Hak Ja Han
October 27, 2012
M Resort and Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada HC 9.13
Women's Federation for World Peace's Twentieth Anniversary National Assembly
Mother and Sun Jin nim cut a twentieth anniversary cake at the WFWP national assembly, just before True Mother came to the podium to speak.
Distinguished guests from around the world, peace leaders and women representatives from all fifty states of America! Dear members of the Women's Federation for World Peace USA, and WFWP International. My husband, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, who has ascended to the spirit world, and I, would like to extend our sincere welcome to you for coming to Las Vegas to attend this historic WFWP USA Turning Point Assembly for the "Abel Women UN." We are gathered here to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Women's Federation for World Peace in the United States.
First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the seven million caring leaders and citizens from 194 nations who sent their great love and respect to me upon the passing of Rev. Moon. Thank you to all who visited the prepared altars around the world to offer condolences.
Rev. Moon came to earth as the True Parent of humankind, and proclaimed throughout his life, the vision of an ideal world that was God's purpose at the Creation. He devoted all his effort, often at the risk of his life, to promote a peaceful world where conflict and war could no longer exist.
This past July 16, after completing a busy schedule in America, Reverend Moon and I returned to Korea which we have proclaimed the providential homeland of God. Immediately upon our arrival, we held the inaugural rally for the "Abel Women UN" -- an organization led by women that will play an active role in building a peaceful world in this new era.
The event was attended by 25,000 people at the World Peace Center in Chung Pyung, Korea. Among them were woman leaders representing 194 nations.
Beloved woman leaders, that was the last providential event on earth that Rev. Moon hosted. About fifty days later, he put the providence on earth in order, and then prayed the words, "I have completed everything." Soon afterward, he passed into the heavenly realm. In the Korean language, this transition is called the Seonghwa, which means "ascension of peace and harmony."
Women from all different backgrounds participated in the Women's Federation for World Peace's (WFWP) "The Turning Point" Twentieth Anniversary National Assembly.
Creation of the Abel Women UN
Beloved woman leaders from around the world, we now carry the heavy responsibility to complete the providential mission of the "Abel Women UN," which is the final organization that Rev. Moon and I created together.
Let me explain what I mean by the term, "Abel Women UN." As you may be aware, people who endured unbearable suffering all over the world in the aftermath of the catastrophic Second World War, founded the United Nations with a deep yearning for peace based on the viewpoint that war must never be waged again. This was in accordance with God's will.
However, what is the reality today? In the almost seventy years of the United Nations existence, it has been unable to prevent the outbreak of war, including the Korean War. Although the Cold War has ended, the world is still not free from the threat of war. There are still conflicts large and small which stem from divisions between rich and poor, different races, and people of different faiths. Despite the original intention of its founding mission to maintain global peace, the UN has seen repeated breakdown in its efforts to attain that noble goal.
At the time of the inauguration of the UN, there was a compromise negotiated between the U. S. and the former Soviet Union, rendered by the confrontational structure of the Cold War. As a result, the UN was limited in its ability to bring about a lasting world peace sufficient to transcend the interests of individual nations.
This is why we have proclaimed that, from the viewpoint of God's Will, the UN has been unable to emerge from the position of "Cain" -- representing a secular view of life from which the heart of God is missing. We now emphasize that the re-creation of an Abel United Nations that recognizes God, is an absolutely critical step toward building a world of lasting peace. Unending peace for humankind is what God envisioned at the time of the Creation.
Respected women of peace! The United Nations has struck a brick wall and is unable to move beyond merely attempting to balance the self-interests of its individual nations. Until now we have depended on government organizations, created by men, to bring about global peace. To surmount the limitations of their efforts, I believe that a peace movement of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), guided by women, should take root as the cornerstone of a new system that can resolve problems arising with respect to world peace.
Such a dynamic women's peace movement can only be realized through global cooperation that goes beyond the NGO level. It is our sincere hope that the launch of the Abel Women UN can establish itself as a starting point in society, with the new leadership paradigm of the Global Women's Peace Network (GWPN).
Sun Jin nim read True Mother's speech on her behalf at the Las Vegas event on October 2 7; Other members of the True Family were there to offer their full support.
A New Women's Peace Movement
Looking back, today's historic Abel Women UN assembly actually began in 1992 with the establishment of the Women's Federation for World Peace, which the Reverend Sun Myung Moon and I jointly founded as a central organization for a new women's peace movement. With the declaration of "the advent of the global era of women," by Rev. Moon, WFWP was inaugurated on April 10, 1992, at Olympic Stadium in Seoul, in accordance with the Will of Heaven. That inaugural event was attended by women representatives from some 70 nations plus 150,000 Korean women.
The goal of WFWP was not to become another secular women's organization. It does not aim to be an external, political, or combative women's rights movement targeting the misdeeds of men. Nor does it exist just to advocate the expansion of women's rights, gender equality and the women's labor movement. Rather, it is a global peace movement on an entirely new level with the providential significance of realizing the ideal world that was God's vision at the time of Creation.
WFWP was inaugurated in an historic moment of providential significance, and has engaged in diverse activities over the past twenty years, geared to realizing the vision and ideals of pure love, happy families, and a peaceful world that transcends the barriers of race, religion, language, and national boundaries. This has been carried out in the spirit of Rev. Moon's founding message, which urged us to expand a model movement of true love to the whole world based on living for the sake of others.
WFWP is an organization compelled by maternal love. We have achieved remarkable growth and development through promoting the establishment of families centered on true love. Its extensive educational programs and worldwide volunteer activities are aimed at elevating the status of women. These activities have contributed to the alleviation of international conflicts and excelled at promoting reconciliation.
In September 1993, after only one year of active service, I was invited to give an Address at the UN headquarters in New York; and then, after three years of sincere investment and hard work, the Women's Federation for World Peace was approved by the United Nations Economic and Social Council as an NGO in General Consultative Status, which is the highest status given to an NGO by the United Nations. Since then, our status has been approved continuously at the reevaluations held every four years. I am confident to say that these reviews reveal and endorse our true value, based on our activities and achievements. Among the more than 3,500 NGOs affiliated with the UN, only 140 have received the General Consultative Status that WFWP has achieved.
Substantial Efforts to Build Peace
Congratulatory remarks were made by a State of Nevada government official, Gayle Anderson (left) and a state representative, Sheila Jones (center) Mrs. Lan-young Moon, president of the WFWP International (right) introduced True Mother.
Our WFWP Women's Conference for Peace in the Middle East has been held every year since 1997. It has attracted much interest and participation from woman leaders of more than twenty nations from the Middle East. It has now expanded and given birth to more concrete activities in the field, which I am glad to be able to report.
For example, this year WFWP sponsored the sixteenth annual Middle East Conference, which was held as a session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations Office in Geneva. That conference, entitled "Children affected by conflict and disaster: Prevention, protection, healing and empowerment" was attended by woman leaders from eighteen nations of the Middle East, and also by diplomatic officials, UN ambassadors to Geneva, representatives from UN agencies and global NGOs from around the world. These 180 or so participants came together to discuss this very severe issue of children's protection. The women gathered came to many serious conclusions, and resolved to apply solutions in the field, and to reconvene with their results and findings.
Today each of the WFWP chapters around the world is actively conducting relief aid work to address problems caused by natural calamities and poverty in various parts of our global village. One outstanding program is the "1% Love Share Project" which helps women and children in North Korea. Their slogan, "Let us share a little of what we have," has helped to reach so many people and, I am happy to tell you they have achieved wonderful results.
From the founding of WFWP, and reaching the highest status as an NGO in consultative status under the UN, our members have never lost their vision for a loving and safe world, and have quietly pioneered the path of a women's peace movement with an unwavering heart. WFWP stands at the center of a new women's movement for world peace, continuing to emerge fresh and vibrant with the power to heal.
At this time, I would like to request a big round of applause to express our infinite gratitude to these woman leaders all over the world who have never held back in their encouragement and participation.
However, WFWP must not remain at its current level. It must now develop to the next level by working in common cause and cooperation with woman leaders and NGOs from all parts of the world, to serve greater numbers of women and families in smaller and more remote parts of the world.
WFWP should go beyond the level of a women's NGO, and bring together governments, organizations and individuals from every country to forge a unified international effort modeling the ideal of the Abel Women UN by utilizing the Global Women Peace Network. Let's work together to bring this about, and in fact, it is God's absolute decree.
The theme of this year's WFWP assembly, which drew hundreds of participants from the U. S. and overseas, was "The Turning Point," and in fact people did testify to the transformational atmosphere of the event.
Foundation Day is Just Ahead!
In giving my sincere congratulations and encouragement to the excellent women here today, I would like to declare the launch of the United States Assembly for the Abel Women UN.
As we usher in an age of universal and historic revolutionary change, I would like to emphasize the shining truth that women make up half the world's population. Let us now become aware of our historic mission to expand the scope of our activities to all regions of the world.
Beloved woman leaders who seek peace! What is the path that humankind should take today? In the end, the problems afflicting humanity can only be resolved through the logic of love and the understanding that we are all one family under God. This is the teaching of true love with God at the center that my husband and I, as the True Parents, received from Heaven. We have championed and taught this precious truth throughout our lives. This ideal represents the path that will lead humanity to a world of everlasting peace and happiness.
This is a historic time of a great cosmic revolution in which we must change history. We must harmonize the spiritual and physical worlds and create the ideal kingdom of heaven that God has longed for since the beginning of time. We can no longer postpone or delay it. Heaven has already proclaimed that the thirteenth day of the first lunar-calendar month in 2013 will be Foundation Day.
Therefore, it is now time for all people to be humbly obedient to Heaven's decree. I hope you will bear in mind today, that this fateful date of Foundation Day is approaching and that we need to devote ourselves completely with a commitment of intense sincerity until that day comes. Let us go forward together, following the guidance of True Father, the King of Peace, and Savior of Humanity, who now presides over God's Providence from the heavenly realm, and that of True Mother here on earth!
Beloved woman leaders! The course for humanity is set. Now that we have the upcoming Foundation Day, which heaven has given us through the True Parents, what reason is there to hesitate? We now have less than four months to go. Heaven will bless your endeavors to establish a world of peace through the leadership of the Abel Women's UN.
I would like to reemphasize that the priority of the Abel Women's UN is to create a true family movement that emphasizes "living for the sake of others," based on true love, and is carried out in conjunction with education focused on principled true family values.
A Bridge of Peace Ceremony, with its focus on reconciliation, was conducted during the anniversary celebrations.
Women as a Turning Point
Beloved leaders! We women were not put on earth merely to help, or to be protected by, men. We are independent individuals who, as representatives of the feminine aspect of God's nature, are meant to help men become more complete.
Through true love, women are to be men's precious partners in love. Men and women are absolutely equal in terms of value.
Men and women who unite through the true love that is inherent in the original ideal share the same position and have equal worth. Also, they attain the right to be with each other, wherever they may be. Thus, a man and woman who are brought into oneness through the original love in God's ideal of true love have been created as equal beings, sharing not only the same status and the right of participation, but also their possessions with each other.
Men and women do not need to struggle with each other, because they do not need to imitate the characteristics, dispositions or roles of the other. It is not necessary to confront, compete or covet the things of the other, or take them by force. Instead, by giving what one has to the other, with true love, and by completing the other, they can become united as a greater whole and share in a relationship of joint ownership.
Now women and men should play a major role in world history, by serving alongside each other like the wheels of a great engine pulling the construction of a peaceful world forward. Today I invite women to accept an important role and become the turning point in building a new century characterized by a loving, peaceful culture.
I sincerely ask you to follow the path of a true mother, the path of a true wife, the path of a true daughter and true sister, and the path of a true woman leader, who will build a unified world where freedom, peace, and happiness overflow. Begin in your family your church, your community.
Rev. Moon always urged us to live without casting any shadow, which he called a "life set at high noon." If every one of us lives like a brightly shining lamp, no shadows will be cast. No places of darkness will be created. If we only receive things, they become our debts. Please repay your debts by living a life of true love, of living for others, spreading light throughout the world and wiping away the tears of those less fortunate.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am grateful to you for listening closely to me today. I pray that God's blessing will be with you, with your families and with your work.
Thank you.