A New Era for the Establishment of the Cheon Il Guk Environment

Greetings! To all of you from Cheon Mu Won and affiliated institutions of Heavenly Parent’s Holy Community, to President Hwangbo Guk and the Vice Presidents (Senior Vice President Kim Young-seok, Vice President Park Young-bae, and Vice President Kim Go-eun), thank you so much for being present with us today.

On 5.1 by the heavenly calendar last year, True Mother established Cheon Mu Won, and today marks the first anniversary. People often say “time passes like a spinning lantern,” but looking back on this past year, it seems difficult to agree with that expression. I think the time of Cheon Mu Won has passed not just at the speed of a spinning lantern, but at the speed of light!

When True Mother announced the establishment of Cheon Mu Won, she said, “In this era of connecting within one second, let us quickly share with all humanity about True Parents’ providence, giving all 8 billion people of the world the opportunity to participate in the Cheon Il Guk era when we fulfill Heavenly Parent’s dream and True Parents’ hopes on earth.” I think it has been a time when we gave everything we had to respond to that hope.

I read a newspaper article introducing a movie. In the scene that determines the final outcome, one person wrote the word mu-shim (무심), meaning to be detached, to empty one’s mind, and another person wrote seong-ui (성의), meaning to give one’s whole heart. Between emptying one’s mind (mu-shim) and giving one’s whole heart (seong-ui), which do you think is most necessary for you?

As the highest providential organization established by True Mother, Cheon Mu Won’s past year was a time when both mu-shim and seong-ui were needed. We had to completely empty our minds to become one with True Mother 120 percent. And because we had to become those who give our whole hearts to the providential direction and goals that True Mother is indicating, it has been a time when both mu-shim and seong-ui were necessary.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the members of the Central Administration of Cheon Mu Won and its affiliated organizations who have done their utmost to put aside their own thoughts, give their whole hearts, and demonstrate absolute filial piety. And I cannot help but express my infinite gratitude and glory to Heavenly Parent, and especially Holy Mother Han, True Mother, who has protected and guided us so far so that we can celebrate this moment in a special way. Let us all give Mother a round of applause to express our gratitude!

A new era: The Cheon Won Gung Cheonil Sanctum Entrance Ceremony

A new era has opened through the Cheon Won Gung Cheonil Sanctum Entrance Ceremony, which represents the completion of Heaven’s providence and of human history. The foundation stone for the environment of Cheon Il Guk has already been laid, and the key issue now is how to expand Cheon Il Guk. To achieve this, True Mother has given us the New Year’s motto that encapsulates the providential

direction, attitude, and mindset we need to accomplish this.

“In the 13th year of Cheon Il Guk, when we attend the Creator Heavenly Parent substantially, let us, the blessed families around the world, become true sons and daughters of Cheon Il Guk who fulfill our responsibility as the chosen people in unity with True Parents!”

True Mother said this motto is the greatest guideline to be passed down through generations. She also told us to memorize and recite it daily like the “Family Pledge.” It would be good for us to reflect once more on what providential implications this New Year’s motto contains and examine the path we should take. To do this, let me first consider the New Year’s motto that has been the core guidelines for our blessed family community over the past 10 or so years.

Twelve years ago, in 2013, Mother proclaimed Cheon Il Guk Foundation Day. The following New Year’s Day (2014), True Mother gave us the motto: “Let us become the true owners of Cheon Il Guk who practice true love in resemblance to the Creator, Heavenly Parent!” This motto was extremely meaningful. Looking at the motto, first it was a declaration that the owner of all creation who created heaven and earth is “Heavenly Parent.” Mother awakened us to this previously unknown name for God. The creation must have not only Heavenly Father but also Heavenly Mother who conceives and gives birth to life. This was an eloquent statement that pierced through the religions of the Christian sphere and through history that had called God only by the name of Heavenly Father. The meaning of the Creator is made whole when it includes Heavenly Mother.

As True Mother has said, there has always been a dominant male-centric culture behind the divisions between nations and wars - driven by guns and swords, division and conflict. Historical narratives created centered on the victors have rationalized this power-based balance of forces and heavily influenced all aspects of culture, repeating these circumstances over and over for thousands of years. True Mother put the brakes on this worldview and history of confrontation and conflict by proclaiming “Cheon Il Guk Foundation Day,” the world of true love where two people become one.

More deeply, Mother has changed the flow of civilization and its landscape centering on Heaven’s Will. She experiences the heart of our Heavenly Parent, who suffers due to humanity’s tears and pain. Mother encountered the historic moment when she had to fulfill the resolution she had made to “break the chain of historical sorrow in my lifetime without fail.” This followed 53 years of perseverance since the beginning of True Parents’ course.

Reaffirming of Heavenly Parent’s Reality

To help us realize that what inspires people to remove their armor is not subduing people through greater fighting, but, instead, loving and embracing, forgiveness and tolerance, True Mother revealed “Heavenly Mother.” Heavenly Mother is the icon of the conception of life that has been hidden in history, and presented the essential solution through reaffirming Heavenly Parent’s reality (as Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother). Based on the principles of creation, the world of love is a world of give and take, a world of relationships. For a man to be a man, there must be a woman; for there to be parents, there must be children. The reaffirming of God’s reality is the same. This is not something Heavenly Parent can regain alone. There must be object partners - sons and daughters - who call out that name. And they must be sons and daughters who resemble Heavenly Parent.

The same applies to human beings. To become true sons and daughters, there must be the Creator Heavenly Parent who calls our name. Therefore, when Heavenly Parent’s reality is fully reaffirmed, our position as the sons and daughters is also realized. This is the reason that when True Mother opened Cheon Il Guk she made “resembling Heavenly Parent” the beginning point of reaffirming Heavenly Parent’s reality and restoring human beings’ position as the sons and daughters.

True Mother identified the method by which we can resemble Heavenly Parent as “practicing true love.” The owner and original substance of true love is Heavenly Parent. Heavenly Parent’s true love came from “heart [shimjeong],” which is the manifestation of an irresistible emotional impulse that wants to give and give again. Love is expressed in naturalness and purity, without coercion. What comes from self- centeredness or passivity cannot be called love. There cannot be a virtuous cycle of continuity and autonomy, vitality and joy there.

To resemble Heavenly Parent, there must only be the practice of true love that springs from the heart. And naturally, that practice should be carried out from the position of being a subjective and active owner of Cheon Il Guk. Thus, the course leading up to the 13th year of Cheon Il Guk was a time when all our blessed families and organizations matured in relation to God’s Will, centering on the core motto “Let us become true owners of Cheon Il Guk who practice true love in resemblance of our Creator, Heavenly Parent!”

True Mother who laid the foundation stones for Cheon Il Guk

During this period, True Mother laid the foundation stones for Cheon Il Guk, having the position and authority of the Only Begotten Daughter coming for the first time. She had to show something substantial to a world that doesn’t believe unless it sees. So she overcame the difficult times of struggle when her legs could barely support her, in order to establish the condition of restoring 7 nations, 7 religious orders, and a continent.

It was in 2020, seven years after the opening of Cheon Il Guk, that True Mother achieved the firm settlement of Cheon Il Guk. On that victorious foundation, she announced “Heavenly Parent’s Holy Community” so that all humanity could recognize Heavenly Parent as the Creator and come under the umbrella of that grace.

The following year in 2023, True Mother dedicated the Cheon Won Gung Cheonil Sanctum as Heavenly Parent’s dwelling, and last year on the 1st day of the 5th month by the heavenly calendar, she set up the Central Administration for Cheon Il Guk, which is names “Cheon Mu Won” and is Cheon Il Guk’s highest providential organization. She created the Chambumo Ron teachings, published under the title, “The Value of True Parents in Heaven’s Providence,” containing core values to be shared by all citizens of Cheon Il Guk. Based on this, and on “The Epic History of the Chosen Han People of Korea,” which features the Cheon Il Guk perspective of providential history, Mother educated us to correctly understand the identity and position that Heaven’s chosen people must take on.

The Significance of the 13th Year of Cheon Il Guk Motto

Upon this internal foundation, True Mother established the 13th year of Cheon Il Guk as the era of a lifestyle of substantial attendance to Heavenly Parent and bestowed on us the New Year motto to be passed down through the generations: “In the 13th year of Cheon Il Guk, when we attend the Creator Heavenly Parent substantially, let us, the blessed families around the world, become true sons and daughters of Cheon Il Guk who fulfill our responsibility as the chosen people in unity with True Parents!”

Compared to the New Year motto we had for the past 11 years, an amazing change has occurred in providence from the era of “resembling” Heavenly Parent to the era of directly “attending Heavenly Parent substantially.” The condition we are called upon to fulfill has changed from “practicing true love” to “becoming one with True Parents.” In other words, instead of practicing love in order to resemble the original essence of love, we are asked to become completely united with the original essence of love, and to develop to the level that we become the substantiation of that love. At the same time, our providential value and position has also changed from “owners of Cheon Il Guk” to “true sons and daughters of Cheon Il Guk.” We have risen to the position of the greatest blessing, the realm of the greatest love that Heaven can bestow.

First, let’s look at the first words of the New Year motto for the 13th year of Cheon Il Guk: “attend the Creator Heavenly Parent.” These words presuppose there is a home, an ideal living space. A home is not a place where the relationships are master–servant relationships, relationships based on commands and obedience. Rather, it is a place where the relationships are based on love. The members who share that ideal living space are naturally one household, one family. They are parents and children, and when expanded further, Heavenly Parent and husband and wife, and children - the four-position foundation. This is the space of the original home that Heavenly Parent ideally desires, where people cry and laugh together centering on Heavenly Parent’s love, encourage each other when times are difficult, and share affection. This is why True Mother called the Cheon Won Gung Cheonil Sanctum “Heavenly Parent’s dwelling.” This original ideal life began in the 13th year of Cheon Il Guk. A miraculous new era has truly opened when Heavenly Parent comes down as humanity’s Parent, especially to the living space of the chosen people united with True Parents.

Second, when we say “the chosen people in unity with True Parents,” this does not refer to a community based on a certain region or ethnic lineage such as the people of Israel of the Old and New Testament eras. Thus it also does not refer only to the Han people of Korea among whom True Parents were born. The chosen people united with True Parents are families who have received Heaven’s true love, true life, and true lineage through the Blessing that True Parents give transcendent of religion, nation, and race. The concept of the chosen people has developed and expanded to a higher dimension through True Parents. The reason True Mother continues to expand blessed marriage on a greater, global scale in this era is, when you understand it, to bring one more person, one more family to become Heaven’s chosen people. This is also the basis for her emphasizing that we blessed families of heavenly lineage should fulfill our responsibility as chosen people.

On May 13th, True Mother said this: “True Parents’ responsibility is to attend Heavenly Parent on earth. So together with Heavenly Parent, we must expand the environment of the earthly kingdom of heaven. For the blessed families, just receiving the Blessing cannot be the end. They must fulfill their responsibility. How wonderful it would be if, during the time I am on earth, all 8 billion people of humanity could come to know Heavenly Parent.”

That’s right. As True Mother mentioned, the blessed couples, who are Heaven’s chosen people, should not be content with just receiving the Blessing. We have responsibility that our original mind demands of us. While True Mother is on earth, we must guide the more than 8 billion people of humanity so they can know and attend Heavenly Parent, and become Heaven’s chosen people. In other words, this means we must witness.

Two days after the Entrance Ceremony, at the Closing Ceremony of the Cheon Il Guk Leaders’ Assembly, True Mother announced the reorganization of the world’s continents into a regional grouping system through the Cheon Mu Won Central Administration. This restructuring was intended to place greater emphasis on practical pastoral ministry and active witnessing. As the Only Begotten Daughter and Holy Mother Han, she fervently shared her heartfelt wish, saying, “How wonderful it would be if all 8 billion people could come to know our Heavenly Parent.” Standing before True Mother as she spoke with such sincerity, we are reminded that the time has come for us, as her children, to wholeheartedly fulfill our responsibility.

Sons and Daughters who fulfill their Filial Duties in this Golden Era

The 13th year of Cheon Il Guk is truly a period of amazing qualitative great change unprecedented in human history, a great revolution like no other before or since. Especially with the great victory of the Cheon Won Gung Cheonil Sanctum Entrance Ceremony as the turning point, we are receiving the greatest grace and greatest blessing, unprecedented since Heaven’s providence began. This tremendous historical and providential benefit has been given to us freely by Holy Mother Han, True Mother. A new era and a new future have opened up through True Mother’s devotions and hard work based on blood, sweat, and tears.

However, in fact, True Mother has often said, “When I proclaimed Cheon Il Guk, no one was by my side. When I brought Cheon Il Guk to firm settlement, no one was there either.” You cannot imagine how sorry and heartbroken we feel on those occasions. Now let us truly protect True Mother and become trustworthy true sons and daughters who are standing with True Mother! If you resolve to do so, let us offer great applause sending honor and glory to True Mother! (Applause)

True Mother has declared that her time on earth is the Golden Era. These words are crucial because they suggest that this period is limited in time. At the heart of this period stands Holy Mother Han - our True Mother and the embodiment of the Heavenly Mother. Furthermore, it is a period during which the victorious True Mother is guiding the providence on earth. As such, all our activities and efforts during this time will be unparalleled acts of filial love before Heaven and the greatest achievements in the providence and in history.

True Mother would like to remember the names and accomplishments of each of her sons and daughters who walked this path with her during this time. She wants to remember you, even in the spiritual world, and cherish you forever. I hope you recognize that you are living in a historic and monumental era. May all of you stand as distinguished and triumphant public personnel of Cheon Mu Won.

True Mother would like to remember the names and accomplishments of each of her sons and daughters who walked this path with Holy Mother Han during this golden era. She says she wants to remember you and cherish you forever even after she goes to the spirit world. I hope you recognize that this is a historic and monumental era and that you will become proud true sons and daughters of Cheon Il Guk and a victorious Heavenly Asia-Pacific UPF.

If you are firmly resolved and determined, please offer a powerful round of applause - loud enough for True Mother to hear - as an expression of gratitude! Let us cherish and love True Mother, the Only Begotten Daughter and embodiment of the Holy Spirit, who is the True Parent, our eternal subject of love. Let us offer even greater praise, honor, and glory to Holy Mother Han, True Mother, the embodiment of Heavenly Mother! Let us become a proud and exemplary Cheon Mu Won, wholeheartedly striving to build a Cheon Il Guk environment that overflows with hope and vision, and to create a thriving environment for our youth - as True Mother desires! You will do that, won’t you?

I am truly so grateful and thankful to each and every one of you, and I love you so much.

Everyone, please always stay healthy. And I hope you will bring even greater victories within the grace and love of our Heavenly Parent. Thank you.

Editor’s Note

This is a slightly edited version of the speech Cheon Mu Won Vice Chair Wonju Jeong McDevitt gave at the celebration of the first anniversary of the establishment of Cheon Mu Won.