April 7, 2019
9 AM Sunday Service at the Los Angeles, CA Family Church
Question: My dear sister, I joined young, at sixteen, forty years ago. My question: When things get difficult, what do you say to yourself to give you strength in your heart and to get through your life of faith?
What strengthens my heart and mind is what strengthens everybody's heart and mind: it's love, only eternal love and gratitude. Whenever I find moments of difficulties or even memories when I had no light or love in my life -- very dark periods in my life -- knowing there is a path of darkness, I chose love and gratitude because I know what life is like without that love and how precious it is to constantly appreciate it and to use that as your strength.
Question: It is said that the movement we knew six months or even a month ago is in the past and we're living in the moment now. What changes do you see and what should our mindsets be at this time?
That's an interesting way to think, because so much is changing in our movement. We have gone through many eras. Fifty-two years of True Parents' ministry all over the world, fighting, going through restoration, which we know to be the indemnity era. All of you in the first generation, could you raise your hands? Many! You are pillars of that courageous spiritual battle to restore yourselves, get away from the Fall and create beautiful, peace-loving blessed families for the first time in history. We learned from Father how to separate ourselves from fallen nature as individuals through the indemnity course. Even in True Parents' courses we witnessed them as they grew to perfection and achieved their victory as True Father, as True Mother, as a holy blessed married couple. Father changed from when he started his ministry. All the way until he met Mother, he was growing. True Mother at sixteen, now at seventy-six, American age, is growing every day with more wisdom. You see the change.
Some people say, Oh things are changing so quickly. No, things have to change because we grow. We are no longer individuals, single members. Now we're blessed families. Now we have a second, third and fourth generation -- pure water, pure children. So how do we minister to them? Do we go back to the indemnity history, where we spank them and say, Separate yourself from Satan? They're pure. They have no Satan. You will traumatize them. You are pure. Live your life with love. Live your life with joy. This should be the focus. We have to change. If we don't change, we will just traumatize others, repeating history and not meeting our new generations' needs.
We always need to think that we need to broaden and build but never forget the past. The past is our history; it's what we learn from. The present is where we start making changes, and the future is maybe what we make better. How can we serve our families, our communities, better, create more victory? That is the growth process; it is continuous improvement toward perfection. Even True Parents weren't born with all the knowledge. They had to grow and perfect themselves at every stage.
You guys came up with great questions. I have to reflect and meditate a lot.
Question: I love the term "Mother of Peace" and I think it is a great title for others to view True Parents. What is the best way to reach out to pastors and other people of influence?
Didn't you guys just do that? Didn't you just have an amazing victory by doing just that? How did you do it? With love and faith, you went out there. You believed in True Parents. You lived for the sake of other people; you reached out. You don't need to ask me that. You already know. But if you ever feel, Oh! How do I reach out to people? Just love them. Love is the unifying language. If you love dogs, they understand. If you love a tree, it understands; it grows beautifully. It's the same with people. Another good thing is to give them True Father's autobiography, A Peace- Loving Global Citizen. The title encapsulates all we should be so proud of, because that's what we are.
Question: What is a good way to be a bridge to other religions or practices? How can a Christian for example practice the way of the Buddha or of yoga without being chastised?
We were just talking about it; love unites us all. Connecting to God is the purpose of religion. Whether we're Buddhist, Muslim or any Christian faith, we all want to connect to God. What does religion teach us? Good virtues, to live in virtuous, moral and harmonious ways. Think of places of worship as being one family trying to worship God through their practices the best they can.
What we have as Unificationists from True Parents a higher understanding of God's heart and dream. We should support anything that promotes people being good. We should promote it, be a part of it. It doesn't matter if their practices are different from ours, celebrate them. Celebrate all the goodness in religions.
Do (as I've heard you do in LA) go to Christian services. You will inspire those pastors and their churches with the beauty of your blessed central family's true love, hyo jeong heart. From there, you can teach them the higher level.
Because if you look at those religions -- Christian, Buddhist, Muslim -- at some point in time there was only one leader, a male central figure. Never in history has there ever been a female counterpart that was able to restore Eve's position. So, God had an original family of a son and a daughter. It makes sense. Everything in nature is in pairs. But all religions up to today are male-centric. They don't have a true mother. They don't have a perfected Eve, because there never was one until True Parents came to earth.
Only because of True Parents, their victorious blessing and their completion of the path of indemnity and restoration, we stand to inherit God's original dream of the four-position foundation, which is to be realized on earth and in heaven.
Each of you has the potential to enlighten many brothers and sisters around the world who all have a certain ceiling they can't get past because they don't understand who True Parents are. Please, love, teach and bring into our one family under God any religion, any person of God.
Question: In facing difficulties in your life, what helped you overcome and find peace?
Everybody knows that being part of ministering to the worldwide movement wasn't my original mission. I had many brothers before me anointed and selected for that. I never in my life thought I would share God's truth or be connected at this level with our movement.
It's now six years since Father's passing. This time has been my learning stages of how to understand God, of trying to understand True Father and True Mother's amazing lives' work and to center my heart to be a vessel and share that with members.
After Father passed away, I found yoga. Yoga helped me, because it's all about centering the mind and body in unity, in purity, in health and wellness, to live for the sake of love and peace. By learning the yoga principles, which are in line with Divine Principle principles, I learned a simple, ten-step way to control mind and body and center my life on good karma and positive love and works. I'll share them with you quickly.
The first is ahimsa, non-violence, which is Father's "thing"[his forte] -- love everybody, unconditional true love. The second one is satya; it means "truthfulness." In all you do, be truthful and honest. Next is asteya, which means non-stealing. These are all good virtues, right? Don't steal; don't have greed. Aparigraha is the same thing -- no grasping [Don't covet.]. Brahmacharia means maintenance of the vitality of your essences.
It's like living a monastic life. This physical energy, this body, is a temple. Use it correctly. Don't mess around. You could think of it as abstinence. Number 6 is tapas -- everything good in life comes through hard work. Be disciplined in your daily practice to be a good person. The next is santosha, "contentment." Contentment is a joy that nothing can shake; knowing you are God's child and God is with you every moment. In your heart, find that wellspring of joy and contentment, no matter where you are.
"Shaucha" means "purity in all you do." That means cleaning the spaces, cleaning yourself, cleaning your relationships. Always try to bring more beauty and purity into your life. "Svadhyaya" is "self-study," the only way we grow internally, spiritually. Practice the holy word, whether it be Hoon Dok Hae, your yoga texts, anything that helps you get enlightened, into a higher place in your mind, body, spirit. The last and most important one is "ishvara pranidhana," "surrender and devotion to God." If we do all these things but don't surrender to God, we are disconnected from any practice -- it all belongs to God.
This is a wonderful way to practice being a good person. It is a practice alongside Hoon Dok Hae and reading all holy texts. I applied it to the principles of our movement. In that way, I changed from being a person who was lost, couldn't understand many things and became a person who wanted to perfect it, took action to do it and began to enlighten myself by the truth from True Parents. That practice is one way I found peace. That's why you always see me on a mat. Every moment is a practice of attending God. It grounds us.
Question: What is your relationship with and view of Jesus?
We grew up as Unificationists. We were taught the Principle, and Jesus at that time was the Messiah, the son of God, who came to earth but was crucified and therefore could not complete his mission. We understand him as a saint or a martyr, the son-of- God originally, but Father and Mother had to come to carry out and complete his mission. That's who we learned Jesus was. That is my understanding of Jesus because we weren't raised in the Christian church. But yes, that was way in the past before we were even born. Our brother Jesus took the path that True Parents have also taken in this time, which we've witnessed.
Question: What was your most unforgettable experience with Father or Mother?
There is no one unforgettable memory, but as I said, True Parents have grown. If you hear Father's speeches from the early days to where he was speaking in the 90s, you see the progression of change and growth. Even to the point that we think, Oh, they're perfected; they're at the highest level. Father at one point came into an elevator when I was there and all of a sudden, turns to me and goes, "You suffered a lot. It was because I wasn't there to be your father." And I was like, [gently laughing] "Not really." You know, Father's talking to me; Oh no! What did I do? [Smiling] Father was apologizing to me. He was saying, I'm sorry I couldn't be your father; and I hope you can forgive me and I love you. He made amends is what I'm saying.
True Parents in their lives, because they had to preach to and liberate the Cain children, they had to leave their family behind. When Father apologized to me -- this is the True Father of heaven, earth and humankind -- it blew me away. All the hurt in my heart, all the doubt… That moment when he connected to me and noticed that I needed that love and gave it to me was the most unforgettable moment in my life.
That's the power of every parent in this room. As long as you're alive, you can use every moment to make healing amends, just as Father did.
The path of our movement has been imperfect; because of many obstacles, we can't do everything. If in your life you couldn't do something and you know that your words will heal some-body, don't hesitate to say them, because even Father could say that. I hope that if you have ever felt unloved, you take that as if Father is saying that to you. "I know you suffered. I know you tried your best. I love you. Forgive me. I'm sorry, but we can continue to go on to a higher place.
You can learn from True Parents to heal wounds in your families, in your churches and with people. Most important: we all have the capacity to grow. When we do grow, we have the capacity to make amends and heal.
Question: A similar question: What's your most unforgettable memory of True Mother?
Do you think Mother going to be any different from Father? No. Just recently; we were attending True Mother in Hawaii. I grew up in America. Korean is not my first language. Because we are so busy in this international movement, I can't go to Korean classes, schedule school time or have a block of time when I can learn Korean. So, Mother said, OK. Just watch Korean dramas and you'll learn Korean. You think it's funny, but it works. It does. I started right after Father's passing.
Then Netflix came out. Netflix allows you to see hundreds of Korean dramas with the English translation on the bottom. I have been watching so many dramas that now my Korean is good. Even Korean leaders when they've recently seen me are like, Wow! 한국말 많이 늘었어요. 어떻게 배웠나요? [You gained a lot of Korean. How did you learn?] I was able to talk to True Mother from my heart, in her language, in Hawaii. I'm trying in my bad Konglish [here, English-influenced Korean] but she can see me trying. Every time I would say something wrong in Korean she would correct me. I said, Mother you are becoming my Korean teacher.
Because we were able to speak to each other in the same language and were making the effort to speak to each other, I had a chance to share with Mother what growing up without Mother was like, those tearful memories of living life without True Parents. She heard stories she never heard in her life and the brothers and sisters at the table were like, Wow! We never heard any of these stories before. Mother turned to me and said, Sun Jina, 미안해 [Mianhae], which means "I'm sorry." I couldn't be your 진짜 [jinjja (jj more intense, not louder)] mother, which means "your actual mother." She said that so sincerely and she gave me a big hug. That was so precious to me, because we couldn't share many things with True Parents; we couldn't communicate and we didn't have access, physical access. We were just with the congregation all day [gesturing to the audience] like this. The children would be in another place. When Mother could see those points, give me love in the moment, recognize that -- even apologize.
All I could do was just melt. All those feelings just go away. I said, "Mother, thank you for being my jinjja mother, my True Mother now. You're teaching me every day of your life and I'm so blessed to be in this position. Those are parent-child memories, and I'm sure you have them in your family.
So, if something is lacking, learn to fill it. Learn to grow. Learn to heal. Learn to restore its original beauty where love should be. Family is the school of love, the center of your home.
Question: What helped to engender in you such loyalty to True Mother?
As I was saying, I didn't know True Parents. As children we were raised separately by members or like in a church congregation, kind of like in a communal area, where all young blessed children learned the Principle or at camps. We never had one-on-one time with our own parents, because they were 24/7 doing ministry, traveling the globe. You know how many world tours they had. We never had a moment.
For me, coming to know True Mother began when Father passed away and she asked me to help her in her mission. Of course, I have no qualification to do such a thing. I had no education, no connection, like the most unworthy person -- that level of just not being enough. Not being able to do this scary mission. It was too scary but Mother just said, "Don't worry. True Parents are behind you, and you can do it." She had that kind of confidence in me. She has that kind of confidence in you. From that time, she has only been loving and helping me to grow. I see that as a mother's heart, which never gives up on her children. No matter how hopeless, how difficult, no matter what they do wrong, they forgive everything and take responsibility for everything. She leads the way, even at her age. Physically True Mother is in her "golden years," when people are retired, but she's carrying this heavy mission to complete True Parents' mission on earth every day, with national restoration just a year away.
How could I not have loyalty to someone who is doing that mission to bring absolute peace and love to humanity? I always say, "Mother, you're my superhero." We saw Wonder Woman together. I told her, "You've surpassed Wonder Woman." Mother's our superhero; she's our heroine. If you think about it, she's the liberator of one half of the entire planet. What's half of the planet? [Audience: Women] Exactly, and what have women been in the past, since Eve, at the beginning of time? [Audience: Servants] Yes, and what else? [Audience: Slaves]. [She laughs.] Anything else? The lowest level…the person who failed. So, True Mother went to that deepest level of indemnity and restored the true daughter's, Eve's position, to its original intended state. Imagine a sixteen-year-old girl, absolutely pure, offering her life in service to God to complete this mission. If that doesn't make her the greatest superhero of all time, I don't know what does.
If you think about what we are seeing today in our culture, only because of True Mother and the absolute true love between True Parents after their Holy Wedding in 1960 were we able to create true families for the first time in history with God's original dream -- God, son and daughter creating a four-position foundation for all humanity to come back to God. And it's because Mother completed her mission. True Father completed his mission and together they became True Parents and completed their mission. So for her to do that, she is my absolute hero.
We're seeing nowadays that women are on the rise. This is definitely because of True Mother. You have Me-Too movements; no longer will women be put in a position where you are "less than" because True Mother has elevated your original status as a daughter of God to the perfected level. Celebrate your mother, daughters, sisters and women in your lives. This is a new era.
I'll tell you something we did in Hawaii. In Korea, they have "White Day," when men give chocolates to women. On Valentine's Day in Korea, only women give chocolates to men. It's kind of flipped compared to America.
We were in Hawaii on White Day and in a new era, Mother had all of our brothers, my husband included, the drivers, ajoshis ["uncles," middle- aged men]… were all tasked on White Day to do what? [Audience: give the women chocolates] Yes, but what do you think she added on to it? [Audience: honeymoon?] [Sun Jin nim laughs] Kind of; it was like a honeymoon. She asked all the brothers to do the sisters' work.
Our amazing brothers all put on aprons, cooked us an amazing lunch and did all the dishes and cleaned the house while the women ate chocolates and sat at the table and ate lunch. Not only that, they kicked it up a notch. They all gave us a beautiful chocolate basket with hand-written cards. So sweet. Only in this new era! We had the era of Father as our Parent. Now we have the chance to have Mother as our Parent. Aren't we all incomplete if we only have Father and no Mother? We need to receive our Mother's love. Because what does it bring? It brings unity, balance and harmony. That was supposed to be the point of why we come together, that's love.
We do things for each other. Mother has liberated women. Today, you are queens, all of you, and a husband is a king. So, please celebrate all. When you raise your daughters with pride and love and joy and confidence, it makes the world a better place.
Question: What precious dreams have you had of True Mother?
More often it's of True Parents and it's a dream where when you wake up it's an energy. Usually, I go to sleep with a prayer. I pray for (of course) for world peace, one family under God, but I also pray to Father to help our family come together as one True Family. It always makes me cry at night because in many ways we weren't able to realize a True Family, because we didn't have our True Parents as our parents.
In an ideal world, if parents could have loved us and raised us, I'm sure we would have been at a point where True Family and love was all we knew. But at that time, it wasn't. Growing up, it was still the indemnity environment. But every night that's my prayer, because I know if you're a parent, if one child is not OK, your heart is never at peace. It breaks your heart. You're incomplete. So all the time, my prayer to True Father is please bring our family together. Please enlighten those who are lost. Please open their hearts and minds to know your divine truth and to please bring them back to support True Mother in this life while we have a chance.
After a dream, when I woke up one morning, I felt an enveloping blanket of love and peace. More than having the dream, when going out bouncing we saw so many beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and knew that Father through those, and rainbows, natural occurrence, was sending us hope. Giving us a message that this dream will be realized, have hope and just continue on and love people no matter what and that will heal all in the end.
Question: How do you think we can support our second generation in America? How can we improve?
Like I said, second generation members, we're pure water. No more indemnity. No more indemnity. Let that be your mantra. We should be at a place where we broaden our lives with joy, peace and love. That should be our goal every day. We shouldn't be in this mentality of trauma and anxiety that we're not good enough. In that era, we were not good enough, with makdaegi [a punishment rod] every day. So selfish, such a failure, so evil, Satan's attacking me. No! No more! You are God's anointed and appointed. So, second-generation, third-generation, first generation that are blessed -- new era! New path! Aju! So God bless you. [Loud cheers, audience rises]