Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1988
Father and Mother and President Young Whi Kim hold up Father's freshly-drawn motto for 1988, "The Unification of the Fatherland.
Beloved Father,
We are here welcoming the new year of 1988, the 43rd year since the Korean liberation. O God, dispel all the difficulties the Unification Church has encountered in the past and is encountering even now. Especially at this time of the new year, bless this church in order that it may leap forward. We are committed to persist through whatever happens and to be steadfast in achieving our goal.
We are grateful to You for leading us toward further advancement. We ardently pray that You can bless us in this new year so that we can realize the unification of our motherland, Korea -- the fulfillment of Your will. We very much thank You, O God, for Your guidance in pioneering our life toward a new world.
The year 1945 failed to unite the world in the wake of the World War because of the negligence of the United States, and this brought about the split of Christianity. Korea was much affected by this, which consequently led us to suffer greatly. The Unification followers here with me have endured undeniable suffering in the past. Their numbers are small and we have led a life of blood, sweat, and tears. We are the people who have pledged not to give up God, even though we can give up the world. Because of this, our life has been full of difficulties, causing us to tremble as we advanced. Yet You maintained us and led us forward. We bear witness that our advancement could never have been possible without Your guidance and blessing.
Father and Mother offer a song at the evening entertainment on God's Day.
Now we are prepared to challenge any opposition to the unification of our homeland. Our struggles in Japan and in the United States have enabled us to withstand any difficulties and have allowed us to establish, with Your blessing, a powerful foundation to fight communism, without succumbing to it.
We are here in the firm belief that the day will surely come when we can defeat communism. O God, please help us to not only defeat communism but to enable the communists to unite with us.
We know well, O God, that we are responsible for bringing the 1.7 billion people now under communism back to God. Help us recognize that the year 1988 is a very crucial time for us -- as intermediaries -- to pave the way for those under communism to come to the bosom of God. Through Godism, help us spread Your absolute genuine will. Help us to remember the efforts we made in mid-1986 toward realizing religious unification and our strenuous work in May of 1987 for national unification. We are grateful that You have guided us to play a very important role in the unification of our motherland Korea.
As we begin this New Year, O God, help us to absolutely realize unification in the land of Korea.
Parents must be the center of our patriotism in achieving such national unification. In realizing this goal, help us make our Parents the center.
O God, permit this year to be a year we can be proud of in fulfilling Your plan. May our goals in Japan, the United States of America, Germany, and elsewhere in the world be successfully achieved this year. Bless Heung Jin, that he may be successful in spreading the significant will of his Parents, especially at this beginning of the new year of 1988.
Amen.