Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 349
Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 11: Ceremonies and Holy Days
Chapter 4: The Daily Life of Blessed Families
Section 1: The Proper Conduct for Blessed Families, 01-10
CHAPTER 4 The Daily Life of Blessed Families
Section 1. Proper Conduct for Blessed Families
(1) We need to live a life of attendance to the True Parents such that we are always prepared to offer them something. Although every day we wait for them with a heart of attendance, we know they cannot come to visit. Therefore, we should yearn to receive Heaven's sons and daughters in our home in their stead. From morning till night, we should make preparations to receive these beloved children. Heaven will bless those who follow this lifestyle. Korean noblemen in the past used to prepare a comfortable guest room in the annex off of the main house and invite travelers to stay there overnight. This custom was unique to Korea. This implementation of heavenly conduct in the history of Satan's world also symbolically demonstrated in advance our proper attitude of attendance.
Proper conduct in the family
(2) We've been living and speaking carelessly in our family life, but from now on, we should establish rules in the family. Parents should not beat their children in anger. They should not berate them with curse words as are commonly spoken in the world. We all must now become as one body. Our words, our attitude, and our way of life should be as members of one body, with God as the center.
(3) The family of the firstborn son in a clan can thrive when the members of his family willingly accept the traditional family laws and propriety passed down from their ancestors and practice them. If any of them have the attitude, "Those rules have nothing to do with me," he or she can't be the offspring of that family. Especially the firstborn son cannot be the heir of the family, even though he was born as its eldest son. We, on the other hand, have to become descendants who surpass all our ancestors and succeed in accomplishing countless responsibilities. Unification Church members must become such descendants.
(4) In the past, when the family of a loyal subject of the king acquired something valuable, the head of the family would offer it first to the king of the nation. That was a loyal subject’s way of life in Korea. From that perspective, Korean propriety reflects the central norms of the heavenly kingdom, which cannot be found in any other nation. Confucianists follow the teachings of Confucius, and quite a few proprieties prescribed in Confucian teachings are close to heavenly law. You should educate your children to conduct an offering ceremony for you in the future when you pass away. Norms and rituals for holding a funeral based on the Principle have not yet been established. However, once the rules of propriety are established, you should not live a casual life, doing things as you please. From now on, you should believe that God is always with you in every situation. With that faith, you should be able to cultivate the life force that will enable you to grow, sinking deep roots so you can overcome any obstacle in any situation, no matter what kind of storm arises.
(5) When something good happens in their life, people of filial piety think of their parents first. In the fallen world, people typically think of their spouse first. However, you should not buy something of value for your spouse unless you have first offered something precious to your parents. A husband should first buy clothes for his parents before doing so for his wife. Furthermore, until the husband has a chance to offer clothes to his parents, his wife should not say, "I like this dress; buy it for me if you love me." Moreover, a husband should first purchase clothes for his parents and for his wife before he buys any for himself. It is the same with food. Whether husband or wife, they must offer food to their parents first, then to their spouse, and should sit down for meals together with their parents.
(6) Your family should not get accustomed to worldly habits. Nor should you think, "Although things are bad now, they will get better in the future." You must make things perfect now. The issue is the present. When the past and the present are perfect, the future also will be perfect. The fact that there has never been even one perfect day, such as existed in the garden of Eden, is evidence of the Fall. The ideal place is where the past, the present, and the future are in accord. Hence, you should be able to offer the present moment. God desires to see whether you can establish eternal stepping-stones on earth now. Now is the culminating point of history.
(7) The time is coming when new laws will be enacted, and the most serious among them will be those regarding violations of love. If you committed such infractions in the past, now is the time to sincerely repent. Every time you listen to the Principle, you must feel mortified. You should feel angry with yourself and bitterly ashamed of your transgressions. You should exclaim, "I already feel so bitterly distraught that I'm a descendant of the Fall; on top of that, I repeated it too!" You should feel deeply repentant, saying, "God, if You will only forgive me, I will never be able to express enough gratitude." The moment you commit the sin of violating love, it will be hopeless for your ancestors.
(8) One mind, one body, one thought, and oneness in harmony! After that, we have true love, true life, and true lineage to build a true family. Until we reach harmony and oneness in mind and body, we shouldn't have a partner. The four-position foundation is fulfilled only when a man and a woman, who were created from the separation of God's dual characteristics, unite and give birth to children. This is an ironclad principle. It is not a theory I cleverly fabricated on my own. We must understand that the four-position foundation is Heaven's law. It is the structure of the spirit world as well. If you don't meet what it requires, problems will arise. The law of love must remain absolute, unique, unchanging, and eternal even after hundreds of millions of years. When we recognize that the universe exists within the realm of the ideal partnership of love, we can understand that our love also must be absolute, unique, unchanging, and eternal. Only then can we stand without shame before the entire universe. Then we can be confident and have the conviction that the universe will attend us and our families as its owners.
(9) You have family members, so you should become people who can share love as brothers and sisters and support one another. You should become the model members of your family. And as members of the Unification Church, you should become men and women who can be recognized by all members of the church. From now on, we should cut off what needs to be cut off and separate from what we need to separate from. You should not just live as you please. The Unification Church must establish the kingdom of heaven. Hence, rather than merely recovering ourselves, we have to recover the family. Those who can't become exemplary in their family life will be accused by the world, even by the cosmos.
(10) The value of the Blessing can be recognized only when you fulfill your responsibility. Therefore, you blessed members should not speak offensively, in the worldly way. There should be something different about you. The family is a small church. Hence, your family should be, as the agency of God, a family that God would like to visit. At least three families must totally unite as one family. What I would like to say in particular is, first, that your family should be one that many people visit. Harmony among people is most important. Second, Heaven's families should build solidarity with one another. At the very least, the families in your Blessing trinity should be completely united with one another.
FFWPU, USA