Sun Myung Moon
April 27, 2002
Sheraton National Hotel, Washington, DC, USA
Interreligious and International 144,000 Clergy Couples Blessing and Rededication Ceremony
Photo date and location unknown
Distinguished guests from home and abroad! First of all, I would like to sincerely congratulate everyone participating in this marriage Blessing ceremony of 144,000 clergy couples from interreligious, interracial and international backgrounds. On this day, the five races became one, transcending religious denominations and doctrines, centering on the ideal of the true family, and it will be recorded in the history of human civilization, in which conflicts and struggles are ever increasing, as the day of the new history in which reconciliation and love triumphed.
Importance of a true family
Through the past eighty years of my life I have devoted myself heart and soul to constructing the one world of peace under the one God, going beyond the religious order I founded. Now, on this meaningful occasion in which my efforts have been brought to fruition, I would like to speak to you, the leaders of different religious orders, under the title “Blessed Families and the Ideal World.” A great number of people are living in this world, and they all belong to their families. However, without true families, true children cannot be raised and the formation of true societies is also impossible. As can be seen, it is an obvious fact that true families are the basis on which true societies, true nations and a true world can be established. These true families refer to the families that have been formed centered on the true love of God.
Until now there never has been a clear definition of a true family. Not only that, the goals that true people need to pursue and their limitations
also have been unclear. Human beings are in a state of ignorance in which they do not know where people come from, how they ought to live and where they go after death. Human beings have lived throughout history without defining their purpose, the standard for moral cultivation and the uppermost limit of human maturity that they are to achieve.
Since human beings as individuals have not been able to stand in the position of perfection, there is no way for them to reach the ultimate standard of the family, although they are seeking it.
When seen from this perspective, the fact that numerous people are struggling along the path of their lives is certainly a problem. However, what is more serious, is that we have to remember that we should set the standard of a true family based on the foundation of being true individuals. This ideal still remains as a task to be fulfilled during the course of our life and the developing course of human history.
Then what is the purpose to be pursued by religion, which has been eradicating the spiritual ignorance of humankind? Individual salvation is significant. However, religion has to go one step further and save the family, that is, it needs to focus on restoring the family and liberating all humankind from sinfulness.
Religion must recover the family that can represent, in a true sense, history, the present new age, and the future. Furthermore, it needs to firmly establish the basis for the family in which all human beings can rejoice, and the standard that must be followed by all families. It has to determine where this family system begins and where it is heading. Unless this comes to pass, the world of peace cannot be built on this earth. We need to understand that, no matter how well the external system of the world has been structured, if families are not spiritually healthy, the world can break down in an instant.
The family is the starting point of true peace
In the family there are parents and at the same time there is the conjugal relationship between husband and wife. It would be unfortunate to have no parents or for a husband and wife to separate, yet if you were to lose your beloved spouse, you could not be more sad and miserable. Not only that, it would also be unfortunate if a couple were unable to have children. Even if you were not very successful in a materialistic sense, if you had achieved love in your family, centering on true parents, true husband and true wife and true children, and if you led such a peaceful life that everyone, regardless of who they were, wished to follow in your footsteps, then no one could deny that such a family was a happy one.
To this day, saints and sages all have talked about peace, although they did not really know that the family is the starting point of true peace. This is because they were unaware that God’s ideal of creation is the construction of a peaceful world on the foundation of ideal families. In the course of world history until now, there have been many revolutions. And even if there have been many cases in which revolutions resulted in changing the world, all such changes eventually fell short. The ultimate problem is that the center that can give rise to the revolution to form true families must be manifested on earth.
From there, the beginning of the construction of a new world, that is, a new historical ideal, needs to appear. There is no way for us to deny this fact. This is the messianic ideal passed down from the First Israel, Judaism, to the Second Israel, Christianity. Can a person who does not originate from a righteous family go in the right direction? Even if that person could go there, he or she would be unable to find a stable destination and would have no choice except to turn back. This is why the destiny of our life course is such that we have no choice except to find our way back to our families.
The starting point of saving fallen humanity is the family
The driving force behind human beings’ search for the original homeland has to become the motive that can influence history in its entirety and all environments, and the motive that can also pave the way for happiness. Where would the family, which is the foundation for that driving force of human beings, be formed? Today’s religions must prepare the basis through which they can benefit the family before they can publicly benefit the society. This is because even if a religion has made contributions for the public good, if the basis of the families that make up this society breaks down, the foundation of society also will break down.
In this regard, what would be the starting point for God to save fallen humanity? Would it be a specific nation that boasts of having a certain civilization? No, it wouldn’t. If there is a certain organization in a society that is considered to be ideal, would it serve as the center? No, it would not. Then would that starting point be centered on a certain individual with the qualities of a genius? No, it would not. You have to know that the one starting point that can transcend all these things is the true family. Therefore, the people of today need to become those who can pass through the door of such a family and thus win the qualification to hold high the banner of the victor and head out into the world. Individuals who can present such a philosophy and teaching have to come forward.
Then why have Buddhism and Catholicism continued to emphasize leading a celibate life? Can celibacy truly be the basis for human happiness? No, it cannot. The reason for that is because no religion or philosophy has been able to clarify where the origin of true happiness lies. Therefore people needed to lead a celibate life in anticipation of the pure and righteous family that would eventually appear.
The serious problems being brought up nowadays within Catholicism signify the need to fundamentally reconsider celibacy, practiced since the thirteenth century. God’s Will is to be fulfilled through a true family formed by a true man and a true woman. Therefore, it is a matter of course for the clergy to take the lead in forming ideal families and thus set an example before others.
Today in the United States and in the entire world the deviation and degradation of young people is threatening healthy societies. The world has reached a state where it is almost at its end, and human power and human love cannot bring it under control. Therefore, a new movement needs to arise at all costs. All that is wrong needs to be done away with, and we need to make a new beginning based on the original standard.
In this respect, history is the history of recreation and the providence of restoration in which all that is old is done away with and new things are recreated in order to head toward the original, ideal world. This is why the old and the new are clashing. Until now, individuals formed families in whatever way they liked, but they cannot do so any longer. Such is the age we are in now.
Among the founders of the different religions, Jesus in particular often spoke quite seriously about the family. Who did Jesus say that God was? He called God his Father. He revealed that the relationship between God the Creator and humankind is the relationship of parent and child. Furthermore, he said that he was the only begotten Son of God. This means that Jesus is God’s first son and at the same time His only son.
If God is the Original Being of love, He is in a relationship of Parent to humankind. That is why the relationship between human beings and the Creator is one that goes beyond the simple relationship between the Creator and the created, for it is a relationship connected through true love, true life and true lineage.
Jesus’ wish is to form a God-centered family
Jesus also said in effect, “I am the bridegroom and you, the people, are my bride.” When the bridegroom and the bride get married, they become husband and wife. What Jesus is saying is that they need to form a family. Ultimately, he is saying that they have to form a family and have children. For certain, only when a married couple gives birth to children can they form a family. Even if you want to get a divorce because you dislike your wife, you cannot split up recklessly when you have children. The children are the fruits of the love between husband and wife.
Jesus came to this earth as the only Son of God and the prince of the heavenly kingdom. He came as the crown prince of God. He is the son who was given the royal seal of God when he was born, as the prince who is qualified to inherit the full authority of God. God had intended that the Jewish people, as the eldest daughter of God, receive this Son of God, but they did not do so.
Then, is there anyone among you who can say confidently that you can become the bride of that prince? The bridegroom and the bride have to form a relationship as the prince and princess of Heaven while attending God as their Parent. It was the wish of the Lord to form a family centered on God in this manner. It was not to rule the external heaven and earth.
Then what is Christianity supposed to do? It has to prepare the bride for the one who comes to fulfill the common desire of all humanity, and prepare a suitable environment for him. This is what is figuratively expressed in the Bible as the marriage feast of the Lamb. You need to know clearly the fact that the mission of Christianity, as the bride religion, is to shoulder and fulfill this historic responsibility.
When all is said and done, the purpose for Jesus’ coming to earth in the flesh was to take a bride and form a family. The problem is the family. If a true family had been formed, what would Jesus have become? He would have become the father. When he had become the father, he simultaneously would have become the head of the family. Furthermore, he would have become the king of the family. However, Jesus died on the cross before he could fulfill the ideal of the family. This family that Jesus could have formed is one that would have lived for thousands of years while attending God. There is a Korean folk song with the lyrics, “Moon, moon, bright moon; moon where Lee Tae-baek played; there, there, right in the moon, a cinnamon tree was planted; bring father and mother to the moon, and live for a thousand, ten thousand years.”
The Blessing is the fulfillment of God’s wish to form a true family
Then what would Jesus have done after forming a family? He would have had children. In other words, the grandsons and granddaughters of God would have been born. In the end, God’s great sorrow is that He did not have grandsons and granddaughters by direct descent. Throughout history, God has tried to establish the model family for all human beings.
This being the case, how much would God have yearned for such a family? And how much have human beings, who were bound together through the Fall, yearned for such a family? Have you also yearned for such a family? All humanity has to become one centering on the ideal family. By doing so, what does humanity need? They need to receive the true family.
The families in today’s fallen world cannot stand before God. For this reason, Jesus was right when he said, “Your own family members are your enemies.” What did Jesus come to this earth to do? He tried to form a family centered on God. And because he was unable to form such a family, he said he would come again. What, then, does he have to do when he comes again? He has to form a family. And, when the sons and daughters in such a family continue to prosper for generations to come, a tribe is formed, a people is formed and a nation is formed.
To form such a pure family of God, a clan of the blood relatives of a family centered on God’s love, needs to be formed on this earth. However, because this family has not been formed yet, God has continued to carry out the providence of salvation until now in order to form the restored clan, related by blood, to the original family. This is the original standard of God’s ideal of creation that must manifest once again on this earth.
To establish such a family, I am performing this Blessing ceremony that all of you have come to know well. This family is called the family of the Blessing. What kind of family is this? It is the ideal family centered on God.
It is the family that the coming Lord is required to establish, the family that future generations are required to form, and the common goal that all human beings ultimately aim to achieve.
What would be the common gateway that we all can pass through? It is neither the nation nor the world. It is neither the communist world nor the democratic world. It is the original family. Before there can be a democratic world, first there must be an original family that can build the true democratic world. Until this original family appears, the kingdom of peace, the ideal nation of peace, cannot come about.
That is why the time must come when this ideal family we yearn for, this original family that we desire to live with, this family we want to meet, and this family we want to find must absolutely appear on this planet and share the same destiny along with human history. Only then can God’s providence for the earth be fulfilled and the blessed land of the Sabbath, the haven of the Sabbath begin. Religious leaders have to take the lead in this movement to save the family, to renew the local community, and to strengthen the nation.
Respected guests from home and abroad! I ask you, the religious leaders, who were Blessed today, to stand at the forefront in leading this Blessing movement in your houses of worship and your local communities and to become the pioneers in establishing the nation of peace and the world of peace.
May God’s blessings be with your families, and with this I conclude my speech.
Thank you.