Hyung Jin Moon’s World Peace Tour: Thailand

Hyung Jin Moon’s World Peace Tour: Thailand

Special Sermon by Rev. In-Young Song -- "If We Are Connected in Heart, We Can Accomplish God's Will"

Hyung Jin Moon
August 1, 2010
Cheon Bok Gung, Seoul Korea

Welcoming Remarks By Hyung Jin Nim (Video Message):

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! We are sending our greetings from Hannam dong. We are leaving in just a couple minutes to go to the airport. We just came back from the United States where we could attend our True Parents and see our brothers and sisters in America. It was very inspirational. Father shared many hours of Hoon Dok Hae every morning and a time singing and dancing. It was really wonderful. Brothers and sisters really missed that kind of spirit, being with Parents so close. It was such an inspirational time that we were able to share while we were there.

We are now leaving for the airport to make our way to Nepal, Thailand and Philippines to visit our brothers and sisters in that part of Asia. As you know, we have many many central blessed families all around in each one of these countries. We will be visiting them and encouraging our brothers and sisters there.

We realize and feel, as Paul said, that we are one in the body of Christ, in the love of True Parents; that we are one with them and one with the Unification family. Brothers and sisters, today let us offer glory and joy to True Parents during our worship service. Let us remember that True Parents are the substantial representative and manifestation of God on earth and that they can, in this age of Chung Il Guk, be able to be present with us during the service even though we are apart from them physically. Let us offer our joy and glory to them on this day. Let us and praise God and remember His goodness on this day and let us give joy to God this day.

Today Mr. In-Young Song will be speaking to us. He is a second generation Unificationist and a wonderful man we have been working with for about two and a half years. He is a very exemplary minister -- a young minister. We are very pleased that he can speak to you all about witnessing during this 40-day witnessing time period. Let us truly become one with True Parents word today so that we can once again find eternal life, spiritual life and move forward towards bringing the kingdom of Chon Il Guk substantially here on earth.

Brothers and sisters we are so grateful to be able to have this time to go to these countries. We will be seeing you again next week. We thank you for all your prayers and encouragement. Until then, God Bless! In True Parents' Names! Aju! Kamsahamnida.

Rev. Michael Brazil

As you heard, our senior pastor couple is on their way to Nepal. Today we are very blessed to have a very special brother share with us today and I genuinely mean that. He is a wonderful brother who has invested an incredible amount here in the church. Rev. Song is a second generation and he has four children. Recently he and his wife just had another daughter which was a tremendous surprise. There is quite a big gap in between their children but it is amazing. I want you to join me in welcoming our special brother Rev. Song In-Young.

Main Sermon by Rev. In-Young Song:

Good afternoon. Let us read God's word. John 14:7-14

If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said: "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me Philip, even after I have been among you for such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather. it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work.

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Aju!

Let us read from True Parents words, Blessed Family, Page 1062:

Human beings are not born based on their own choice. Then, are they born due to their parents' wishes? No. They are born due to God's desire. They are born through the love of their parents, which represents God's love.

The person, who is born as a new life through parental love, representing God's love, is I. Love has the power to create everything. The one who is born as the center of the whole universe by receiving all the love of the universe is none other than I.

The highest purpose of life is to be born through love, be raised in love, live by love, and to leave love behind. The most valuable thing to do is to fulfill, in the family, the rules of love that lie at the center of the universe.

Aju!

Are we doing well in the midst of God's love? It is rather hot in Korea now, isn't it? This is the hot season. The fall will bear the fruits, so please endure the summer well.

We are in the 40-day witnessing period. We will talk about this today; if God resides in me, we will accomplish this and if God and True Parents reside in me than everything can be accomplished through that.

I was not born by my own desire, not even by my parents' desire or hope. When we get married, we want to have children. We have a certain desire about the baby's nose or mouth. We want them to be at least six feet tall. When they grow up we want them to play soccer better then Park Chu Young, the Korean soccer player. We want them to have an IQ of at least 150. We like to have that kind of children when we get married. Are the children born the way we like them to be born? No, because we are not born according to our own desire or even God's desire but through our parents by the desire of God.

Our ultimate origin is in God. We inherit God's True Love and we are the center of the universe. That is what I am. That is what each of us is. That is how precious we are. When we touch ourselves and put your hand on your chest, you feel how precious you are. I am precious. You are receiving God's true love and the people next to you are also receiving God's love and they are very precious as well. Let's look at each other and say: "You are truly a very precious person." Please say this to each other. Turn to the person besides and behind you.

Everyone who is here is very precious. We are all the living bodies of God and we are creating the ideal of Cheon Bok Gung together. This ideal first is to accomplish the temple of the third Israel. The second is to liberate God and True Parents who have been living their lives to liberate God. Third, by our faith; it will not be a faith out of duty but a faith that will truly create God's world.

These days our minister is giving lectures to a person who is a Seventh-Day Adventist. I asked the person, "Don't people tell you that you as a Seventh-Day Adventist, that you are a heretic?" But his answer was very clear. He said, "That's something that can be resolved if we have enough numbers." That is how he answered that question. That is true.

In the Cheon Bok Gung, as well, if we have a lot of people and other people are saying that we are heretics, then that would be resolved very quickly. This is a church that is accomplishing God's dream. It is a church where we are trained to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not just a 21,000 or 210,000 congregation. We are not just about that. Together with the success of the congregation, we also want to have a change in each person's life and in your families, so you can inherit God's dream. That is the kind of church we are trying to build here.

The International President said that in 2007 he began his pastoral work in Mapo. It has been three years since that time and he is beginning his fourth year in his pastoral work. As he began that work, he built a foundation of Jeong Seong and love. The foundation of Jeong Seong and love is the rock of our church that cannot be shaken. He offers Jeong Seong at 3:00 in the morning and he created the system of Hoonsa and Hunyo and he created the chung bok chi. When he does that, again, we were very worried about what he was doing as he was getting up so early in the morning. We were afraid that his lack of sleep would affect his health. Sometimes it seemed what he was doing was Buddhist, sometimes Catholic. People were saying this is not our culture. Is this really Father's will? Many people were concerned about that but encouraged him in that way. However, now all those things have become our asset in this church.

Many religious leaders have come to Cheon Bok Gung and visited us here and they are very moved by what they see in terms of Hoonsa and Hunyo assistance. During the 120 day workshop all the pastors of our church participated in the early morning spiritual training and they inherited that and that is now spread across the world.

The International President has been doing and offering Seunghwa Festivals to the veterans of the Korean War and to those who died during the Korean War. The most beautiful Festivals have come about as a result. The Jeong Seong never ends. Centering on the Cheon Bok Gung, however, the culture of Jeong Seong and love is now taking root.

The International President trusts you and he is going out now to the world and representing the True Parents and tour the world and inherit to them God's love. Today as well. He left and left the church in your care and he is touring the three countries in Asia. The International President says that the role of the church first of all is to offer Jeong Seong. He said we have to focus on witnessing. He said he wanted to meet members who are working hard and witness with them. Sometimes he reduces the amount of time of meetings and conferences so he can meet those people who are out and witnessing and to witness on the street with them.

He has said also that he will open up the Hannam dong public residence of True Parents so it can be used for people who are praying and for witnessing. That is how earnestly he wants for witnessing to take place and for us to do witnessing. So members right now our Cheon Bok Gung must become a church for everyone witnessing. Right now we are truly crazy with witnessing for people to describe it that way. Don't you think so? Would that be alright with you? In order to do that, we need to confess ourselves in three ways. First there has to be a heartfelt confession of faith -- our search for God. In the beginning of our Korean church and also in each of the countries in the early days, I am sure you remember there were great spiritual phenomena. We need to, again, have this desperate and earnest desire to search for God. That is how the work of the Holy Spirit can happen. I believe that. We have to receive God in ourselves. We say it is difficult or how shall we do it, maybe you can think that way. However, God is not some place vague or very distant.

Let's look at the words of Cheon Seong Gyeong (194-42, 1989.10.15) Let's read this together in English:

No matter how exalted God is, if you should call for Him with a heart of love saying, "God!", He will immediately answer inside your heart saying, "Yes?" If you should ask, "God, where are You?" He will answer, "Where? Why do you ask where I am? I'm at the source of your heart." Isn't God originally the source? He is at the root and source of our hearts. That is how it is.

Aju

True Parents have taught us how to receive God into ourselves. If you call out to God, True Parents say God will answer. Let us try this right now; call out to God. God, please Father, come into me. Come to me! Call out to God that way. Let us do that often! Let us chant that! God! God! God! God! as if you are chanting God's name. Please try this now! If God hears you calling out so often, He will have to answer you. Sometimes you call quickly, sometimes slow, sometimes in the daytime and even in the middle of the night, loudly or very quietly. Let us try that. Close your eyes! Call out to God quietly within yourself! God, please come to me. God. God, please come to me. Do you feel God? Let us open our eyes.

If we call to God constantly then God said that He will be inside us. He will be with us. Until now we have not been calling God. We have not been looking for God very much. If we call God and call out for Him, then God will be with us. He will enjoy the joys with us and He will share the pain with us and He will also help us to recover from all these pains. He will comfort us in our sorrows and He will encourage us if we call out to God with our love and our whole heart. We are this kind of a church where everyone does that.

The second kind of confession we also need to have the confession of our True Parent. In the Book of John, Jesus talked to his disciples about death because he knew he was about to die and the disciples said: "We don't know where we are going."

"We don't know where you are going so how can we know where you are going?" the disciples say. Then Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one can come to the Father except by me. If you know who I am then you also know my Father. So from now on, you know God and you have seen God."

So if we see in the Cheon Seong Gyeong what Father says "What we believe in is far from fact and what we know conforms to facts." We need to go beyond just believing in True Parents to know True Parents and to lead the way with True Parents. As we attend our International President, we have been able to understand much more deeply about our True Parents. One year from Hyo-jin nim's ascension, our International President had a very deep realization about True Father, about the Messiah whom we can believe in just out of duty, but together with the spiritual phenomenon to understand the seven deaths and resurrections and the completion of the eight stages. The International President explained his experience about that.

On the second anniversary of Hyo-jin nim's ascension, he had a very deep realization of True Mother's role and gave us the impression of that not just knowing True Parents with our mind and head, but for God and for humanity, forgiving humanity. Our International President received this very deep spiritual experience about True Parents so now he had told us again and again that we must view our True Parents with our spiritual eyes at every worship service. When we read the True Parents Declaration, I am always trying to feel the heart that is in that declaration. So I put my hands together and I close my eyes in order to do that.

Even though still we all are very far from being able to feel True Parent's heart, we must confess that. So, loving members, you are truly great people. When you were blessed by True Parents directly, we offered our physical bodies and even our eternal souls; we dedicated those to True Parents, not just this life on Earth but even our eternal lives. We dedicated all that to our True Parents and when we received the blessing of marriage with only God, True Parents and me, we thought, "not my will" but, as an offering that was placed on the altar. We offered up our entire selves. This is why no one in the world can understand the way that the marriage ceremony was conducted.

Why is that? Because we know True Parents. That is why we have offered our entire beings to True Parents. When we offer our entire selves, that is when the Korean church revived and that is when the church of the entire world revived. But now let us again confess our True Parents from the bottom of our hearts so that we can again have that kind of revival with the work of the spirit of revival in the Cheon Buk Gung. Aju!

In 200 countries around the world, members are offering Kyung-bae to True Parents and are praying and are longing to see True Parents. A little while ago, our minister went to the Guma church in Japan. This is a church where the International President has not visited and the Japanese woman who went out witnessing with him was 35 years old and she had three children and she had not yet been in the church even three years. Her husband was not yet a member and yet still she was going to the church every day to participate in street witnessing. She has never seen True Parents and she has never been to Korea and, of course, she has never been to the Cheon Bok Gung. But just through the word, she has faith in True Parents so she is working every day like that.

So because a minister came from Korea, from Cheon Bok Gung, she was deeply moved because the International President had come himself as if the True Parents had come. She was so moved to be able to work with him, she was so grateful to be able to work with him in witnessing. So I felt very sorry and very ashamed to meet this kind of a member in Japan. Just because he came from True Parents' country, just by that fact, he was being treated so well by the Japanese members and he felt very ashamed for that. The absolute confession of True Parents is in Japan. That is why a church in Japan even now is accomplishing great things in terms of witnessing. Many people are joining. Even 10, 20, 30, 40 years after the beginning of the Japanese church was started, they are still every day doing witnessing and they are working for the victory of our True Parents there.

In terms of the physical space, it is difficult for them to meet True Parents, but they still confess True Parents very faithfully, very strongly. They have a deep yearning for True Parents, so they do not grow tired and they are continuously witnessing. The Japanese church is continuously growing as a result, not just in terms of the words, but from the bottom of their hearts they confess True Parents as the Messiah, the Savior and as the True Parents for all mankind. When they make that confession and when we do that as well in Cheon Bok Gung, then the witnessing wind will also blow here. Aju!

The third confession that we must make is to confess that God and True Parents are one. That is when the Holy Spirit can work and there can be a great witnessing. Phillip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, then we'll be satisfied". The disciples asked Jesus to show God to them. Jesus said to them, he was very frustrated and he said, "Phillip, I've been with you for such a long time, don't you know who I am? He who has seen me has seen the Father, so why do you ask me to show you the Father?" The disciples only understood Jesus as someone who had special powers and could do a lot of miracles. But Jesus said, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me, don't you believe that? These words that I speak to you are not words that I'm speaking on my own but these are words that God is speaking from within me and that He is doing these works."

In the same way, we cannot just look at all the accomplishments that our True Parents have done. True Parents are in God and we must understand that God is in True Parents and that is how this ideal is being accomplished. So wherever True Parents are, they are always searching for God whether True Parents are in prison, or whether they are sending their disciples out, they pray to God in tears and ask God to protect their disciples who are going out witnessing. So when True Parents met Kim Il Sung, he also taught Kim Il Sung about God. Even if he had to put his own life in danger, he still wanted to teach people about God and even to sacrifice his own children. He only worked for God and for humanity. He has been shedding blood, sweat and tears all these years. If you were God, where would you go? What person would you go to? Wouldn't you go to the person who is seeking so desperately for God and speaking for God? Wouldn't you go to True Parents if you were God? That is exactly how God is. God has gone into True Parents. Now True Parents are in God and God is in True Parents. We need to confess that, that they are the True Parents of heaven and earth and humanity.

Recently there is a great deal of confusion in our church. There is some content that is going around. However, when we confess that True Parents and God are one, then we can understand very clearly where we must stand. The minister receives many telephone calls. "There's no hope in our church", people say. Some people say that way to him; in Christianity. Sometimes they are people who are opposed to our church, or sometimes in the media our church may be criticized. So when we see that, what are you going to do when you actually come into contact with that kind of thing? There is no more hope for our church! Are you going to give up?

Our church has a very amazing history. Father began the Unification Church in the 1950s and things were going well for a few years after the beginning and a lot of people were joining from Yongsae and Ewha University and a lot of members were joining. But then in 1955 on July 4th, the police came to the church and took Father away and he was placed in the prison at Sa Dae Mun. True Father, who was the center of the church, was taken away to prison on that day. We thought that would be the end but actually True Father was exonerated. The court found him not guilty. He was released from the prison and then after his release, the work of the Holy Spirit was such that there was a great revival around the country and a great witnessing movement around the country.

Right now the things that are going on as the Last Days, the people will be divided from one side and another. The decisions of True Parents are not just the thoughts of our True Parents; that is God within True Parents. These are the words of God and the work of God that True Parents are doing; that is, God's work. Do you believe that? After the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross, He resurrected. Then after that resurrection, the disciples were not afraid of death. They witnessed without any fear of death. In the same way, this is a time of trial for us. There will be a blessing.

At the instruction of the International President, the pastors and Hoonsa of Cheon Bok Gung went to Japan to see how the Japanese church does its witnessing so that the new way of witnessing can be incorporated into Cheong Bok Gung. But when we looked at it carefully, what Japan is doing now had been done in the past in the Korean church. But not just in the Korean church but probably in each country. This is how witnessing was done in the beginning when the church was developing in the early days, to confess God, to confess True Parents through the word of God, by going from one person to another, witnessing to people and then embrace people with love. That is still going on in Japan. Now it is done more systematically in Japan and that is why they are succeeding so well in Japan.

Those of you who are from the English-speaking world centering on Rev. Brazil and centering on Rev. Toffey, if you become one like that and witness, that would be wonderful. So how many foreign members do we have? Who is witnessing? That kind of thinking: who is coming to church and who is not able to come to church. If we could find out this kind of information for each other -- if there is someone in difficulty, then help that person -- and to take interest in each other, then I am sure these seats will be completely filled. Do you believe that? Just with the Philippine sisters, there would be so many people who would come here. We could fill this sanctuary. Do you believe that?

Finally, each of us has our own dreams. We have our dreams for our family, dreams of the nation, dreams of the world, dreams of the cosmos! The International President wants to complete the altar of the Cheon Bok Gung and to liberate our True Parents who are liberating God. That is his dream and we who have been attending our True Parents. He wants to be able to relieve us of our han so our children can go to any place in the world and to be able to say proudly that they are members of the Unification Church. Wouldn't you like to make that kind of a church?

We have God and True Parents with us. We have the leader of true love. That is our International President. Now centering on the Cheon Bok Gung, we have this beautiful environment, this beautiful setting that we have. So now what we need to do is to create a culture where we are witnessing every day. Even if we cannot come together every day and witness together, still in our daily lives we can begin the day with prayer and say, "Heavenly Father, today I will do my best to save at least one person's life." Even five minutes to actually witness to someone, even five minutes every day. Each of you, you have your place of work and still, internally though, your first primary job is to be an evangelist for the Unification Church. Each of us should have that attitude and think of ourselves primarily as a Unification Church evangelist. Shall we do that? I am a Unification Church evangelist. Let us say that loudly. Thank you. I have my job but, internally, my first job is to be a Unification Church evangelist. Let us have that heart in our daily lives.

The International President has said that he also will witness himself and he does. So when we go to our school or when we go to our jobs or even if we go shopping, wherever we are, we can go out to each person that we meet in our daily lives. We can think of those people as people we should be witnessing to. Even if we cannot have time that is separate for witnessing, just in our daily lives we can become evangelists for the Unification Church.

Witnessing is not done by someone who is able to speak well. If we decide to do that and we overcome the spiritual barriers, then we can witness well. If I believe in God and if I confess in True Parents, then God will reside in me and True Parents will come within me. Then when I speak to the people that I meet, then God and True Parents will be speaking to that person and they will be moving the heart of that person. Just as God caused me to come into being, into existence through my physical parents, in the same way, through me God is witnessing to that person that I am speaking to. So now I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If you believe in that, then within God and within True Parents you should all also be there. Then when that happens, when you can be within God and True Parents, then anything can be accomplished. That is the blessing we can be given. In verse 12 Jesus says we can also do that. In fact, we can do even greater things than He has done. Do you believe that?

This will be the new life of God, to inherit God's true love. Through the witnessing activity, witnessing can become our way of life and it can become our daily habit. If we live within God and True Parents, then things will be accomplished in the way that we want. If we believe that God will accomplish anything through us, then God will bless us and He will accomplish those things through us.

Now we are at the beginning of a week and the beginning of a month of August. The International President is also beginning his fourth year as a pastor in Seoul. Let us all have victory ourselves. Let us believe in God and to attend True Parents and to confess these things. Then God and True Parents will be within me. All the things that you desire will be accomplished. I believe that. Aju!

Thank you very much! 

Report on Hyung Jin Nim’s World Peace Tour: Nepal

Report on Hyung Jin Nim’s World Peace Tour: Nepal

Hyung Jin Moon's Peace Trip and Pilgrimage to Nepal

Chung Sik Yong
August 1, 2010
Regional Chair, UPF-Asia

Kathmandu, Nepal -- On his first visit to Nepal, the International chairman of UPF, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon was charmed by its people, culture, religions, and food. He and his wife Yeon Ah spent time with government leaders, Ambassadors for Peace, youth, and families, ending with a visit to the birthplace of Buddha in Lumbini.

The visitors were welcomed at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on July 30 by Members of Parliament and Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian leaders. They received a seemingly endless sea of flower bouquets and scarves that Nepalese traditionally give to guests.

The Vice-President of Nepal welcomed the international delegation to his office that afternoon and the Rt. Hon. Subash Nembang, Speaker of the Parliament, received us in his chambers at the Parliament at a gathering attended by the Secretary-General of the Parliament and other MPs. In the evening, we went to the Boudhanath Temple to offer prayers and incense. A World Heritage site, this is the temple that travelers visit before crossing the Himalayas to visit Tibet or China, praying for a safe passage; on their return they offer prayers of gratitude.

Former Ambassador of India to Nepal, K.V. Rajan and his wife, Geeta, joined us at a restaurant for dinner, and afterwards we walked around the area and entered a shop that sold Buddhist paintings, called tankas. We stayed there until closing time. Having spent seven years as a practicing Buddhist, Rev. Moon understood all the imagery and stories on the various canvases.

As is his custom, he rose the following day for 3:00 AM exercises, meditation, and devotion. At a 5:00 AM meeting at the Peace Embassy, a Filipino woman married to a Nepalese spoke about her love for Nepal, her Nepali husband, and the Hindu culture (her family is Catholic). Hon. Ek Nath Dhakal, a member of Parliament, talked about his father, who was a soldier, and his grandfather, who was a high priest serving the king of Nepal.

The Prime Minister of Nepal received the visitors at his official residence at 7:30 AM. Hon. Ek Nath introduced the visitors, followed by comments from Dr. Thomas Walsh and Mr. Taj Hamad of the UPF International office in New York, Amb. Rajan, and Minister G. M. Gurung from Sikkim, India.

The first words of the Prime Minister were, "Please convey my warmest greetings to Father and Mother Moon." He spoke about his first meeting with them ten years ago, recalling vivid details with fond memories. "I see how people respond positively to Father Moon and his teachings. It is good -- they will have a bright future."

"To create a new world we must give inspiration to young people," he added, noting that this is what Father Moon is doing. He lamented the "denigration of moral values. We need to teach and provide the proper environment for youth today. This starts with the family." The Prime Minister concluded by praising the leadership of Hon. Ek Nath Dhakal, saying, "He is doing a great job."

Then we went to the Presidential Palace for a meeting with H.E. Dr. Ram Baran Yadav. "Nepal is passing through a critical period," the President reflected, "but it is essentially our own fault." He mentioned that Lord Buddha was born in Nepal and added that the most faithful woman in Hindu mythology, Sita, was also born in Nepal. In fact, she was born in the president's home town. The president provided breakfast for the visiting delegation.

A gathering with young Nepalis followed. Rev. Moon talked about how his father disclosed the essence of God's nature as a parental love that is willing to die for the sake of its children. He described his own struggles trying to understand his father and how his insights into love differ from those of other religious leaders. Father Moon talks about the heart of parents who are willing to die over and over for the well-being of their children. He challenged his audience to adopt a family ideal that goes beyond sibling relationship because brothers and sisters can still fight, and instead seek to love from a parental position. He emphasized inheriting the true love of God, which was lost by Adam and Eve and restored through the mission of the Messiah.

At the end Hyung Jin and Yeon Ah Moon had their photos taken with each couple present, delegations from various parts of Nepal, and the Indian delegation of about 60 people. Their openness and approachability touched many hears.

That afternoon, 500 Ambassadors for Peace gathered for the 2010 Assembly of the Ambassadors for Peace of South Asia. Rev. Moon welcomed them and talked about his father's life. After meeting Jesus at the age of 15, he devoted himself to carrying out a calling from God. Understanding that selfish love was the root of conflict, he taught that the key to peace is the family, and the key to the family is God, whose love is invested for the sake of others. He advised them, "You have to let go of yourself in order to be able to become one with anyone, whether it is with God, with your spouse, with your children -- or even with yourself."

One Ambassador for Peace said afterwards, "He could explain things so clearly and so deeply."

Upon their arrival, a lottery was held to choose a family for Hyung Jin and Yeon Ah Moon to visit. They drew the names of Ek Nath and Blessie Dhakal. In the intimacy of their home, Rev. Moon commented on his many good qualities and advised him that whenever he is praised he should to offer it up to God. Ek Nath was then asked to point out three good points about his wife and three points about each of their four children (they are expecting their fifth child). Then Blessie was asked to do the same thing. Tears flowed, as her heart was touched by this recognition. The parents were advised to make a special appointment with one child each week and take them to dinner, spend time with them, and make them feel loved and special.

The following day again began with 3:00 AM devotions, exercise, and meditations. Sixteen people then flew to the birthplace of Lord Buddha in Lumbini. This is a rice-farming area in southwest Nepal, near the Indian border. The trip was a pilgrimage to seventh-century BCE sites connected with a man who exerted a powerful influence on history. We walked around the memorial park and saw the pond where Buddha was given his first bath and the tree under which his mother placed him. We stopped there and offered prayers. On the other side of the pond is a pillar about Siddhartha Gautama, who was born into a royal family. Part of the inscription reads, "Because Lord Buddha was born there, he made the village of Lumbini free from taxes and obligated the residents to pay only one-eighth of the produce as land revenue instead of the usual rate."

We took off our shoes to enter the main excavation site marking the birthplace and spent about 20 minutes inside. Rev. Moon seemed to want to get as close as possible to the heart and spirit of Buddha, offering prayers and touching the stones, seeking to absorb something of the spirit of Buddha.

Each Buddhist nation has been given land to build a temple in the area. We were unexpectedly invited to a meeting of about a hundred people at the temple constructed by the Sri Lankan government. About 20 monks chanted and offered garlands of marigold flowers to Hyung Jin and Yeon Ah Moon.

Afterwards, we flew back to Kathmandu and from there to Bangkok. 

Keynote Address at International Leadership Conference

Hyung Jin Moon
July 24, 2010
New York, NY

Good morning, brothers and sisters. It is morning here, right? I was just in Korea.

I always like to start by explaining the Unification symbol. When we see the cross, we are reminded of the failure of humanity to accept Jesus, and we can be reminded of the pain of God's heart. When we see the Unification Church symbol, we can see the hope of joy, the hope of God before all of creation. In this symbol the circle represents what we call give and receive action. All things in the universe must give and receive as they are in relation with one another.

The square in the middle represents the Four Position Foundation, or God's original ideal of family -- it has the parent, the child, and all centered on God. The center of that symbol is God's essence, and that essence is true love. When we begin, we always like to draw the symbol with our hands. I want to ask you all to join me in drawing the symbol with our hands. We're going to first draw the circle, that is, give and receive action, then the Four Position Foundation, and then receiving or inheriting the true love of God. Aju. Give yourselves a warm round of applause.

As you all know, whenever we pray, we end with the word Aju. It's important to understand the meaning of Aju. It is from Chinese characters. The character for Ah is for me, myself, or my. It can also be possessive, mine. Then Ju is the character for lord or owner. So every time Unificationists pray and say, "Amen, Aju," what we're saying in Aju is that we're praising God, saying, "My Lord." It's very important to understand how we end our prayers and how we can understand what Father Moon has guided us to report to heaven.

Today I'm so grateful to be able to come from Korea and to meet all of our guests. I understand that many of you are in the workshop now, listening to the core theology, the Original Divine Principle, which is really one of the most successful sacred texts in all of the world's religious history. When I was a student in divinity school, I quickly realized in studying religion that whether or not I accepted or liked it at the time, what Father Moon has done in his lifetime has never been done by any religious leader in all of history: No religious leader has been able in the course of his or her lifetime to be able to create a world level foundation. There is no religious example that you can find, either in ancient or in modern religious movements.

Jesus had a very short ministry; we know that he was crucified. We know that the Buddha lived until 80, but again because of the constraints of the time, Buddhism did not expand to the millions across the world. We also know that the Prophet Muhammad, after subduing Mecca and Medina, evangelized a great many people. Again, because of the time constraints of the age, he was not able to move to the world level in his lifetime. It is also the same with new religious movements, whether it be Mormonism, whose founder, Joseph Smith, was killed in prison in 1844 or the Baha'i tradition, which is a new religious movement whose founder, Bahá'u'lláh, passed away in prison in 1892.

So when we look at it objectively, there is no religious leader who in the course of his or her lifetime has made this kind of world-level foundation. If that is not evidence of God's blessing or the centrality of Reverend Moon's mission, then I don't know what is. Let's give it up for Father and Mother Moon because this is absolutely incredible.

What I feel is very important as we prepare our hearts and minds for the afternoon event is to get back to the root of where Father and Mother Moon began and how they have grounded themselves throughout their entire lifetime. As you know, at the age of 15 on a mountain near his home in Jeong-ju, True Father received a revelation from Jesus to fulfill the mission of Christ that was left undone. And he then walked the path of restoring humanity back to God. From that time on, he walked an extremely thorny path.

In John 15:13, Jesus talks about the greatest type of love that can exist. He says there is no greater love than this -- than he who lays his life down for his friends. This is the sacrificial, agape love that has shaped the past 2,000 years of history and even the modern democratic world. This is the great sacrificial love that Jesus taught, and he defined it as the love that can sacrifice itself for a friend. There is no greater love than that.

When we look at True Father's life, we see this love exemplified; we see this love lived. We see that he's been in prison, and he's been tortured. From the early disciples we have accounts that he was thrown out into the snow, physically frozen and dead. The early disciples actually saw him resuscitate back into life. They saw these miracles happening.

When we see True Parents, we see that they have lived with a parental heart, which is not just laying your life down once but continually giving your life again and again for the sake of the world's children, sacrificing again. If you're a parent, you can understand this heart. This is true love. When we as Unificationists talk about true love -- and many of you have heard those words -- we are talking about this type of true love, which derives from the essence of God: He's a parent who is willing to sacrifice himself continuously, even going the path of death to save his children.

That also is the essence from which True Parents' lives stem. That is how True Father has created and continued to work in substantiating God's ideal through his life of spiritual practice, his life of devotion, his life of prayer and meditation. From that inner life stems the motivation for action and will, resulting in all the things he has done across the world in all the different arenas he has touched during the course of his lifetime.

I think it's very important to remember that when we pray, we may not reflect on how we are praying. We may say to God, "God, why aren't you answering my prayers? I'm praying to you, I'm honest with you, I am worshipping you. God, why aren't you answering my prayers?"

But if we look at the message of Jesus, he talks about how we should pray. Christ teaches us in Matthew 6 and in Luke that we must pray in a certain way. We are called to do not just the petitionary prayers, the requests -- "Give me this, bless me, help me, heal me, protect me." Christ asks us to do something greater.

Remember the chapter in which Jesus refers to unbelievers who speak in the synagogues and pray before the eyes of men in order to attract attention and get respect. Recall in that chapter that he reminds us to go into our room and shut the door: "Do not pray before the eyes of people, for it is God to whom you talk, who is unseen." He also reminds us that God knows already what we want and what we need. We don't have to tell him, "God, protect me, heal me" all the time. He knows what we need.

Jesus then goes on to pray that powerful prayer, the Lord's Prayer. I want to just meditate on this prayer a little bit with you all this morning because I think it's an absolutely beautiful and exemplary way that Jesus Christ calls us to pray. Please recite it with me.

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Amen and Aju.

What I want to suggest to you today is that what Christ is doing here is not simply telling you to memorize and recite this prayer. Of course, that type of meditation is a very powerful form of understanding the insights in this prayer. But what I want to suggest to you today is that Christ is actually teaching you the method in which to pray. He describes it differently in Luke, so we know he's really talking about the method in which we should pray.

Notice that when we usually pray, if we look at our prayer life, it is "God, today I have a big meeting. I need you to be with me." "God, I'm about to speak before 100 people, 1,000 people. God, I need you to give me strength today." "God, bless me on this plane trip so it doesn't go down." You will notice that we pray in this way in our normal life. "God, please do something for that child." You know how it is if you're a parent. We will end up praying in this way.

But Jesus is reminding us that we must first remember who we are praying to and what kind of relationship we are in. We come before God not on our terms. We come before the Almighty on his terms. So when Jesus calls us to pray, he says, "This is how you should pray. The first thing you should say is, 'My father in heaven, hallowed by thy name.'" What does that mean? That means to praise God first. It means to raise and lift up his name, the Holy of Holies, the great almighty, the provider, the comforter. Lift up the name of God first.

Remember when you pray to start by praising God's greatness. He is great; he is the creator of the universe; he has created the sun, the stars, the moon, the mountains and the oceans, and the fish in the sea. Remember that God is greater than anything. Just recently I flew from Seoul in Korea down to Pusan, which is at the tip of Korea. In Korea we have a monsoon season, so we have some heavy rain. Bad rain. Nothing like New York rain. This is heavy monsoon rain.

I remember descending to Pusan. We had to go through a huge lightning cloud. And if you've ever been on a plane when you have to go through a big lightning cloud, you know that there is some praying going on in that plane. Somebody is praying on that plane. When we started shaking -- and I mean we were going up and down between heaven and earth, and everybody's stomachs were all over -- in that environment we were scared. People were screaming. We could hear people say, "Oh, my God!" especially when the plane plunged like a roller coaster, trying to hold everything down.

Immediately I could see myself praying, "Oh, God, protect us this day. God, let me arrive safely. I'm going there for you. God, get me down." If we're reflective in our prayer life, we'll notice that we actually pray like this quite often.

But I realized when I was unwittingly speaking those words in my mind's heart that I was filled with fear and with dread: "This thing is going to go down. There's lightning all around us. We're in a flying tin can." Twenty thousand feet up, I could immediately feel so much fear.

But I remembered, "Wait a minute. Last week I gave a sermon on prayer. I should be praying the way I preached it." So I changed my prayer heart, my meditative heart. I said, "God, you are great. God, you are almighty. You created the sun and the moon and the sky. You created all of the mountains and oceans and fish in the sea. You created the universe and cosmos in all their glory. God, this little lightning storm is nothing for you."

When I started lifting up God's name, as Christ calls us to do, when I remembered, "Hallowed be thy name," not my name or my works, immediately all the fear just melted away and I was filled with joy, gratitude, and thanksgiving. As it says in Scripture, "When you enter into God's presence, come in with praise and thanksgiving": "God, I am grateful to be on this plane. I know it's going up and down, but you created everything. You are great. You are our provider. You are our comfort. You are there through thick and thin. God, you are merciful."

When I meditated on such things, then immediately the whole nature of my prayer, the relationship in which the prayer was being given, began to change. When we pray and then ask Christ, "Why don't you answer my prayers?" Jesus reminds us in the first line of the Lord's Prayer, "Well, are you praying the right way? Are you praying in the relationship that God has set up, or are you praying on your terms?"

Christ goes on to remind us in the second line, "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He reminds us that many times we focus on "My will be done, my kingdom come. God, help me with my business; help me with my kids; help me with my school; help me with my test. God, my kingdom, my will. Help me with my will so I can live my life."

What Christ is asking us to do is to first remember the greatest of the great. Remember the hallowed name of God. Then secondly, remember it is "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done," before your kingdom and your will be done. I want to suggest to you that when you pray like this, you have a totally different experience in prayer. You no longer are trying to set up the type of relationship that many call the cosmic vending machine: "God, give me what I want. I put the coin in; I kicked it a couple of times. Why don't I have my items?" That is not the relationship that God set up in the beginning. That is not what we understand from True Parents.

Always remember: "God, before my will and my kingdom, let thy kingdom come, let thy will be done. In my business, in my workplace, or in my life in my family, let it be for thee, thy kingdom, and thy will." When we start praying like this, our relationship begins to change.

Jesus then goes on to say, "Give us today our daily bread." "Then," he says, "you can ask for the things that you need during the day." But Jesus has already reminded us that God knows what we need. What he's saying is, don't spend all day there. God already knows what we need.

He then goes on to say, "Ask for forgiveness each day." Every time we pray, let's ask for forgiveness; each day we commit sin. Even from a Principle perspective, we know there are different types of sin: original, inherited, collective, and individual sin. We commit those all the time. And remember that before God we are imperfect; remember also that we must not only ask for forgiveness but also forgive others in our lives. We are to work to resemble God's nature.

Then in the last phrase Jesus reminds us, "Deliver us from evil. God, direct my life and direct my pathway so it does not go toward evil. Let it be for the salvific work, your work of deliverance. Let my life be for thee." When we pray like this, I want to suggest, our relationship in prayer will completely change.

I believe that True Father has always prayed like this. In fact, when we look at True Father's words on prayer -- and he has extensive meditations and speeches on prayer -- he agrees with Christ that we must praise God first. At the same time, he says that we must console the heart of God: Praise God and also console him in his pain for the different failures of human history. True Father also agrees with Christ that we must always pray for God's providence, his will, and his kingdom.

Then for the third step, Father says, "But before you pray for yourself, you should always pray for the world. Pray for your nation. Pray for your society, your tribe, and families first. Then pray for your children and your spouse, and pray for yourself at the end."

I want to suggest that this is an absolutely revolutionary way to pray. People may say, "If you pray all those things, you can't say short prayers. How long does my prayer have to be?" Christ answered that question in Matthew 6. He says, "Don't go babbling on like the unbelievers." It's not the length of our prayer that moves the heart of God. Neither is it the poetic quality of the prayer. It is the quality of the heart, the heartistic nature that moves the heart of God, that resonates with the Almighty's heart.

In different times of our life, we have to focus on different elements of that prayer. In times of crisis, for example in North and South Korea, we have focused primarily on praying for the nation because there is conflict and tension. In other parts of the world we may have to focus our prayer on that particular area. At other times we may have to pray for the world if there is some kind of worldwide crisis.

But True Parents remind us that it is the pattern of humility before the heart of God in prayer that gets God's attention and allows God to do great things in our life. I want to remind you all that the works done by Father and Mother Moon spring from this type of spiritual foundation. It is from the spiritual relationship they have with God that they have been guided to work in social activities, in politics, in business, in sports, in cultural festivals, and so forth. All of that stems from the messianic mission they hold, from the relationship they have with God, their life of deep contemplation, prayer, and meditation. That heart, I want to suggest, is what we have to have, what we should hold as we approach the 2:00 pm Plenary Session today.

Brothers and sisters, it is always important to examine ourselves as to how we are doing the most fundamental things in our daily life. The most fundamental thing in our life of faith is prayer, so we need then to always be able to reflect on how we are praying. I believe that if we do truly pray to God in a way that is fitting in that relationship, if we can see and pray with the heart of God for the nation, world, and so forth, if we can see from God's viewpoint, as we have heard about in the Divine Principle, then I believe that God can do miracles -- not because he's showing off his power but because it comes naturally from the father who sees the children and knows what brings joy to them.

So brothers and sisters, today I'd like to suggest that when we pray we come back to this type of prayer, come back to center our hearts and minds, and prepare ourselves in that way for the Opening Plenary. Please join me in prayer.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, you are wonderful, and you are great. Father, you created the heavens and the earth, the entire cosmos, all of space and time. Father, you are the masterful artist of all that we can know. Today we want to bring glory to your name. We want to lift up your name on high, for that is what you deserve.

Father, we also want to remember that in our lives we may not meditate on only my will or my kingdom but that we always must put first your kingdom and your will. When we do that, we know that you will work in a powerful way through each and every one of our lives. As True Parents have always guided us and lived their lives, we want to pray for the world. We want to pray for the children whom you have lost, that they may return to you.

Dear God, we want to pray for the nations that are in strife and conflict. We want to always extend our heart of compassion in greater ways and at greater levels, Father. We want to always be able to meditate and expand our heartistic boundary to become as boundless as your heart.

We also want to pray for the great societies and nations of which we are a part. We pray for all the families there, that you may center them, bring blessing upon them, and draw them close to you with your love and compassion.

We pray also that you may use us in mighty ways, as we recognize that you have given each one of us qualities that resemble you. You have bestowed upon us as your individual truth incarnations greatness that resembles your greatness. Father, let this not be a temptation into arrogance, but let it always be a call toward our humility before you.

Our Heavenly Parent, let us always remember that we are imperfect beings, that we live through this life also in need of forgiveness. We ask your forgiveness this day, and we also pray that in our lives we may forgive those who have hurt us, that we may resemble your divine nature in that realm.

Father, we pray that you may lead us not into the various temptations of this world but that you may always deliver us. Bring us toward your salvific light. Bring us into your glorious presence. Let our life be a testament to your glory. And, Father, although we may not walk around in shining, glowing robes in our daily lives, let thy light shine.

We pray in gratitude and in thanksgiving. We offer all these things as we now wait for the next few hours in prayer and meditation, and also in sharing a feast. We pray that we may prepare ourselves for meeting once again the True Parents of Heaven and Earth this afternoon. Father, open our hearts and prepare our heartistic resonance so that we can communicate and feel your presence with us today.

We thank you so much, dear God. Once again, we pray all these things in the grateful hearts of all the central blessed families, all the saints and sages, all the great prophets of the past, and in our own names we report this before you and True Parents of Heaven and Earth. Amen and Aju.

Thank you. 

Hyung Jin Moon Introduces True Parents at Convention to Proclaim the Word that Firmly Establishes the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind

July 24 2010
Manhattan Center
New York, NY

Rev. Hyung Jin Moon's introduction of True Parents at the World Assembly to Proclaim the Substantial Word of God and the Era of the Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind, held at the Manhattan Center in New York City on July 24, 2010 (6.13 by the Heavenly Calendar)

Beloved elders, leaders and brothers and sisters!

I am deeply grateful to be given the great honor of introducing the True Parents on the occasion of the "Convention to Proclaim the Substantiated Word on the Basis of the Establishment of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind," which is being bestowed upon all humanity at this place in the presence of God and the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind and all of the spirit world mobilized on this 13th day of the 6th month by the Heavenly Calendar.

Ladies and gentlemen!

Our eternal True Parents' life course has been one of the Messiah, the True Parents, and King of Kings. God sent the True Parent as His True Son and thus he has walked this path as the Messiah, True Parent and King of Kings for the purpose of bringing salvation to humanity and to liberate God.

Alone, True Father presided over the providence during the "Messiah's course," which lasted from his birth in 1920 to the Holy Wedding in 1960. From the Holy Wedding in 1960 to the year 2000, True Father and True Mother walked this path together, establishing the True Family substantially, according was God's will, and paving the way to save humankind and the world. Since the Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God in 2001, God has manifested Himself through True Parents and governed both the earth and the spirit world as the King of Kings of all humankind.

In this way, True Parents' life course has been one of inheriting the true love of God, perfecting that true love and bequeathing it to humankind. True Parents' true love has resulted in the grace of the seven deaths and resurrections and completion of the eight stages. Consequently, the following blessings have been bestowed upon humankind:

First, True Parents discovered the truth and proclaimed it to us. God has been with True Parents since their birth and has revealed the truth in a way that human beings can understand. The core of this truth that was bequeathed to us can be found in the statements: "God and humankind are in a parent-child relationship," and "True love passes through the shortest distance." On February 7, 2010, True Parents offered the eight great textbooks and teaching materials to Heaven and bequeathed them to humankind.

Second, True Father perfected the True Spouse. True Father, who came as the Messiah, could only give birth to children of his direct lineage, blessed children, after becoming the True Parent through the Holy Wedding. After the Holy Wedding in 1960, True Mother walked the path to become one with True Father through a life of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience to him.

God is the source and root of all existence. He is the spiritual parent, the incorporeal parent, and vertical parent; and as such, He is the Cosmic Parent. True Parents are the substantial manifestation of the original essence. As the physical parents, corporeal parents, and horizontal parents, they are the Parents of Heaven and Earth. God and True Parents have become the Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind as the original being that unites the spiritual and physical parents, incorporeal and corporeal parents, and vertical and horizontal parents.

Third, True Parents have liberated and brought complete freedom to God. Through the Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God, they have liberated God and completely released Him from confinement in the prison Satan created through the Fall of the first ancestors. Through the Coronation of the Authority of the Liberation of God, the King of Kings, God is now able to directly govern the heavens and the earth as the King of Kings.

Fourth, True Parents have guided people on earth and in the spirit world onto the path to completion. The Coronation, Golden Anniversary and Seunghwa Festival on the Basis of the Establishment of the Abel UN was held, bestowing the grace of blessing through three stages: The coronation held on the basis of the establishment of the Abel UN was a blessing for rebirth allowing people to be reborn individually; the Golden Anniversary was a blessing for resurrection allowing people to be reborn on the family level; and the Seunghwa festival is a blessing for eternal life, allowing people to be reborn on the world level. This is an expression of True Parents' infinite love, saving all people in both the spirit world and on the earth and taking them to heaven.

The "Convention to Proclaim the Substantiated Word on the Basis of the Establishment of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind" serves to offer and proclaim the era of [God's] full transcendence, full immanence, full authority and omnipotence upon the standard of perfection, completion and conclusion. More than anything else, through this convention, we must come to understand True Parents' value.

We must truly come to realize what kind of people True Parents are. We must understand that they have come to fulfill an extraordinary mission.

We must view the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind who are the Lord and Savior at the Second Advent, not through our physical eyes but through our spiritual eyes.

Let us now all rise from our seats. Please join me in giving a warm round of applause to offer glory to and welcome our beloved True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind. 

Placing Sacred Texts on a Sacred Alter

Hyung Jin Moon
July 21, 2010

On July 21, Hyung-jin nim spoke at a ceremony to officially place, in Cheon Bok Gung, the Cheon Bok Hahm containing the texts True Parents have designated as the heavenly texts and teaching materials. The following is from his concluding remarks on that day.

In the Old Testament Age, God bestowed on Moses the Ark of the Covenant containing the Ten Commandments in response to the repeated disbelief of the people, thus symbolizing God's salvation of humankind for eternity. In the New Testament Age, God strove to complete His providence of salvation through Jesus, who had come as the symbol of the word.

In the era of Cheon Il Guk, it is True Parents, who have come as the third Adam, the Lord at his second coming, the king of kings, and the substantial Word, who work for the salvation and perfection of human beings. The Cheon Bok Hahm contains the texts and teaching materials that guide all people on the path to perfection, which is the path of ridding themselves of fallen nature and coming to take on the fundamental attributes of God.

The temple of the church and the homes of the blessed families where the Cheon Bok Hahms will be placed today will become bases for Cheon Il Guk. They symbolize God coming to dwell there. Blessed families and church members will come to experience that the heavenly fortune of God and the Holy Spirit will be with them where they have gathered together to offer devotions to God and True Parents and to read and put into practice the content of the eight texts and teaching materials.

More than anything else, the significance of the inheritance of the Word lies in bringing to life those who have died because of the Fall. Those who study the Word carefully and follow a path of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience will undergo the miraculous experience of having their fallen nature removed, and an incredible wave of salvation and witnessing will flow out to all human beings lost to God.

In particular, the leaders from around the world who attended the 120 days [workshop], and were grafted to the eight texts and teaching materials through their early morning devotions, will pass them on to missions and churches in all corners of the world through the grace of True Parents. It will thus be possible to forever proclaim the will of God and True Parents to save Heaven's nation, all of the world.

In the Cheon Bok Hahm will be placed a certificate of inheritance of the Word bearing True Parents' seal, as well as the eight texts and teaching materials. Just as God gave life to all people by breathing the breath of life into their nostrils when He first created the world through His Word, the Word is restored through victory over Satan through the seven deaths and resurrections; and the completion of the eight stages will blow the breath of life into all people who died through the Fall. Thus the Word will be substantiated.

We hope everyone will inherit the Cheon Bok Hahm, which portends such amazing experiences and blessings. 

Prayer and Meditation

Hyung Jin Moon
July 18, 2010
Cheon Bok Gung, Yongsan, Seoul Korea

Welcoming remarks:

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Welcome to the headquarters of the Unification Church. We can feel God's presence wherever we go and wherever we are! Aju.

Today is Cheon Seong Gyung, 10:38. Father says:

"When you are doing witnessing, you will feel joy. On the other hand, without witnessing, happiness will not come. I am also carrying on this work because I feel great pain if I don't do it. When I do witnessing, I feel great joy, even when I'm being cursed at."

Aju.

These are Father's words in 1967 when we were being strongly persecuted in the Fatherland. You can tell Father's great heart in trying to have the salvific heart to save the nation of Korea, etc. And he gives us that guidance; when we go witnessing, when we go out with the heart of the parent to save the children, then we feel joy. Brothers and sisters, it is in this spirit that we can actualize Cheon Il Guk. In this spirit is where we can really liberate Heaven, and also liberate the "han" or the heart of True Parents as well.

As we do every week, we meet one wonderful Unificationist. We love to meet the families on the ground, and particularly this week, we're going to be meeting one of our elder family members, a 36 couple, Ambassador Han. Let's meet him in this video.

(Video clip starts.)

Video:

This is the family of Han Sang Kook, 36 Blessed couple: "I am a proud Unificationist."

Success -- In 1961, around the time of the May 16th revolution, I was working with the UN forces. The interim government tried very hard but was not very successful to gain acceptance from the United States. Finally, Pak Jeong Hee, the leader of the revolutionary government, was able to arrange a meeting with John F. Kennedy, President of the United States. Since I was working for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I was recommended as an interpreter for this meeting. So by way of acquaintance with several key people in the military command, I got the attention of the interim Korean government, and they asked the commander of the UN forces for permission to dispatch me. Thus, I was chosen as an aide for Pak Jeong Hee, but in actuality I was his interpreter. The meeting was very successful and the interim government was recognized by the U.S. This was a major success for Pak Jeong Hee as he was able to solve several issues during the meeting. His visit to America in November 1961 helped to lessen concerns in the U.S. government about his radical orientation.

(His wife speaking:) As for me, as soon as the May 16th incident took place, I ran to Father and frantically reported about what happened: "Father, we have a major problem on our hands." Father said, "What are you talking about? You received the Blessing as a 36 couple on May 15th, so it is only natural that you should stand as a protective shield for True Parents. The Satanic world will begin to crumble." I thought True Father's words were very correct and very wise.

Love -- After President Cheon Doh Won came to power, 29 ambassadors lost their titles but we somehow kept the job. We just had to relocate to Panama. My husband told me to go directly to Panama, while he was going to get there from Norway. Upon my arrival in Panama, I realized that most of my luggage was lost. What was worse, among the lost items was a suitcase we had received from True Father in England. I was so upset I could not sleep at night. I waited for a month, but the suitcase was not found. At that time, we received an invitation to attend an event at East Garden. I was lying sick in bed in Belvedere when Father asked about me. Members told Father I was sick because I had lost something. The next day someone brought me a huge purple Samsonite suitcase. It was the largest size. The person said, "True Father sends this for you, Mrs. Han." So I opened it and found it full of beautiful dresses. I was so grateful for Father's concern about me, that I just could not help from crying. I felt I did not deserve such a gift, but Father bought it for me. I cannot forget that day, even now.

One path -- Gratitude and different kinds of struggles and fear are among many feelings I have associated with True Father. Father is kind and strict, simple and complicated -- he's such a multi-faceted individual. I cannot think of a word that would describe him completely. Thinking of Father, I do not envy anything in the external world. We keep saying to each other that we are really happy. The reason why is the opportunity to meet True Parents in our lives. I do not envy those with lots of money or diamonds. I only value having met True Parents.

The next thing I am grateful for is meeting my husband, and he tells me the same thing. Recently when we meet people at events and festivals, we started feeling something special towards each other because we have been walking the same path together for the last 50 years. Even though we did not make much money, or we did not have a famous career, we are proud of our lives. Father said, "Please cherish the joy that you felt in your heart when you joined the church. Do not forget that time and keep going, even if you are not moving forward. Just do not leave." So we are still here. It's great! We women sometimes talk about our plans for the future. Mrs. Sa Gil Ja (Eu) said that since we have been able to live until the year 2000, we can surely live until January 13, 2013. That is what I am planning to do, too. We are proud Unificationists, and brothers and sisters, we love You! (end of video clip.)

(Hyung Jin Nim leads meditation exercise.)

Hyung Jin Nim's explanation:

Brothers and sisters, when we offer and manifest the Principle, let us remember that when we look at the cross, it is the symbol of the suffering of God. But when we look at the Unification Principle, it is the sign of His hope before creation, His wonderful expectation. It is the symbol of His plan for the universe. All things may give and receive. All four-position foundations may be created and substantialized in the family, centered on His divine essence which is True Love.

Brothers and sisters, it is time to pray. This week we did a special ascension ceremony for over 11,000 soldiers that passed away during the Korean War. We were able to go to the 38th parallel to pray. We were literally on the parallel. We were able to do the Unification Seunghwa Ceremony by the approval of True Parents. A couple of new members and a Buddhist monk opened the way for that. We were able to do the ceremony with 300 to 400 soldiers present. In the midst of the tension between North and South, we were able to offer the spirits the greatest Blessing in all of Heaven and Earth, the Seunghwa Ascension Ceremony, the gateway into Heaven.

We are really grateful that True Parents allowed us to do that ceremony and to participate for the soldiers, 35 of whom are known to be the Yuk Tan soldiers, that is, the soldiers who became themselves bombs when they were attacked by the opposing forces. They had no weapons, no preparations. They risked their lives, strapped themselves with grenades and such things, and ran into the tanks that were charging them from the North and sacrificed their lives for the peace between North and South Korea. Today we want to remember those soldiers, and we want to pray for North and South Korea, unification and peace in this very important time, and also for all our brothers and sisters around the world. Let us take this time for prayer. (congregation prays.)

Main Sermon:

Last week we talked about prayer and particularly looked at the Lord's Prayer, Jesus' offering, and the right way to pray. We had that time to look over and even to analyze in our life how we are praying. We may feel, "God is not answering my prayers." The question is: are we praying in the relation that God has set? Last week we discussed that and we looked at the Lord's Prayer. Today we are going to focus a little more on mediation training. Before we do that, let us look at the World Scriptures.

From Judeo-Christianity, Psalm 46:10,

"Be still, and know that I am God …"

Aju. I love that. "Be still, and know that I am God …" This is from Buddhism, the Garland sutra, Chapter 11. Let us read together,

"Cultivating concentration, they should wish that all beings conquer their minds by concentration."

Aju. This is from Daoism, the Daodejing, 16th chapter,

"For luxuriantly as they grow, each of them will return to their root. To return to the root is called quietude, which is also said to be reversion to one's destiny."

Aju.

Today, we are going to focus on the core scriptures, Psalm 39:5

"You have made my days a mere handbreadth, the span of my years is nothing before You. Each man's life is but a breath."

Aju.

In my personal life, after Young Jin Hyung passed, that is when I started asking the existential questions. Questions like "Why do I exist?" "Why would God take such a good brother? Why would such things happen? Is there really a God?" These kinds of questions racked my heart and my mind. During that time, I had the chance to start studying the world religions, of course, from a scholarly perspective, but to also practice with the world religions, whether it be Christian contemplative prayer, whether it be Buddhist meditation, Daoist qi gong, and various exercises, or even Islamic prayers.

I had the chance to experience a real wonderful time in being with the other traditions of the world. I remember at the time, because it was before any of my training, I had done sports, martial arts, that kind of thing, but really, I had a short temper. I remember myself getting frustrated and angry very easily. But after training, my mind practicing going into training, not just for months, but after years of training, I could definitely clearly see that there were big changes that were happening in how I dealt with many situations; a more calmness, patience and endurance.

In my own life, I would learn things very quickly but I would also get bored of certain things very quickly. I would pick up some sports very quickly, but I would be bored very quickly. I wanted to move on to the next thing. So even when I was doing martial arts, I was moving from many different martial arts, trying to search for something better, something more effective, etc. So I had this habit of not being able to do something consistently and with effort for an extended period of time, for years at a time. And really through my training in meditation practice, that was the time I was able to challenge this weakness and to then face and work and train in something that I could never perfect. I could only continue to put effort in. This really made a huge impact on me.

It is this kind of training that we start every morning with the Hoonsa nims here, the 2:30 am training, with our ministers and our women evangelists here. Many people wonder how do we begin the training, how do we start. We were in Busan this time, in the Busan region which is down south in Korea. We saw the holy site of the Rock of Tears. It is one of Father's early holy sites, and it is really incredible. We had time to meet the members there, and also do morning training with them. But I realized also, although we had done this kind of training with brothers and sisters in Japan and in America, the leaders' conferences here in Korea, we had not been able to discuss these things with our Bonpu kyo members. So it was a great opportunity to reflect on that and talk about this today.

The first thing when we start the training, we turn to the simplest thing. The first thing we do when we start this life as a baby -- usually people think it is crying -- but before you cry, the first thing you must do is inhale, and then you can cry. So the first thing you do when you are born is inhale. And when we die and pass away, the last thing we do is exhale. So in the span of one inhale and exhale is the value of your entire life. In one span of one breath, the value of our entire life is right there. It is so precious and it is not something we have created or given to ourselves -- it is a gift.

We never decided to be born or to be conceived or brought into existence. This life that we live is a gift from God. In our busy lives and schedules and all the conundrum and things that we go through in life, we become unaware and almost numb at the preciousness of life. But when we look at life, we look at the truth of existence. We can see very simply that the difference between somebody who is living and somebody who is dead is that one is breathing and one is not.

In fact, on that invisible breath hangs the difference between life and death. This breath then becomes such an important, powerful invisible force in our life. In the spirit world True Parents say that we breathe the air of God which is true love. So that we must strive to be next to God, not to be distant from Him, to live life so that we can be near Him and breathe in His true love.

Many times in our lives when we start doing our training and I say to the participants, let us say you held your breath for eight minutes, and then from a great miracle, God sends the angel Gabriel to you, and the angel Gabriel brings you in one hand all the riches of the world, all the wealth and abundance in the world, and he says, "You can have this." In the other hand, he has one breath of air. After eight minutes, if you had to choose between all the riches and one breath, I would bet that all of us would have to choose one breath.

Every time we are able to breathe this breath, then we are breathing in something greater than all the wealth in the world. Of course that is very easy to say, very theoretical. I understand that from my mind but I have a very busy life, I have bills to pay, I have mortgages to pay, I have school bills to pay, my kids are going to school. No matter what situation we are in, if we are not able to breathe, we are quickly confronted by the fact that we are very very powerless, that we are very weak, and that all things gain a new perspective when we realize how precious the most simple thing is, the thing we take most for granted -- the fact that we can breathe.

I had the chance to know a wonderful Blessed child, a 2nd generation Unificationist, and a wonderful person, who had many difficulties in her life. She was in a situation where she was in a big accident, she had a fire in her house, and she lost all the things inside her apartment. She and her child were able to survive that incident. I remember visiting her in the hospital here in Korea. We went to pray for her and she had damage to her lungs because of the amount of black smoke that she had consumed. When she was breathing, you could hear it was very painful and scratchy.

When we visited her, she said to me, "Last night I was looking up at the white ceiling of this hospital and I remembered what we do in service. I remembered that we do a short meditation service. I was very grateful that I survived, my child survived, but then I started to worry very much about what I'm going to do. My house is gone. All my things are destroyed. I have no future; my husband is gone." Her marriage situation was very difficult and she was falling into depression on that hospital bed. "But then I remembered what we do in service, and I started focusing on my breath. I started looking at the ceiling and closed my eyes as I inhaled and said, "I'm alive" and as I exhaled I said, "Thank You." I continued to focus with concentration on one point and my attention on this prayer. I lay there for one hour, two hours, three hours -- the hours just went by." When she had that experience, tears just fell from her eyes, and she realized how precious this simple life was.

Brothers and sisters at this point, I want to invite you to join me in a very short one minute meditation. So prepare yourselves and sit up at the edge of your chairs so you can keep your backs straight. It is a little different so you are going to have to keep focused. Let us gently close our eyes. Let us exhale all the way out. At the bottom of your exhale, hold your breath for 12 seconds. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Breathe in. In our hearts let us say, "I am alive," and as we breathe out let us simply say, "Thank you." One more time as you breathe in remember how precious this breath is. "I am alive." And as we breathe out, in our hearts let us simply say, "Thank You."

As we held our breath and could not breathe for the short 12 seconds and as we breathed in that new breath, we felt a huge refreshment of life. As we breathe in, in our hearts let us say "I am alive," and as we breathe out let us simply thank God. I am going to invite you to stay on this prayer for twenty seconds by yourself, without my guidance. Just stay on that prayer, as you breathe in, "I am alive" and as you exhale, "Thank you." For the next 20 seconds, let us focus our hearts and stay on that prayer. Breathe in deeply and exhale deeply. Final inhalation, as we breathe in, "I am alive" and as we exhale, "Thank you Lord." Aju.

Brothers and sisters, let us take a look at Psalms 36:9,

"For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light."

Aju. This is 2 Corinthians 5:17,

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Aju!

Brothers and sisters, every time we breathe another breath, we escape death; we do not die. Every time we breathe a new breath, we can escape death. But every time we center that breath on prayer, and we center that breath on thanks, we not only escape death, we gain life as well. We enter into God's presence, as 2 Corinthians says, "Anyone in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come."

If we breathe in our hearts, we have to remember that our breath can be taken either way. It can become a curse or a blessing. When we breathe and utter in our hearts evil, hateful or malevolent things, or worrisome things, those prayers will then curse our life. But when we breathe, concentrate and center our mind, and we utter thanks and praise, thanksgiving and glory, then blessings shower upon us, even in the most trying situations.

If you think about it from Satan's perspective or the enemy's perspective, the most fearful enemy for him is when he is trying to destroy the central Blessed families and give them no hope; give them troubles. He is the most joyous when we fall right into it -- when we overly worry, when we get overly upset, when we get overly resentful about this or that person, or even God, then the enemy is applauding. On the other hand, when he is trying to attack us -- our families, our work or whatever we are doing -- and we remain praising God, and we remain with a heart of gratitude through the tribulation and we continue to thank and glorify God and continue to pray for our enemies -- now that is the enemy that he fears. When we are trained in the gratitude prayer and meditation, then we become strong internally. In Korean, there is a saying, "Outside soft or weak, but inside strong." Even though through our practice we become more gentle and peaceful on the outside, on the inside our internal strength becomes greater.

This is very different from the petitionary prayers that we usually give -- the prayers when we ask God to do this or that for me, protect me, give me blessing, and this and that. When we are in meditation training, we are not requesting anything. We are not asking for anything. We are simply being with God. Being with God is enough, nothing more. We do not need any more accoutrements than that. Being with God is enough.

If you look at beautiful central Blessed couples that are truly actualizing true love in their relationship, then you can see that even though their marriage extends over one, two or three decades, the couple is even more beautiful, more vibrant. Simply being in each other's presence they feel the fullness of joy. When they were younger, they had to talk it through and talk everything out. Now they can just simply be with each other in that incredible gratitude.

When we are with God as well, when we quiet our minds and be still before the presence of God, we are able to know Him and to just be with Him. This is how we train our hearts. Of course while we are training, we thank Him for life. There are many things individually we can thank Him for -- our life, our breath, our health and our children -- even our adversaries, our obstacles, the archangels that are opposed to us in our life. For all those kinds of things we learn to be able to continually give praise and glory because, as the Biblical scripture says, we enter into God's presence with praise and thanksgiving, with gratitude. In the eyes of men we may appear smaller, but in the eyes of God, we are great when we practice this way.

Let us look at Proverbs 11:2. Today's words are the wise words of King Solomon, the wisest king of the land.

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."

Aju. From 2 Corinthians 12:9.

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' "Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

And here really is one of the keys to meditation and prayer. There is a wrong way to do meditation, absolutely, just as there is a wrong way to pray. Many people try to use spiritual technologies and meditations to boast themselves, to become stronger, to obtain spiritual powers, to obtain even magical powers, magical mantras and such things; to obtain special powers. But this path of using meditation like this becomes materialism. We use it for a selfish purpose, and use it for the self and use it to grow arrogant; in other words, to become more than an angel towards the path of a demon. When we think of a demon, it is one so filled with arrogance and ego.

When we undergo spiritual training, the task is not to get bigger; it is not growing our spiritual self, not growing our spiritual abilities; not growing our spiritual talents. It is just the opposite, as Paul says. It is in weakness that Christ's power may come in. In the training of mediation, when we quiet our minds, when we use this tool, it is not to get bigger. It is the opposite, to become smaller. When we start, we do a Jeong Seong. Meditation and these kinds of devotional practices are called Jeong Seong in Korean. When you look at the Chinese character, the first stroke of that is that dot on the top of the left side of that character, the left side of that character means "The Word" and on the top of that is a dot. The first thing that you write when you write this character is a dot, and then you go through the whole character and when you end, you also end with that other dot on the right-hand side. When you begin, you begin with a dot. When you end, you end with a dot. This is the heart of spiritual practice. We must become the dot.

I know it sounds very mystical right now, but we must become smaller, not greater. When we stand honestly before God, not pretending that we are God, not believing that we are the creator, not boasting with that kind of breath, but come to Him in that kind of presence as a small speck, then we can know who we are, we can know who we serve. When we become smaller as such, with God in our heart, we can become greater. Then we see that we are not the creator of the universe, not the creator of the air we breathe, not the creator of the body and mind that we have; we are not the one who sustains all things in the universe. We are truly small -- infinitesimal. In the span of the universe we are tiny -- but a speck.

For the creator of the universe, before Him we are even smaller. In the great scheme of things, when we honestly know ourselves, we realize how tiny and small we are. When we stop trying to be the strongest, to be the most powerful, then we can start finding the peace of God, for it is in knowing that we cannot do all things by our own power that God fills us with divine strength -- strength beyond our own abilities, strength that gives us the ability to do what is impossible on our own. As you remember, in the Beatitudes, it is the meek that will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, as Jesus says.

I remember, many years ago, I used to go into the mountains and train at night time alone. I remember going into the mountains and feeling fear when traveling alone in the mountains. I would be sitting there, quiet. All sorts of things are moving around. You hear the incredible stillness of nature but at the same time you hear that nature is very loud at night. There are all sorts of bugs and bees, cicadas and creepy crawlies running around, moving in the night. I remember sitting there doing meditation practice and I could hear these things moving around. I was wondering in my mind, "That must be a bear because those footprints are very big! That must be this or that because it is quite loud!"

I remember at other times I felt a spiritual presence, "I am not alone here." I felt hair on the back of my neck as if some spirits were right there, and at other times I remember seeing faces that came in and came out. All the while I would feel tremendous fear being in the presence of the natural world, sitting on a mountain by myself at night, with no tent or any of that. What would overcome that fear is not my ability to fight that fear. What would overcome that fear was not my ability to challenge that fear on my own power, but to let go of myself and to bring God into the picture, to give thanks and glory. When I did that, then the fear would dissipate, would disappear. Whether it is spiritual fear or physical fear, that fear would dissipate.

This time when we went to Busan, which is down south in Korea, I had a chance to be with the members there. We hit a sudden rain storm. Monsoon time in Korea is in June and July. We do not have them in the States, but in Asia we have some big monsoons with lots of rain. When we went down to Busan which is on the southern coast, we were hit with monsoon rain there. It was a couple days ago and I remember that as we were descending into the airport we passed through the rain cloud and, as you can expect, we had incredible turbulence, amazing turbulence. It was worse than Six Flags with all the roller coasters in it; terrible turbulence. You can feel your intestines flying up into your throat and everything is just moving around. At the time, people were very scared and everybody was very shocked and you could look around and people were praying.

When I looked at my own mind, I realized that without even thinking, unconsciously, I was already praying, "God! Save us Lord! God I am going to Busan for You! Do not take me out now!" Then I could catch my mind, "Oh, wait a minute!" When I was praying those kinds of things, then I would feel fear; I would feel the turbulence even more; I would feel the up and down motion even more. Every up and down motion, you would tighten your seat belt even more! But then I remembered, "Wait a minute! How are we supposed to pray? We are not supposed to pray like this. The first thing we do when we pray is we glorify God. We are going to glorify God."

I am not going to pray "God save me!" I said, "God you are great! God you are great! You are the creator of the universe. You created the mountains and the skies and the moons and the suns and the stars. This raincloud is nothing for you! God you are incredible; you are powerful; you are almighty!" As soon as I prayed that kind of prayer; concentrated my mind on that kind of prayer and returned to the breath "I am alive, thank you," as I returned then all the fear disappeared. No more fear. And I am grateful that God did let us land safely and return back to Seoul. (Applause.) Yes, thank you.

But see, in our own practice, many times we forget, especially when we start doing spiritual practice. When we start doing meditation practice, devotional practice, the first thing we must always remember is that the path we are going on will lead to different destinations. We must not take the path in using the spiritual training to become stronger, greater, more powerful. That is not the way. That is not the way to becoming true saints and sages before Heaven. That is the opposite way to become filled with ego, filled with self, arrogance and hubris.

The strength to overcome all adversity comes from that internal strength when we are able to make ourselves small and are able to glorify the greatness of God. Through that strength is the strength that overcomes fear and death. When we let go of the desire to pursue power, greatness, and the spiritual abilities, when we let go of trying to pursue that path towards arrogance and ego desire, then we can actually become smaller. As Paul says, we can boast in our weakness for then God can rest in me. I can be emptied and then God is present. And when God is present, there is nothing in the universe that can defeat that. So when we are able to center our heart and make God present, then we have "Outside soft, outside gentle, but internally strong."

So when we finish our meditation training in the mornings, we also always center the meditations on prayer, on a simple prayer at the end, and as you remember when we come back to the root of our existence, the cause of our salvation, we come back to God and True Parents. We come back to uniting with them centering this training on them and the path of victory and salvation towards humankind. In our own training every day we start this and if we do not start like this, as many of the Hoonsa nims will tell you, the day just does not have the Blessing that it has when we are able to start with this kind of returning glory to God.

Hyung Jin Nim leads final meditation:

Before we read our last quote by True Parents, let us enter into our final one-minute meditation. Let us all prepare ourselves. One more time straighten our back, close our eyes. One more time let us exhale fully. Fully exhale all the air out of your body. Exhale and hold that breath at the bottom. Twelve seconds, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, breathing in, "I am alive," breathing out, "Thank you." Notice how difficult just twelve seconds is when you do not have breath. Notice how wonderful and amazing being able to breathe is. Breathing in, "I am alive," as we breathe out, "Thank you." Breathing in, "I am alive," discover it every time anew. No two breaths are the same. Breathing out, "Thank you." Every single breath is new life. Every single breath a new chance, new beginning, new creation. Center the breath on the prayer, on the meditation. Breathing out, "Thank you." Breathing in, "I am alive." Breathing out, "Thank you."

Do not inhale simply to avoid or escape death. Let us inhale and find life. Give glory to the one who sustains us and created us. Give thanks. Return gratitude and thanksgiving to almighty God. Breathing in, final breath as you breathe in, "I am alive." Final breath, as we breathe out, in our hearts let us simply offer to God, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Let us join our hands and manifest the Principle. The Principle is the hope of God even before the beginning of creation. Give and Receive Action, and the Four Position foundation. May I inherit the true love of God. Aju.

Let us join together and read True Parents' final words. This is from the second volume, 193:

"When we pray or meditate, as when Buddhists practice Zen, we are seeking a state that is void of self. What is our goal in seeking this state? It is to awaken the elements that can become the nucleus of the mind. If you set that one standard and establish the center of your mind, you will see, hear, and cognize everything in accord with the principles of Heaven. Then you can offer a full bow before God and return Him glory."

Aju.

Closing prayer:

Let us all rise and enter into our final prayer. Let us raise our hands towards the heavens as we offer and lift our prayers to the heavens.

Heavenly Father, we love You so much. Most beloved True Parents, we honor you this day. Because of God, you are great. Father, You are beyond all explanation. You are magnificent and mighty. Father, You work wonders in our life. Father, You brought all of existence into existence from nothing. Father, You created the universe and the stars and all things of the created world. Father, we offer you glory this day.

We pray that we may be in the proper position in our relationship with You. We pray that we may not only pray for our will and our nation and our purposes to be fulfilled. Father, always first comes Your will and your kingdom. Father, use us for Your will and your kingdom. Use our talents and our potentials in a great way, Father, for your glory. We thank You so much that we have the time, Father, to return to our breath. So many times we forget how precious this simple breath is. Father, we pray that when we forget, we can enter into that simple meditation. We can exhale our breath. We can hold our breath for twelve simple seconds of indemnity, and as we breathe in that new life we can thank You and feel You filling us with your life. Father, we pray that we may be practitioners who actualize and substantialize the words that we learn and use.

Father, we thank You so much. We praise You this day. If there are things that we must be forgiven about, Father we pray that You may forgive us and also that we may forgive others in our own lives. Father, use us for Your salvation. Father, use us to bring this world on the path to Your heart. Father, we center ourselves and we honor the True Parents of Heaven and Earth, Father, who have given their lives so that we may live forever, and we thank You so much that You have sent them into our lives. We pray in gratitude and thanksgiving and in glory and lifting up praise to You. In our own names as central Blessed families, and in the great name of our True Parents, Aju.