Mother of Peace: Episode 54
Mother of Peace: And God Shall Wipe Away All Tears from Their Eyes
A Memoir by Hak Ja Han Moon
Chapter 9: God’s Kingdom In our Midst, pg 265-269
The path of mutual prosperity
There is a narrow path deep in a forest, barely wide enough for one person to walk along. The one who creates that path sweats profusely, with hands getting scratched while cutting away branches. Thanks to that person, those who come after can walk along the path in comfort. We need to be deeply grateful for the hard work of that first person, and endeavor to make the path wider and more even.
A path through people is harder to create than a path through a forest. Unlike trees that give way to the hatchet, people have their own will. And when something goes against their will, people close their hearts. I shed sweat and tears, trying to open hearts and connect people as one family. I pioneered a path no woman has ever walked, and embraced the world’s peoples in the most precipitous places. I quietly practiced true love for human salvation and world peace in situations from which anyone else would have run away. My forgiveness and embrace have moved enemies to tears.
Now we have ushered in the springtime of the providence. Spring is the busiest time for farmers. They must do their utmost to ensure an abundant harvest in the fall. In this providential spring, we need to construct the original world that God planned to realize from the beginning. We can receive the marriage Blessing and share it with our family and tribe. Then we can work together as veritable messiahs to transform our nation. Such is Heaven’s decree.
No matter how difficult our work, we need to complete the providence and reveal the truth. When we fulfill our responsibility, following God as sunflowers follow the sun, we will surely realize Heavenly Parent’s dream and humanity’s hope. The question is whether we will be able to achieve that while I am on earth. If we do, we will stand proud and tall in front of our descendants and all generations to come. There has never been such an opportunity. No matter how young or old you are, you are living in the same era as the only begotten Daughter. This is your golden age. Be grateful and do not miss this time.
We cannot let the world be ignorant of the coming of True Parents and the blessings and grace of God. We must guide all people to attend Heaven. Those who live in the kingdom of heaven on earth can go to the kingdom of heaven in heaven. We have one goal and one path, the path by which we can become God’s proud sons and daughters. We need to lead lives such that God can embrace us and say, “Well done, my daughter! Well done, my son!” We need to realize in our hearts that this is the golden age.
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True Parents’ guiding life philosophy is “live for the sake of others.” Wherever I may go, I practice living for the sake of others. I always try to love people more than their own parents or siblings do. People tend to keep the best things for themselves and give things of lesser value to others, even in the relationship with their own parents. If you pursue only personal gain, chains of addiction and greed will tie you down. If you constantly put others first and live for their sake, you are on the path to eternal freedom and blessing.
When I see people in need, I give them whatever I have. A world where everyone gives their best things to others is a world of joy. This is my life philosophy. People who live only for themselves will soon hit a wall. You need to live your life with love and generosity.
Many people suppose that Father and Mother Moon are wealthy. The truth is, we have never owned a house, a car, anything. I am sure no one has been as thrifty as my husband and I. How can we possibly eat good food and sleep in comfort while knowing that missionaries are working through the night at home and abroad? We direct that all donations from church members be used for the poor through building schools and other projects.
We have established businesses around the world—fisheries, machine tool plants, pharmaceutical companies, newspapers, hotels, and more. Just in Africa, our members built schools in Senegal, Mozambique and Zambia; a school for the handicapped in Lagos, Nigeria; an orphanage in Natitingou, Northern Benin Republic; clinics in Cotonou, Benin and Nigeria Cross River State; a sausage factory in Lusaka, Zambia; a hamburger franchise in Côte d’Ivoire; an agricultural school and a food processing factory in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and a farm in Lusaka, Zambia. We never focused on making a profit; our movement’s investment was to benefit the host nations, create jobs and improve society. We endured hunger because we knew there were people who were hungrier. We should not be indebted to Heaven. People who follow the providential path while coveting material things violate heavenly law and bring sorrow to their parents.
Life is like running a marathon without knowing when it will end. A truly successful life is not powered by money, position or authority; it is powered by true love. True love is a mother breastfeeding when she is going hungry. That is the greatest love of all. Love is why we are here, how we should live, and where we are going. No matter the difficulties we face, the answer is to practice absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience.
If you reflect on God’s heart, you will recognize that the hardships and suffering that you may be going through are nothing compared to His. We have to repent before God. You did not bring yourself into the world. Your life is a gift from God. His will for us is that we make our lives beautiful and worthwhile. When we believe in our hearts that we are here for our children and family, for our spouse, as well as for all humanity and the entire world, we will find happiness.
In all of this, your heart is your closest teacher. In the face of difficulty or confusion, ask your heart. Your Heavenly Parent who loves you resides deep in your heart. You are designed to hear God’s true voice. We all need to hone our ability to hear the true voice of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother in our hearts. Your heart is your eternal guardian. Heartfelt prayer is the only passageway to God. Through such true prayer, you will receive the grace of God and True Parents in even the most destitute and difficult place. The helping hand of that grace leads us on the free and happy path to the kingdom of heaven.
The way of rebirth and resurrection
Don’t you miss the sea? In the course of your daily life, don’t you sometimes get the urge to rush to the beach and jump into the blue ocean? The sea is the symbol of the mother and the icon of motherhood. The deep sea is like a mother’s bosom. That’s where we want to be.
When people stand in front of Niagara Falls in North America or the Iguazú Falls in South America, they cannot hide their amazement and awe. Some turn speechless, overwhelmed by the majestic vista. How did these magnificent waterfalls come to be? They are the unification of innumerable streams, large and small. By the law of nature, small streams flow into greater ones. Streams and rivers start at different places but have the same destination, one great ocean.
A stream that refuses to flow simply dies. In the same way, religions that only cling to their own doctrines and refuse to unite with others die spiritually and eventually dry up. A religious teaching that explains God’s original nature must now emerge.
When God created us, His fundamental purpose was to enjoy a parent-child relationship of love with us. We are the children of parents, ultimately of our Heavenly Parent. Nonetheless, the original sin separated us from our Heavenly Parent, God. We need to pray about and study what happened. God raised up the people of Israel over the long course of 4,000 biblical years. On that foundation, not just of 400 years but of 4,000 years, He sent His first Son, Jesus, of whom He could say, “This is my only begotten Son.” Nonetheless, Jesus’ family and the people of Israel could not fulfill their responsibility. Not only his family but even his disciples turned their backs; no one was ready to give their life for him. Only a thief on the cross to his right, as he faced death, testified to Jesus. No one on this earth, not even Christian believers, understood the pathos of Jesus’ history.
Jesus is God’s mediator, sent as our True Parent, to give rebirth and resurrection and guide us to become God’s true children. History records 2,000 years of human suffering since the cross, and it came because those to whom Jesus was sent did not attend him. But who suffered the most? Our Heavenly Parent feels everything we are going through a thousand times more intensely than we do. When children suffer, parents suffer more.
FFWPU, USA