Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 465
Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 14: True Parents’ Prayers
Chapter 8: Life of Faith and Training
Prayer 4: Please allow us to race toward a new life
Prayer 5: Please grant that we may become true sons and daughters of filial piety
Prayer 4: Please allow us to race toward a new life
Father, I understand that the original, ideal world of creation that You envisioned is a place radiant with happiness, where true children and families resonating with Your love can share joy and be in harmony with all creation. Due to the Fall, however, the original world, the land of the original hometown, remained a nebulous wish for humanity. When I think about this, I can only lament.
Due to the mistake of the first human ancestors, countless numbers of their descendants were abused during the long course of history and have stumbled along the path of restoration. That path compelled them to walk while being constantly tormented; it was a path of tears, a path of blood, and a path of death. When we think about this, Father, we are once again poignantly reminded that history has been a wearisome and mournful odyssey.
Due to the Fall, we lost our Father, we lost our original homeland, and we lost our True Parents. We lost the original, true, and ideal family, tribe, nation, world, and cosmos. We lost everything. Centered on You, Father, the world under Your authority should have been realized within an environment of genuine freedom. However, because we collided with the sad misfortune we call the Fall, we have become children with no ties whatsoever to You or to the world of Your ideal.
Father, You are our Lord but were unable to become our Lord in substance. Instead, we bore the lineage of Satan, Your enemy, and were dragged downward into the realm of darkness controlled by the devil. When we think about this, we are once again reminded of how terrible it was for You. It was Your wish, Father, and the wish of all true people to be rid of Satan, who has been the enemy throughout the ages on this earth and in the spirit world where countless spirits reside. At this hour, we should keep this in mind.
Father, we are unable to perceive how much of Satan's authority and power remains in our daily life. As we live each hour, as we live each day, even now, we are unable to feel how much of Satan's influence and authority has infiltrated our life. Father, such has been our life of faith.
The principles of the heavenly way dictate that no one can advance before the Father's presence without eradicating that which has been corrupted. The more we think about this, the more we are reminded that we are in a wretched and pitiable position, where we can only cry out to You, Father, from a path of tears, longing for the caress of Your salvation. Father, You know very well the circumstances in which we are mired. Father, I sincerely pray and wish that You will take pity on us. Once again, protect us on the path that we take, purify our surroundings, and separate us from Satan's realm.
Father, our mind and body cannot enter into a direct relationship with You. We know that the root of sin by which Satan can control us still remains within us. We are unable to carry out the goodness that our mind desires and instead find ourselves enjoying the acts of evil that we do not desire. Father, I sincerely pray and hope that You will forgive us for being unable to extricate ourselves from that kind of life.
By having faith in the Father's love and His authority over life and resurrection, we have, until now, maintained the conditions to be connected to the realm of love, the realm of resurrection, and the realm of life of the Father who takes pity on us. I offer thanks when I think about how You, Father, have not abandoned us but have embraced, defended, and protected us to this day, nurturing us in order to spread Your Will for the providence of restoration. Now we know the battlefield of restoration and realize that we belong to the grace of life. Thus, Father, I sincerely pray that You will understand us, Your children, who are gathered here in this place.
During the course of our life and also the course of our resurrection, we should cut ourselves off from Satan. We clearly understand that we cannot become the citizens of heaven without uniting with You, Father, so that our daily life conforms to Your Will. Thus, please permit Your children gathered here to offer You their mind and body and race toward a new way of life. At this hour, Father, I sincerely pray and hope that You will permit us to become a group of people who can renew their determination in Your presence.
Father, I sincerely pray and hope that You will observe all the details of our circumstances and permit this to be a time when we can say, "Please urge us on once again, so that from now on we can, of our own accord, clarify our position in front of Your Will. Please urge us to make a firm resolution regarding the direction we need to take, the responsibility we need to fulfill, and our mission."
Today is the Sabbath. I know that the lonely children who are scattered throughout South Korea are on their knees in prayer facing this location. I pray that this hour can be a sacred one in which You can personally be with each of them wherever they are gathered. I pray that all their cries and appeals will not fall to the earth but will move Your heart, Father, so that they can inherit the motivation behind Your works. Father, I sincerely pray and hope that You will permit them to become Your true sons and daughters who are capable of fulfilling their mission as people in charge of conquering Satan on the earth by upholding Your Will.
I sincerely pray that You will permit us to become a group of people through whom You can bring an end to restoration through indemnity and realize the ideal world of Your desire. Please permit us to become children in whom You can take pride. Beloved Father, I sincerely request that You personally oversee and take charge of everything at this time. All this I pray in the holy name of True Parents. Aju! (January 7, 1968)
Prayer 5: Please grant that we may become true sons and daughters of filial piety
Oh, Father, who created the universe! Please allow us to realize deeply at this time how earnestly You have longed for the day when You could share Your glory with all creation.
You created Adam and Eve and raised them in Your embrace. By having them begin a life of eternal love, You sought to establish a blessed land for all humanity. We realize once again that You are the Father who hoped to find joy through Adam and Eve as they grew up. We now also realize once again that You, who had such an earnest hope, lost Adam and Eve and have had to face a time of sorrow instead.
Father! On this earth, there are many nations and peoples. They have had separate histories, and their living circumstances and hopes are different. When we consider again that this is contrary to Your original Will, we come to understand that the separation of these histories is Your grief, the separation in circumstances is Your grief, and the separation in hopes is also Your grief. When we think of the human reality, Father, we know that it is retribution for the Fall.
The past had to come from You, the present must come from You, and the future must form a connection with Your ideal. But today, people are living the tragic reality of not having a common base for relationships, nor a common living environment, nor a common worldview. Please allow us to hear once again in our minds the ghastly screams and groans of all human beings, who are living in a chaotic place where things are going in the wrong direction, where each person's position contradicts that of others. Please allow us to contemplate this together with Your heart, Father, to feel Your heart, and to become aware of the mistakes of the past.
Father! You need to have sons and daughters weeping tears of sincere repentance and pleading You to allow humanity to have hope that is blessed by You. But the more we feel we have been unable to do this, the more unable we are to raise our heads before You.
Today, there are many religions and churches moving toward a common goal, but we know there are not many humbly bowing down before You while weeping over the mournful path You have had to go and over the sorrow of the ghastly judgment humankind must receive. The pitiable people who have gathered here today have continuously trodden a path of anguish. They are Your sons and daughters who have continued fighting up to the present while embracing the command You have given them, their tired footsteps having led them to this place today. Please remember them.
Please permit this hour to be one in which we can repent of our sins of the past that linger into the present. Let us do this before we desire to receive blessings during this year. Since this people was unable to do this, we earnestly hope and pray, beloved Father, that You will let this be a time for us to repent with tears before You as representatives of this pitiable thirty million people of Korea, as representatives of the many denominations, and as representatives of innumerable devout believers.
Now we want to become the sons and daughters who can hold onto Your care-worn hands, feeling concern about Your situation. We want to become the true sons and daughters who can look at Your anxious expression and Your grief-stricken appearance, rush toward You, calling "Father!", put our arms around Your neck, and weep loudly. However, if we do not have the heart to do so, we sincerely hope and pray, our Father of love, that You will let this be a time for us to tell You truthfully of our own accord that we are sinners, and yet be embraced in Your compassionate bosom.
We know that this path of life is one that we need to walk while making atonement with tears. We know only too well that since You, our Father, have walked this path, we, as Your sons and daughters, also need to do so. This was our lot last year and the year before that. We have endured and remain to this day, so please remember us. Now that we have ushered in the new year, please guide us to become Your children who can tighten our belts once again, trim our hair short, equip ourselves with a new fighting spirit and heavenly armaments, and race out in obedience to Your commands.
Father! We do not want to be people who just follow. We earnestly hope and pray that You will let us become people who emerge as the vanguard in front of You, in front of this people, and in front of humanity. Since it is Your deep regret that You have had to labor for many years in sadness, and since it is Your deep regret that many people became traitors to Heaven, we know very well that it is up to us to shoulder the cross of Heaven that is burdened with all these years of sorrow and all these tales of grief. We sincerely hope and desire that You will let us become Your sons and daughters who can now take responsibility for that burden and feel joyful, of our own accord, in being offered as the heavenly sacrifice for all created things in this universe.
At this time, we will report to You honestly about everything in our past and hope that, on the basis of our pure and clear heart, only our yearning and our adoration for our Father will fill our being.
We earnestly hope and pray, Father, that You will permit us to become true filial sons and true filial daughters who can serve You with devotion, regardless of the condition and the circumstances You are in.
At this time, as we welcome this new year, we know there are many people in lonely places facing toward this Seoul headquarters and praying with tears. Please give them hope. Please, Father, do not defer the day of hope that they are wishing for. We earnestly desire and pray that You will let them feel the grief of this Korean people, that You will let them become those who can surmount and go beyond the sinful history of this people, and that You will guide them under Your direct dominion.
We know You are listening intently to the contents of the appeals we make as we continue to persevere, and we know very well that You protect us when we are lonely and miserable. We know that You reside there with us when we are persecuted and under duress. Since You do so, Father, please take control of each of our circumstances. We cannot express how sad we have made You. We sincerely hope and desire, Father, that You will enable us to avoid adding to Your sorrow this year.
We sincerely hope that, at this time, You will let each and every one of us have earnest hearts, gathering and dedicating our sincere devotion to You, prostrating ourselves with humility, calling out to You, and weeping endlessly in Your embrace.
The Father we have been seeking has not been anyone else's Father. Since we know that You are our Father, we earnestly hope and pray that You will once again embrace in Your bosom these sorrowful children, who are standing on the destined road of restoration where they need to create a bond with You, Father.
I now stand before these people on this first Sabbath day of the new year, but what words should I speak to them? Please allow the heart of the one who conveys and the heart of the one who receives to unite. We hope that You will appear in our midst together with the power of creation. Please let this altar be one on which our hearts can be joined and offered as a single sacrifice, and please allow this hour to be one during which we can make an offering of the incense of atonement as representatives of all people.
We beseech You, Father, to let us shed tears on behalf of all people and on Your behalf, and that You will make this a time when You can come and lay bare Your aching heart. Please let the glory and victory of all generations be with us during this year. Let them be with this people, with all humankind, and with all spirits. Earnestly requesting this, we humbly pray all these things in the name of the Lord. Aju! (January 2, 1966)
FFWPU, USA