January 23, 2012
Translated by Tossa Cromwell
Throwing the ball with all your strength! Making a life or death determination! Throwing the ball with all your strength! You should know that mothers in labor are putting their lives on the line and throwing the ball with all their strength. Such parents love their children, and they keep the desire, even now, that their children will become greater than they no matter what types of difficulties their children may face.
It is the same for animals: for fish underwater, for birds in the air and for beasts in the mountains. They put their lives on the line in order to leave behind descendants and to take utmost care of their remaining sons and daughters. When we see how animals act, we have to realize that there is no question that we need to make our utmost effort and put our lives on the line in order to become the lords of creation
Our homeland is not ahead of us; it follows behind us. Even God, even the God of Night and God of Day, cannot lie down. They are waiting for the day of True Parents’ victory. For God, each day is tougher than that of a mother in labor; for God, each day is like a thousand years. Young maidens! If you’ve given birth, then putting your life on the line is nothing in comparison.
Just as baseball pitchers must throw the ball with all their strength, a mother giving birth must make her utmost effort to make it over the hill of labor. When a baby is born, it cries out that it was born as a new son or daughter of heaven, as the eldest grandchild of this nation’s patron saint. Whenever I hear that sound, I ask for the child’s forgiveness thousands and tens of thousands of times. I am welcoming this day with tears, wishing that I will not be ashamed in front of you, wishing that we will become your parents, and wishing for your encouragement. So I will not forget this day.
You are celebrating my birthday, and what was the title of my speech that we read today? We are making an all-out advance. You should throw the ball with all your strength and make a life-or-death determination in order to welcome these holy days with that kind of determination and resolution to continue advancing and advancing more. Moreover, with the flame of your pledge, you should have a scarier victorious advance than if you were to push the buttons to detonate both a hydrogen bomb and an atomic bomb at once. That is the kind of determination that I want you to make now. (Audience: Aju! [Applause])
If you will make this determination, raise both hands, remember this day in front of God and become soldiers of heaven who are like dragons who will move forward. I pray that you will not be sons and daughters that are ashamed of yourselves when you remember this hour in the future. Do not forget this first day of the twelfth year. Determine that the tense situation of the Republic of Korea can be swayed by your resolve. With the hopes that you will resolve to make a new beginning, I hereby oversee God’s protection and blessings on this New Year in the name of the True Parents. (Audience: “Aju!” [Applause])