Rev. Sun Myung Moon
God's Day Morning Speech
January 1, 1988
Seoul, Korea
There are four major Holy Days in the Unification Church - Parents' Day, Children's Day, the Day of All Things, and God's Day. If it hadn't been for the fall, these days would never have existed. But because mankind lost the original standard, there needs to be a process for mankind to find that lost standard and substantiate it. First of all, there must be a Parents' Day, which signifies the appearance of the True Parents, the representatives of all mankind, on the earth. Secondly, a foundation is necessary for the True Children to become one with the parents. This is Children's Day. Based upon the unity of the parents and the children, there must be a Day of All Things.
The Kingdom of Heaven comes about only upon the basis of the parents, the children, and all things uniting into one, centered on the love of God. No single Holy Day alone can open the Kingdom of Heaven. The love of God can reach all men both on earth and in heaven only after absolute unity is realized among these three significant days. This is the very foundation that makes possible the restoration of the lawful standard by which mankind is entitled to heaven.
As you know, God's Day does not mean God's birthday. Then what is the true meaning of God's Day? It is a day that marks the starting point of God's love, when God finds His place of settlement. Since the declaration of God's Day, the age of the individual settlement has advanced into the age of the family settlement, the clan settlement, the tribal settlement, the national settlement, and the worldwide settlement.
If there had been no fall, Adam would have been able to represent the entire world of God's creation by the age of 20, receiving God's complete love as a perfected man. Eve could have received God's complete love as a matured woman by the same age. But even if each of them had been perfectly united with God individually, that vertical relationship alone would not have been enough to achieve the ideal. They both had to grow to maturity in their mutual relationship as well. Adam had to grow to a level at which he could love his spouse more than himself. Likewise, Eve had to reach a level of loving her spouse more than herself. After achieving that level, they would have been so united that nothing in the universe could have broken their bond of love. Then for the first time, the love of God would have been truly manifested and poured upon the creation.
After the creation of the universe, God placed man in the subject position to the rest of creation. Why did He do so? God is the possessor of everything; so wealth, knowledge, and honor mean nothing to God. He doesn't need them, because He has them all. However, if there is one hope that the almighty and omniscient God still has, it is the hope for the fulfillment of love.
All existing beings are mutually connected in a subject/object relationship. No matter how firm an object being may be standing in its own position, without having the proper subject it cannot manifest its original value. When both the subject and the object share a common purpose and establish a harmonious relationship in absolute oneness, cosmic beauty is manifested. Without this dynamic relationship of subject and object, love is as if asleep. The love of God exists within Him, but by Himself His love is just inert. God's love is activated only from the moment His true object begins to appear.
When God, who is a gigantic plus, finds a corresponding minus that is also gigantic, His love will be in full swing. The love of a man is not to be enjoyed just among men, nor a woman's love only among women. A woman's love is meant to be given to a man, and vice versa. Only with that genuine relationship can God begin to let human beings learn through one another what true love is meant to be.
No matter how great a love a man may have, by himself he cannot actualize true love. Likewise, no matter how elegantly a woman may adorn herself, by herself she can never generate true love. When a man and woman come together in true love, then no matter how strong a power of opposition is imposed, they keep revolving around one another. How wonderful this is! God is drawn to that unity, because it is the place where He can experience His joy. When a man and a woman are united 100 percent, and their love reaches the point of explosion, the absolute love of God immediately comes to dwell within them. Then they can never escape from the love of God. The axis that their true love creates is the same axis that every being who cherishes the love of God must revolve around in order to meet the true standard of love. A person who cannot experience this type of love is not a true person. Are you confident that you are going to experience this level of love?
Everything must be judged according to the standard of true love. Conflict within a family does not occur because there is not enough food to eat, but rather from problems of love. When the love between a couple settles so firmly that it is unchangeable for millions of years, then no matter how hard a woman may try to escape from her husband, she will always come back again after going around in a circle. When a man and woman are in love, if one side goes up, the other automatically moves downward, and this results in a circular movement. Every existence resembles a circle. You must know that the world is made to be this way.
In order to connect the eastern and western sides of a globe, you must pass through the center. The center contains all the elements - up and down, right and left, east and west, and north and south. While revolving around the center, each person maintains his unique position but can meet with others at 360 different angles. God, in order to experience the joy of such stimulating love, created the universe just this way, so He could share the ideal of eternal goodness with every single one of His object beings. The taste of such a harmonious relationship is unspeakably delicious.
A man and a woman can be centered on true love for more that a thousand years and beyond, yet the energy of their love never drops. True love operates upon the principle that the more you love, the greater your desire to give becomes. When this love fills up the universe, all created beings find their eternal place of existence.
True love is the basis of the right of concomitance, or accompaniment. This means that once there is a relationship of love established, the object person has a right to accompany the subject wherever he or she goes. Furthermore, when the subject rises to a great height, the object has a right to share the same position and glory. Then comes the right of inheritance. A wife who goes to live with her husband's parents may often love his parents more than her husband does. In this case, who is going to have the right to inherit from the parents, their son or his wife? It is the wife who has the right, although she may not have worked for it. Why is this so? Because it is love that rules the law of inheritance.
A married man and woman were strangers to each other initially. Once joined together, however, they share the right of inheritance because of love. When true love binds them together, they start to think of each other as more precious than a nation or the world, or even the universe, and they are even willing to die for one another. This is a great truth of the universe. Why do they think in this way? It is because they were created to resemble God. God has declared His sacred right of dominion and ownership through His love, so man can stand side by side with God and claim the same rights and ownership, once he achieves true love. When we are united with true love, the entire universe becomes ours.
A wife who is determined to share a common destiny with her husband is a true wife. A husband who goes everywhere with his wife in love is a true husband. Furthermore, true men are those who are willing to share a common prosperity with others. They should be able to say, "Eternally I am yours, and you are mine. My life is for you and your life is for me. My love is your love and your love is my love." Eternal relationship and joy spring from the understanding that within true love, there is no place for the concept of possession. True love transcends the entire idea of possessing and is ready to pass on everything.
When the parents are about to leave their life on earth, the one who loved them the most, whether he is great or small, is going to receive the inheritance from them. Here lies the origin of the harmony of the universe - it is established upon the rights that God set up - the rights of concomitance, the sharing of the positions, and the inheritance. Man is destined to live by this law. Man is endowed with a unique greatness and the right to even possess God and claim ownership, centered on God's love, over the entire cosmos.
Ever since man lost his original value, man's life on earth has become one of a continuous search without fulfillment. This explains the miserable reality of contemporary humankind. In the midst of this confused environment, Rev. Moon has achieved the level of love by which he can take God on his back and fly through the sky!
I have been chased and imprisoned, and I have tasted every single kind of suffering. But God was right there in the prisons with me. When I used to look at my hands, I saw a spiritual radiance coming out of them. The place where I was staying was not actually a prison, but a king's palace. At the center of the prison, where resentments were whirling around, I discovered that it was nothing but love that would enable me to welcome God there; only by embracing a cosmic path of love could I honor Him as a triumphant God of joy. Love was also the reason that the other prison inmates came to show great respect toward me.
Today is God's Day. What does God's Day signify? It is the day when mankind is resolved to live for the sake of others and uphold high the love of giving. It is the day when God finds a true place that He can graft Himself onto, and it is the day when we are connected with the path to the Kingdom of Heaven. As soon as a foundation is set for God to be engrafted to us through His true love, all mankind is stirred into life. This place, called the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, is where we dance and live together with the universe. It is a place eternally centered on God and heart in every way. God will be able to feel ultimate joy through us, and each one of us will be able to embrace the entire cosmos in our bosom. How great our happiness will be!
Because I know that such a world exists, I am living with a smile on my face in the midst of a mocking crowd. How great is the value of a man who, together with God, can stand as the subject to the universe - a man who is endowed with the right to live with God, share His glory, and inherit everything from Him. As I walked this path of suffering in the position of God's son, God, rather than abandoning me, closely dwelt within my heart in order to alleviate the sorrows of my tearful path; He transformed my sorrows and used them for the building of a new world. A person who is given a environment in which God takes a subjective role in guiding his way is truly a blessed person.
I have so many scars on my body, remaining from a countless number of beatings. Whenever I look at them, however, I offer my thanks to God. During one of those tortures, I was stabbed with the sharp edge of a hoe. But just at that moment, before I was about to feel pain, I prayed to God, "Father, let Your will be done. Let the path be shortened to fulfill Your will and to have Your dreams come true." I was never in despair even in those moments, knowing that I had God, who loved me.
Up until now, fallen mankind could never celebrate God's Day. How deeply disappointed God has been in seeing the fall of His children, who were meant to be His beloved objects! God was looking forward to the day when He could pour out His love to Adam and Eve fully. Adam and Eve were supposed to reach their maturity and be intoxicated with love as the first man and woman in whom God could dwell and claim the consummation of eternal and unchanging love. However, fallen man created a hell comparable to a waste-processing plant. Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is still a vacant place.
In the age of the Second Advent, the time is ripe for a new Adam to restore his bride and finally meet the standard set by the fundamental principle of the universe. For this reason, Christ must return to the earth.
More than anyone else, I have understood deeply the philosophy of love and substantiated it. Not only do I understand it, but I am capable of teaching others and passing it on. Because God loves me beyond time, space, and distance, there is a way for you to love me. Therefore, although this may be the first time some of you have seen me, you are all privileged to have the experience of being bound eternally with me in love. You already have the right of participation, the right of sharing a common position, and the right of inheritance. You are all touched by that love; thus this birthright can be given to Japanese people, American people, or anyone. This is how the Unification Church keeps expanding into the world.
This family of the Unification Church is continuously rising. Centering on Korea, even the Soviet Union will soon be engrafted into God. Thus even a whole nation will be given the privilege of entering into and participating in the sphere of True Parents and will receive the same glory and cosmic heritage. How valuable it is for us to have the opportunity to appear at this stage in history - as the dignified people of hope who are working for the sake of tomorrow and are able to have dominion over the universe!
I have been working for the reunification of Korea. God is also desperate to achieve this goal, so He comes with me wherever I go. Why doesn't the spirit world just take away Kim Il Sung? Because it is necessary that the true and the false meet face to face at one point. Through this final showdown, it will become clear who is true and who is false. The one who collapses in the final crush is false, while the true one will rise.
Heung Jin Nim understands my heart deeply. He must be feeling so sorry in the spirit world as he watches his parents go through such hardships. While maintaining his proper role in the spiritual world, he is pouring out his heart to re-awaken the Unification Church members on earth. Why has he been doing this cleanup work? It is because, from the position of an elder brother, he understands how much patience his father exercises while carrying such a great burden of responsibility. A long time ago, Satan stole mankind and claimed the position of the elder brother. Now, on the side of God, Heung Jin Nim is reclaiming his brothers who are destined to hell and leading them back to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Love does not originate from one person, but from a reciprocal relationship. Therefore, both men and women are meant to serve one another. According to Korean tradition, when you receive something from your elders, you must stretch both of your hands to the front. The give and take of love occurs when both stand on the same level with the other. While embracing and loving our country, cherishing a humble life, and inheriting the heart of the saints who loved God, we must still maintain the horizontal plane of the love of a husband and wife. Only by leading such a life of love for the sake of others with an unchanging determination will we be entitled to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
The establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven is rather simple. Three generations must unite. It is necessary for high, middle, and low to be connected vertically in order for a spherical shape to be formed. Those who have received the Blessing in the Unification Church are responsible to educate their sons and daughters. You must never lose the position of parents who are qualified to receive the heritage of true love. If you violate your position, you will simply vanish away.
Starting with the individual God's Day, the True Parents have expanded this foundation through the God's Days on the family level, the tribal level, the national level, and the worldwide level. When the whole world comes to celebrate God's Day together, the Kingdom of Heaven will be secured. Today the Unification Church is indeed about to mobilize the whole world.
The first article of the constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven is: You must not violate the original world of the heart. The second article is: You must not abuse the lineage of True Parents. The parents are responsible for connecting all the positions in the family - the position of the grandparents, the position of the parents, the position of the children, and the position of the grandchildren. These positions must be connected as one, centered on true love. You must leave behind a true lineage. If you violate True Parents' lineage, you will perish in the divine judgment. You should absolutely remember that you are the representatives of the True Parents and the second selves of God.
Why was man born? He was born as a precious being who is destined to receive the love of God and the love of his parents; and every man, as an agent of their love, is meant to give that love to one woman. Are you living with this understanding? You must know that you are living in a precarious time and are being given a mission to overcome the destructive forces on Satan's side. Never forget that this is the duty and the responsibility entrusted to every follower of the Unification Church.
The third article of the constitution is that you must not violate human rights. Centered on God's love, all people are brothers and sisters of one family. Those who harm their brothers and sisters or abuse another person's right to participate in true love or to receive the true heritage will be punished by this fundamental law of the universe. You must honor the original rights of man. Do not take advantage of others. We must live based upon this principle.
Food, too, was created for the sake of love. When you eat every day, you should love your food as an precious offering from God's love. If you don't, the food will tremble as you are about to eat it. The molecules in the food will insist they don't want to enter your mouth. They will have a grudge against you. You will find this is true when your spiritual eyes are opened.
I have no shame before the entire nation of Korea. During the time I was working in Pyongyang, before the Korean War broke out, our membership grew to about 100. All the members were very devoted. Later, when I was in Hung Nam prison, some of them came to me in spirit and said, "Father, I have such-and-such a situation now, and I have to leave the family." They couldn't stop crying, but in sorrow they left me. I never forgot them. So after my liberation from prison, while everyone else was rushing to escape to the South, I went back to meet with these members. Many of them, who once testified to me as the Son of God, said to me, "I cannot allow into my house a man who has been in prison."
This left in my heart many unforgettable feelings. Today, however, many of those who once denounced me are back in the Unification Church. The time of the first generation is past, but many of their children have joined the church, and they resemble their parents so closely. Their voices and even the way they walk remind me so much of their deceased parents.
The second generation is superior in quality to the first generation. As soon as I meet them, my heart is easily moved because of the relationship of heart I once established with their parents. In observing this phenomenon, I realized that God is the absolute subject who, once He establishes a relationship of love with someone, is prepared to take upon Himself the great providential task of restoring that person; He never ceases loving him for eternity, no matter what. In order to comfort me as I walked this path, God took upon Himself a huge burden. And when I look at those of the second generation serving silently in the midst of persecution, taking up the cross that others have been reluctant to carry and always willing to go forward, any reason I have to complain just disappears.
What is true never perishes; it keeps growing. Therefore, you have no reason to despair, knowing that there is God, the subject, who will take absolute responsibility for whatever you leave behind for His sake. He will find the people who are willing to inherit the tradition of your commitment and expand it to the world.
You don't need to seek praise and approval from other people nor feel bad because no one appreciates your efforts. Look at a tree that is just about to bring forth new shoots in the spring. Doesn't it look lonesome somehow? Who would imagine that one day this lonely plant will grow to be a towering tree and that many birds will come and make their nests in it? A tree grows silently to maturity, but when the time is ripe, it naturally bears fruit, which the entire universe will then be able to appreciate. If this is true of a humble tree, how much more is it true of men and women, who are laying the foundation of goodness for the future of the world?
You may not have been able to accomplish all the pledges that you made for the fulfillment of God's will; then you must say to your children, "Are you willing to take up the task that I left unaccomplished?" Who can deny that your children will come up to you and, with a heart of tears, pledge before you that they will do it? Therefore, you must always be careful to walk the right path. Never be proud of yourself. The Kingdom of Heaven expands just as I have explained. You must pray that the love of God will dwell in your family. Didn't Jesus also say so? Where there are two or three persons joining their hearts as one, there God dwells. That is where we find the right of the sharing of life, the sharing of the positions, and the sharing of the heritage. The more you give to something, the greater it grows.
If you have the determination to do anything to expand the realm of true love, do not despair if you look like a beggar. I also once lived as a beggar. At other times, I was a physical laborer. I was a peddler, pulling a cart. I lived in the mountains and made charcoal. Why did I do these things? Because I knew it was impossible to love people without understanding the human heart. Working in the factories, I became like a father or an elder brother to the laborers. Furthermore, I met prostitutes on the streets and listened to their stories in my search for a way to liberate them. I came to be where I am today only by resolutely concentrating on the path centered on God's love. If there is anything the Unification Church can be proud of, it is this very fact - that everything I accomplished has been done according to the way of love. You must inherit this tradition and keep on going, wishing every day there were no sunset.
While doing your mission, remember that the Kingdom of Heaven expands only when you carry a fervent heart and a deep desire to give the gift of love to others. Become a person who can always give joy and generate happiness even in a miserable environment. In living and eating together day and night, you should become a friend to the people. A family where the husband and the wife serve one another as they would their elder brothers and sisters will never experience tragedy. I know this well. I am not worried about my children. You should love mankind before you love your own children. Before you love mankind, you must love God. Then, even if you don't have time to take care of your children, the parental love of God, which protects the universe and embraces all mankind, will take care of them. Even without your intervention, your children will grow.
For over 43 years, ever since the liberation of Korea, I have received incredible ridicule and physical suffering; going in and out of various prisons, I was whipped over and over. My body became full of bruises, and I needed a container to receive the blood from the blood blisters I myself opened. Even through this kind of life, I have never once taken extra time to rest in bed. What has been protecting my body? God's love.
One day I met a person on the street who used to be a member. I showed not the slightest sign of embarrassment. I wasn't even thinking about the fact that he had left the church. I was just ready to welcome him whenever he wanted to come back. But he was crying, and he said, "Father, I am so ashamed because I am now like this." His face fell and he couldn't speak. Why was he so miserable? The one who betrays true love cannot maintain his normal posture, due to the natural effect of the cosmic forces. Therefore, those who have left the church have no power to oppose me. I pioneered a path of love that an ordinary person would never dream of. Once you sow the seeds of true love, in time they start to sprout all over the world. For this reason, there is hope for the Unification Church. There is a way to victory.
The number 88 is the number of a new beginning. This year is a new start for both the spiritual world and the physical world. And today is God's Day. I have nothing to be proud of for myself; but I want to be proud of this holy God's Day. No matter how humble my heart is, all those who are open to the spiritual world are compelled to bow their heads before the True Parents. Where does this authority come from? It comes from true love. Knowing all this, centering on this God's Day, you must be resolved to sow the seeds of true love.
Blessed couples here in Korea should return to your hometowns. You must love the people there because they are your Cain-type homes. Beyond your hometown, you must go to at least three villages, three myongs, three dos, and three nations. You must pass through three nations that represent the East, the West, the North, and the South. That will make one complete circle. I too must go back to my own hometown. That is why I founded the Citizens' Federation for the Unification of the Fatherland.
Such a time has come. When you go out with conviction, without hesitation, holding your torch high and advancing forward, the Kingdom will follow you, and you will be given the right to have a victorious heritage. It is possible, if you let God stand right in front. Today is the day of new resolution. Those who pledge to uphold this day as a day to cherish God's principle, grow into people of character, and stand on the front line, please raise your hands. Let us pledge before heaven.