and Eve to God’s lineage. That is why through the Blessing Ceremony we receive the citizenship that enables us to live in our original homeland, the liberated kingdom of heaven in heaven where there is no Fall, and to attend God as our Father. (522-254, 2006.03.30)
20 After the Engagement Ceremony comes the Holy Wine Ceremony and then the Holy Wedding Ceremony. The Engagement Ceremony and Holy Wine Ceremony are not performed according to any precedents. They are required ceremonies that symbolically reenact all the details of the Fall and indemnify them. At what stage did Adam and Eve fall? They fell at the engagement stage. In other words, they fell in the process of growing up, on the way to the goal of perfection. The purpose of their engagement was marriage. However, when they were still engaged, Adam and Eve wrongfully married; that was the Fall. Therefore, to indemnify that, we need to deny that marriage, rectify it and go beyond it centered on God. In denying it, we cannot do it in just any way. We cannot do it unless we follow a course that is the reverse of the Fall. (35-215, 1970.10.19)
21 The Holy Water Ceremony is also a ritual of the Blessing. It is the same as baptism. Although Jesus was baptized, he had no Holy Wedding Ceremony. He passed away without being able to marry. He had neither a wife nor children. He had no family of his own. However, I have labored for this day, risking my life in the process. (522-156, 2006.03.28)
22 Blessed members of the Unification Church participate in the Holy Wedding Ceremony, but it is a wedding only within the church. It is not a ceremony recognized by the nation, world or cosmos. That is why we should have not only a church-level Blessing but also a national-level Blessing. Furthermore, we will go through a world-level Blessing and then participate in the Ceremony of Eternal Blessing in the kingdom of heaven. Only then can we finally return to the original world. If you participate in the Blessing of the Unification Church simply for your own convenience, and secretly without my knowledge, it is not effective. You need to go through the national-level Blessing, for which you should disclose all of your personal history. Next you have to go through the world-level Blessing. Then, after going to the spirit world, you need to go through a great admission ceremony and the registration ceremony. Next we have to complete the organization of the twelve tribes. Finally, after True Parents have settled in the other world, with God as the center, all of the world’s people will take their places and sit down in order. (185-036, 1989.01.01)
23 When True Parents and their sons and daughters are united as one, that family will have established the four- position foundation. Completion of the four-position foundation means that God will be able to realize the ideal of creation that He has desired for six thousand years. Once that foundation is established, there will be a realm where God recognizes those who have fulfilled it and promises to make them citizens of the kingdom of heaven and members of the family of that kingdom. What the Unification Church focuses on the most is the Blessing. The Blessing is for the family. What is the kingdom of heaven like? It is the family in heaven. We need to realize such a family; that is the kingdom of heaven. Thus, those who are unable to create that kingdom in their own family cannot enter the kingdom of heaven in heaven. (158-274, 1967.12.29)
24 What is the Indemnity Stick Ceremony for? Adam and Eve fell by misusing their lower parts. During the Indemnity Stick Ceremony, both wife and husband strike each other’s buttocks as hard as they can, saying they will never fall again. We do this so that they will never again misuse that part of the body. Likewise, when the Israelites made a pledge, they placed a hand under their thigh. They also conducted circumcision. When a son was born, his male part was bled on the eighth day after birth. This ritual was instituted because the male reproductive organ had been misused. Because the seed had been damaged, the ritual of circumcision was established to change the seed. All these are conditions to determine ownership. (273-316, 1995.10.29)
25 Tamar risked her life to continue God’s heavenly way. Also, Jacob wrestled with the angel at the risk of his life. Although the angel struck his hip and dislocated it, he did not let go of the angel all through the night. The hip had to be struck. The Fall was brought about by wrong use of the hips. That is why the Unification Church conducts the Indemnity Stick Ceremony after the Blessing. In that ceremony, the hips are struck because they were misused. Our ancestors representing the three ages engaged in improper love and became entangled in it, and we need to clear that up. (214-226, 1991.02.02)
26 Why do we have of the Indemnity Stick Ceremony? When we read the Bible, we learn about circumcision, which is a condition of indemnity. Adam’s family broke apart because of wrongly directed love. What is baptism? It refers to the time of Noah. The reproductive organs had been defiled, and Noah’s time was when they were indemnified. At the time of Noah, these organs were subjected to judgment by water. In short, they were washed. However, the washing was incomplete. They had to be “baptized,” but that was only a condition. Once those defiled bodies were washed and the defiled spot indemnified, the time of Jacob was to have been the time of settlement. For this purpose, Jacob had to live a life that would restore love. He had to begin the change of lineage, change of ownership, and change of the realm of heart. The chosen people got their start when their lineage was transformed. (284-209, 1997.04.17)
27 Blessed members of the Unification Church go through the ceremony to change their lineage, followed by the Indemnity Stick Ceremony and the Three-Day Ceremony. Satan cannot intrude in those ceremonies. Now that the True Parents opened the gates of the kingdom of heaven by the law of God and proclaimed the liberation of humanity, Satan, who exercised his power at the completion level of the growth stage, can no longer interfere. That is why blessed families need to go through the ceremony to convert their lineage. (235-215, 1992.09.20)
28 If you do not go through the Three- Day Ceremony, you will have nothing to do with True Parents’ lineage. You will be nothing but a spectator who has come within the fenced area. Only after you complete the Three-Day Ceremony can you dress in holy robes and be included in True Parents’ lineage. Otherwise, although you may have eaten a piece of the wedding cake, watched the celebration from beginning to end and enjoyed yourself with your friends, you will end up being apart. You will not become one with True Parents’ lineage. Once you are apart from it, you will remain apart for all eternity. Lineage is such a fearful thing. (591-296, 2008.06.01)
29 Until now, we have thought ill of erotic love stories because love organs became palaces of wickedness. They became like weapons causing threefold destruction: they became a palace in which love, life and lineage were destroyed. Because they became the palaces that plunge everything in heaven and earth into a world of total darkness, they are called by the worst of all bad words and the most vulgar of all vulgar words. Nevertheless, in Korean, the term ssang in ssangsori (a vulgar word) is not a bad word. In fact, it is the very word ssang that is in ssangssang, or pair. “Pair” is what the word implies. The word ssangsori refers to two people making love, and that should not be something bad. Originally it was a holy word. Millions of generations of your ancestors lived by clinging to the love organs; likewise, Adam and Eve also lived by clinging to them. Woman lived by clinging to the reproductive organ of man, and man lived by clinging to that of woman. Despite this, they did not know the preciousness of those love organs. The woman’s love organ is the subject partner of all subject partners, for it controls the life of the man. (238-034, 1992.11.19)
30 When we study the structure of our bodies, we can see that the male and female reproductive organs are set in the most protected area of the body. That is because these organs are the most precious. The wind may blow or something may attack us, but they cannot invade that part of the body. What is more, the woman’s organ is less prone to invasion than the man’s. The words I use when speaking about these organs are not vulgar; rather, they are sacred words. If you contend that the words for what was considered most precious from the time of our ancestors are vulgar words, then you are implying that our ancestors up to now have all been bad. You are saying that even the first ancestors, Adam and Eve, were bad. Because our first ancestors formed a ssang (a pair), such words are termed ssangsori (a vulgar word). If they had originally placed true love at the center of their relationship, our ancestors would have set down their roots there and grown into a sacred tree. Then the words about love organs would have been considered good words and good sounds, and they would not have been given coarse treatment. Instead, we would have attended them with care. Therefore, before we make love, we need to offer a bow before our ancestors and say, “Thank you for giving us this day, which is a very special day.” That is why, when we perform the three-day ceremony, we begin by offering a bow. We offer that bow as a simple ritual representing all bows. After completing the Three-Day Ceremony, we are free to love. We can make love as often as we desire and in any way we please. (238-035, 1992.11.19)
31 Since the Blessing is now available for everyone, we should give the Blessing to as many people as possible. We need to bless everyone, without missing even one person. Before I depart this earth, you have to make sure that there is no one left unblessed in the spirit world. The Blessing did not exist in the past, but now it has become a reality. Before I pass on, both earth and heaven should be filled with people who are blessed. Otherwise, all the fallen bloodlines that were sown by fallen Adam will not be eradicated. (301-212, 1999.05.01)
The Eighth Day Dedication Ceremony
32 On the eighth day after the birth of our child, we offer the Dedication Ceremony. We say that the number eight is a central number. Since it is a central number, it needs to be fulfilled by the man and woman, and also the grandfather and grandmother. In short, there should be the four directions in three stages: grandfather and grandmother, man and woman, and the son or daughter to be dedicated. These three stages cannot be without a center. Yet not just anyone can stand in the central position and be part of the three stages. (546-160, 2006.11.27)
33 Jesus passed away at the end of the three-year period of his public ministry, but the Unification Church is continuing his mission of laying the foundation for the kingdom of heaven on earth. At the time of the Dedication Ceremony of my first son, I gave members three kinds of gifts as a condition of three sacrificial offerings, and fed them with seaweed soup, rice and milk. That period of three years was the period to set up the four-position foundation, which Jesus was unable to establish. If Jesus had brought Judaism under him and made Rome submit to him, he would not have died on the cross. I have achieved victory on the first stage. Then, to establish God’s citizens and sovereignty, I gave awards to three women and one man in recognition of their contributions. (13-084, 1963.10.20)
34 This morning we held a ceremony to celebrate God’s Day. Before that we performed a Dedication Ceremony. At this time I have mobilized the blessed wives, whom you love the most and who serve as the foundation of heart in your families. Nevertheless, the fact that you did not oppose the mobilization or demonstrate against it is a great honor to me. That is how, with my family at the center, all of you were able to set a victorious foundation to connect all families in unity when you go to the frontline to meet people. Thereby, my family was finally able to establish the victorious condition to be offered to God. That is how we were able to conduct the ceremony to celebrate God’s Day on the second floor, and also hold my family’s Dedication Ceremony. Therefore, we could bestow blessings even on the infants. However, even when this Dedication Ceremony was done, I had to establish the proper order. Before Heaven’s family came to exist, first there was the angelic world. Therefore, when my family was dedicated to God, at the same time I needed to soothe Jesus’ bitter sorrow and fulfill the wishes of people on earth. (37-306, 1971.01.01)
35 Because I have already fought on the individual and family levels, I have reached the standard by which I can work on the national level. But you have yet to reach that standard. You need to be qualified to stand on the national-level foundation. This means you need to have the qualification of a parent standing on the national-level foundation, the qualification of a child standing on the national-level foundation, and the qualification to have dominion over all things while standing on the national-level foundation. On that foundation, you should have dominion over all things. After that, the returning Lord needs to fight to the end according to that standard to establish the world-level standards for parents, for children and for dominion over all things representing the world. At present we are in the process of fighting to reach that goal. That is what you are participating in. Hence, along with the national-level Dedication Ceremony for the family, what other ceremonies should you hold? You should have Dedication Ceremonies for all things and for children. They should be carried out in reverse order. You should have dedication ceremonies for all things, for children, for yourself and for your family. Without carrying these out, you cannot completely indemnify history vertically and horizontally and dedicate it as a victorious sacrificial offering. (47-354, 1971.08.30)
Section 2. The Seonghwa Ceremony
1 Because Unification Church members know that there is a spirit world, they are not afraid of dying. In the Unification Church, a funeral is called the Seunghwa Ceremony. It means to ascend nobly to heaven. The Seunghwa Ceremony is about ascension. To inaugurate it, I had to rejoice more over the death of my son than I did at the birth of my sons and daughters. I had to experience the joy that God would have felt had His princes and princesses been born to Him. If this did not come to pass, my son could not have crossed over the hill of death. At the place where he died, we, his mother and father, had to offer a prayer to celebrate the victory of love, that is, of his having achieved liberation. That is why, when Heung-jin passed on, I did not shed even a single teardrop. Because he had a long way to go in the next world, I held the Unification Ceremony for him. (381-235, 2002.06.14)
The Seunghwa Ceremony and the Seonghwa Ceremony
2 There is a three-year course that had to be established during the forty-year period of the restoration of Canaan on the world level. Through this three-year course we needed to reach the conclusion. The second year was the most dangerous. It was the most difficult time. That is why, at that time, Heung-jin passed on, and I went to prison. As the leader who had been shouldering responsibility for heaven and earth, I was very serious. Satan was the one who caused what happened to Heung-jin. Therefore, I first conducted the Unification Ceremony, then the Seunghwa Ceremony, and then, because I had to send him off as my victorious son, I did not shed any tears until Heung-jin passed on. This is a dreamlike story. However, in this world, things are actually happening just as I prayed and just as I said. Unbelievable events are taking place. (134-129, 1985.02.25)
3 When Heung-jin went to the spirit world, I held the Unification Ceremony and declared the Day of Victory of Love. The love of the Parents treads on Satan’s world and overcomes death. That is why, as I viewed Heung-jin dining the three days before his passing, I could not shed any tears. Even in the presence of our dead sons and daughters, we should be able to share God’s love and dedicate our love to Him. For this reason I declared the Day of Victory of Love. Because love triumphed over everything, the ceremony is called the Seunghwa Ceremony. (357-033, 2001.10.25)
4 In the Unification Church, we call a funeral the Seunghwa Ceremony. Our birth, the Holy Wedding Ceremony and even the end of our life are to be offered to God. The complete fruit of these is the Seunghwa Ceremony. However, you have no idea what an embarrassment it is for a person to be given a Seunghwa Ceremony and honored with many flowers if they lived a careless life and did as they pleased. Therefore, knowing the Principle, we should lay our foundation by living in accordance with it. (363-200, 2001.12.23)
5 Though Heung-jin passed on alone, I blessed him on earth on the fiftieth day after his passing—just as on the Pentecost fifty days after the passing of Jesus, the 120 believers gathered in the Upper Room were filled with the Holy Spirit, as recorded in the biblical book of Acts (2:1-4). With that, I made up for all the incomplete work that Heung-jin would have done during his lifetime. I could not shed tears as I sent him off. I also made Mother pledge not to express sadness in front of Heung-jin when he departed for the spirit world. If I had not prepared the way for him at the time, he would have gone to the spirit world in tragedy, like other people. He would then have had no relationship with Jesus or the world of the Blessing amid a spirit world rife with divisions. That is why I named his departure the Seunghwa Ceremony. That ceremony I conducted was the original Seunghwa Ceremony. (501-138, 2005.07.17)
6 At Heung-jin’s Seunghwa Ceremony, no one was allowed to shed tears. This was especially so for True Parents. Later, in the United States, only after they received the report from Korea that the Seunghwa Ceremony had been performed joyously, they shed tears of blessing as they bid him farewell. In this way, the history that had been divided in tears was brought together in harmony with tears. Therefore, no one should shed tears during a Unification Church Seunghwa Ceremony. If tears are shed, the deceased cannot go the way he or she is supposed to go. (501-139, 2005.07.17)
7 There is no hope without a heart of love. You cannot form bonds with others if you do not have a loving and caring heart. You should even embrace death itself; otherwise you cannot form a relationship with God, who governs the world beyond death. Without transcending death you cannot enter God’s world of love. You need to rise above the fallen realm; otherwise you cannot find love no matter how eagerly God awaits your arrival. Where there is hope, there is love. To have hope for the spirit world, you need to love, which will enable you to overcome even death. That is why in the Unification Church, a funeral is called the Seunghwa It signifies breaking through Satan’s wall straightaway and ascending to heaven. Ceremony. (306-301, 1998.10.01)
8 Throughout your life, you should have nothing to be ashamed of before your wife or husband. You should be able to say, “I have kept true to the tradition of safeguarding God’s pure lineage, in order to bequeath it to my descendants. I have lived my life according to the tradition of building the kingdom of heaven, where God desires purity, and now I am departing. I am coming to You, my Father, and I entrust myself to You.” With that, the commemoration of your death will be called a Seunghwa Ceremony. (399-055, 2002.12.18)
9 People do not know what it means to die. They think it is a sorrowful occasion, but it is not. Death is a transition from a lower-dimensional world to a higher-dimensional world by crossing the bridge of love. That is why the Unification Church calls death Seunghwa. To die is to ascend to a higher dimension. It is possible only through love. (137-317, 1986.01.05)
10 A funeral in the Unification Church is called a Seunghwa Ceremony. Since it is a ceremony of seunghwa (ascension), you should not hold on to the deceased and cry. When the spirit of the dead person sees you cry over him or her, that spirit will lament. He or she will say, “The people’s ignorance is a rope that ties me down and prevents me from going on my way.” Since we know these things, we in the Unification Church call it a Seunghwa Ceremony. “Seunghwa” means soaring gloriously to heaven. With the power of love, you should lift the deceased up. Instead of pulling the dead person down, you should lift him or her up. (199-130, 1990.02.16)
11 The Seunghwa Ceremony began with Heung-jin. The meaning of “victory of love” in the Day of Victory of Love is being victorious over death through love. Other people’s mothers would be overwhelmed with sorrow, writhing and wailing with deep emotion, but Mother was required not to shed tears. We needed to hold his ceremony within three days of his passing. We had to proclaim victory over death. It is on this basis that we can hold the Seunghwa Ceremony in the Unification Church. It is a ceremony of going beyond death and onward to joy. Those who go through the Seunghwa Ceremony can easily cross over all the valleys in the spirit world. (212-096, 1991.01.02)
12 The word “death” is sacred. It is not a word that should evoke sadness and anguish. That is why I announced that I changed Seunghwa to Seonghwa. The character seong (聖) means to be sacred or holy. We should no longer use seung (
), meaning “to ascend.” Seonghwa is a term I have coined. The previous word, Seunghwa, did not clearly reflect the sacredness of death, so I rectified it and announced that it is now Seonghwa. The moment of entry into the spirit world is the time when you enter the world of ecstasy and victory. It is the moment, after your life on earth has bloomed and borne fruit, when you embrace the fruit of your life. It is a moment that comes only once. That is why you should rejoice in that moment. In that moment, others should congratulate you as much as they desire and then send you off. In that moment, they should shed tears of joy, not tears of sadness. Every person has eternal life. Compared to the span of eternity, the period of three days after death is shorter than a second. So the question is, “Why should you feel sad about it?” If you lament during that time, your prospects for eternal life will vanish. How dreadful is that? It is so true. It is a time when people should shed tears of joy, not tears of sadness. This Seonghwa refers to laying out the body of the deceased for three days and offering devotions for his or her passage into the spirit world. I have changed the term Seunghwa Ceremony to Seonghwa Ceremony. (, 2011.11.22)
The Wonjeon Ceremony
13 Members of the Unification Chinch overcome fear of the spirit world. I have no fear of death. The Fall brought about death, so religion should create the realm of resurrection. Based on the Day of Victory of Love, we could begin holding the Seunghwa (ascension) Ceremony. Also on that condition, we could call the burial site the Wonjeon, which means “original palace.” It is not about dying but about direct passage to the kingdom of heaven. This palace is a link from the earthly nation to the heavenly nation. That is the meaning of Wonjeon. There is no religion in the world with anything like it other than the Unification Church. (357-033, 2001.10.25)
14 The place of burial for deceased members of the Unification Church will be known as a Wonjeon. To enter the Wonjeon means to find our way to the original palace within our mother’s womb. Where is your Wonjeon? It is the inside of your mother’s womb before you were born. From the moment your father’s sperm met your mother’s ovum, although one was small and the other large, they breathed together, clung to each other and lived in joy. They dwelt together, holding on to each other and giving each other a boost. You need to pass through the ideal of that Wonjeon. In the word Wonjeon, the character jeon (殿) means house. It is the same character as the jeon in goongjeon, meaning palace. You are to find your way to the origin within God’s ideal, which existed before your mother’s ovum met your father’s sperm and you were born on earth. (582-144, 2007.12.06)
15 Do you know what a mortuary table is? When a person dies, before the body is placed in a coffin, it is washed clean and prepared. Before the body can be moved into a coffin, it is placed on the table and washed clean. Unless someone can unite in heart with the deceased at that place, the body cannot be placed in the coffin. Who is supposed to carry out this task? It should be done by the person who loved the deceased the most. The garments for the deceased should be prepared with care in advance, and the deceased should be dressed in them before being sent off. The cerements are the garments that the body is dressed in when it is placed in the coffin. A representative, loyal friend, or filial son or daughter should receive the fabric for the cerements and sew them. If the deceased is to go to the kingdom of heaven, to a good place in the spirit world, he or she should have upheld the tradition of a loyal patriot and loyal subject. A Korean funeral has this type of meaning. The place where the Unification Church buries its dead is not called a graveyard but a Wonjeon. To liberate heaven and earth, we should desire to be buried in such a place. The Wonjeon refers to the original palace. It is not a place where just anyone can be buried. Only those who have been martyred or whose life was on a comparable level can be buried there. (478-097, 2004.11.28)
CHAPTER 4 The Daily Life of Blessed Families
Section 1. Proper Conduct for Blessed Families
1 We need to live a life of attendance to the True Parents such that we are always prepared to offer them something. Although every day we wait for them with a heart of attendance, we know they cannot come to visit. Therefore we should yearn to receive Heaven’s sons and daughters in our home in their stead. From morning till night we should make preparations to receive these beloved children. Heaven will bless those who follow this lifestyle. Korean noblemen in the past used to prepare a comfortable guest room in the annex off the main house and invite travelers to stay there overnight. This custom was unique to Korea. This implementation of heavenly conduct in the history of Satan’s world also symbolically demonstrated in advance our proper attitude of attendance. (26-299, 1969.11.10)
Proper conduct in the family
2 We’ve been living and speaking carelessly in our family life, but from now on we should establish rules in the family. Parents should not beat their children in anger. They should not berate them with curse words as are commonly spoken in the world. We all must now become as one body. Our words, our attitude and our way of life should be as members of one body, with God as the center. (28-252, 1970.01.22)
3 The family of the firstborn son in a clan can thrive when the members of his family willingly accept the traditional family laws and propriety passed down from their ancestors and practice them. If any of them have the attitude, “Those rules have nothing to do with me,” he or she can’t be the offspring of that family. Especially the firstborn son cannot be the heir of the family, even though he was born as its eldest son. We, on the other hand, have to become descendants who surpass all our ancestors and succeed in accomplishing countless responsibilities. Unification Church members must become such descendants. (21-252, 1968.11.24)
4 In the past, when the family of a loyal subject of the king acquired something valuable, the head of the family would offer it first to the king of the nation. That was a loyal subject’s way of life in Korea. From that perspective, Korean propriety reflects the central norms of the heavenly kingdom, which cannot be found in any other nation. Confucianists follow the teachings of Confucius, and quite a few proprieties prescribed in Confucian teachings are close to heavenly law. You should educate your children to conduct an offering ceremony for you in the future, when you pass away. Norms and rituals for holding a funeral based on the Principle have not yet been established. However, once the rules of propriety are established, you should not live a casual life, doing things as you please. From now on you should believe that God is always with you in every situation. With that faith you should be able to cultivate the life force that will enable you to grow, sinking deep roots so you can overcome any obstacle in any situation, no matter what kind of storm arises. (31-292, 1970.06.04)
5 When something good happens in their life, people of filial piety think of their parents first. In the fallen world, people typically think of their spouse first. However, you should not buy something of value for your spouse unless you have first offered something precious to your parents. A husband should first buy clothes for his parents before doing so for his wife. Furthermore, until the husband has a chance to offer clothes to his parents, his wife should not say, “I like this dress; buy it for me if you love me.” Moreover, a husband should first purchase clothes for his parents and for his wife before he buys any for himself. It is the same with food. Whether husband or wife, they must offer food to their parents first, then to their spouse, and should sit down for meals together with their parents. (26-298, 1969.11.10)
6 Your family should not get accustomed to worldly habits. Nor should you think, “Although things are bad now, they will get better in the future.” You must make things perfect now. The issue is the present. When the past and the present are perfect, the future also will be perfect. The fact that there has never been even one perfect day such as existed in the Garden of Eden is evidence of the Fall. The ideal place is where the past, the present and the future are in accord. Hence you should be able to offer the present moment. God desires to see whether you can establish eternal stepping-stones on earth now. Now is the culminating point of history. (21-077, 1968.10.20)
7 The time is coming when new laws will be enacted, and the most serious among them will be those regarding violations of love. If you committed such infractions in the past, now is the time to sincerely repent. Every time you listen to the Principle, you must feel mortified. You should feel angry with yourself and bitterly ashamed of your transgressions. You should exclaim, “I already feel so bitterly distraught that I’m a descendant of the Fall; on top of that, I repeated it too!” You should feel deeply repentant, saying, “God, if You will only forgive me, I will never be able to express enough gratitude.” The moment you commit the sin of violating love, it will be hopeless for your ancestors. (67-059, 1973.05.20)
8 One mind, one body, one thought and oneness in harmony! After that we have true love, true life and true lineage to build a true family. Until we reach harmony and oneness in mind and body, we shouldn’t have a partner. The four-position foundation is fulfilled only when a man and a woman, who were created from the separation of God’s dual characteristics, unite and give birth to children. This is an ironclad principle. It is not a theory I cleverly fabricated on my own. We must understand that the four-position foundation is Heavens law. It is the structure of the spirit world as well. If you don’t meet what it requires, problems will arise. The law of love must remain absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal even after hundreds of millions of years. When we recognize that the universe exists within the realm of the ideal partnership of love, we can understand that our love also must be absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal. Only then can we stand without shame before the entire universe. Then we can be confident and have conviction that the universe will attend us and our families as its owners. (397-322, 2002.12.01)
9 You have family members, so you should become people who can share love as brothers and sisters and support one another. You should become the model members of your family. And as members of the Unification Church, you should become men and women who can be recognized by all members of the church. From now on, we should cut off what needs to be cut off and separate from what we need to separate from. You should not just live as you please. The Unification Church must establish the kingdom of heaven. Hence, rather than merely recovering ourselves, we have to recover the family. Those who can’t become exemplary in their family life will be accused by the world, even by the cosmos. (030-230, 1970.03.23)
10 The value of the Blessing can be recognized only when you fulfill your responsibility. Therefore you blessed members should not speak offensively, in the worldly way. There should be something different about you. The family is a small church. Hence your family should be, as the agency of God, a family that God would like to visit. At least three families must totally unite as one family. What I would like to say in particular is, first, that your family should be one that many people visit. Harmony among people is most important. Second, Heaven’s families should build solidarity with one another. At the very least the families in your Blessing trinity should be completely united with one another. (15-271, 1965.10.24)
11 We are not focused on the individual but on the family. Yet it does not mean we are only trying to clean up all the problems in our own family. Rather, we should connect to all. Hence our previous efforts to cultivate our spirituality while living alone are now not enough. We must be determined and resolute to make much greater effort than before. A life of challenging evil is very difficult. We can get tired and easily give up in an instant. When we have a family, we should work much harder than when we were single. The family is where we can secure our center. The family is where we cannot avoid dealing with reality in all relationships. In our family, we should establish relationships between front and back, left and right, above and below. We shouldn’t just maintain the kind of faith we practiced in the past; the one-sided life of faith we had before will not work. The Blessing is the point that determines whether we live or die. (27-085, 1969.11.26)
12 Developing a good personal faith hinges mostly on relating to a good leader. However, to develop a good family, each of you must become a leader to one another. We need to ask for whom and for what the members of the family exist. When you were single, you could pray and everything would come to pass. However, once you have a family, if someone in it opposes you, l you have to bear the cross and persevere until your relationship with that person reaches the original standard. A single person is like one car in a train, but the family is like a locomotive. It is simple to restore an individual’s mistake. But if something goes wrong in the family, it affects everyone, even bringing them to ruin. (27-085, 1969.11.26)
13 What should you do to receive love from your parents? You should love everything that your parents love. That way you are able to receive their love. In a family, if a son wants his parents to love him, he needs to understand that the way to receive love from them is to love all that they love. The son shouldn’t aspire to receive their love otherwise. If a child wants to claim everything his parents cherish simply because he wants to, he cannot be loved by them. (133-026, 1984.07.01)
14 God and parents stand in the position to care for others before anyone else does. God thinks of you before you do. And your parents think of you before you do. This is why you love them. This is why they stand in the position of subject partner to you. When two people live together, each should think, “If my partner does not do what he or she is supposed to do, I will do it.” This is the kind of being God is. The person who thinks this way becomes the center. The person who lives for the sake of others surely becomes the center. (103-139, 1979.02.18)
15 You need to be more altruistic. The most altruistic person becomes the leader. In a group of ten people, the one who becomes the central person is the one who lives for the group and loves the other nine the most. The others will seek that person out. Thus far, people have thought that living for others was bad for them. Yet living for the sake of others is actually the way to become a central person, to become a leader and to inherit everything. This is a natural law. This is why I am telling you that to live for the sake of others is not bad. It does not incur any loss. No business bears better fruit than such a lifestyle. (132-276, 1984.06.20)
16 We need to awaken to the fact that we live in a different era and that our speech, attitude and lifestyle need to change. This is what the spirit world desires from us. The spirit world is already charging forward in unison, but the earth is in a state of confusion, full of complexities, and cannot determine its clear objective. Therefore to anchor ourselves on solid ground we need to offer conditions of devotion. Otherwise we will be swept away. We are now living in a time when we can no longer live casually. Some of you follow me around everywhere I go. You want to do that rather than work in your mission. Further, you prepare my rallies as if they were your own rallies. You must not do so. You must not act that way at all. You need to raise your family to be a family that can actualize God’s Will. For this, the father and mother must change first. In establishing a tradition, senior Unification Church members ought to set the standard first, before their sons and daughters. You should establish the tradition by becoming trustworthy parents, trustworthy siblings and trustworthy sons and daughters. Everything begins within the family. (462-298, 2004.07.29)
The proper conduct between a man and a woman
17 In the Western Hemisphere, sex education begins in elementary school. That is not good. Children need to learn about sex in a natural way. Did God give sex education to Adam and Eve? It is better for children not to know about sex at an early age. When they reach the age when they begin to learn about it, we need to teach them how fearful the outcome of sex can be, but at the same time how precious it can be. When I was going to school, there were no co-ed schools. Yet nowadays, young men and women dance by rubbing their bodies together. We therefore must establish educational institutions that can resist this trend, teaching people that losing one’s sexual purity is the most fearful thing that can happen. It is worse than murder. Murder takes away a person’s life, but when a person loses his or her purity it dooms thousands of generations of descendants. It can victimize scores, hundreds, even many thousands of people. Henceforth infractions against sexual purity must be treated with greater seriousness than the crime of murder. We must educate our youth to the extent that they could not even imagine falling. (66-225, 1973.05.12)
18 Young people these days go against their parents and destroy their families. Their behavior is evil because it wreaks havoc on the order of love. It destroys families, societies and nations. It brings destruction even to all humankind. You cannot deny it is evil. Adolescents sometimes want to imitate certain thrilling scenes from movies. Young people may ask, “What’s wrong with that?” You must tell them, “It’s wrong because such irresponsible actions lead to a licentious lifestyle, which will bring destruction to your surroundings, your family and society. You must refrain from such activities. When you have developed your intellect, have gained experience in society and can control yourself in any circumstances, then you are free to act as you please, but not now’’ (117-184, 1982.03.01)
19 Do you women like flower buds before they bloom, or do you prefer flowers in full bloom? I like flowers that have fully bloomed. When you bloom, you should blossom to your fullest. Don’t rely on someone else, but blossom radiantly according to your own nature. This means you should grow in a natural way, go through adolescence naturally and blossom in due course, and only then find a spouse whom you want to love. Don’t be crushed before you bloom. Don’t be a flower whose petals have fallen off and whose pollen has been shaken out. It’s the same for men. Men should also blossom to their fullest. (47-088, 1971.08.19)
20 As buds that have yet to blossom, you must not engage in foolish activities such as sending love letters and having love relationships. You should blossom to the fullest naturally at the appropriate time. When God sees you, He should be able to exclaim, “Wow! You have blossomed purely and naturally. When I smell your fragrance, I can tell you’re a pure virgin.” God feels so much hope when this happens. Does God want someone pure or someone damaged? What about you then? Do you want someone pure or someone damaged? Even fallen human beings want to have someone pure. Would God not value your purity even more? For this reason I hope you can blossom fully in pure heart and love. I hope you will become people of value who can rise above the trends of today’s fallen world and not become trapped in its valley of sorrow. (47-088, 1971.08.19)
21 Think how many millennia it has taken to restore the mistake committed by Adam and Eve. Countless people toiled arduously, even paying the price of being sacrificed, in order to reach this point today. Are you still going to commit the same mistake? It might have been possible for you to err when you were ignorant of these facts, but after learning the Principle you must not do such things anymore. We all know very clearly the monumental losses that result from losing one’s purity. Hence there should be no question about overcoming sexual temptation. Because we clearly understand the astronomical damage caused by sexual licentiousness, we should never lose our purity no matter who tempts us to engage in such an act. Further, once we understand the incredible damage caused by Adam and Eve’s one mistake of illicit love, we will recognize the fatal harm that will come to us if we do the same; therefore we will abstain. However, because people in general do not know this, they don’t know how to overcome their sexual desire. (66-223, 1973.05.12)
22 For a woman the most dangerous person is a man, and for a man the most dangerous person is a woman. That’s why it’s best to avoid situations in which a man and a woman are close to each other. All you men, if a woman approaches you, avoid her and walk away. These days I see single men and women sitting together under a tree and making conversation. You should not do such a thing. If you wish to converse with someone of the opposite sex, gather as a group of at least three people. In a group of three you will be all right. The archangel and Eve fell because the two were alone together. Had Adam been present, would they have fallen? Adam and Eve fell because only the two of them spent time together. Had they invited God into their presence, would they have fallen? For this reason if you want to meet, make sure at least three people are present. This is not coercion; rather, it is a practical precaution to avoid a potential problem that could happen at any time. The principled thing to do is to take a position in which Adam and Eve could never Fall. We want to prevent anything from going wrong as well as to clean up what went wrong. This is why I am asking you to meet in group settings, with at least three people together. (66-225, 1973.05.12)
23 Even when witnessing to people, women must never be alone. If a sister goes out for witnessing activity, have an old grandfather or grandmother accompany her, even if he or she needs a walking stick. If they are not available, the sister can take a primary school student with her. I’m not telling you to avoid engaging in witnessing activity. I’m telling you to take precautions against potential dangers. Every precaution must be taken against even the slightest chance of falling. If three people are together, you’ll be fine. We love one another by preventing each other from falling. That is love. Even leaders must take this precaution. (66-226, 1973.05.12)
24 The likelihood of falling increases when a man and woman are alone together. Would you light a match next to a gas pump or light a cigarette near a gasoline drum? Just one mistake is all it takes to shatter everything. You can never cast off that mistake for eternity. Especially once you know the Principle and still fall, there is no way for you to cast it off. The Principle states it, and the Principle works by systematic logic. Hence once you are caught, there is no way for you to escape from it. Neither can you have any basis to deny it. (67-058, 1973.05.20)
A life maintaining purity, pure lineage and pure love
25 Parents need to educate their children about how to practice true love. Everything I’m saying relates to the family. Husband and wife should maintain purity of mind and body and attain oneness of heart. Then they must educate their children about true love by their example. Will children obey a father who is a drunkard and physically abuses their mother? Will children obey a mother who habitually deceives and lies to their father? Parents need to educate their children about true love through their own actions. It’s not just education but education by example. I’m saying the way to educate your children about true love is by practicing it first. Educate by example. Write this as your family motto, frame it and mount it on the wall. Write it with a heart of profound devotion. (333-234, 2000.09.26)
26 Purity, pure lineage and pure love are followed by a pure heart. Without a pure heart, there can’t be a pure lineage. Heaven’s lineage has been passed down to us on the foundation of tens of thousands of years of pure hearts. The way to pass on the lineage to our descendants for thousands and even tens of thousands of years should be through fidelity to one’s one and only spouse. Therefore there must be no divorce. With divorce comes threefold greater indemnity. (476-263, 2004.11.21)
27 God is the first generation, True Parents are the second generation and you are the third generation. However, you need to understand that the original tradition of the Blessing should have been: God as the first generation, you as the second generation and your children as the third generation. You would have been pure men and women, like unblemished white jade. When you united as couples, upholding the ideal of the four-position foundation, you would have bequeathed pure love, pure life and pure lineage to countless generations of descendants. (380-318, 2002.06.10)
28 You are young people approaching your twenties who have carefully protected and preserved your pure heart. Where will you take your clean, spotless and holy pure heart? You should place your pure heart on the altar that will give Heaven the greatest delight, bringing tremendous joy to God. There a young man who has preserved his pure heart and a young woman who also has preserved her pure heart should meet and rejoice together. It is the place where they meet as bridegroom and bride, bound together by God on the sacred foundation of a pure heart. (064-085, 1972.10.24)
29 Your body is precious. Don’t defile it; fulfill your filial duty instead. You need to escape from Satan’s realm of death and carry out your responsibility to serve Heaven with a body whose purity God approves. This is the highest goal and the standard that human beings should have. According to the Principle of Creation, you must be that way. (15-202, 1965.10.09)
30 A divine son or daughter is a person who loves heaven and earth. A divine son or daughter loves his or her nation from God’s viewpoint and upholds God’s sovereignty in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, a divine son or daughter knows all the laws of the royal court in the heavenly kingdom and all the laws of his or her nation on earth and endeavors to love both worlds, while abiding by all their laws. (565-064, 2007.06.07)
31 God invested His whole heart when creating Adam and Eve. What Adam and Eve received was the seed of His true love, true life and true lineage. Therefore we must return to that original state. It is God who sowed the seed, and it is we who must return the fruits. No one wants weeds and other rubbish. When we ascend to the spirit world, everything about our past will be disclosed; therefore we must clean up everything before we pass away. Although our outward body will return to dust, we will still carry what is inside us. This is the problem. It would have been better if there were nothing inside us that we needed to eliminate, but because we still carry scars in our hearts, scars formed by the pangs of conscience, we need to clean them up. (382-071, 2002.06.19)
32 One mind, one body, one thought, and then comes oneness at the core. This oneness derives from a pure mind and body, a pure lineage and pure love. However, before pure love, we need pure sex. The issue is sex. Even in sex there are three stages—formation, growth and completion. However, these stages came into existence only after the Fall. Originally, once Adam and Eve made love under God’s Blessing, there would have been no issue. When they had sexual relations for the first time it would have been perfected. Instead we had to go through restoration in the Old Testament Age, the New Testament Age and the Completed Testament Age to realize purity, pure lineage and pure sexuality. A man must unite his mind and body and keep them both pure. He must not violate this purity before marriage, and it is the same for a woman. With purity of mind and body and a pure lineage, there can be purity in sexual relations. A man and a woman must maintain their purity. Then when the time comes for them to marry, they unite to form one core. In this way they become perfected as man and woman and can finally stand as God’s object partners. (489-219, 2005.03.02)
33 Oneness in mind, oneness in body, oneness in thought, oneness in sexual relations—for these our mind and body need to be united. When do the mind and body fully unite as one? A fallen person’s mind and body cannot become one. However, through marriage a man and a woman can finally attain oneness at the core. What comes after oneness in mind, body and thought, and oneness at the core? That is when purity of mind and body, pure lineage, purity of sexual relations and pure love all become one. All these should be in harmony. You and your spouse should realize harmonious oneness. Then whatever happens, you will remain one eternally. (489-219, 2005.03.02)
34 You have to abide by centering on your original mind, your mind that is one with God’s mind. Should you not abide where the universe reaches perfection? To be of one mind with God’s mind means your mind is unified, that a peaceful, unified mind is within you. Then on this foundation of one mind, you should become as one body with God. After that you should arrive at oneness in thought. Then you and your spouse can have sexual relations, pure in mind and body. A man and a woman who are striving to become as one mind, one body and one thought—one at the core with God—finally can become one through a sexual relationship. Then they become one at the core. Looking at a sphere, we find two poles: plus and minus. It also has hemispheres, upper and lower, right and left, and front and back. The core of your couple must be the same. Man and woman differ in mind and heart. Nonetheless, when they unite as one and stand before God as His object partners, in the position of body with God in the position of mind, they can discover the origin of conjugal love by becoming one body in God’s presence. Then they can form a family of oneness that can serve God. The realm of oneness in love that they experience through their bodies will expand throughout their lives, leading to complete unity and harmony. They will achieve eternal, unchanging unity and settle in peace. (489-220, 2005.03.02)
Section 2. The Standard of Love in the Family and Respect between Husband and Wife
1 What if parents have only one son and one daughter? Their son will need an older sister and older brother. Their daughter will need an older brother and older sister. They will also need younger brothers and younger sisters. Children need both older and younger siblings. If they don't have siblings of both genders, they will be unhappy. God protects the family in which the younger brother and sister and the older brother and sister are all present and completely united with one another. It’s because such a family becomes the foundation for a clan, a tribe, a people and a nation. The older brother and older sister represent the east and west; the younger brother and younger sister represent the north and south. When these positions are perfected, they become three-dimensional. This is the love principle. The concepts of the Principle of Creation are rooted in the principle of love. Therefore when the principle of love is secured, we will have the origin of peace. (020-040, 1968.03.31)
The standard of love in the family
2 Our parents desire that we love our siblings more than we miss our parents. Thus if siblings fight in the name of filial piety, it cannot be regarded as filial piety. The heart of parents desires that children care about one another more than they love their parents. Even if you are temporarily unable to serve your parents, if you say, “Mom, please wait. I will come to you after taking care of my younger brother first,” your mother will say to you, “My boy! You will grow up to be a good man.” Those who want to love their brothers and sisters more than their parents will live eternally in heaven. Those who can’t love their brothers and sisters as they would then- parents will be excluded. When you understand the basis of this principle, it is simple. Yet because we human beings have not known this, we have been unable to love one another. The question is whether we, as family members, can unite among ourselves. Thus if you stand in a position where you cannot fulfill your filial duty to True Parents, you should instead offer the devotion you want to give True Parents to the members of your church family. Heaven will accept your offering as having greater value than your filial devotion to True Parents. Those who practice this will surely be blessed. (78-041, 1975.05.01)
3 Love your brothers and sisters in the church as you love God. Your path to heaven begins there. You love and follow me, yet I tell you, you should strive to love and help your brothers and sisters and work alongside them with the same heart. Those who can teach you the quickest and best way to go to heaven are neither God nor I, but your brothers and sisters. If you strive to love them with a love greater than their love for their parents or spouse, you will be chosen as a supreme subject partner of love. (66-125, 1973.04.18)
4 You and your brothers and sisters are companions who share in the love of your parents. Therefore you must not fight with your brothers and sisters. You are like your parents’ body, so when you raise your right hand, it is as if you were raising your father’s hand, and when you raise your left hand, it is as if you were raising your mother’s hand. Raising your right foot is like raising your father’s foot, and raising your left foot is like raising your mother’s foot. The family was made that way because of love. (106-080, 1979.12.09)
5 The more brothers and sisters you have, the better. No matter how many you have, if there is only one bowl of rice, you should share it with them. Siblings must not fight over a bowl of rice. However difficult life may be with many siblings, if they think with a loving heart, “Even if I starve, I’m going to give my portion to my sister,” all will be well. Would you want to wear good clothes and give the shabby ones to your younger siblings? We need to think in a way opposite from Satan’s world. Blessed children ought to think differently from the children of Satan’s world. (112-195, 1981.04.12)
6 At the time of your birth, how difficult do you think it was for your mother to push you out of her womb? Why did God make birth so difficult? Would it not be better if giving birth were as easy as talking, as easy as eating good food, or smelling the scent of perfume, or smiling with delight and laughing? Why, rather than being easy, does giving birth require the mother to labor on the verge of life and death? It is in order for us to experience radiant love. (107-042, 1980.01.20)
7 Parents live for their children. Parents who assert that they live for their own sake cannot be considered parents. From now on, the principles of morality should be established based on the Principle of the Unification Church. How should parents live? Parents should live for the children to whom they gave birth. Among the principles of morality, this is the first rule. No lengthy explanation is needed. It is simply because parents want to do so. The position of parents is a position in which they find happiness and joy in living for their children. (062-216, 1972.09.25)
8 You belong to both your parents and your children. Accordingly, parents belong to both their children and to God. However, you parents belong first to God, then to your children, and only after that can you belong to yourself. Only in this way can you reach perfection. This is why the norms of showing respect to parents still remain on this earth and in human life. The saying, “Respect your parents and love your children,” is derived from these norms. The reason an orphan, a child without parents, is pitiable is because we human beings need to receive love from our parents. Also we need to love our children. This is how we learn to position ourselves with regard to the four directions, knowing who is above us and who is below us. (18-209, 1967.06.08)
9 The way a father should relate to his children is to become their best friend. Then even when his children are playing with their playmates, they will run to him as soon as he appears. Also a father should become his children’s best teacher. His children must be able to say, “My Dad is better than the president; he is the best and is second only to God,” and, “I will never exchange my father for any friend. I will never exchange my father for any teacher. And I will never abandon my father, even if it means losing my loving wife.” (57-282, 1972.06.04)
10 When I come home late at night, I always caress the sleeping faces of my children. It is not easy to become a good parent. Yet this tender gesture naturally leads my children to think, “I want to love my sons and daughters as my father loves me.” Also, through expressing such love to my children, I should be able to let my children feel, “My father is the best in the whole world!” (097-311, 1978.03.26)
11 Everyone wishes to have great children. So how should we raise our children to become great? Some may think that giving their children an excellent education, beginning from kindergarten all the way to university, will achieve this objective. However, we parents are the ones who should educate them, and we should do so continually throughout their lives. Parents should constantly devote themselves to their children. Then when the time comes for the parents to bequeath their entire household to their children whom they raised with devotion, their children should be able to unite with them in heart, follow their parents’ footsteps and become their parents’ successors who represent their heart. Raising children in this way should become a common practice. (024-257, 1969.08.24)
12 My concern is not to leave a legacy that honors the name “Unification Church.” Rather I am concerned about how I can leave behind successors who will carry on the tradition I have upheld. That is why I have been educating you to take tradition seriously. (35-116, 1970.10.04)
13 The important issue is how you blessed families can live in accord with me through three generations, including those of your children and grandchildren. If the three generations accumulate merit together, your family will become most admirable and praiseworthy. Have you ever thought about this? Therefore from now on you should offer conditions of devotion with your children and educate them to fully understand your heart and thought. (51-271, 1971.11.28)
Courtesy between husband and wife
14 A husband and wife should always be together as one. Whenever they go somewhere, they should sit together, not separately. They should be able to resonate with each other at any time, day or night. Other than married couples, no one else can have such a relationship. Should a man and a woman who are not married sleep together in the same room? This would not be right. In the ideal world to come, when married couples walk together happily side by side, all single people will have to greet them with respect. That time is coming. We must create a social atmosphere in which husbands and wives who have attained complete oneness are honored and praised. It should be so especially for couples who are blessed. Wherever they go in society, people should respect, honor and praise them. (67-061, 1973.05.20)
15 Man symbolizes heaven while woman symbolizes earth. This is why Jesus has been bestowing the grace of salvation upon human beings from the spirit world, while the Holy Spirit has been doing so on earth. By doing so, they have been laying the foundation for the family. In laying the family foundation, if a wife can align herself with her husband’s heart, she will be blessed. If the husband can do likewise with his wife, he will be blessed. If the children unite with their parents, they will be blessed. We are now living in the age of family-level salvation. (12-261, 1963.05.22)
16 When you blessed couples embrace and love your babies, you should keep in mind the purpose for which your children were born. You need to understand they were born for God, out of your relationship with God. Even though you may be intimate with your precious husband or wife and share secrets together, your relationship is not of your own design. You were brought to each other while walking on the public path of the heavenly Principle. God was involved in tying you together. Hence if you are miserable, God will be miserable as well. (67-293, 1973.07.22)
17 When a husband enters his wife’s room, he steps into the chamber of the only queen in heaven and on earth. Likewise, when a wife relates to her husband, she steps into the palace where she attends the king. This is why both need to bow to each other when entering each other’s room to have a conjugal relationship; each needs to bow three times and then receive the other. Have you ever bowed to your husband before entering his palace to make love? I am teaching you about what you need to practice in your family. You also need to teach your family members as I am teaching you. That is, when you mothers enter your husband’s room, you must put on specially sanctified clothes and make yourself prettier than when you go out in public. (261-222, 1994.06.19)
18 Before entering each other’s palace to make love, husband and wife should bow to each other. The husband is entering the palace of the grand queen, the empress, in order to attend her. Adam should be the king of heaven and the model of tradition for all of you. If you live with such a heart and mind in your daily life, you will reach the level to represent Adam’s royal position in the heavenly world. You will become a royal family member, assuming a value equal to that of Adam. (253-313, 1994.01.30)
19 When a husband enters his wife’s chamber, he must be solemn. That room is the nest of life, the place where God can visit and dwell and the fertile ground from which his illustrious descendants will emerge. Therefore every time the husband enters, he must be thoroughly prepared to be with his wife, so the flower of their first love for each other will bloom in holiness. The place where the husband and wife make love is the palace of joyous union. When they are in that place, they are not envious of anyone’s royal throne or heaven’s citadels of happiness. It is this way because this is where everything begins. Now that you husbands know this, henceforth you must always bow before entering your wife’s chamber. Can any action be more praiseworthy than that of a husband who seeks to glorify that palace, the place that links three generations? (240-316, 1992.12.13)
20 Financial hardships in managing your household do not equate to misery. The dividing line between happiness and misery is determined by how close and how intimate our relationship is with Heaven. An individual can bear with his or her own downfall but will not accept that the family goes to ruin. A husband needs his wife more than anyone else in the world, and a wife needs her husband more than anyone. Therefore a husband and wife must always encourage each other, support each other and become each other’s companion in life. (27-087, 1969.11.26)
21 If you as a husband want to express love to your wife, then on her birthday you could invite all the women in the neighborhood to her birthday party. There, in front of all those guests, you should sing and dance for her with a heart overflowing with love. When this happens, the people from the neighborhood will pray for your couple and wish blessings upon your wife. It is extremely precious to any couple that they can have guests who pray from their heart for their blessings. Suppose one thousand good-hearted guests assemble and offer your couple their good wishes. Since God answers the prayer of even one good-hearted person, will the good wishes and prayers of one thousand good-hearted guests go unanswered? (127-097, 1983.05.05)
22 If a husband is overflowing with love, he may even swear when he’s at home, but his swear words can stimulate love. At the same time, any one word from a husband who is devoid of love can cut into his wife’s flesh and hurt her badly. Where there is love, a little playful wrestling is fine, but where there is no love, anything, everything, is detestable. (83-179, 1976.02.08)
23 If a wife darkens her husband’s heart, the world will be darkened by the repercussions of her action. Therefore a wife needs to wake up early in the morning and take good care of her husband before he goes off to work. She should always keep herself beautiful for her husband, even if it requires using makeup and perfume. A wife should not be emotionally indebted to her husband. She should always concern herself with her husband’s body and clothes. When her husband looks tired after returning home, she should bring him water to wash his face and toothbrush and toothpaste to brush his teeth; then she should wash his feet and comb his hair. A wife’s laughter is like the family’s flower. In order to build a harmonious family, she should be a first-class actress of both comedy and tragedy. She should be able to completely melt the heart of her husband anytime, whether he is happy or sad. (27-088, 1969.11.26)
24 On the path you are walking, you are bound to encounter imposing mountains with cliffs, deep rivers and large chasms. If you are unable to overcome these obstacles, the only thing you will eventually face for sure is death. When following the path of the Will, you should be able to leave behind your beloved wife, your husband and even your children. You women should go the way of women who respond to the heavenly way. You should even be willing to die if your husband asks you to die with him, if it is for the Will. Even though you die, you will live together in the spirit world. There will be a way to be liberated as long as you regard your husband’s will as absolute. (026-265, 1969.11.09)
Section 3. Blessed Family Practices
1 Begin your day by waking up at dawn and praying to Heavenly Father that throughout the coming day you may become the personification of gratitude in front of Him. Resolve to become a manifestation of God’s hope, someone whom He can raise and use for His providence, like a spring garden where flowers grow and bloom abundantly. As you work during the day, you need to become like a plant growing in the summer. Thereby you become a manifestation of hope and a being of value, someone whom God can be with. Evening is like autumn, the time when you harvest all your day’s accomplishments and offer them to Heavenly Father. At that time you should be able to say you will stand in front of Him in the position of a sacrificial offering. And when night falls, corresponding to winter, you should resolve to establish an internal parent-child relationship with God with all the life force that is stored up within you, and be ready to receive energy from God. If you are able to live with gratitude for 365 days a year, making each day victorious, you will feel the joy and worthiness of a life connected with God. (29-340, 1970.03.14)
Witnessing and the necessities of life
2 Although you may work during the daytime, you should do religious activities in the evening. Witnessing is more effective in the evening; it is also effective in the early morning. By knowing how to utilize your time effectively, you should be able to inspire new guests to such an extent that they want to flee their homes and come to church, full of an irrepressible desire to hear your lectures. You should become such a person. Can there be any result if you don’t kindle their motivation? I’m saying this because, if thus far you have not been able to do that, from now on you should work harder and do better. You should be creative and find new ideas and methods. Designate a place as your holy ground; go there early in the morning and pray there out loud every day. You must make your prayer so powerful and mystical that anyone who passes by will be inspired. If you continue with your prayers, righteous people in the neighborhood will discreetly come and listen to you. As they hear your prayers, although they may not understand them, they will enjoy their sound and feel them resonating in their hearts. (97-196, 1978.03.15)
3 Try conveying the Word past midnight and continue until you hear the first crow of the rooster. It is so mystical. Try conveying the Word when the only sound is the barking of the neighborhood dogs in the quiet, tranquil night. You’ll feel as if you are on a new path of life and are about to break through to find the bright sunlight, or you’ll feel like a ship’s captain on a new journey on the ocean, searching to find the lighthouse. You’ll experience a sense of valor, pride and majesty as if you alone in the world are totally filled with secrets of all kinds. In order to experience such a richness of heart, you need to teach and guide people during the nighttime, even until dawn. (29-197, 1970.02.28)
4 When you clean and arrange your room, you should even hang up your clothes in a principled way. Men’s clothes should go on the right side of the closet and women’s clothes on the left. When you lay clothes in your dresser drawers, you should put men’s clothes in the topmost drawers and women’s in the bottom drawers. This is the principled way. You all need to train yourselves to do things this way. Putting men’s clothes on the bottom and women’s clothes on top is a violation of the Principle. (131-290, 1984.05.04)
5 When you take off your clothes, you should take off your trousers first. Next take off your jacket and put it on top of the trousers. You should know how to keep your surroundings in order through such a principled way of life. For example, men’s shoes should be placed on the right or on top, and women’s shoes should be placed on the left or at the bottom. You should know how to arrange everything in order in a principled way. (131-291, 1984.05.04)
6 Smiling and laughter can be truly intriguing. Even a slight grin is a kind of laughter. What happens when we laugh? Everything becomes round. When an old man laughs, “Haw! Haw! Haw!” his mouth doesn’t continue going up but starts curving down into “Huh! Huh! Huh!” Why does it curve down? Why do his lips not continue going up? It’s because his mouth needs to become circular. When you smile sweetly, your mouth curves up only a little. However, when you laugh, “Ha! Ha! Ha!” your mouth becomes very round. People who can laugh heartily and give a big smile are rarely evil. (173-242, 1988.02.21)
7 Men should comb their hair as carefully as women do. When they groom themselves, they should decide the best side for parting their hair to present the best appearance, just as women do when applying cosmetics. In the West as well as the East, men generally part their hair on the left. Women must give this some thought. (131-304, 1984.05.04)
8 You should walk elegantly. When you walk, your posture must be balanced. You should always pay attention to keeping good posture. You should walk confidently. Some people walk with their shoulders hunched, but when you are walking you have to keep proper balance. You need to do so. (131-306, 1984.05.04)
9 In Asia, when a woman goes somewhere and sits down on the floor, it is not appropriate for her to lean her back against anything, even though men are allowed to do so. This is because women have wider hips and they naturally feel comfortable when they sit, while men have smaller hips and a larger upper body. If a woman sits with her back against the wall, it is uncomfortable for the baby she is carrying and can lead to a problem. (131-306, 1984.05.04)
10 Health is the most important thing. However, even if you’re sick you need to know how to manage your facial expressions in such a way that people don’t notice your illness. Some people make a gloomy face even when they have only a slight cold or other minor ailment. This isn’t proper. When a husband looks worried, his wife should comfort him, showing her caring heart but with a cheerful spirit. We need to always manifest a positive, healthy facial expression. (131-307, 1984.05.04)
11 Human relationships are formed on the basis of emotional bonds. Family relationships, moral concepts, social systems, hierarchical order and so forth are all based on the emotional factors of human life. This is why people tend to bow their heads in front of someone with whom they have developed a close relationship over time or before someone whom they respect due to their high spirituality or deep heart. Again, the motivation to form human relationships starts from the emotional bonds in the family. Human relations begin from parents who love their children, and are completed when the children return that love. (64-124, 1972.10.29)
12 You love your parents and need them, I hope. You want to see them and be with them. The age difference between you and your parents and the relationship of above and below set up a hierarchical order. Hence you should be a filial child to your parents and show them respect with proper manners. All concepts of morality in our relationships and in our social life reflect the fact that the one above is in the position of subject partner and the one below in the position of object partner, in a vertical relationship. From that viewpoint, you should long to be with your parents. You should want to become a filial son or daughter who can demonstrate obedience and humility. This is the relationship of parent and child. (112-251, 1981.04.19)
13 The reason human beings are special is because they have moral standards to guide their relationships. Human norms are what govern relationships. We don’t use the term “human norms” when dealing with one person; it applies when there are two or more people. Social ethics derive from the ethics in a family formed through the marriage of a man and a woman. Ethics define the duties and rules of human relationships. (136-208, 1985.12.29)
14 We need to establish a new tradition that transcends peoples and nations. That tradition should be established based on the foundation of relationships according to God’s desire, not human desire. This means we shouldn’t cling to our personal habits, past customs or present-day styles. Our way should be totally different. (66-297, 1973.05.16)
Holy salt and holy candles
15 When you purchase things you should sanctify them with holy salt, and when you return home you should purify yourself with holy salt at the door. This is a basic principle we need to practice. Anything that has been sanctified with holy salt should not be given back to Satan’s world. However, if you cannot avoid doing that, give it back with your left hand. When sprinkling holy salt, sprinkle it in the shape of a cross- north, south, east and west. (009-078, 1960.04.11)
16 Our church family members should sanctify everything. In most cases we can use holy salt to sanctify things, but when we eat rice or noodles or drink water, how can we sanctify them with holy salt? What should we do in such instances? We should blow on them, as Jesus did after his resurrection—and as he was blowing he told the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit. It is also the same as when God created life by blowing into Adam’s nostrils. Therefore from now on you too need to blow three times on everything you are about to eat or drink. Your breath represents the substance of life. Korean customs are amazing. When Koreans drink water, they first blow on it; before they sit, they first blow on the spot. God must have moved the natural conscience of the Korean people so that blowing could be one of their customs. This is not merely a coincidence. This is why we must always sanctify our life by having the mind to sanctify everything. You should blow three times before you eat or drink, in order to sanctify the defiled six-thousand-year history that has proceeded through the three stages of formation, growth and completion. (150-303, 1961.04.15)
17 People cannot be happy unless all things are happy. Yet all things are living in sorrow over being trapped in the realm of the Fall. Therefore we need to bring joy to all the things of creation. The means to make them happy is holy salt; it is by sanctifying them with holy salt. How did the creation become so tainted? Creation was tainted because of the false parents. Hence the tradition of holy salt began with the emergence of the True Parents; it began with the True Parents’ Holy Wedding. Since all creation became tainted as a consequence of the false love of the fallen parents, the holy salt tradition is based on the love of the True Parents, which began with their Holy Wedding. The holy salt tradition began on the basis of the new relationship of love that the True Parents laid both vertically and horizontally. Holy salt is an absolutely necessary conditional object for removing the sorrow of the Fall and leading all things out of the sphere of lamentation and into the world of new hope. (58-224, 1972.06.01)
18 Satan has held the ideal world captive until now. I proclaimed the Day of Victory of Heaven to mark our resolve to take responsibility for and indemnify this wrong. Based on the sacrifice of Heung-jin, who ascended to the spirit world, the gates of hell were opened on earth, in the physical world. As a result, we are now able to go with Heaven’s authority to reach out to hell in the spirit world and hell on earth, even to those in prison there. Just as Jesus during the three days after his death descended into hell and opened the gates of hell in the spirit world, during the three days after Heung-jin passed away I opened the gates of hell on earth. It means that through the occasion of Heung-jin’s ascension, I recovered all that was lost due to Jesus’ crucifixion. I created the aecheon (love of God) candles that I lit at East Garden before I came to Korea. I proclaimed the Day of Victory of Heaven on May 16, 1984, and lit the candles on the same day at East Garden. Only blessed family members can light the aecheon candles. Single members cannot use them. You must be blessed in order to use them. Heaven’s realm of love can expand only when we unite with Heaven centering on True Parents’ love. Since the aecheon candles symbolize that right of dominion through love, blessed families can have them and light them. (132-103, 1984.05.20)
19 You can use the aecheon candles during critical times in the nation and the world, when there are serious problems in your family or when there are grave problems in your clan. During these times you should light these candles, and grandfather and grandmother, parents and all family members should pray that the authority of dominion through love maybe realized. Then Satan can’t invade that family. The aecheon candles separate us from Satan. You need to remember that God and True Parents are present, and think that the authority of the dominion of love materializes wherever these candles are lit. Lighting the candles brings sanctification. True Parents began the tradition of lighting the aecheon candles. If you do the same, your families will be sanctified as well. Once you have these candles, you should no longer feel shame. If you still feel shame, you do not deserve to own the candles. Look at a candle. You will see it sacrifices its wick and waxy body to give off light. Therefore the candle is a symbol of the sacrifices that still need to be made to bring light to humanity and unite everyone centered on Heaven. Neither the wick nor the wax on its own can produce light; both are necessary for it to shine brightly. Also, the aecheon candles are paired, symbolizing that husband and wife, as subject partner and object partner, must together become a sacrifice in order to generate light. Wherever this takes place, Satan cannot be present. Therefore, with these candles and through the foundation of the Day of Victory of Heaven, there is a connection between True Parents and all blessed families around the world. The aecheon candles signify Heaven’s dominion over blessed families. (132-104, 1984.05.20)
Reporting in prayer as blessed central families
20 The way we conclude our prayers will change beginning on January 1, 2001. From then on, we will end our prayers, “I report all these things in the name of so-and-so, a blessed central family.” I have indemnified everything and restored the right of the eldest son, the right of parents and the right of the king. Therefore you must train your own family to become subject partners who can enter the era of liberation as unfallen Adam and Eve. Otherwise you will fall away. When Adam and Eve fell, they were punished right away. Likewise, we are entering the era when, if you commit the same mistake, your relationship with your husband or wife can be severed immediately. (340-094, 2000.12.24)
21 The time is coming when we will be able to joyfully report everything to the Father, as His partners. Therefore, while previously we concluded our prayers with “I pray all these things in the name of so-and-so, a blessed family who has inherited True Parents’ foundation of victory,” that time has now passed. We must now conclude with “I report all these things in the name of so-and-so, a blessed central family” We no longer will use the word “prayer.” From now on, we should report to Heaven. The time to report to Heaven has come. However, to offer a report we must have good results. How long are you going to say, “I pray for this and I pray for that,” like beggars? We must proudly report our accomplishments to Heaven. Hence from now on you will not be able to pray well unless you have accomplished something. (341-151, 2001.01.01)
22 We initially prayed in the name of True Parents instead of Jesus; then we began offering prayers “in the name of so-and-so, a blessed central family.” But now we are offering a report in our prayer. In the era of the fourth Adam, unless our prayers are reports to Heaven we will not be able to receive the right of ownership. In order to receive from Heaven the right to be owners, we must become families that represent Heaven’s nation. (500-242, 2005.07.12)
23 Blessed central families have nothing to do with the fallen world. They stand in the position of Adam and Eve before the Fall, when both were connected to God’s realm of heart. This is what blessed central families are. They are families that have accomplished God’s ideal of creation and represent the family of unfallen Adam. In such a position we should not merely pray; instead we should offer reports to Heaven. Had Adam’s family become perfected, they wouldn’t have prayed for this or that; rather, they would have offered reports to Heaven. The family of perfected Adam would have built the ideal world, reporting to Heaven daily. If on a certain day they had not accomplished anything, there would have been nothing to report. In such circumstances, there would have been no need for the Messiah or religion. Why? It’s because they would have known everything about their life and situation. Human knowledge would have extended from the individual to the family, tribe, people, nation, world and cosmos, all the way to the realm of God’s heart. (343-107, 2001.01.16)
24 From now on in the Unification Church we need to say “aju” instead of the “amen” that conventional Christians say. “Aju” means “my abode.” The ah in “aju” can be written with the Chinese character (我) that means “me.” The syllable “Ah!” is also the sound we make when in awe. “Ah!” is a sound that contains and expresses surprise and admiration. Thus it will release all the bitter sorrow of human history. You often hear, “Ah, this is good!” But do you ever hear, “Ah, this is bad”? When we say, “Ah!” we usually are referring to what is best. Now the second syllable, ju, can be written with either the Chinese character for “lord” (主) or the character that means “reside” (住). Therefore “aju” refers to the final position one assumes after becoming an owner. “Aju” also means “moving in;” thus it means, “Ah, I have now become an owner, and I need to move into my home!” “My home” means God’s master bedroom. When we are born, we are not immediately in God’s master bedroom. We first live in the womb of God’s wife. However, when we grow up, we come to say, “Aju, this is my home!” There is no greater aspiration than this. It means that my home has become a place founded on the realm of eternal oneness. It has become inseparable from the inner heart of God. Hence “my home” has two meanings: It is my home, and it is the home of God’s innermost heart. (539-012, 2006.09.17)
25 “Amen” means “May what I prayed for be accomplished.” However, what exactly should be accomplished? It is “I” who should be accomplished. Therefore each of us should stand in the position in which we can say, “Aju! I have become the owner of the ideal that everyone and everything are praying for.” We can’t say “aju!” when we have nothing to do with the content of our prayer. (548-294, 2006.12.15)
26 We say “aju” instead of “amen.” This is because “aju” means the number one owner. The Chinese character for ju (主) means “lord.” It means we can surpass the Lord. The Lord used “amen,” but he could not use “aju.” Doesn’t this mean we can be beyond the Lord? “Aju” in Korean means “very.” For instance, “This is very (aju) good!” Thus after people came out from an audience with the queen or the king, they would say, “It was very (aju) good!” We use “aju” as an adverb when referring to something as the best, the highest or the greatest. Furthermore, the Chinese character for ju is also the character for “king” or “lord.” Thus when we say it, it means we have reached the highest point that encompasses the three ages. (539-300, 2006.09.22)
CHAPTER 5 The Holy Days and Anniversaries
Section 1. Holy Days
1 Knowing that you are heavenly princes and princesses and citizens of the heavenly kingdom, you need to acquire the proper set of rules for dealing with any situation in your life and fulfill the duties appropriate to your position. Yet, even blessed members do not know about this. What, from now on, must Unificationists do? You must establish the family tradition appropriate for and aligned with God’s Day. You must establish the family rules aligned with Parents’ Day. You must establish the standard by which you order your life in alignment with Children’s Day. In order to celebrate these days, you need to offer more devotion and welcome them with greater joy than you would any other holidays celebrated on earth. Parents’ Day, Children’s Day, Day of All Things and God’s Day must become the basis of your family tradition. In your family, you have to establish the tradition of celebrating these holy days as the rule for Heaven’s family, a rule that is passed down to your descendants for thousands or even tens of thousands of generations. Based on this family norm, you must go straight from Parents’ Day to Children’s Day, from there to the Day of All Things, and finally to God’s Day. (22-026, 1969.01.01)
True God's Day
2 We must create a circuit of giving and receiving based on God’s heart, a high standard that cannot be invaded by Satan’s world. Its first foundational foothold is the tradition of the holy days celebrated in the Unification Church. In order to welcome and commemorate these days, you must be able to align your entire life with them. Moreover, you must cleave to these days with all your loyalty and sincere devotion. Then, when you celebrate these days, you will become children who can uphold the purposes and norms that Heaven has established. Finally, after six thousand years, God’s Day has been created. It is the day when God can rejoice. All the fortune of heaven and earth was gathered together for this day. It is a day unprecedented in history. Therefore, we have to welcome and celebrate this day with our sincere offering and sincere devotion. (22-027, 1969.01.01)
3 The days that human beings long to celebrate more than any other are not the days when they were born or when they married. Nor is it the independence day of their nation or the day when their nation recovered its independence previously lost to another nation. God’s Day and Parents’ Day are the days that humankind truly longs for and supremely hopes to celebrate. Those days had only been hoped for, but now they are established on earth. Once God’s Day and Parents’ Day were established, they naturally connected to Children’s Day and the Day of All Things. (92-253, 1977.04.18)
4 No one previously living on earth ever witnessed God’s Day or Parents’ Day; neither had anything in the created world. The most important days among the 365 days of the year are God’s Day and Parents’ Day. Through them, any problem can be resolved. These days are the royal days among all days, and the years they were inaugurated are the royal years among all years, among all the years that ever were. (92-253, 1977.04.18)
5 Before restoring True Parents, that is, before finding the family of Adam and Eve that did not fall, no one could have unfallen descendants or a world of creation unaffected by the Fall. Unless human beings can take the position to freely govern the world of all things, that is, the created world, God cannot exercise His authority as God. That is why, based on the year of 1960, I established Parents' Day, and subsequently Children’s Day and the Day of All Things. Only when there are True Parents can there be true children, and only when there are true children can there be dominion over all things. In order to take dominion over all things, we must first be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Adam and Eve were not supposed to govern all things by themselves. Children are the horizontal foundation, and parents are the vertical foundation. Parents therefore stand in God’s position on earth. Only after laying this vertical foundation can people have dominion over the world of creation, all things. Therefore, in the Unification Church, after inaugurating Parents Day, Children’s Day was established, and afterwards the Day of All Things was established. These holy days—Parents' Day, Day of All Things and Children’s Day—abide in the realm of God’s dominion, not in the realm of the Fall. That is to say, their position is extricated from the realm of Satan’s accusation. Hence, they can establish for us a direct relationship with God. (28-014, 1970.01.01)
6 The year 1960 was the year when we reached the completion level of the growth stage, namely, the level at which Adam and Eve fell. From the completion level of the growth stage, it required seven years more to reach the realm of perfection. This was the first seven-year course. When we reach the standard of perfection, we can enter the realm of God’s direct dominion. When I say the word “direct,” I really mean direct. Thus, we can also have direct dominion over the heart realm of life. However, in 1960, the year our Blessing took place, the task of reaching that standard of perfection still remained. I was still in the midst of the realm of the Fall, the realm of Satan’s dominion that resulted from the first Adam’s Fall. Nonetheless, a family had finally appeared that could destroy the realm of Satan’s dominion. Then, during that seven-year course, Satan made an all- out attack on this family. However, I fought with Satan, clashed with him, and by paying indemnity I drove him away and established the four major holy days: God’s Day, Children’s Day, Day of All Things and Parents’ Day. (22-197, 1969.02.02)
7 By inaugurating God’s Day, I was able to establish the standard by which God could dwell on earth. Therefore, the Unification Church will now rapidly accelerate its growth on earth. With this standard achieved, the Unification Church, based on the truth, will develop by means of liberating the spirit world as well as the physical world, and even liberating hell. Because we established God’s Day, the annihilation of hell and the downfall of Satan have become inevitable. Therefore, with the establishment of God’s Day, I have completed my mission. (22-194, 1969.02.02)
8 You do not know how hard it was for me to establish God’s Day. The time leading up to the inauguration of God’s Day was the most difficult time. Although I had established Parents’ Day, until I had established Children’s Day to underpin Parents’ Day, Parents’ Day could not accomplish the role of Parents’ Day. By the same token, although I had established Children’s Day, until I had established the Day of All Things, Children’s Day could not take up its responsibility as Children’s Day. Therefore, God’s Day, Parents’ Day, Children’s Day, and the Day of All Things have to become completely one and be under the dominion of God. The fact that this has not yet been achieved is reason for us to lament. God’s Day, which was proclaimed worldwide on the first day of the first month of 1968, will be fully established when it is connected to these major holy days. (28-015, 1970.01.01)
9 Because Adam fell at the completion level of the growth stage, he must inevitably lead his family back to the completion level of the growth stage. Nevertheless, that is not the point of completion. Moreover, because Adam and Eve fell at the completion level of the growth stage, I had to start from the completion level of the growth stage and go up through a seven-year course. Then I was able to proclaim God’s Day, on the first day of the first month in 1968. Only after I completed the seven- year course and entered the realm of God’s direct dominion could I inaugurate God’s Day. Through the inauguration of God’s Day, I indemnified all the days whose loss had caused incredible sorrow to God throughout the ages of history—Parents’ Day, Children’s Day, and the Day of All Things. I could then embark upon a full-fledged beginning on the global level. (122-105, 1982.11.01)
10 Having established God’s Day, we should be able to march forward toward a higher level in new arenas in front of heaven and earth. History so far has been a history of indemnity. Even though we have worked hard, shedding sweat and sacrificing ourselves, all of it was only to pay indemnity; God could not truly take delight in it. Nonetheless, from now on, all the results that we bring through our hard work, shedding tears, blood and sweat, will no longer just flow away to Satan’s world as indemnity conditions. From now on, our efforts will be connected to ourselves and we will harvest them as our own results. We have entered such an era. That is to say, the era has dawned when God can recognize all our efforts and hard work as His victory. Because God’s Day established the boundary of the era wherein God can experience joy, we have entered a glorious era, an era when, based on our conditions, God can intervene. That is why I established God’s Day. (19-178, 1968.01.01)
11 Now with the inauguration of God’s Day, I have completed my first seven-year course centered on God. You can now begin your seven-year course, and I can go on to complete my twenty-one year course. Now I am beginning my second seven-year course. When my twenty-one year course is completed, the world will enter the era when God can directly lead us centered on Heaven’s family. Please consider this seriously. The reason we are to establish tribes connected to Heaven’s family is to save the Korean people. This is God’s mission. He has therefore vested in us the mission of restoring our own tribe for the sake of this people. At the church level, the persecution is already gone. The tiresome and arduous era of indemnity has passed, and the era has arrived when we can reap what we sow. For this, we must give thanks to God. Now the era has arrived when if you make ten times the effort you can harvest ten times the result. This can be a matter of endless pride before God, and a matter of endless and bitter regret for Satan. Thus, today, January 1, 1968, at three o’clock in the morning, I hereby proclaim God’s Day. On this day we must offer everything we have with utmost devotion to express our sincere gratitude to God and return glory to Him. Our descendants from generation to generation forever more will praise this day. We will always praise this day, for it was the day when God’s presence was made known to us. (19-178, 1968.01.01)
12 People celebrate their birthdays, wedding days and anniversaries. Nations celebrate their national holidays. Now the era has come when certain days are being celebrated globally. However, among the countless days that have been celebrated up to the present, there has not been even one day when we could attend God by sincerely celebrating God’s own day. From the Principle, we are well aware of how great has been God’s sorrow and how piercing and bitter His grief over this situation. God’s Day could not be established as long as the barriers erected by the fallen world were standing in front of God. Therefore, in order to establish this day, I had to restore the standard through making indemnity conditions. Because fallen parents had emerged on earth, I had to indemnify them. After indemnifying the fallen parents, I established Parents’ Day as the day of that victory. (19-176, 1968.01.01)
13 God’s Day, which we welcome today, is the day of hope. It is the culmination of all that we desire. Furthermore, this event, which you are participating in, is incomparably greater than any event that the twelve disciples could celebrate in Jesus’ time. God’s Day has such incredible significance and value; it is the culmination of all days. That being so, what should be your attitude and your heart when celebrating this day? What kind of heart should each of you have? We should be able to bring Abel, who was murdered at the time of Adam and Eve, to celebrate this day. We should be the children upon whom our grandfather Noah would give his benediction, saying, “I praise your amazing spirit!” Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the three patriarchs of faith, should also be able to praise you, “The hard toil and suffering we endured was ultimately to welcome this day, and we truly praise your amazing achievement!” Moreover, the people of Israel should praise you: “Thank you for preparing the realm of Israel for us, the realm that we were unable to realize even after we went through so many trials and tribulations with Moses while crossing the wilderness to recover the nation.” From this or that perspective, you need to think, as you receive this day and celebrate it, about how much loyalty was demonstrated, how much suffering was endured, and how great a price was paid in sacrifices for this day. (28-028, 1970.01.01)
14 How much did you prepare yourself to receive this day of feasting that is called God’s Day? Did you prepare more than you would prepare for the wedding of your only son? Ladies, on your wedding day, you must have made every effort to beautify yourself as best you could, washing yourself again and again and scrubbing all the dead skin off your body, before you entered your bridegroom’s chamber. Did you make more preparations than that for God’s Day? You men, did you prepare yourself to attend God’s Day with a heart more joyful than the heart with which you welcomed your bride? You may have overcome numerous obstacles, crying out, “I will die if you do not become my wife!” You may have surmounted difficult and even hopeless circumstances before finally achieving your desire to become her bridegroom. How much more extensively should you have prepared for this one-and- only holy God’s Day ceremony, for which humankind has longed for six thousand years? You who are attending here must admit to yourselves that your sincerity and heart are lacking. This is not an event that you should merely attend. Rather, you must come having cultivated your heart in secret, unknown to anyone else in the Unification Church, striving to offer the highest level of sincere devotion. You should have the heart to sit at the place that is closest to God, not back in the middle of the crowd. (28-040, 1970.01.01)
15 More than anyone else, you must become aware of the profound significance and great value of God’s Day. Each of you needs to take this day as a barometer as you pioneer and lay the groundwork for a life that can be glorified on this day. Further, you must remember this day as you fulfill your responsibility as Unification Church members. You must fulfill your responsibility for the Korean people and continue to advance unceasingly until they attend this day as their eternal God’s Day. Now that God’s Day is inaugurated, the time has come for numerous spirits from the spirit world to descend to earth, and with their assistance we can fight in earnest for God’s desired Will. Until the present time, caught by the conditions for Satan to accuse, God has been paying compensation to Satan and defending Himself against him. However, now the conditions are established for God to claim Satan’s world. Now the time has come when He can go on the offensive. The arena has opened for numerous saints and sages in the spirit world to descend to earth and freely carry out their work. (19-179, 1968.01.01)
True Parents' Birthday
16 Because of the Fall, the True Father had to emerge first, before the True Parents together. Today, believers in many religions surely wish that their own founder were the True Father, but God takes a different viewpoint. The person in the position of the True Father is to be born in the religion of religions. The True Father is the person who is qualified to procreate true children, that is, he is qualified to turn fallen children into true children. (83-043, 1976.02.05)
17 A historic time of transition is coming to the entire world. It is historically significant that today we celebrate True Parents’ Birthday. Not only we Unification Church members but also spirits from the spirit world—Unification Church members who went to the spirit world, Christians in the spirit world and all good spirits—have entered the realm where they can be celebrating this day together with us. We human beings on earth must serve as guideposts to lead heavenly fortune in one direction. Today, people who follow moral rules and who believe in religion must take responsibility to fulfill this. Yet, few among them are even dreaming this in their dreams. Most of them think they will go to the heavenly kingdom based on blind faith. In light of this, the fact that we are celebrating True Parents’ Birthday today has cosmic significance. In the future, only those who genuinely celebrate True Parents’ Birthday will be able to celebrate their own birthdays. (83-113, 1976.02.05)
18 It is an amazing fact that people of all five races have gathered here to celebrate my birthday. Who made this possible? It was not I. God’s Will and God’s love made it possible. Other people do not know, but you people know God’s Will and you know God’s love that dwells in the hearts of Unification Church members. Although the world opposes us and although this nation opposes us, we who know these things must march forward to accomplish God’s Will, grateful to the end even if we must sacrifice everything we have. We know that doing this has the greatest value; therefore nothing can deter us. We may encounter great trials and tribulations, but we must overcome them no matter how difficult they are. Even if we are bombarded with things of no value from this world, we will nevertheless defend God’s Will at the cost of our lives. We must be proud that we are investing our lives in order to seek God’s love. Today all of you are congratulating Mother and me on our joint birthday. Although I am grateful to you for that, before doing so you have to resolve to unite all five races of humankind in front of God’s Will and His love. Then you can celebrate this day on which Mother and I are united as one, and also offer praises to God. (096-268, 1978.02.12)
19 In this chaotic age that is the Last Days of human history, it was inevitable that God was preparing to establish a new history. Therefore, ever since history entered the period of global conflicts at the time of the First World War, it was foreseeable that global issues would arise that would determine humankind’s direction— whether all the people of the world will rise or fall. From the perspective of the Will, if the western world chooses a direction leading to its downfall, and if western thought takes the path of decline, God will necessarily seek to maintain balance by elevating a teaching from the opposite hemisphere, the East. History goes in cycles, just as Earth revolves around the sun changing its position morning, noon, evening and night. Therefore, if western society is headed for its downfall, God will surely seek the path to a new morning in the Asian world. We can observe that today’s western world is enamored with Asian civilization. When did God begin such preparations in the East? God began them around the time of the First World War. Generally, within three years of a major event, everything comes to the surface. In fact, I was born in 1920. (103-041, 1979.02.02)
20 I heard that when I was in my mother’s womb, some people were keeping themselves alive by eating the bark from pine trees. They scraped the trunk to get at the edible tissue inside the tree. I thought that God loved me, but why around the time of my birth did He drive the history of my country to such terrible depths? Also, at the time of my birth, my immediate family and clan suffered through many disastrous situations. I can understand the meaning of all these incidents because I know the law of indemnity. If I did not know this law, I might have thought that all those awful stories were made up. All of my family members and relatives had to pay indemnity—my cousins and their cousins; even more distant relatives paid the price. My family and clan were completely devastated just because of my birth. Until I reached the age of fifteen, they were never free from tribulation. (141-030, 1986.02.16)
21 You cannot imagine how much blood was shed whenever Korea was invaded by the powerful nations that surrounded it. Due to its geographical location, these invasions happened frequently. Throughout its bitterly sorrowful history, how many young men were drafted into armies, and how many young women were taken as slaves! Korea did not seek after such a course of pain and suffering, in which countless individuals and families were sacrificed, young men and women were sacrificed, its land was devastated and its sovereignty was trampled upon. You do not know how much humiliation my nation had to endure. Observing the things that happened within my family, I can see that all those tragedies did not occur just by chance. They were necessary, even though they were unimaginable, even in dreams. Based on the law of indemnity, in order to receive the Abel of all humankind, all the providential debts incurred throughout history had to be paid off by that one family in the four directions—front, back, right and left. From this perspective, you cannot deny that my family was called to be in a fateful position. Inevitably I had to be born from such a background. (171-262, 1988.01.02)
True Parents' Day
22 If the first ancestors, Adam and Eve, had not fallen, humankind would have already welcomed Parents’ Day long ago. However because they fell, in order for humankind to welcome Parents’ Day, first the True Parents had to come on earth and only then could Parents’ Day be inaugurated. Then, only after True Parents had given birth to children based on the standard of that day, could Children’s Day be inaugurated. Once those days were inaugurated, we could also welcome the day that established our dominion over all things. God promised such days to the unfallen ancestors of humankind. However, as a result of the Fall of the human ancestors, the days to celebrate parents, children and all things, which are all part of God’s ideal of creation, could not be inaugurated. God is the being who most wants to see the purpose of creation in heaven and on earth. Yet even He could not welcome these days on which He could rejoice and be proud. Of course we know that due to the Fall, Adam and Eve fell into a state of having lost God. However, we should know what God lost due to the Fall of Adam and Eve. He lost Parents’ Day, Children’s Day and the Day of All Things. God lost all these days, which He had hoped for. (16-177, 1966.03.22)
23 Because all people today are born of the fallen lineage, they are fated to moan in eternal misery. People may hope that they can attend God and enjoy happiness and glory while they are on earth. But what is the highest hope among hopes? It is to welcome Parents’ Day. Without welcoming Parents’ Day, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven; nor can we go to God. Christians hope to see the day of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, but in fact that day is none other than Parents’ Day. Parents’ Day is the day of hope for all humankind. (16-184, 1966.03.22)
24 The world needs God’s sons and daughters who, on God’s behalf, liberate all humankind and bring happiness to all people. Here we find the purpose for which Jesus came to earth. Parents’ Day is the very day that heaven and earth have been hoping for. The hope of present-day Christians all over the world is to see the day of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. That day has come; it is Parents’ Day. Even though physically we are already fully grown, we must receive the Parents and be born again. Regardless of how deep our faith was, before Parents’ Day we could not stand in a position closer to God than adopted children. When Jesus comes again, he will come with the Father’s mission; he comes as the True Father to make us true children. (16-185, 1966.03.22)
25 People of all races and nationalities throughout the world celebrate their many holidays. But up to now they were not able to celebrate Parents’ Day. Only in 1960 was Parents’ Day established, in Korea. That day should be more joyful than the day of Korea’s liberation. It should be more joyful than any other day when the world rejoices. This special day, Parents’ Day, was established by the Unification Church, even as we were being pushed around and driven into a corner. Had this day not come, there would be no way to dissolve the bitter sorrow of heaven and earth. Had this day not been inaugurated, God could not have established a foothold of victory on this earth that is still Satan’s world. It is the day when God determined His day of victory. Also, it is the day when believers can be liberated. It is the day when all the hopes held by all the ideologies in the cosmos are brought to a singular fulfillment, and the day when heaven and earth are re-created. (16-185, 1966.03.22)
26 We should feel joy when we celebrate Parents’ Day, and from the joy that we feel we should be able to reach the standard to be reborn. Hence, in addition to being the day to proclaim the Parents, Parents’ Day is also the day to proclaim in front of heaven and earth that their children will soon be born. God created Adam and Eve as His children and blessed them to have dominion over all things. You are following the course of restoration on the basis of such a bond of heart. Hence, after you are able to relate with the True Parents, you must take the position of their children and, after that, receive the blessing to govern all things. Thus, Parents’ Day is truly a significant day. Establishing Parents’ Day led to Children’s Day, and establishing Children’s Day led to the Day of All Things. These three holy days emerged based on Parents’ Day as the standard. (16-199, 1966.03.22)
27 The concept of Parents’ Day was originally God’s central concept in His ideal for the creation. After creating all things, God created human beings to have dominion over all things. The reason God blessed them to govern all things was none other than to make it possible to inaugurate the True Parents. Originally Adam and Eve should have become the True Parents by uniting with each other centered on God. Then Parents’ Day would have been naturally established, and the universe would have offered hymns in name of the Parents. Thus, Parents’ Day should have been a day of joy, with the universe offering hymns together in the name of the Parents. (13-280, 1964.04.12)
28 Parents’ Day was never meant to be a day just for the Unification Church. Nor can we be satisfied with a Parents’ Day that is just for Korea; nor can it manifest its full meaning if it is only for the earthly world. As the day the entire cosmos is finally able to come into harmony, Parents’ Day must be a day when the whole universe rejoices with God. We should not conceive of Parents’ Day only on the personal level. We must make the individual-level Parents’ Day into the tribe-level Parents' Day, the tribe-level Parents’ Day into the people-level Parents’ Day, the people-level Parents’ Day into the national-level Parents’ Day, the national-level Parents’ Day into the world-level Parents’ Day, and the world-level Parents’ Day into the cosmic-level Parents’ Day. (16-195, 1966.03.22)
29 All people should be in the position to receive the True Parents. To do so, they must prepare everything based on True Parents’ love. Thereby they can possess both the Parents’ love and children’s love. It requires that we, as brothers and sisters loved by True Parents, become one on the earth. This is how we can prepare everything and move forward. With True Parents as the center, we must resolve the bitter sorrow of history. Therefore, people of all five races must praise the joy of receiving True Parents, and with hearts bursting with love they must erase the endless suffering of this world. Only then can God finally take His Sabbath. (16-188, 1966.03.22)
True Children's Day
30 After God created all things in heaven and on earth, He was to have welcomed Children’s Day centering on Adam and Eve. If He could have welcomed Children’s Day at that time, then He would have gone on to establish Parents’ Day, the Day of All Things and God’s Day. In light of this, what is Children’s Day all about? It is the day when we can be victorious as children and reach the position of universal glory. However, because the human ancestors fell, ever since the time of Adam not even one person has entered the glorious state that God would have permitted them to enter had they succeeded in aligning themselves with God’s Will. Until that day, the purpose of history has been to restore humankind, or to save humankind, by pulling them back and placing them in the original position where they were at the beginning. This has been God’s providential history of restoration. We should not celebrate Children’s Day simply because it is a day different from other days. Children’s Day is when we children celebrate that we, who due to the Fall could not enter the state where we could partake in God’s glory, can finally for the first time in history abide in the state where we can participate in His glory. (21-181, 1968.11.20)
31 In order to have Children’s Day, we must enable the children who have gone astray to cling on to God from the point where they went astray until they have corrected their wrongdoing. The establishment of Children’s Day signifies the appearance of sons and daughters who are able to rectify the fact that they lost God due to the wrongful actions of God’s children. Once those children emerge, they must find God by means of establishing Children’s Day. Then God can rise to His place of glory and rejoice. When God rejoices, His sons and daughters rejoice, and all things rejoice as well. (21-186, 1968.11.20)
32 Why do we need Children’s Day? We need Children’s Day because we lost that day. Who lost that day? Adam and Eve lost it. Therefore, it is Adam and Eve who must recover it. Since Adam and Eve made a mistake and created a hole, they must patch it up. So while the first Adam was the one who ruined things, the second Adam became the one who corrected things. The first Adam became the father who brought things to ruin, and the second Adam, Jesus, became the Father who brought salvation. (21-190, 1968.11.20)
33 That we inaugurated Children’s Day in the Unification Church means that we dug up the sinful seeds sowed by Adam and Eve and made the foundation to liberate all humankind from evil. Prior to this, because Children’s Day had not been established, all things of creation could not be liberated. They languished in the realm of lamentation, and God Himself also languished in that realm. As long as Children's Day was not inaugurated, we could not seek and find the Day of All Things, and all things of creation could not reach a position to be glorified. This left all things in bitter resentment. Moreover, God could not rejoice on seeing the arrival of His day of glory. All these outcomes resulted from not having established Children’s Day. (21-186, 1968.11.20)
34 For fallen human beings, Children’s Day is the greatest among the holy days. It is greater than Parents’ Day because it is the day for Parents to recover their authority. Satan had trampled on human history for six thousand years, but on Children’s Day we chase him out and hold up the flag of victory. Fallen people must receive that day if they are to enter the heavenly kingdom and attend the Heavenly Parent. We Unification Church members cannot attend the Heavenly Parent only by ourselves. To attend Him we must build a bridge for others to do the same. Furthermore, we must build a bridge for those who have gone to the spirit world, both men and women. This day is not only for Unification Church members; it is a day for all people of the world to mark and celebrate forever and ever. Children’s Day is indeed the most blessed day for fallen humankind. (21-202, 1968.11.20)
Day of All True Things
35 The Day of All Things is the day that dissolves the bitter sorrow of all things of creation. However, human beings are qualified to dissolve the bitter sorrow of all things only if they stand in the position of Adam and Eve before the Fall. From the beginning, dominion over all things of creation should have had True Parents’ love at the center. This is a principle of heavenly law. Without True Parents’ love, there could be no Children’s Day. As children were supposed to be born only through the love of True Parents, the Day of All Things could emerge only from the love of True Parents. What qualifications must we have in order to welcome the Day of All Things? We must stand in a position higher than Adam and Eve were before they fell. That position can be created only through the love of the True Parents. However, we were born in the position bound to Adam and Eve’s fall, and hence, contrary to our desire, we came to live in the realm of Satan’s dominion. (18-205, 1967.06.08)
36 The Day of All Things was inaugurated to resolve the bitter sorrow of the world of all created things. It took place after the inauguration of Children’s Day in Korea, for the historic resolution of humankind’s bitter sorrow. That, in turn, resulted from the historic resolution of bitter sorrow with the inauguration in Korea of Parents’ Day. These three holy days secured a firm foundation for God’s power, which Satan cannot expel from the earth. They firmly established the foundation for launching God’s final providence on earth. The Day of All Things is like a wall that blocks Satan. It must grow higher and higher. The more people we have on Heaven’s side, the larger the wall to block Satan will grow. When the power of God’s side grows as more people rise to His standard, His side will be victorious and the kingdom of heaven will be established. I am looking at the matter from this perspective. That is why I established the Day of All Things in 1963. (18-206, 1967.06.08)
37 Originally, all things were created for human beings and were meant to be under their dominion. However, due to the Fall of the first human ancestors, Adam and Eve, all things have not been governed by original human beings but instead came under Satan’s dominion. As a result, God could not establish relationships with all things. All things were put under the realm of Satan’s dominion as a result of the Fall of the human ancestors. Therefore, it is up to us to eliminate Satan’s authority, which invaded even the realm of all things on earth; otherwise they cannot return to their original position. Because we human beings drove all things into the realm of lamentation, the responsibility to liberate all things is on our shoulders. (23-328, 1969.06.15)
38 What had to be done to establish the Day of All Things? Because it was the Fall of the human ancestors that caused all things to fall into Satan’s realm, the True Ancestors of humankind would have to emerge in order to restore them. Then, based on restoring God’s relationship with His children that He had originally given to Adam as a blessing, all things could be restored to the realm of the dominion of God’s children. Based on the vertical bond between Parents and children, we were able to connect with one another horizontally. In this way we established the standard for having dominion over the entire created world. That is why, in the Unification Church, Children’s Day was established based on Parents' Day, and then on the foundation of Children’s Day, the Day of All Things was established. Therefore, the Day of All Things must not be a day that people commemorate by themselves, but one that they celebrate together. (23-329, 1969.06.15)
39 We have welcomed Parents' Day and then Children’s Day. However, we cannot achieve complete restoration with only parents and children. When God blessed the first human beings, he told them to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue all created things. Thus, as there are parents and children, there must also be all things of creation that can come under their dominion. Therefore, as we celebrate this Day of All Things, let us first resolve to connect all things to Heaven centering on the Unification family. Then, after realizing our own true family, we can bring all things into total unity. This is how we can connect ourselves with Heaven. (23-333, 1969.06.15)
40 As we welcome the Day of All Things, consider the fact that even though we established God’s Day, we have so far been unable to link with all things and bring them into the position where God can have dominion over them. Therefore, today, all things of the created world must not remain the possessions of this or that individual. Until they belong to God they have to pass through the stages of restoration, by our offering them in the name of True Parents. (23-332, 1969.06.15)
Foundation Day for the Unified Nation of Heaven and Earth
41 Today is National Foundation Day in the Republic of Korea. It is year 4321 of the Dangun Era, 1988 by the solar calendar. Today, I inaugurate the Foundation Day of the Unified Nation. When, as you attended your siblings, this Korean holiday became the Day of the Unified Nation, all your wishes were fulfilled. Indeed, have attained all your hopes. What are the hopes of fallen people? I gave you God: You did not know even whether He existed, but now you know the true God. I brought you to the knowledge of God. I gave you God as a gift; I gave you True Parents as a gift; I gave you a true spouse as a gift; I gave you true sons and daughters; and I gave you the opportunity to build a true tribe. In fact, I have given you everything. I am giving you the opportunity to create even a true nation, and now all that remains is a true world. That is why I am launching today as the kick-off day for the true Nation of the Unified World. This is the starting point of the Foundation Day for all nations of the world. (181-240, 1988.10.03)
42 During the Seoul Olympics, the external standards of heavenly law, a four- position foundation, was met in virtually every way. This year is year 4321 of the Dangun Era. The fact that the year ends in the number 21 is remarkable. In Korea, today is National Foundation Day. Foundation Day means that it is the time for heaven to be opened. Why do we call this “the day of the opening of heaven,” Gae Cheon Jeol. The first syllable is gae (開), meaning open. The second syllable is cheon (天), meaning heaven. Gae Cheon Jeol means the day of the opening of heaven. Hence, as this is the time to open heaven, once the individual gate to heaven is open, we must open the national level gate and then open the world-level gate. Having done so, the fortune of Korea will continue rolling toward the world, internally, externally, and in all directions—front and back, and left and right. That is why today is the Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World. Further, since this day is in accord with the perspective of the Unification Church’s teachings on history and its experiences, there should be no dispute if we call it the day when we open the gate to the era of hope. It is the Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World, which is the heavenly kingdom. The Nation of the Unified World is the heavenly kingdom on earth. This is the Day of the Opening of Heaven for the heavenly kingdom on earth. (181-294, 1988.10.03)
43 The Old Testament Age was the era when material things were sacrificed; the New Testament Age was the era of the children’s sacrifice. The Completed Testament Age is the era when the Parents sacrifice themselves. The Parents are the ones who are sacrificing everything. That is why I am carrying the cross of love on my shoulders. Because I know the entire philosophy of love, I hope I will lead all humankind to the world that we all dream of. However, Satan has been trying to block me in every way possible from going on the path to realize such a world. Satan desperately tried to stop me from building that bridge. Nevertheless, despite indescribable struggles, due to Heaven’s support and my loyalty for the sake of the Will, today, based on the standard of paying all indemnity on the global level, I could declare the Day of the Unified Nation. There is no news more joyful than that. When we look into the three ages, the Old Testament Age, New Testament Age and Completed Testament Age, God gave to Satan everything that He considered most precious. (181-331, 1988.10.03)
44 Only after securing for God the authority of unified ownership can a unified world that is aligned with the standard of God's heart come into existence. Only when we restore the authority of God’s ownership can we move forward to a unified world—one world led by the True Parents, in heaven and on earth. Based on their foundation, the world’s authority of ownership must surely be returned to God’s authority of ownership. Even if your mother and father oppose it, because we have arrived at a propitious time when we can offer everything in front of Heaven, everyone in the Unification Church must accept this as a tradition. Circumstances are such that when your clan accepts it as a tradition, that clan will be completely liberated. On that basis, you on earth will be in the position of Adam and Eve, all believers in the heavenly world will be in the position of the archangel, and you will become their ancestors. After living on earth and giving birth to children, you will become the grandfathers and grandmothers of thousands of generations and have thousands of generations of descendants. This is how God’s work of opening the gate to the heavenly kingdom will take place. (181-333, 1988.10.03)
Chil Il Jeol (Declaration Day of God's Eternal Blessing)
45 Today is Chil Il Jeol (7.1 Day). Chil Il Jeol is the Day of the Declaration of God’s Eternal Blessing. Human beings have not yet fulfilled the three great blessings that God bestowed on them after He created them. God’s hope throughout history is that, through the providence of salvation, God’s blessings will be fulfilled at some point in time. Unless this is concluded at some point, human happiness and God’s ideal world can never be realized. Therefore unless God’s promised blessings can be revived and established as eternal blessings, the eternal ideal world of humankind cannot be realized. Someone must take on this task. That someone is not just anyone. It is possible only when the right person comes, the one chosen by God to accomplish the ideal of the original perfected Adam who has nothing to do with the Fall. In other words, we can conclude that this task can be done with the coming of the True Parents. (232-007, 1992.07.01)
46 Why have God’s eternal blessings not been realized? The three great blessings were not fulfilled due to the emergence of the false parents of humankind. In order to restore that through indemnity, the True Parents of humankind must come and stand in the position to settle accounts for everything in providential history. Then they must declare, “We are standing in the position where we can shout ‘mansei’ for God’s eternal blessings.” Otherwise, those children, tribes, nations and world under their command cannot stand confidently in front of God. For this reason, I am declaring that God’s eternal blessings are once again available to humankind. This is Chil Il Jeol. (232-009, 1992.07.01)
47 In 1991, just before the beginning of 1992, I completed a forty-year period in my life. Through that course of trials and tribulations, I re-indemnified what I initially did as I walked through the seven-year course from 1945 to 1952. In this way I finally cleared everything, all the debts of human history. Therefore, the time is coming when I will be able to introduce Mother as the Mother of this world, and Mother’s children as the children of the world. All this can be done through Chil Il Jeol. This is what Chil Il Jeol is about. We lost the realm of the chosen people, the First Israel, and we lost Christianity, which is also the realm of the chosen people, the Second Israel. What was lost must be restored. By restructuring the family, we must restore families, tribes, peoples, and even nations so that they can belong to Heaven. For this we must reach up to the national level in Satan’s world. (286-036, 1997.07.01)
48 Due to the Fall, humankind lost God’s three great blessings. In this course of restoration, before God’s substance appeared, I had to proclaim that these were begun again. That is what Chil Il Jeol is for. Hence, as we ended the year 1991 and entered 1992, I had to proclaim this. Foreseeing that this transitional point in history was upon us, I settled all the accounts in biblical history. I have definitively settled all accounts. The first words that God gave to human beings were the “three great blessings.” Therefore, everything had to be cleared up in order to set the standard for God's Word to be given, and I had to stand in the position that was beyond the standard of everyone’s past investments. Only on that foundation could I announce the Completed Testament Age along with the declaration about the True Parents. In other words, God’s purpose in leading the providence with all kinds of programs thus far was only to see this time. (248-074, 1993.07.01)
49 Today, on this occasion of Chil Il Jeol, I again promise you God’s eternal blessings. Therefore, there must be no Fall from now on. Although the Fall occurred at the time of Adam and Eve, henceforth the Fall must not happen. Now that the promise of eternal blessing has been proclaimed, the Fall must not occur in this era of history. Adam and Eve must attain their central position by growing from the level of little children to the level of adults. They must grow until they reach perfection. However, in the end, there is still Adam and Eve’s own five-percent portion of responsibility, which they must accomplish within the realm of dominion based on accomplishments through the Principle. Only when they are connected with God through love in both spirit and body can they do as they wish, being in a direct relationship with God both internally and externally. Until that connection is made, they are still separated. They are not yet fully united. However, now that I have proclaimed the True Parents as well as the Completed Testament Age, based on the foundation of your unity with the Parents, the unification between the realm of dominion based on accomplishments through the Principle and the realm of God’s direct dominion has been realized in the family. I am saying that the era has arrived in which God can directly intervene in both the realm of direct dominion and the realm of dominion based on accomplishments through the Principle. (248-077, 1993.07.01)
50 Today, July first, is Chil Il Jeol. As July is the number seven, it corresponds to the jubilee year. It means we have entered the historical age of liberation. Throughout history women have been held in captivity in the most miserable ways. That is why I established the Women’s Federation for World Peace, with the objective to unite all women of the world for their liberation. Who is leading it? Mother is leading it. Mother is its representative. We should be grateful that Mother could emerge, and this is thanks to the establishment of Chil Il Jeol. With that, I could dispatch tribal messiahs, and meet Kim Il Sung and win him over. Afterwards, when I returned to South Korea, the public finally recognized my name. (232-050, 1992.07.01)
51 God blessed Adam to fulfill the three great blessings in his family, “Be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion over all things of creation in heaven and on earth,” but he was not able to fulfill them. However, for the first time since the beginning of history, I recovered God’s blessings. Then, standing on top of the world, I victoriously proclaimed His eternal blessings for humankind. On the foundation of this proclamation, Mother could finally appear in public on the world stage. While it took forty to fifty years for me to reach this position, Mother reached it in only nine months. Based on the standard that Mother attained by uniting with me in absolute obedience, I could then present Mother and proclaim women’s liberation. Now, in front of Mother’s perfected historical standard, we men and women on earth can be in complete oneness with True Parents based on God’s true love. Thereby we can establish this victorious foundation all over the world. It is truly amazing that we can proclaim the victory of God’s eternal blessing, after years in the trenches undergoing circumstances of opposition from nations and the world. Chil Pal Jeol (Day of the Declaration of the Realm of the Cosmic Sabbath for the Parents of Heaven and Earth) (232-035, 1992.07.01)
52 At seven minutes and seven seconds past seven o’clock in the morning of the seventh day of the seventh month of 1997 by the lunar calendar, we fulfilled the goal of this year’s motto, “Let us love True Parents and be proud of True Parents by accomplishing the 3.6 million couples Blessing.” We did this by completing the Blessing of 3.6 million couples. Father, You sent True Parents to the earth, and they are standing before You. Through them, You are now able to express Your heart and educate all humankind about Your inner reality, of which they were ignorant throughout the ages of Your arduous and sorrowful history. As a result of losing Adam and Eve during the period of their adolescence, You came to face the breakdown of the family. When they were but sixteen years old, they succumbed to Satan’s plot and ended up leaving a sad history behind them. This is because Adam, who should have been related with God by blood, instead formed a blood relationship with Satan. In order to erect the new history of the heavenly kingdom, You established the religious realm and began cleansing the lineage of the archangelic realm, namely, Satan’s lineage. Your providence to bring individual salvation, it was to recover the eldest son in the archangelic realm. On the foundation of going beyond the Old Testament and New Testament Ages, now in the Completed Testament Age we are attending the Messiah in the realm of the chosen people. In this age of the Second Advent, where salvation has reached the worldwide level, we have entered a tremendous age when we must, on the world-level path, clean up the young people’s distorted views on ethics and end the family breakdown that was caused by the first Adam. (286-078, 1997.08.09)
53 The heavenly kingdom has been empty. Adam’s family could not enter it, nor could all the generations of our ancestors. The True Parents, by being perfected as the world-level ancestors of humankind, must reorganize the first, second and all subsequent generations, and fill the hitherto empty heavenly kingdom. Once they have done so and reversed the way the world moves by 180 degrees, God can be as active as He pleases in the heavenly kingdom of freedom and liberation, because Satan will be gone. Chil Pal Jeol is the day to declare the realm of liberation, where God has no obstacles in His coming and going from the individual to the level of the physical world and the heavenly world. It is the day we proclaim the Realm of Cosmic Sabbath for the Parents of Heaven and Earth. (286-112, 1997.08.09)
54 August 9, 1997 is the “Day of the Declaration of the Realm of Cosmic Sabbath for the Parents of Heaven and Earth.” Heaven (cheon), in the term Parents of Heaven and Earth (Cheon Ji Bumo), symbolizes the Father. Heaven, the Father, is eternal. The Father is eternal. Accordingly, fathers must have great dignity. You should become such fathers. Mothers must be thoughtful and pay attention to detail. Then even as a mother and her sons and daughters build a home in a father’s bosom, his heart will have room to take on more responsibilities. We can get through anything with true love. When you reach the heavenly kingdom, you have to enter through a gate. As long as you can show your true love token, you will have no problem passing through it. (286-124, 1997.08.09)
55 Once we recover our family, we can form our tribe upon it. Once we build our tribe, a people can emerge upon that base. Based on one people, we can establish a nation. Finally, once we establish a nation, we can arrive at the realm of freedom where we can create the world and the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven. Because I gave the Blessing, the standard of which transcends nation, race and religion, the world can no longer oppose us. Hence, Satan’s world will be shut down and even he will have to swallow it. No one but the True Parents can deal with this matter. That is why I can say that the era has come when we need to resolve to perfect the individual, the family, the tribe, the people, the nation, the world, and the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven according to the original tradition of God. We have come to a point when we can practice all this all the time. Satan cannot oppose us because we have reached this standard. Now, having gone this way, we have laid the foundation to establish this realm of victory and this environment of freedom. On this foundation, we can declare the Realm of Cosmic Sabbath for the Parents of Heaven and Earth. (286-168, 1997.08.09)
56 An ideal home is a place where God can visit and take His Sabbath rest. To make your home an ideal home, first you must get rid of the concept that your home is yours personally. Instead, you must make it the home of your couple. Then God can dwell in your personal place and also dwell in your spouse’s—your wife or husband’s— place. The greater the love your couple shares, the greater will be God’s desire to visit your home. It does not matter if the husband and wife come from different traditions and have different characters, different viewpoints and different shapes. Regardless, that family should be able to attend God. Their unity as a couple tightly bonded as one, although they are 180 degrees different from each other, inspires God to want to visit their home as a place to take His Sabbath. You couples must make your family a place where God can take His Sabbath. The invisible God should be able to come in and, as the subject partner, He should become like the couples loving mind. The couple, like Adam and Eve, should become as His substantial body. Then they should reach the standard of oneness in mind and oneness in body that will join God to their Sabbath rest in the place of their love, where their minds and bodies are united as one. When a couple creates a place for Sabbath rest on the foundation of the love of man and woman, they make a place where God can take His Sabbath rest in their family. (286-164, 1997.08.09)
57 We must find a place to take our Sabbath rest. We must find a home where you as an individual can take your Sabbath rest and where you as a couple can take your Sabbath rest together. When you as a couple give birth to children and they live with you, then your home should become a place of Sabbath rest through the subject partner-object partner relationships between parents and children. This is what is the most important. In the family, you must fulfill the formation, growth and perfection stages. Hence, if one is missing, if either you are not there or I am not there, it means that God cannot find a place to rest. It means that without you, God cannot perfect His love even after myriads of years. Therefore, you must become one with Him and become filial sons and daughters who can attend Him for myriads of years. You must know the depth of God’s bitter sorrow for not having been able to meet His filial sons and daughters, and by resting with your couple He should be able to wash away even the root of that bitter heart. You must resolve that you will make a foundation to live forever with God and attend God as your Father; on that foundation you should be able to induce God to pledge that He will live with you. Where should you go next? You should go to the family-level place of Sabbath rest. Only then can your home become a place where you can fulfill the formation, growth, and completion stages—an individual, a couple, and children. Then, in the children’s homes, God can dwell forever, in the couple’s home, God can dwell forever, and in each individual’s home, God can dwell forever. The entire family can dwell forever in the midst of God’s love. That is why, at this point, we can witness that the family is the starting point of the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven. (286-165, 1997.08.09)
Section 2. Anniversaries
1 Jesus sought to form his family, but he died on the cross before he could establish it. Before he was crucified, Jesus referred to himself as the bridegroom, which implies the existence of a bride. On the cross he bequeathed the unfulfilled family ideal, to be recovered later. This is the reason, although they went on paths of suffering, Christians for the past two thousand years have been waiting for him to come back to life on the day of his Second Coming. Jesus certainly must come and find the bride who is prepared for him. Only then can the three purposes of love that he sought to establish in the family be brought to completion. The occasion for this is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb prophesied in the Book of Revelation. Because the first ancestors fell, True Parents who are in accord with God’s Will did not emerge, and humankind has been attending false parents, the false ancestors. Still, God, being the Alpha and the Omega, has been trying to realize in the end what He had envisioned at the beginning. He will fulfill what went wrong in the Book of Genesis by what is prophesied in the Book of Revelation. (53-062, 1972.03.04)
True Parents' Holy Wedding
2 Our Holy Wedding that was held in 1960 was vital to indemnifying and resolving all the issues that had impeded the four thousand-year course of history from Adam to Jesus and the two thousand-year course of history from Jesus to the present day. Despite the global and cosmic significance of that ceremony, in reality it was held in the presence of a small number of people and amid persecution that was beyond imagination. The period from 1953 to 1960, when I was preparing for this ceremony, was a time of enormous persecution as well. During those days, we received persecution from at least 3.6 million people, from three denominations and three nations. Our Holy Wedding Ceremony was the victory attained by going through all this and setting up indemnity conditions. That day was the day that decided the destiny of the Unification Church. (22-189, 1969.02.02)
3 By 1960, the Unification Church members had pooled their resources and laid a foundation, building more than 120 churches throughout the nation. Even with that in place, we continued building our foundation to assure that we would not collapse or perish, even if challenged by a national- level test. On that foundation, in 1960, I conducted our Holy Wedding. This was a new level, and it could be accomplished only because we were fulfilling the mission of serving the Korean people and establishing the Unification congregation, the tribal level. That was a historic beginning point. (074-100, 1974.11.14)
4 The impact of the Holy Wedding was not limited to a single individual; it affected the direction of world history. It proclaimed the beginning of the first family, a family that God could love more than He had ever loved anyone or any family, and for the sake of which He had invested all of His heart in the global providence throughout history. Thus, based on this family beginning, the heavenly norms and the fortunes of heaven and earth would inevitably have to move. (83-341, 1976.02.15)
5 The Unification Church established its family-level foundation in 1960. With this in place, it will not perish. Had we failed to establish that foundation, the church would have perished. What a historic event our Holy Wedding in 1960 was! It came on the foundation of Heaven’s effort, through the course of the six thousand years of providential history, to find the one Adam. On that day, this Adam reached the standard on earth to receive the perfected Eve. This meant that the spirit world and physical world, which had been divided, could finally be joined on earth. Man represents heaven and woman represents earth. By their joining, the divided spirit world and physical world were joined. The wall that separated Adam and Eve and made them enemies to each other was broken down. The wall that had prevented Adam and Eve from meeting God collapsed. Satan had to slink away. (122-097, 1982.11.01)
6 The one who was to become the True Mother had to be from a family with three generations of only daughters. From her youth, Mother grew up as an only daughter, alone and without getting any help from others. The reason God made her an only daughter was to prevent Satan’s lineage from remaining. Mother’s mother was also an only daughter, and her mother too was an only daughter. Three generations were involved, and Mother had to go through trials spanning these three generations. When she was a child, her grandmother and mother were seekers, intoxicated by their life of faith. Do you think they changed Mother’s diapers on time or fed her well? Their only thought was to follow a path of absolute obedience and absolute submission to God with single-minded devotion. They were even oblivious to taking care of their health as they followed the way of Heaven’s heart. They were indifferent to practical considerations associated with the human world. (195-147, 1989.11.07)
7 Were it not for God’s Will, I could not have met Mother. We met each other because of the Will. The person who would be True Mother was not to be beyond her twenties. In truth, she was not to be even a day older than eighteen. Eve fell when she was sixteen. Hence, she had to be within three years of that age, not yet nineteen. (231-024, 1992.05.31)
8 Mother’s love had to be as pure as that of a lamb. In all respects she had to meet necessary conditions of absolute obedience. For this, she had to completely sacrifice herself for her husband. In loving her husband she had to be absolute. She was not supposed to compare him with anyone, thinking or saying, “He is not as good as my father,” or, “He is not as good as my older brother.” Why is that? In the Garden of Eden, Eve had never seen any man other than Adam. She had no capacity to conceive thoughts about other men. (97-296, 1978.03.26)
9 All the conditions had to be met before choosing Mother. She had to fit in each direction, front and back, left and right, above and below. The first condition concerned the lineage of which she was born. It was important to discern whether she was born linked to a lineage vulnerable to accusation from Satan’s world, or born of a lineage with hidden links by which she could overcome such accusations. (170-031, 1987.11.01)
10 Mother has poise. She may remain silent and still demonstrate inner qualities that make her highly regarded even among the most distinguished women. Through her, I am educating western people to think, “If this is feminine beauty in the East, I want to marry such a woman.” I know many western men who decided to marry a woman from the East because they assumed that they all are like Mother. In that light, I believe Mother has made a great contribution by presenting the best image of womanhood to our church members throughout the world. On that basis alone, I would say that she has sufficient qualification to be Mother. (170-037, 1987.11.01)
11 The Holy Wedding was held fourteen years after the liberation of Korea— seven years plus another seven years. Adam and Eve were to be married at the completion level of the growth stage, which is beyond the standards of the formation-stage Old Testament Age and the growth-stage New Testament Age. That is why I had to pass through a seven-year period for each of those stages, in order to advance to a position where I had attained the completion level of the growth stage. This means I had to go beyond the level of a nation. (212-080, 1991.01.02)
The Day of the Founding of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity
12 Reflecting our historical relationship with Christianity, the official name of the Unification Church includes the word “Christianity” God does not wish to remain a God who exists only for the Unification Church or only for Christianity. The Unification Church did not emerge for its own sake; nor does Christianity exist for its own sake. The two should create a bond and build a relationship centering on their common purpose, and go forth centering on that greater global vision. (49-184, 1971.10.10)
13 The name “Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity” signifies the purpose of unifying the world through the Holy Spirit, but based on the parent-child relationship. It is the Holy Spirit that creates harmony between the spirit world and the earthly world centering on love. To the Holy Spirit, opening the eyes of a blind person or the ears of a deaf person is not a primary concern. That is not what God needs. The Bible states that we should worship in spirit and in truth. To what truth does this refer? It is the truth of love. What is the highest expression of this truth? It is the love between the Father and His children. God does not need money, power or knowledge. He needs there to be love. (113-103, 1981.05.01)
14 Unification (tong-il) means two become one. The Chinese character tong (#t) means to command. It means the character of the subject partner. It is not about confederation; it is about unification, because the concept of unification includes the position of the subject partner. The Unification Church is not an alliance of churches. It is the Unification Church. It takes the role of the subject partner. Where can we find the origin of that subject character? That origin begins in heart, the heart of the absolute God that will remain for eternity. (82-285, 1976.02.01)
15 1 did not want to establish a denomination. Our name is the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, but I did not intend to create an organization. I wanted to lead a supra-denominational movement, one that transcends all denominations, but it did not work out. That is why I had to create the Unification Church despite my original intention. (163-161, 1987.05.01)
16 The fact that trials and tribulations accompanied the establishment of the Unification Church is sad to a certain extent, when viewed from the perspective of the Will of Heaven. However, when we look back at the church’s history and tradition, the fact that it was established under such difficult circumstances does make it more impressive. The Unification Church was not established in a position where all would welcome it; it was in a rather lonely position on the day of its inauguration. Only a few people gathered, and they proclaimed it in tears. Such was the sorrowful circumstance of its founding, but now that circumstance has become the center of our church’s historical memory. People usually wish for good things, but what seems good is not always truly good. Good things can pass like a mundane daily routine. But when we are overcoming difficulties to find what is good, that history is the source of an enduring power. That power urges us on to promising new days, days resplendent with greetings of good things. (43-239, 1971.05.01)
17 What kind of religious organization is the Unification Church? The Unification Church emerged in the form of a new, Abel-type religion that existed for the sake of Christianity, which was opposing it. When Christianity’s opposition prevented the fulfillment of God’s Will, we had to establish the Unification Church to represent Christianity. So Christianity stands in the position of Cain and the Unification Church stands in the position of Abel. If we are to become this Abel-type religious body, what has to be the first thing we restore? It is Christianity. We should restore Christianity by the same principle that applies in Abel restoring Cain. (54-196, 1972.03.24)
18 The impetus for establishing the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity began from the Divine Will, the Will of God, not any human will. Societies and histories are not formed by human will alone. They always move toward a single purpose centered on the greater purpose in the Divine Will. Thus, I understood that if the Holy Spirit Association were created solely by human will, it would not be able to contribute to the flow of history and the new world that is coming. The new religion that I founded is grounded in the Divine Will. I believe that religion is the only entity that can combine human will with the Divine Will. Therefore, I believe that this religion has to unite the entire spectrum of human affairs—those things that humankind desires—with the Divine Will, without fail. (32-193, 1970.07.15)
19 God began the Unification Church; therefore it must not deviate from God’s path. It had a single beginning; thus its path must take a single direction, and it must arrive at a single destination. Since it began from God, it cannot take a path of its own volition. Since God set the purpose for this organization, and we are gathered according to His purpose, we are moving in a direction united with that purpose. That direction is not something we can control on our own. (67-269, 1973.07.22)
20 We can consider the Unification Church to have the longest history of any religion. The reason I say this is because it has unearthed the history of God’s love, which no one has known. The world of love transcends time and space. Our history began there, and the church is on the way to that destination. As it continues on this path, it delineates and manifests the place of history’s final consummation and connects the sphere of human activity to it. Hence, this church’s history is a history of the past, the present and the future. (061-031, 1972.08.20)
21 Now we are changing our name from the Unification Church to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. As the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, we will be at the center to lead the way. Previously the name Unification Church was out in front leading the way, but the time has come for the Family Federation to take the lead while the use of the name “Unification Church” gradually disappears. The phrase “Unification of World Christianity” associated with the Unification Church will disappear. Christianity was unable to fulfill its responsibility. As we enter the era for going beyond that level, the blessings reserved for Christianity will be transferred to all humankind. Our organization was named the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. Yet as the standard of family messiahship takes root on earth centering on the True Parents, we will complete even the responsibility of the Holy Spirit. The successors of True Parents will live on this earth attending the substantial Holy Spirit. True Parents, who laid the foundation for the families representing spiritual and physical perfection, will be the one model. This model is what they will expand to the nation, the world and the cosmos. Then the era of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity will pass. (283-010, 1997.04.08)
22 The organizations that met today represent the nucleus that can bring solidarity centering on the one family. The Women’s Federation stands in the mother’s position. The Youth Federation stands in the position of Cain. The Student Federation stands in the position of Abel. Standing with Mother in the position of Eve, these three organizations must unite as one. From now on, whenever we carry out our group’s activities, we should not operate separately but work together as one. Our organizations worked separately until now because the age we were in focused on the vertical relationship. By working separately, Satan could not overcome us from above, as he might have otherwise. That is why I did not encourage you to form horizontal relationships among the organizations for which you were working. I created many organizations, and my purpose for doing so was for each of them to set its own vertical indemnity conditions on the world level. However, now that the time has come to bring an end to vertical indemnity, we can develop horizontally. Therefore, all organizations will be connected through the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. The family has to have a solid footing on earth; otherwise, all the restoration through indemnity will have been for naught. So I have outlined the formula. (283-233, 1997.04.13)
23 If you had inherited the lineage of true love centering on God, you would now be a true being imbued with true life, true lineage and true conscience. However, due to the Fall, you became a false self; that is why your mind and body are in conflict. Now, however, the time has come for all of you throughout the world to join the family of the original Adam. Indeed, all the people of the world must perfect themselves based on this family. What must we do to reach perfection? Fallen families have to take up the task of restoration through indemnity. Individuals and families throughout the world have to invest themselves to accomplish this, under the guidance of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Perfection has to be achieved by Adam and Eve, a man and a woman. God cannot do it for them. True Parents cannot do it for them. For this purpose, the Family Federation was created. It is a global organization; it will assist you all over the world to leap beyond fallen Adam’s lineage. When you are climbing to the top of a mountain, if on a slope you make a misstep and tumble down, you have to climb up again. It is the same when climbing up the course of restoration. Every time you make a misstep you have to climb back up again. You have to repeat it again and again until you are successful, even if it takes millions or tens of millions of years. (275-010, 1995.10.30)
The prison course and the Day of Victory of Love
24 When I was imprisoned and my hair was shaved off, I prayed to God, saying that I had not consented to having my head shaved, but that the hand of the enemy had dragged me here and forcibly shaved off my hair. You do not know how my eyes burned and glistened at that time. It was bitter to put aside any thoughts of happiness as I watched my hair fall to the floor. The adversities we have to undergo during the course of restoration are intertwined with bitter circumstances. I endured them all. At the time I had to face them, it was bitter sorrow. However, when looking back, I now realize that I was able to overcome each one because God remembered me. This was also the case when I collapsed after being beaten and tortured for several days. I was not beaten for my own sake but for the sake of my people. The tears I shed in pain were tears of indemnity shed on their behalf. As I struggled to cling to God, my life had to be a course of indemnity to the point of receiving His sympathy. I walked this path alone. (18-165, 1967.06.04)
25 The moment I collapsed after being tortured was the moment I could hear God’s voice. I met God when I was on the verge of death. Until the truth of the Unification Church was revealed to the world, numerous incidents happened out of sight, incidents you do not know about. You cannot fathom the deep valleys and dark caverns I had to pass through. Even God would ask me, “How did this befall you?” I came to think that suffering was not a bad thing; I did not grieve over having gone to prison. Instead I thought, “This is the way I can receive blessings. It is God’s way to bequeath what He owns to me.” (080-083, 1975.10.14)
26 If I were to show you my body, you would see scars, scars that remain from the path that I walked. Whenever I look at them, they seem to me like medals that humankind and God awarded me. They challenge me: “Have you forgotten the determination you made at that time, your pledge to place your life on the line and go forward until death?” It was miserable to get those scars, but as long as they don’t disappear, I cannot disappear. Whenever I see them, whether in the morning, at noon or in the evening, I pledge to myself that I will be victorious. I encourage myself, saying, “You received these scars as medals, so now you must succeed!” (088-194, 1976.08.17)
27 When I labored at the Hungnam prison, I carried sacks of ammonia fertilizer with my bare hands in the bitter cold winter. The open wounds in my hands were deep, to the point that my bones were visible through the flesh. Though my hands were bleeding, I continued carrying sacks of ammonia fertilizer every day. Our cotton uniforms completely wore out in a week. After half a year of labor in that place, the cells of my body began to die, so that if you pinched the flesh, water would come out. However, I said to myself that this was not a problem at all. I posed the question to myself: “Do you think this is difficult? If you do, then surely you will forsake Heaven when things get even worse. Are you going to be a traitor to Heaven?” (73-160, 1974.08.29)
28 At the prison in Hungnam, after the inmates finished shoveling fertilizer into bags, they were provided time to eat their rations. They were so hungry that they did not wait for others to receive their food. As soon as they received their bowl they instinctively stuffed the food into their mouths. As they chewed their food, they fixed their eyes on the other inmates’ bowls. They finished eating their own portion even before the distribution of food was completed. Yet forgetting that they had already eaten their own food, when they saw other people receive food and noticed that their own bowl was empty, they would quarrel with the person next to them, saying, “You ate my food, right?” There were also many incidents of people choking to death while stuffing their food into their mouths. If a prisoner died before finishing his food, other inmates would take the food that was left in the dead man’s mouth; they would even fight over it. (52-170, 1971.12.28)
29 I knew the importance of mental strength. That is why mentally I made a special determination. I convinced myself that I could live with only half of my ration. Then beginning the next day, I shared half of my meal with other people. I did this for three weeks. I convinced myself that even though I was eating only half rations, I could complete my work quota, and I actually did. After three weeks, I resumed eating the full amount of my ration. From then on, I considered one half to be my expected ration and ate the other half as if it were an additional ration that God had given to me. (52-167, 1971.12.28)
30 I have gone through all sorts of experiences, including imprisonment. Yet looking back, I am grateful to God. God went through all that trouble in order to raise one person, me. All the courses that I went through until now never subtracted from me. Instead, I gained many things. Even now when I see a grain of rice, I spontaneously remember how precious one grain of rice can be to a hungry man. Even now I remember it vividly. I know how even one grain of rice can stimulate one’s entire nervous system. Through that experience, I could recognize its infinite value. Yet, in my hunger, when I craved for food I shed tears of yearning for God even more, trying to forget about my cravings for food. Further, when I saw other people in misery, I shed tears without letting anyone know it and prayed for them. God can be with us when we have such a heart. I actually miss those days. (36-130, 1970.11.22)
31 When I was in Hungnam Prison, if a visitor gave me some good clothes, for instance if the church family members gave me a good pair of pants, I would give them to the most miserable prisoner. At the prison we had to use our bare hands to fill straw bags with fertilizer and tie them with straw rope. As a result, the skin on our hands cracked and bled. With those wounded hands, I once unraveled tent fabric that I found and knit clothes. I made pants and gave them to inmates who, because they had no visitors, did not have enough clothes to wear. You can imagine how laborious it was for me to make clothes, but I did it because when I gave them to those inmates, they were overjoyed. I saw that it made them happier than if they had received clothes bought by their own mother or father. My own clothes were in such tatters that when the wind blew it would reveal my buttocks. While wearing such rags, if I saw anyone in the prison who was in a similar situation, I would give him clothes that I had made. (50-313, 1971.11.08)
32 The Communist Party put me in prison and did all kinds of terrible things to me. Nevertheless, I loved God to the very end. I trusted God, and my trust in Him was absolute. Once I gave my word to Him, my promise would be absolute. If God gave me a command, I knew I had to fulfill it absolutely. It did not matter whether that command was difficult or easy. A filial son has to act like a filial son, even in prison. A patriot has to act like a patriot, even when he is incarcerated. (106-072, 1979.12.09)
33 During the Korean War, Hungnam was the first place in North Korea that the UN forces liberated. God’s son was there, so God was urgent to save him. Two days beforehand, the Communist Party enticed the inmates by telling them that they would be given food, and then they took them away. The inmates did not know they were going to be killed. Since they were told they would be given food, they even begged to go. But I sensed what was going to happen, and I said to myself, “Even if all the others die, I will not. Whatever calamity or tragedy may befall us, I will survive. I will not die, even if they schedule me to be shot!” As I expected, the communists deceived the inmates, led them into the mountains, and then killed them. The following day it was my turn to be taken away. So you can imagine how busy God must have been to rescue me. It was under these circumstances that the UN forces arrived in Hungnam. That is how I was able to escape from prison. (22-129, 1969.02.02)
34 Because the UN forces reached Hungnam, I was freed from prison. That incident set a condition for the democratic world to receive benefit. In other words, because the UN forces arrived, opened the doors of the prison and rescued me, a bond was established there that allowed the democratic world to be saved and supported. Had I remained in prison for three more days, I would have ended up in the spirit world. The Communist Party divided the prisoners into three groups and planned to execute them one group at a time. I was in the third group. Those with a sentence longer than seven years were placed in the first group to be executed, and those who had a sentence longer than five years were placed in the second group. I had been sentenced to five years, so I was in the third group. Three days after the first group was executed and just before the third group was to be executed, the camp was liberated and I was freed. You should be aware that I have been leading the providence of restoration through such a perilous course. (54-195, 1972.03.24)
35 As soon as we established the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, on May 1, 1954, opposition arose. The fight began. We were out on the battlefield. Christianity, the Korean government, they all fought against me, against one man. I was alone. Everyone was against me. Such difficulties arose because they doggedly opposed the central person of global history. Satan exploited their opposition to drive the fortune of the entire world in attacks against me. As a consequence, Satan’s world is destined to perish. This will inevitably come to pass. An incident occurred on July 4, 1955. They labeled me with every bad name in the world, communist, you name it. They dumped every terrible thing on me. Everything bad was associated with me. Hence I found myself under all sorts of investigations. But they found I had done nothing wrong. I was found innocent of their allegations and was released. I triumphed over all of the opposition and, in doing so, made a new beginning. (104-175, 1979.05.01)
36 The entire incident stemmed from my effort to connect with the highest level of Christianity through its educational institutions, Yonsei University and Ewha Women’s University. These institutions opposed me, but since I had made the conditions necessary to organize the heavenly side, even though I had to give up on the first generation Christians, I could still witness to the second generation. Why did I give up on the first generation? They had already been tainted so, when I tried to fulfill the Will in South Korea, they opposed me. They had set the condition for Satan to do as he desired with me, requiring me to return to North Korea and recover them. I tried to recover them by going to North Korea, but I could not. Consequently, I pushed the providence of salvation forward based on the second generation rather than the first generation. (110-119, 1980.11.10)
37 The President of Ewha Women’s University dispatched a professor from the Department of Religion and Social Science to find out about the Unification Church. That person heard the Principle, and after a week she ended up joining the Unification Church. After that, many professors came to the church, and all the dormitory students who heard the Principle came to the church. At that time, Ewha Women’s University was receiving the support of an American Christian organization. The Ewha leadership felt threatened, thinking that the Unification Church, an unknown religion at that time, might absorb the school. Hence, they took drastic measures against the students who joined the Unification Church. That was the expulsion incident. They forced the students to choose between two alternatives. They announced to them, “You can either remain in this school or join Reverend Moon’s Unification Church. Which will you choose?” The expulsion incident triggered events that led to my imprisonment. (143-131, 1986.03.17)
38 A Unification Church boom surged among the dormitory students at Ewha Women’s University and Yonsei University, and in a matter of weeks this turned the schools upside down. The school authorities felt threatened, feeling that if the situation were ignored, Christianity might crumble in a few years. That is why they did whatever it took to get me. They spread all sorts of wicked rumors to trigger investigations of me. The authorities investigated me, but they could not find that I had done anything wrong. Then they set me up with the charge that I had evaded military service. The fact is, by the time I left the prison camp in North Korea, I was past the age of having to go to the army. Yet they charged me with evasion of military service and conducted an investigation. They accused me and investigated me, but since the charge was frivolous they had no choice but to acquit and release me. (182-078, 1988.10.14)
39 You do not know how much the Liberal Party regime at that time opposed me. They said that I was leading the Ewha Women’s University students and Yonsei University students astray. They said, “We have a problem. The American mission should be leading the schools. Yet once the students listen to Rev. Moon, all of them, from both Ewha Women’s University and Yonsei University, decide to follow him.” They were hysterical, imagining that I would take over all the Christian denominations in the Republic of Korea. They created such an uproar. Consequently, the university authorities expelled the students. (169-096, 1987.10.25)
40 I am a Korean, and that is why the new starting point of God’s providence appeared in Korea. However, Korean Christianity represents more than just the Christians of Korea. Christianity in Korea represents the providence and the entire world. Hence, the Christian churches in Korea taking a position opposing me, and the nation of Korea opposing me as well, affected the entire world. The issue to them was how they could break down this one person, which was me. Jesus died on the cross amid a complicated whirlwind over the same issue. Parallel to that, there was an incident in which Satan’s side dragged me to prison. That was the July 4th incident. (73-242, 1974.09.22)
41 If I had been caught up in an issue raised by the nation, it could have been a serious problem. However, it was Ewha Women’s University and Yonsei University that instigated the July 4th incident. Also, although I was incarcerated, I was acquitted and released. Hence I was able to make a new beginning in the realms of both the spirit and the flesh. Nevertheless, the opposition from Christianity and the nation led me to a position of having lost my foundation. What, at that point, was the state of the Unification Church, and of me as a person? We were certainly not in a position of having completely separated good and evil. We were in a position to once again recover what was lost. Since Christianity had laid a foundation in the spiritual realm, I had to create a new foundation that could stand in place of that spiritual foundation. We had to have a foundation like that of Christianity. The Unification Church had to recreate that foundation. (73-243, 1974.09.22)
42 Before leaving for Danbury prison, I said, “There is a wall on the other side of Danbury, made of God’s love, but do you know how high that wall of love is? Do you know how large it is?” The Unification Church members gathered at that moment were shedding tears, but I was humming with hope as I departed for the prison. I said, “The sunlight that returns to shine tomorrow will be more brilliant than that of today’’ A 180-degree change in one’s living environment is something worth studying. I consider all of it research material to embroider with love. (163-299, 1987.05.01)
43 My release from Danbury became a turning point. It marked the turning of the tide where the Unification Church civilization, which represents eastern civilization, is changing places with western Christian civilization. It marked the point where the second- born son became the first-born son and the first-born son became the second- born son. Without reaching this turning point on our forty-year journey over the mountain, Heaven’s providence would have been shattered. I had to do this, even if it meant going to prison; that was my mission. (135-064, 1985.08.22)
44 Even in prison I strove to live 95 percent for the sake of others. I woke up early in the morning and began the day by cleaning up the dirty places. Then I started working according to my daily schedule. When I was in prison in Danbury, I had the habit of doing tasks instead of relaxing, even when I went to the cafeteria. Other people would sleep or pursue leisure activities when they were not on duty, but I would stand waiting to be given work. I made it a habit to do that. If anything came up, I was the first to go and help. It was inevitable that this would make me well- known in the cafeteria. (134-245, 1985.07.20)
45 Not once did I ever pray to Heaven asking for help. In Danbury, people had this image of me: first, a person who works hard in silence; second, a person who reads books; third a person who meditates; and fourth, a person who swims. The pool was nearby, so I would swim whenever I had some spare time. All the inmates knew my daily routine. News spread fast in that place. Everyone who looks at the footprints I left will view a legacy of sacrifice. (134-255, 1985.07.20)
46 Unless I survived, restored and perfected my course inside the walls of the prison in Danbury, it could not have been connected to Heaven’s Will. There is no path to perfection for anyone who is only half-committed. If I were such a person, there would be only a great scar in my wake, no matter how much the world was unified and my teachings globally accepted. But I am not like that. Even when I choose to go the path of death, I go straight for it. Therein lies my uniqueness. I was imprisoned so many times in my life, but I never complained. My mind is always on something greater, so I am confident wherever I go. As one who has been shouldering the suffering of all humankind, I considered prison life as if it were life in Heaven. (229-227, 1992.04.12)
47 What did I do when I was in Danbury? Because the fallen parents, Adam and Eve, completely blocked the path to Heaven, I held a ceremony to pave a highway that directly connects hell to the good spirit world. By doing so, I laid a path that enables people in hell to ascend. With that path opened, their ancestors have been able to descend to hell and pay indemnity for them. Through education, they can be elevated step by step. (137-114, 1985.12.24)
48 In Danbury I broke down the barriers that had closed off the spirit world and physical world due to the false parents, and opened the doors whereby people can meet the True Parents. I paved a highway for this to happen. That is why people’s ancestors in the spirit world will come down to the earthly world and, in the manner of parents who love their children, lift people up, one step at a time. The Unification Movement in the spirit world will begin from this kind of love. Only through the way of parental love is it possible to begin a movement for the liberation of hell. Only love has the ability to digest even the realm of death. (139-228, 1986.01.31)
49 During the 13-month period that I was in Danbury, I reevaluated the speeches I had given during the thirteen-year period I was in the United States. In the future, when scholars dig into my speeches, they will naturally ask questions. If they cannot find the answers, they will come and ask me. That is why I did it, so that I can give clear explanations in response to those questions. One leader has to take responsibility for history. Thus, I think God allowed me a good opportunity to indulge in reading and sorting out the answers to such questions. People came to know that Rev. Moon was a man of meditation; he read books and studied night and day without rest. They also heard that I was someone who would never complain, but who instead spoke words of hope, whereas most people would grumble. (136-266, 1985.12.29)
50 The meaning of the Day of Victory of Love is that God’s love has vanquished the realm of death. Heung-jin completed the portion of responsibility centering on God and True Parents’ ideal of creation. Thereby he entered the realm wherein the love that is based on that standard is established. This gives him victory over the realm of death. Consequently, from now on Satan will not be able to appear and attach himself to people who believe in the Unification Church. When he attempts to do so, the spirit world will immediately mobilize to protect them. Being within the realm of the Parents’ love is different from being within the realm of Satan’s love, or archangelic love in general. I have linked the realm of the Parents’ love even to the spirit world. (196-290, 1990.01.02)
51 Satan had been using the power of death to invade the realm of the family and its love. Blocking this by means of love, I, in my era, established the Day of Victory of Love to prevent this. My son Heung-jin was on the verge of death. Knowing that his final hour was coming, it was my moment to act. I conducted the Unification Ceremony for Heung-jin before he passed away, to demonstrate that he and his father are one. Through his unity in heart with me, his father, Satan was rendered unable to carry out his wishes against him as long as I was alive. By offering my son Heung-jin on the altar in this way, I defended against Satan’s attempts to invade the Unification family. There existed a victorious domain in the spirit world from the moment Jesus made himself a sacrifice and God completed Jesus’ offering in the spirit world. I connected that victorious domain to the offering of True Parents’ beloved son Heung-jin, which was completed on earth. It was tantamount to Jesus’ offering being completed in the physical world. Thus, based on the parent-child relationship, which is the heavenly ideal, I connected the foundation of Jesus’ domain in the spirit world to the substantial physical realm. I built a bridge connecting the heavenly world and the earthly world. (196-264, 1990.01.02)
52 Since the spirit world and the earthly world love my son Heung-jin, they also need to establish the standard to love us, the Parents. They have to raise the standard of their love. Although Heung-jin was physically deceased, I knew that he was not dead, but would establish the realm of the resurrection of love in the physical and spirit worlds: “Although you have left us through death, by your death, you resurrect love.” With that conviction, I grasped both the spirit world and physical world, and proclaimed the realm of the resurrection of love. With this, we could bid goodbye to the realm of death. For this reason, you should not be sad at a Seunghwa Ceremony. (130-203, 1984.01.15)
53 While Heung-jin was transitioning from the earth to the spirit world, I held a special ceremony for the spirit world and physical world. That was the Day of Victory of Love. In order to complete the indemnity condition and proclaim the Day of Victory of Love, I was not allowed to think that my son was dead. Instead, standing next to his dead body, I fought for God’s love. I had to think of God’s love first, rather than grieving as other mothers and fathers do when thinking of their deceased child. I had to fix my thoughts on the love that triumphs over the realm of death. And so I said to Mother, “In this hour, you and I have to become the parents of whom Heaven can be proud and the parents of whom all the ancestors in the spirit world and the tens of thousands of saints, sages and wise people in the angelic world can be proud. We must create such an atmosphere around Heung-jin’s body that the people of the world will bow their heads to us, saying that we are without a doubt the ones who wield the authority of love that can subjugate the realm of death.” I had to do this so that all humankind could testify about me, saying, “You are truly the central person of God’s love.” The Day of Victory of Love was the first day when death could be replaced with love, even as I said farewell to my son. It was the day we hoisted the banner of love, even as we advanced and mobilized for the sake of the world. In this way, we set a standard that has enabled a new direction of love to be established on the national and global levels. That is why we can use the words “Day of Victory of Love.” I proclaimed the Day of Victory of Love at 4 o’clock in the morning on January 3, 1984. (130-203, 1984.01.15)
Enthronement Ceremony for the Kingship of God
54 Christianity established a global domain surpassing that of the Roman Empire. This took place when the Allied forces defeated the Axis powers in World War II. Because Jesus lost his body, Christianity has represented the spirit world. Nonetheless, when Christianity unified the world, it ushered in the era in which the spirit and flesh could have been united. Thus, the Allied nations and Axis nations could be restored to God’s side. That foundation was laid in 1945. Centering on that, had Catholics and Protestants, representing the Christian cultural sphere, become one and welcomed the Second Advent of the Lord, the world would have been united within three-and-a-half to seven years, that is, by 1952. Then God’s Enthronement Ceremony would have been held. Christianity, however, did not accept the Unification Church. Even now, they are strongly opposing us. Judaism opposed Christianity and hence it doomed itself to decline. Christianity, by opposing the Unification Church, is following the same path. It is the same for all religions. This has created hell for families, societies, nations and the world. Hence, the ideal realm of love that God desires cannot yet be found on planet Earth. (342-267, 2001.01.13)
55 The True Parents are the only ones who can give the Blessing and change the lineage. It was the appearance of the false parents that brought on the battle between God and Satan. In order to end that conflict, True Parents stand right at the center and say, “God, is this not the purpose for which You are fighting? I am going to change everything for you!” If God gives me permission to do this, the struggle will come to an end. I am bringing reconciliation between God and Lucifer, as well as between Judaism and the religions surrounding it. When Jesus returns, once he establishes his sovereignty by bringing harmony and unity to the nations based on the family, all these struggles will come to an end. After World War II, if the United States, the Second Israel, had met and received the person who comes as the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord could have established a foundation to unify the earth and to unify heaven. That unity, the beginning of the kingdom of God in the form of the Third Israel, would have connected the liberation of the kingdom of heaven on earth with that of the kingdom of heaven in heaven, which is the third realm of liberation. It was not realized then, and it is like a dream that, after fifty-six years have passed, we can now, on this day, hold the Enthronement Ceremony for the Kingship of God. (342-275, 2001.01.13)
56 Who will conduct the Enthronement Ceremony for the Kingship of God? Who ruined that Enthronement Ceremony in the first place? It was Satan and Adam. Adam and Eve were unable to become True Parents. Satan entered and the standard for True Parents’ lineage could not be established on earth. Due to the Fall, it was Satan’s lineage that remained. We have to negate and reverse this failure. Neither God nor Satan can do it. It would be difficult for Satan to destroy what he has established as his own nation. No one likes another party trying to change something that one has made. God, too, cannot just turn this around. If He could, He would not have lost Adam’s family in the Garden of Eden. God was surely unable to do anything about it. It requires a human being. That person is the perfected Adam. His family contains the original love. (342-276, 2001.01.13)
57 The Enthronement Ceremony for the Kingship of God has brought change to the nation. Previously, God had been filled with bitter pain because He was unable to stand at the forefront of the Will. He was deeply sorrowful because He had not been able to act according to His desire. For that reason, I am telling you to become the supporting troops who can enable God to do as He wishes. We offered the Enthronement Ceremony to God; now we expect God to show His power. From now on, the times will change. (342-296, 2001.01.13)
The Era after the Coming of Heaven
58 You cannot discuss the Era before the Coming of Heaven and the Era after the Coming of Heaven, or hell and heaven, without knowing the Day of the Victory of the Number Ten Combining Two Halves (Ssang Hab Shib Seung Il). Things that were in pairs were divided. Mind and body should have been united, but they were divided. Even with your eyes there is one that you favor and another you dislike. A man loves his wife when he marries her, but if he sees another woman whom he thinks is better, the way he looks at his wife changes. Everyone has become separated. Married couples do not get along. That is why, on May 5, 2004, I proclaimed the Day of the Victory of the Number Ten Combining Two Halves when I combined five and five, as a pair oriented vertically, to make ten. This represents the coming together of the divided heaven and earth. It signifies liberation and complete freedom. (449-193, 2004.05.13)
59 The numbers did not belong to God but to Satan. All existence is based on the pair system. When couples become one, they can plant the seed of love. This is the ideal of the Principle of Creation. This is the reason I proclaimed the Day of the Victory of the Number Ten Combining Two Halves. May 5 marked the victory of ten by bringing together two fives, the top five and the bottom five. Centered on that day, I proclaimed the Era after the Coming of Heaven and the Era before the Coming of Heaven. The Era before the Coming of Heaven had passed; therefore, God could grasp the Era before the Coming of Heaven with His left hand and the Era after the Coming of Heaven with His right hand and rotate them, making a circle. Thereby, He combined the five that He held in His right hand and the five that He held in His left hand into one. This was the victory of two fives becoming ten. For the first time, God could stand in the position of the owner of the three hundred sixty days. God could for the first time govern the days and the numbers, the formulas in the universe, the order of motion, the stages that unfold. The pair system underlies the numbers by which we measure. When object and subject partners join in a relationship, they are able to take effect. God, as the seed of love, the fruit of love and the original essence of love, plants love in all places where things exist in pairs. (450-183, 2004.05.21)
60 In the end, God will create His homeland and a world of peace. The Era before the Coming of Heaven is passing, and we are ushering in the Era after the Coming of Heaven. The Day of the Victory of the Number Ten Combining Two Halves is when we proclaim the fact that the Era before the Coming of Heaven has passed and the Era after the Coming of Heaven has come. Although the Era before the Coming of Heaven has passed, it cannot be abandoned. In order to make the people of that era into royal offspring, God and True Parents grasped them with their left hand and pulled them forward, even as they grasped the newly dawning Era after the Coming of Heaven with their right hand. This 180- degree reversal was like my making the hands of a clock that had been rotating counterclockwise rotate clockwise. (457-242, 2004.07.04)
61 I have brought together all of creation. The Fall turned it all around— measurement of time, days, years, centuries and eternity. With the victory of the number ten, the victorious number that God indemnified, we can now directly connect all of these with the throne of God’s kingship. As we have left the Era before the Coming of Heaven and begun the Era after the Coming of Heaven, all things can now enter the age of liberation, the age of perfection. Everything is entering into the realm of God’s ownership. (447-314, 2004.05.05)
The Coronation and Enthronement Ceremonies for the King of Peace (December 2003 through August 2004)
62 I conducted the Coronation Ceremony for the King of Peace, but it should be called the Coronation and Enthronement Ceremony. It was not simply a coronation ceremony but a coronation and enthronement ceremony. Earlier, I conducted the coronation but not the enthronement. In Adam's family, Cain killed Abel and God’s providence continued through Seth. From Noah it passed through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, all the way to Jesus. In Jesus’ time, the nation should have conducted His enthronement ceremony, but it did not happen. He could receive neither a coronation nor an enthronement ceremony. I am conducting, in my time, coronation and enthronement ceremonies. We held the coronation ceremony for Jesus in Israel. At that time, Jesus did not advance to his coronation ceremony alone. I had my second son, Heung-jin, whom I had placed in the same position as the returning Lord, bless Jesus to be the one to open the gate of love. I gave the Blessing to souls who had died in sorrow, and even to enemies. Then I had Heung-jin escort Jesus to Jerusalem, for we conducted his coronation in the nation of Israel. It was not an enthronement but a coronation. I took down the cross, conducted his coronation in Israel and then conducted his enthronement ceremony in America. These events rendered the biblical dual prophecies such as “the lord of glory” and “the lord of suffering” less significant. (469-171, 2004.09.19)
63 Cain and Abel have to become one. The Lord of the Second Advent reconciled divisions between the spirit world and physical world in Jerusalem. Based on this foundation, he restored through indemnity the realm of the First Israel and brought that realm to the national and the world levels. Jesus could not achieve this when he was on earth. But finally I completed it and established Jesus’ kingship over the First Israel and his kingship over the Second Israel. Centering on Jesus, representing heaven, and Heung-jin, representing the True Parents on earth, I reconnected the spirit world with the physical world. In that place of unity between the entire spirit world and the physical world, and of unity between the entire nation and the church, and on the foundation of Jesus' sovereignty in the Second Israel, we offered the coronation ceremony in the presence of the Parents. After that I conducted the coronation ceremony with members of the United States Senate representing heaven and of the House of Representatives representing earth. This accomplished what Jesus was unable to do: proclaim his coronation at the Roman Senate and establish a unified realm encompassing heaven and earth. The spirit world and physical world proclaimed my coronation, a history-making event. In the realm of their unity, they conducted the coronation and enthronement of the Lord of the Second Advent. (469-300, 2004.09.22)
64 Jesus is the leader of Christianity; he has a throng of 1.3 billion followers. He died branded a traitor to his people in his own nation, but he embraced the people of the world and is now seated in the highest position in the political culture as well as in the religious arena. Nevertheless, Judaism still regards Jesus as inferior to Moses. In addition to this, Judaism and Christianity opposed me in a wide variety of ways. Yet they were the ones who lost the battle. With the end of that battle, I conducted the Enthronement Ceremony for the King of Peace in the precincts of the United States Congress. Jesus was supposed to go to the Roman Senate and proclaim, “I am the King. The King of kings has come.” Yet he died before he could accomplish this. However now, in broad daylight, I gathered members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives and also leaders of the three major religions. Of their own volition they attended me as the King of Peace. (451-076, 2004.05.26)
Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Original Palace Holy Ground (July 8, 2001)
65 This place, where we are holding the groundbreaking ceremony today, is the Original Palace Holy Ground (本殿聖地). What does “Original Palace” (本殿) mean? It is the palace that God desires, the royal palace in which God can dwell, His original home. That is what is meant by “Original Palace,” which is this Holy Ground. All the obstacles have been overcome. The Chinese character for seong (聖), meaning “holy,” consists of the three Chinese characters: yi (耳) meaning “ear,” gu (口) meaning “mouth” and wang (王) meaning “king.” You have to have the mouth and ears of a king to be a saint. You have to listen well and speak well. Only God knows this. Only the Messiah, the True Parents, knows these things. (348-163, 2001.07.08)
Entering Cheon Jeong Gung li (June 13, 2006)
66 Cheon Jeong Gung is a palace that creates that which is righteous and proper. The name combines the Chinese characters Cheon (天) meaning “Heaven,” Jeong (正) meaning “righteous” and Gung (宮) meaning “house.” What is the significance of Cheon Jeong Gung? It represents the finest palace in heaven. That is how I built it. The character jeong (正) is the combination of the character, ji (止), meaning “stay,” and a stroke (一), meaning a “cover” or “lid.” This means movement. Cheon Jeong Gung means, “Two people should unite and ceaselessly move! Then it becomes your home.” This means that |this palace is to be your home. (539-096, 2006.09.19)
67 At the Cheon Jeong Gung there is a new nation, a national flower, a national flag, citizens, and ideals of education. Therefore, we can create oneness within any ideology or religion and, on that basis, liberate governments. I have set these as our goals and I am moving forward to achieve them. (545-153, 2006.11.21)
68 We can think of Cheon Jeong Gung existing at any time and any place, but it came to be on the soil of Korea naturally. That is what I believe. Has God not been a wanderer? Has God had any place on earth where He could place His feet? He could not at the Vatican in Rome. So I went around, searching and searching. I passed through many circumstances in order to become an owner on God’s behalf. (531-196, 2006.07.06)
69 All humankind has been of the Cain-type lineage and thus is in the position of the older brother. The Messiah will come at the very end of the age and pay indemnity for everything. He will elevate the two worlds that fell. Although Christianity paid the indemnity, we need to raise them up. Then what should we do? If the peoples who share the Mongolian birthmark, races whose blood is intermingled, unite irrespective of their religion and come forth raising a flag, we can overcome the concepts of denomination and nation. I am placing God in His original position, and Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and the Archangel in their original positions. That is why this is called Cheon Jeong Gung. The Chinese character cheon (天) consists of the Chinese characters meaning “two” (二) and “person” (人). Thus, it is a palace that is properly made by two people. (529-280, 2006.06.14)
Coronation for the Authority of the Liberation of God, the King of Kings (January 15, 2009)
70 “King of kings” means the King of all kings. There is one, and only one, King of all kings. The King of kings is the One Being. Hananim in Korean, which is translated as “God” in English, literally means “the One and Only One” plus the honorific, Mm. This expression for God, Hananim, is found only in Korean. In the phrase “Hananim haebang kwon eui,” the Chinese character that I am using for kwon is not the kwon (圈) meaning “realm,” but the kwon (權) meaning “right,” or “authority.” Next comes the word daekwanshik, meaning “coronation ceremony.” What do the Chinese characters in daekwan, meaning “coronation,” signify? The Chinese character dae (戴) includes the character yi (異) meaning “different.” In other words, a different crown is worn, not a crown of destructive power that leads human beings to hell, but a crown of glory. Long live the authority of liberation! Even Satan is compelled to go along with God’s authority. The creation will no longer need God’s intervention; universal law will govern it. By this taking place, the liberated God’s authority will usher in His peaceful and prosperous reign. It is good, and so His peaceful and prosperous reign will bring with it an era of humankind offering Him unending praise. To have access to the God of goodness, we should fly to God’s secret and hidden world, the world of His happiness, and the spring garden of flowers in His heart. A path is opening to His world of love, and I am saying that we should travel to that place. (608-309, 2009.02.28)
71 Whatever your problem, if you try to solve it by working only with the spirit world or only with the physical world, you will not succeed. Likewise, just because you know God’s Will does not mean God is liberated. You have to unite with True Parents and lay a foundation upon which you can govern nations and the world’s religious realms. Without setting up the measures to solve everything as one combined issue, you cannot make the right judgment and establish the right global movement. That is why I have kept that on hold until now. What is the Coronation of the King of Kings? Before I conducted the Coronation of the One and Only God with the Authority of Liberation, anyone could come along. After it was done, not just anyone could follow. During this time, Cain and Abel nations joined the UN and were fighting each other. Communism and democracy were fighting each other. The Coronation of the One and Only God with the Authority of Liberation and the Sovereignty of the King of Kings could take place because I stood in the breach and brought the two sides to reconcile. Then I announced a new world of peace. This coronation was held in order to defend all three parties. (609-110, 2009.03.08)
72 As of today, the King of kings, the One and Only God, stands in the position of the True Parent. The True Parents are one flesh. Although there have been tens of thousands of kings until now, there is only one Lord of the Second Advent. He came, rose to the position of the King of kings, and united with the One and Only God. How does this affect the substantial authority of the God who was invisible in the Garden of Eden, from the perspective of His inner and outer essence? He will manifest as the True Parents with substantial bodies, and those True Parents will become one with the One and Only God in the world. (609-278, 2009.04.09)
73 By securing the one kingship of the King of kings and having it take root, God can stand in the position of the Owner and reign over all creation for the first time. I offered to God everything that I had built up to the present. I have the responsibility to erase all the mistakes that prevented the True Parents from being the True Parents, and to enable God finally to move into the position of the King. Finally, there will be twelve tribes, representing the family level, then one hundred twenty national representatives, then twelve hundred global representatives and then twelve thousand who can liberate God. Based on this foundation, the time will come for all indemnities of the world to level out and for God to emerge and exercise His authority as the Owner. It will be nothing other than the ideal kingdom of God on earth and in heaven! Aju! (589-277, 2008.05.16)
74 We have launched a new, Parent UN based on the Abel UN. Now that I have become the King of all kings, what should I do further? By uniting with God and holding the Coronation Ceremony, I secured the core. Based on that, all of heaven and earth can be established in front of Heaven. Henceforth, I am responsible to open the gate to the setting up of an international organization centering on this core. None of you here can tell me what to do, even if you hold the position of a leader. On the foundation of my having achieved a unified realm of the spirit and flesh as the substantial being who represents the kingship of God, the King of kings, what should be done, based on the way and standard that I have advocated thus far? From a position transcending the entire world, we have to build one sovereignty, one homeland, and a land that is like one hometown. (609-265, 2009.04.09)
75 Had Adam and Eve not fallen, they would have become the owners who could have set forth on behalf of God and hoisted the flag of the Blessing. Several thousand years later, the first day when this can happen is at hand. This is not the matter of just one day. It is not even several thousands of years; it is tens of thousands of years. You need to know how much trouble so many had to endure in order to build the foundation for the position of the True Parents, the foundation upon which we could stand. No one has known this before. So, you cannot imagine how much trouble God had to endure in order to usher in the time when He could finally teach people about it. The year 2001 was the start of the third millennium. I have been teaching you about things that will happen in the millennium that has newly arrived, the period up to the year 3000. It will be a brand-new, revolutionary era, not of the manner of the Era before the Coming of Heaven. Rather, it will be a brand-new, revolutionary Era after the Coming of Heaven. It will be an era when God can take responsibility and act. (615-137, 2009.08.21)
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