224. The Model Family: A Family of Three Generations

Book 2: A Model for the Family Ideal and World Peace
Part 2: The Path to Exemplary Families and Global Harmony
Chapter 9: The Model Family: A Family of Three Generations

This speech was given by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon at the congratulatory luncheon for True Parents' Birthday and the Universal Peace Federation's 1st Global Assembly, held on February 3, 2006 at the CheongPyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center in Korea.

Distinguished world leaders, ladies and gentlemen,

Distinguished guests from Korea and around the world who participated in yesterday's international Proclamation Rally for the Era of the Peace Kingdom in Heaven and on Earth! We have gathered here today for a dinner to convey our appreciation to you for making yesterday's rally a great success and also so that you can share with my husband and me in celebrating our birthdays.

Ladies and gentlemen,

During yesterday's rally my husband spoke based on the theme of a model, ideal family. In the East there is a saying: ''All is well if there is harmony within the family.” This is a beautiful statement. When we talk about a home, we also talk about the people who live there. This would include every member of the family, from the grandparents to parents, young couples and children. But actually there is more to it than meets the eye.

A home is actually a microcosm of the whole creation. A home would include the family members, beginning with the grandparents; it also would include the house they live in, the lawn and the environment that surrounds that house, enabling it to breathe and have life. Everybody in that house should be joyful and live in happiness. A true home cannot be a place where people and the environment are in disharmony. That would be something that only looks like a home on the surface. 

A home as desired by Heaven would be one where the entire household is beaming in harmony and filled with the merry laughter of the wrinkled but joyous grandfather and grandmother; it would be a place filled with the laughter of the grandchildren, echoing prayers of hope that express the promise of the future. The seemingly slow gestures of the grandfather reflect something broad, deep, high and vast. A home should be a place where one can hear God's joy in the hearty laughter of the grandfather. A harmonious melody should flow out from the hem of the thoughtful grandmother's skirt, and the nobility of the heavenly way should be living and breathing in the focused gaze of the ever-busy father and mother.

In alignment with the principles through which God created, the family consists of three levels of upper, middle and lower: the grandparents, parents and children. All three levels are necessary to create harmony in the family.

Normally three points are needed in order to create harmony. Two points would only constitute a line. You cannot discuss harmony based on just a straight line. Harmony can be created only when three or more points are connected together. 

By the same token, there are three levels in a household. When three generations live together in harmony as one, that household takes on a form of a true family, which Heaven desires. In this family the grandfather, grandmother, father and mother would take the top position, you as young couples would take the center position, and below you your sons and daughters would find their places. Living together with your grandparents and parents gives you the opportunity to take care of and show love to your elders.

Then how is it that harmony in the family becomes the root of success in all things? The family is a microcosm of the society, nation, world and, further, the universe. That was how God created it. People were created to spend the first years of their lives in a family in which they receive true love. Harmony in the family is possible only when all the members of the family are engaged in giving and receiving true love.

Only when all angles in the relationships within the family—from the east, west, south, north, upper, lower, left, right, front and back—are positioned for joy and harmony, can you succeed in all the endeavors you pursue in the community. How can you expect to find joy and reasonable success in your work or at school if your family, which is the root and starting point of everything, is suffering from discord and conflict?

Ladies and gentlemen: The shortcut to fulfilling God's Will lies in building harmony in the family. Children who grow up and are properly educated in a wholesome family will become the elite forces who can fulfill Heaven's Will. When three generations—the grandparents, parents and children—join in true love and harmonize into oneness, a garden of true harmony finally can be established in that family. 

Brief as it was, during your stay here in Korea you all have studied the Divine Principle, which came from Heaven as the wisdom that will save humankind in this age. You also have had long discussions on the purpose and significance of the ''Abel-type'' UN. Among the six billion people on earth, you have been chosen. As you now return to your homes, please do not forget the responsibility that has been given to you from Heaven. I ask that you do everything you can to build the eternal peace kingdom on earth through the true family movement.

When you return home, please do so with joy and hope in your heart. We shall succeed. Heaven's peace ambassadors and secret envoys like you are now taking a stand in all parts of the world. The True Parents, the king and queen of peace of the Peace Kingdom in heaven and on earth, will guide you. Your good ancestors, who number in the billions, will descend from the spirit world and watch your every word and action with blazing eyes. Please return to your countries with abundant heavenly fortune.

I pray that God's blessing will be with you and your nations.

Thank you very much.