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