Daily Readings From the speeches of Reverend Sun Myung Moon for May 2005 — Moon family (other)

(Photos on this page): Father and Mother Moon at the ﬁrst birthday party of their grandson, Shin Joon Nim’s, at East Garden in New York, on 24 April 2005.

Easter Day (Christian Orthodox/ Sunday 1 May Greek Christian Orthodox)

Day Of Victory of Love January 2, 1992 - Bamboo Room, World Mission Center. New York

A Price to Pay

W hy can’t I jump over everything all at once? Why do I have to accomplish stage by stage? Why can’t we just jump over everything all at once? Even though Fa- ther himself jumped over everything at once, others have been dragging their feet. The movement has been slow, and in particular you could not bring Korea to follow the Providence cantering on Father. Therefore Father’s own family has been put in a most difﬁcult position. The second position is always the problem. As Father mentioned, Park Chung Hee was the second major president after Syngman Rhee. Father’s great grandfather had three sons, and the second son was the problem. Also Father’s father was one of three broth- ers. Among them, the second brother died in a most tragic manner outside the house. The ‘number two’ in my own family tree is always a cause of disaster; in the level of my father and of my grandfather, there was a victim who died in very unfortunate circumstances. Also, in my family, Heung Jin Nim, my second son, was killed in a car accident. This is an example of indemnity that my own family had to pay because blessed couples throughout Korea and throughout the world were not able to fulﬁl their responsibility. Since the 1980s my family has seen a great deal of difﬁculty and change. There have been difﬁcult times and my children have suffered a great deal. Unforeseeable things happened without their realising it; for instance, they would be driving to school, and suddenly ﬁnd themselves in Barrytown. “Oh, I was supposed to be in school but I’m in Barrytown!” When the Korean blessed couples could not fulﬁl their mission, Father took their responsibility on his own shoulders, and his own family came to pay the indemnity.

REFLECTION The closer we are to God the more we understand his situation and the more responsibilities fall on our shoulders. When as people in Abel position we are asked to pay tremendous indemnities, it is on behalf of humankind and because God knows we can take it on for Him

Monday 2 May From: ‘Philosophy of Peace’

Wishing you could give more

S ix thousand years ago, God and fallen humankind could not hold the ceremony for entering the heavenly kingdom. We serve God as our Father; His palace becomes our house, and we live as His children through all eternity. That is the place where praise, glory, eternal life and everlasting peace prevail. Feeling ashamed while giving is the path of true saints. The place where we weep and feel ashamed even after sincerely giving something true will become the stage for eternal peace. Parents who think they have fulﬁlled their responsibility as parents because they often buy new clothes for their beloved children end their love there. Parents who feel ashamed because they cannot give more, although they want to, will be qualiﬁed to take over an unﬁnished task. Heaven is a world where one feels ashamed of not having given enough. What kind of place is hell? It is a world that focuses only on taking. You have to clearly know this. What will the future world be like? Will it be a world of battles? Will it be a world of suf- fering? No. It will be a peaceful and uniﬁed world.

REFLECTION The character of the future world is largely determined by the quality of our relationships. What kind of world is heaven, in that respect?

Tuesday 3 May Day of Victory of Love January 2, 1992 - Bamboo Room, World Mission Center. New York

The fortune of struggle

R estoration history cannot be accomplished without going through the course of indemnity. Throughout history there have been numerous wars, and in one way those wars can be interpreted as a part of the indemnity course. Each nation’s his- tory is passes according to the law of indemnity. You can apply this [law of indemnity] to any organization, family or individual. Everyone has to go through their course according to the law of indemnity. In God’s providence, particularly the providence of the chosen nation of Israel, there must be confrontation with the satanic world. In order to go into the realm of victory you have to go beyond or cast off the realm of satanic control. We have to go beyond the realm of the fallen era. To go beyond that realm you have to go through struggle in different stages. As you know, Israel’s history began with Jacob, then through the work of Moses the exodus took place. John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of Jesus. In all these stages a certain course of indemnity had to be followed. The history of Israel is all about respecting, loving, following the tradition of the ances- tors, those who played a major role in the dispensational ﬁeld. In the case of Israel, this would be those such as Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Noah and so forth. Tradition comes down from the ancestors, so in order to inherit it from those who played major roles in the dispensational ﬁeld, you have to do your utmost, investing your heart and soul to live up to their standard and accomplishments. Israel’s national history is a history of the Abel side. It was the Abel line all the way through history until the coming of Christ. From the Abel line Christ will come. The cho- sen people and their history is the root of the coming of Christ. The chosen people create a nation and then connect to the world. Therefore when you follow the tradition of Israel, the chosen people and their leaders, you are going to inherit all their historical accomplish- ments.

REFLECTION All of us go through some struggle in life and often we worry or even complain about our situation. But if we see it from a dif- ferent point of view we can make it an offering to God and a foundation from which good fortune can arise.

Wednesday 4 May From: “Twelve Talks”

Having unity in yourself

I f anyone is asked whether he wants to receive God’s love, he will answer in the af- ﬁrmative. What should you be doing if you really want God’s love? As an individual, your body and mind must be united. That is the basic thing. Then God’s love will be with you. With that done, you can proceed on to be united with other people, and then the degree of God’s love with you will be deeper and broader. Have you ever had the experi- ence that your mind and body were entirely one in achieving some purpose? Have you thought it possible in the real sense? You try hard, but your thought and action are some- times far apart, sometimes a little closer, and then they are separated again. The relation- ship between them zigzags all the time. There is a Korean saying that our mind ﬂuctuates and vacillates from morning to night. “Mountains never change, but the human mind is always changing.” So before wanting to be loved, you must have unity within yourself. In this world, everybody wants to be loved by others, without ﬁrst trying to become one with them by understanding their hearts. No one can ever receive perfect love with that approach. When you have made your mind and body united, then you have nothing to do with Satan. When your mind and body are one, you resemble God, so God will play the role of Sub- ject to you, as a perfect object. Try to feel it. You must be able to feel God’s love actually being with you when your mind and body are in harmony. When they are quarrelling with each other and you are divided within yourself, God will be far away. Good people must be able to win others, not in such a way as to conquer them, but to love them, and to bring them into greater harmony and unity. Unity is the ﬁrst thing you should desire. And if you love anyone at all, you should want to love him with your whole heart, even at the cost of your life. Then you can overcome hell. If you are not united, if there is disharmony, hell is there in your mind.

REFLECTION Try to feel it! This is not a concept that is being talked about. United your mind and body and God’s love will ﬂow through you. You just might get a taste of what that means if you try by doing a strong condition of prayer, fasting or witnessing.

Ascension Day (Christianity) Thursday 5 May Who are the Parents of Heaven and Earth and the Uniﬁed World? November 27, 1994 - Belvedere, International Training Center

It’s the Last Days

E veryone is longing for peace, but it is impossible for peace to come into existence easily. Instead of one large family of goodness coming into being, we have de- veloped into one large, bad world. Therefore, centring upon each individual, God began separating good from bad. God is working to bring a person to His side, but Satan resists and will not release him. It is so plainly obvious, that the history of the world is the history of good and evil. It is none other than the Cain and Abel relationship and left and right wing. Centring upon Jesus, there was a right and a left wing and this goes back to Adam’s family. This is the right and left wing that is apparent in our world today. The world has been ﬁghting for such a long time between right and left wing. Now, the atheistic left wing has crumbled. Centring on the fall, Adam and Eve ceased to exist and their children consequently fell into conﬂict, into right and left wing. Since failure occurred at the individual family unit within Adam’s family, then in Jesus’ time it was to be restored at the national level. At the national level, Jesus was unable to survive. Therefore, the thief on the left and the thief on the right, symbolizing Cain and Abel, have come to ﬁght each other in the Last Days. In the Last Days, the Lord of the Second Advent, in the place of Jesus himself, as Parents, will fulﬁl [this] at the worldwide level. He will restore the loss of parents at the family level and the loss of parents at the national level. At this third stage, the victory will be won by the Lord of the Second Advent. He will become the Parents of the whole world and bring Cain and Abel into unity. As True Parents emerge centred upon True Love, Satan has no more claim in the realm of True Love. This is what Adam and Eve were meant to establish within God’s providence. The Lord of the Second Advent will fulﬁl the purpose of creation and open up Heaven which is presently empty, bring all men, women and families back into unity and create Heaven on earth. God’s purpose of creation is accomplished on the earth, not in Heaven. This is the overview of God’s dispensation.

REFLECTION There are many strong views on the Last Days - the Lord of Second Advent coming on clouds for example. What we have to remem- ber is that the Messiah comes as Parents to bring True Love to human- kind (after having overcome Satan), and create True families who will fulﬁl the Purpose of Creation.

Friday 6 May The Providential Path to True Liberation and Complete Freedom, 13th April 2005

Two people, inseparable for eternity

T he relationship between husband and wife is different from that between parent and child or among siblings, because it does not start out as a bond of blood. A man and a woman reared in different environments and situations meet and make a truly revolutionary commitment to start a life together. Yet when they become one in mind and body through true love, their relationship becomes stronger and more absolute than any blood relationship. The husband-wife relationship contains inﬁnite and inex- haustible treasures. Once formed in the presence of God, the bond of husband and wife is meant to be absolute, and the two should become inseparable for eternity. What is the perfection of the parents’ realm of heart, and how is it accomplished? Even the most wonderful husband and wife do not become parents until they have children. The status of parents is granted in the moment the couple’s ﬁrst child is born and lets out that ﬁrst cry announcing its arrival. I have said that God created human beings to be His object partners in joy. In the same way, a couple gives birth to and raises a child as a crea- tive act that allows them to experience, through the relationship with their child as their object partner, an eternal joy similar to what God experiences. By giving birth to children, parents are in the position of God in the ﬂesh. Just as the in- visible God nurtured Adam and Eve, parents experience the joy of creating and nurturing God’s children. Through that experience, parents inherit the true parent’s realm of heart from the invisible God. They experience the creative act of the invisible God as they raise their own sons and daughters, grounded in their own husband-wife relationship. They take on the glory of being a second creator, acting in God’s place.

REFLECTION To give birth to children is to experience God’s joy of creation, and bestows on the couple the position of parents. The results of this creative act exist for eternity!

Saturday 7 May Who are the Parents of Heaven and Earth and the Uniﬁed World? November 27, 1994 - Belvedere, International Training Centre

Where will the Kingdom of Heaven start?

H umankind has falsely believed that the Lord of the Second Advent would come on the clouds as Jesus himself, not as a physical being. But in the Old Testament time they also failed to believe in Jesus’ advent; so Christians must re-indemnify this failure and believe in the Lord of the Second Advent. Christianity is placed in the same position as the Jewish people of Jesus’ time, believing the Lord will come from the clouds. They have to be able to go over that belief and accept that he will come as a hu- man being. Before the Old Testament is fulﬁlled, the New Testament cannot be fulﬁlled. The True Parents and the Completed Testament Age must be preceded by the fulﬁlment of Christianity. Father is going through the same situation as Jesus, 2000 years ago. Be- cause he did not literally come on the clouds then he receives persecution, just as Jesus did in his time. Forty years ago the bridegroom was not accepted. This was equivalent to the chosen people rejecting Jesus. Once Father was expelled, God literally lost everything. From that point on everything went into the hands of Kim Il Sung, the worst parents, the false parents. He represented the Second Advent of the communist world. He occupied every- thing. For forty years the Israelites were marching forward with the Ark of the Covenant, and now the Uniﬁcation Church is moving forward with the Family Pledge. We must bring forth the construction of the heavenly nation or fatherland. Without this, there can be no kingdom on this earth. Just as the Israelites claimed their own nation, so also the Uniﬁca- tion Church has to establish a country of its own. Which is the country of God? Korea is not it, not yet - no country can be called that yet. In God’s mind, the Korean peninsula has enough signs and it might possibly be that nation. It is the only country in the whole world where North and South are ﬁghting, and where there are two sets of parents, one true and one false. At the end of the fortieth year Kim Il Sung had to leave as there was no place for him any more.

REFLECTION God worked throughout history and ﬁnally he is on a stage where it is possible to think about creating a country which he can abso- lutely claim. But who will be able to live in this restored country? Are we ready to live in God’s country yet?

An Shi Il Sunday 8 May From: “Let’s be Proud of True Parents” Jan 1, 1996

What if the Fall had not taken place?

T he purpose of the creation was to see the coming of the True Parents who would create an ideal world. This has been the desire of all creation, including human be- ings, as well as God’s desire from the beginning of time. Without the Fall, Adam’s family could have become the ideal family which God originally intended to see. It would have become the perfected family through whom God could have worked. If there had been no Fall, Adam and Eve would have become the True Father and the True Mother of the universe. They would have been able to embrace all of the created be- ings from the mineral kingdom right up to men and women. They would have functioned as the True Parents to the entire universe. God’s desire at the time of the creation was to be the centre of the universe through the perfection of Adam and Eve. Who then was Adam? He was God’s elder son. Adam should have become totally one with God and become the True Parent of all humankind. Adam was also to have become the king of kings. The elder son position, the parent’s position and the king’s position were supposed to have been taken by Adam. Through establishing such a vertical relationship with God, Adam and Eve should have expanded their horizontal foundation to the family, tribe, society, national and world levels. This automatically would have become the Kingdom of God on Earth as well as the Kingdom of God in Heaven.

REFLECTION What would have come to pass if Adam and Eve had not fallen? This is one question that believers in idea of a ‘Fall’ seldom come to ask. Once we consider this question we start to realise the extent of God’s loss and what He has been working so tirelessly to restore.

Monday 9 May My Life of Faith 1st December 1994 - Belvedere International Training Centre

The direction of all religions

T he life of faith began as the result of the Fall. We know that the four major religions and numerous other religions all follow a certain direction of faith. The religious life denotes life at the world-wide level as well as at the individual level. However, there is only one life of true faith. The object of that life is absolute God Him- self. The life of faith is to lead life in such a way that God desires us to live and to be. It does not begin from oneself, but rather from God. It is not a matter of what an individual wants but what God wants. It is simple enough if everyone goes in one direction. Within the individual life we face many problems. The problems always arise from human relationships. As science progresses and makes one discovery of nature after another, then mankind can progress through following scientiﬁc formula – but it is difﬁcult to ﬁnd the formula for the life of faith, the religious life. Naturally the question arises as to what the formula is for the individual life of faith, and we discover that this formula is the family. The family is the unit and formula of life itself. The unit is one couple and their relation- ship to their children and their children’s relationship to them. That unit forms a family which becomes the formula for our life. Everything else is the mere expansion of this family. [Father draws on the board.] We are all familiar with these eight stages of individual, fam- ily, race, clan, nation, world, cosmos and God. It is important that we always understand that it intersects at a ninety degree angle. That which is ﬁt to settle down permanently is the family. Only the family is able to do this. The family in relation to God vertically cre- ates the father-son relationship. The other is the horizontal relationship of husband and wife. Brothers’ and sisters’ relationships are like front and back. Up and down, right and left, and front and back. These relationships of father and son, husband and wife and chil- dren, or, up and down, east and west, front and back, all comprise the family. This forms a global shape and becomes a formula.

REFLECTION All religions encourage followers to develop a life of faith, because we fell away from God’s Love and Grace. It is important to know that the formula for life of faith is the Family because the family is the school of life. The formula for a faith is all a matter of belief in and the practice of God centred Love.

Tuesday 10 May From: “Let’s be Proud of True Parents”. Jan 1, 1996

Why God set up religions

W e must understand when we look at human history that there has always been a Cain and Abel struggle. It has manifested through all manner of battles and wars. In Adam’s family parents were lost and so the children, Cain and Abel, fought to the death. It is almost unimaginable that the ﬁrst family God created ended in bloodshed. The result of the Fall was God losing His elder son, also parents position and king’s position. These three positions were lost at the time of the Fall. In order to achieve the restoration of humankind there needs to be a reversal of order. This needs to occur from the individual level to the world level. We always feel that our body is leading our mind. That is the battle we face daily. Because of the Fall, all humankind has now to go through all of the steps back into the original way. We are presently within the fallen world and so we have to go in the reverse direction. That is why we always feel such struggle between our mind and body. Our body was to have been led naturally by our mind, but due to the Fall of Man all of humankind is now in the position of constantly experiencing struggle between mind and body. We have to reverse this order between mind and body. In order to reverse this to the original position we need help. That is why God established religions in order to assist us. The major religions teach the subjugation of the body so that it may follow the mind. The major religions all teach human beings to do that which the body hates to do most.

REFLECTION If we consider the role that religions play in having people train their body to obey their mind, we can see the value in diverse tra- ditions, all working against the trend of the fallen world. Who inspired such a solution to our problems if it were not God himself, who cares for us unceasingly?

Wednesday 11 May My Life of Faith 1st December 1994 - Belvedere International Training Center

Cling on to Father

W e breathe every minute and yet we rarely notice that our heart is beating con- tinuously. These functions never rest, but are continuous and sure. We human beings for the sake of goodness, like a heart, must beat every day regularly without ceasing. If you only inhale, or only exhale, you will die. Air is also plus and minus. Some air is dense and some is sparse as it moves from one place to another. Like the rhythm of a wave, so the air moves even though we may not see it. Storms are very neces- sary in order to change and recharge the air that has begun to stagnate. It has a cleansing action. In the Uniﬁcation Church we also have ups and downs. This is the rhythm of life. When we face a big persecution we are down, but when this passes again then we are up. There was an individual persecution time, a family persecution time, a racial persecution time and even a world persecution time. When that ends, then the spiritual world will persecute us. That is the last persecution and then level ground will be formed. Then we ﬁnd stability. We have many concepts to deal with, but they are so important for our life. True Parents and the Completed Testament Era is here. However, although we experience this here, still many people remain unaware. We are ascending up when we try harder and harder and we need to have our sense of direction correctly and ﬁrmly set. Historically how long mankind had to wait just to arrive at the time when we could meet Father. If we waste that opportunity it means we are unaware what we are living for. It is such a precious opportunity that you cannot think of missing it because you miss that much of life. We have a long way to go. Why is Father so necessary? We have a destiny to go up here [indicating to the board] but we cannot go by ourselves, so we have to cling onto True Father and never let him go. That is the only hope for us to reach from here to here [indicating to the board]. It is like a ﬂy that happens to stray into an airplane in Narita airport, Japan, and a few hours later ﬁnds itself in New York. There is absolutely no way that a Japanese ﬂy would be able to ﬂy over to New York from Japan. There is absolutely no chance. And so it is with heaven. What chance do you really think that we all have to reach to heaven?

REFLECTION When we are persecuted it is easy to think bad or critical thoughts about another person. Maybe we should replace those thoughts by remembering our position at this time, and that we have to set an example to society. (And “cling on” to Father.)

Thursday 12 May From: “Twelve Talks”

The mission of religion

I f the world is to be uniﬁed, someone must destroy all the problems that were caused by evil. That is the mission of religion. Whoever is looking for the ideal world must investigate the cause, and must destroy evil. To ﬁnd the root of evil is most impor- tant. If we can’t ﬁnd it, we can’t restore the world. By ﬁnding the evil cause in ourselves we can solve all the problems of the individual. The important thing is to ﬁnd one person who has become one with God, who has a mind and body which do not struggle with each other, centred on God. Therefore, the most important goal is not solving all the problems of the world, but to ﬁnd the self that is not divided and struggling against itself. If God exists, He must show us the way to restore our original state. He must teach us to become ideal individuals. Therefore, through the course of history, God designed His providence to call one such person from among humankind. Man lives in his home with his family. Also he lives in the material world and in his nation. For God to restore His nation, His family, His individu- als, and His material world, He cannot simply take these things back from the evil side without any condition. The evil possessor would try to retain all these things. Therefore, the direction of good and evil must be different. If one goes to the right, the other one goes to the left. All people want to have a uniﬁed world, but this cannot be obtained easily. You are in the central position in the struggle between good and evil. It is not easy for you to know which is more serious - the fall of a nation or the fall of an individual. For man, the most important thing would be his own demise. We have a tendency not to want to sacriﬁce ourselves for others. Everyone has a mind to make all things centre themselves. So to reach the world we long for and desire, we have to overcome the obstacles that stand in our way.

REFLECTION Perhaps it is because I look out of my body through my own two eyes that I have the tendency to believe the world should revolve around myself. However, all spiritual truth is given to us to en- courage to us see the world, good and evil, from God’s point of view.

Friday 13 May Total Calculation of God’s Historical Providence Christmas Day, 1994 East Garden

Go on, have a go

A merica is a very liberal and free country, but can you ﬁnd even one person who can truly accept and understand the Messiah here? Answer Father. How about yourself ? [Addressing a member of audience.] (I’m trying.) Trying means on the way. When will the trying course be ﬁnished is the problem. This is a very serious and crit- ical question for us. Just imagine how desperately serious Father was when he was ﬁnding out all of the hidden secrets of Adam’s family and all of the historical families and how they failed. Do you think Father took it all for granted? Father had to put his neck on the block in a life and death ﬁght. Satan constantly tried to chase Father out and confuse him, changing the direction. Imagine just how manipulative and evil Satan has been through- out human history, even against God. He played games against God. Then suddenly this innocent Reverend Moon appeared as the Messiah; do you imagine that Satan just left him alone? Satan was desperate to block him. From Father’s point of view, in order to create the future ideal world, he had to obtain the voluntary surrender from Satan. That was the condition. Father restored the failure of Ad- am’s family through a severe battle. There were so many times that he met with denial and refusal. But Father had to restore it. As Father kept on going with logic and proof, then ﬁnally Satan had to admit it. After Father succeeded in revealing all of the hidden secrets from Adam’s family, then Satan tried to block him regarding Noah’s family. Father then had to struggle once again in order to discover all of the hidden secrets of failure within Noah’s family in order to restore that stage. When Father came up with all of the facts of how Ham failed in Noah’s family, Satan denied the truth many times. Again, step by step, as Father kept producing the factual proof ﬁnally Satan bowed down and surrendered that Father was correct. That is how Father restored the failure of Noah in his family.

REFLECTION We are still “trying” - it can be difﬁcult to push ourselves to follow the way of God’s Providence. But like Father’s determined spirit we should never give up trying to follow our hearts and our con- science. It will ultimately lead us to the truth and to happiness.

Saturday 14 May From: ‘Philosophy of Peace’

What would a world of peace be like?

H eaven and earth were not created in a realm of uneasiness or fear, but they were created with joy, happiness and satisfaction. That is why God’s joy can be found at the place where we are connected heart-to-heart with Him, even if it is Satan’s hangout. The history of re-creation begins at the place where God feels joy through us. That moment is when we receive tremendous grace from God. A person who feels joy surging and ﬂowing in his soul, and grace ﬁlling every cell of his body, no matter what others may say, or even when facing Satan’s threats, will feel peace in his or her heart. We long for an ideal world where the purpose of creation has been consummated, a world transcendent of the world of consciousness. I yearn for a world where I can feel end- less peace, even on seeing a blade of grass, and where I can extol the value of its exist- ence. Though a relatively small being, man has to reach the position where he can receive praise from all things of creation, which say, “We’re surprised that whenever man moves, Heaven and earth move, God’s heart moves, and eternal life moves, too.” That is the place to which all human beings have to go. The door to a world of peace free from conﬂict, tribal segregation or racial discrimination, an ideal world where God freely moves about, will be opened on the day when the world’s people are shaken in their minds. We will go in through the door. Even if we die in the course of the struggle, we are sure to enter heaven. If we triumph in the struggle, we will live in the heavenly kingdom in heaven and on earth.

REFLECTION The fear and uneasiness we might feel in our lives are not of God’s original creation. If joy is God’s original feeling associated with creation, when we re-create that joy there must come a peace and closeness in heart with him that can see us through all difﬁculties.

Pentecost (Christianity) Sunday 15 May Total Calculation of God’s Historical Providence Christmas Day, 1994 East Garden

The Ideal Community

T he time has come that after forty years of severe persecution at the worldwide level, Reverend Moon has established so many prominent foundations in all differ- ent ﬁelds. What Reverend Moon is saying is that the Second Advent will not come as a spirit descending on the clouds, but as a man. As a man he will work as the Messiah for mankind. They must accept this conclusion now for we are living in such a time. If the Second Advent comes as a human being, then Reverend Moon is the only one who can possibly claim that role. They have to accept it now because the time has come. Father’s goal now is to establish the ideal model for the community and based upon that commu- nity the ideal model for the country. The size of the location for the creation of this model is probably bigger than Rhode Island [the smallest state in America], almost as large as the state of Connecticut. [Father is drawing on the board.] Almost one million acres of land is where Father will build this ideal community. Father will divide this particular land into 160 different parts and each division will be taken care of by each country, 160 nations. How can we build an ideal community there? Within that particular boundary of one million acres, we will have 160 different nations transcending race, culture, nation and religion. Every single person all the way to the entire group will be ideal people like you. Therefore Father needs you to come there and demonstrate that kind of standard. Once we have this kind of ideal community established there, people from all over the world will pour into it, even if only just to see it. It will become a tourist attraction. When people realize that under this kind of heavy persecution for the last forty years, Reverend Moon built this ideal community, then naturally people will open their hearts. This model village can make a powerful inﬂuence all over the world particularly as the secular world is declining fast. It will appear like a lighthouse in the darkness.

REFLECTION We often talk about creating the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and Cheon Il Guk, but where, practically, will it start? Father has been making serious plans for setting up a community in Korea. But the world cannot change with one community alone. Many more are needed, and we can already by creating Cheon Il Guil in our own.

An Shi Il Monday 16 May From: ‘Philosophy of Peace’

Bucking the trend

W here will a world of unity and peace take place? Not where people do things all for themselves. I have been dedicating my entire life to uncovering this and have searched every nook and cranny of the spiritual world. I have read books written by celebrated professors, and sacred texts. The movement for uniﬁcation and the foundation for peace exist only where people seek the path of loving others. What will be the vision of the twenty-ﬁrst century? It will be a world of peace and unity. In other words, it is a utopian world, the vision that humankind today is yearning for. All of you would agree with that, too. What about myself as an individual? This is the problem. Ours cannot be an ideal country as long as we live in conﬂict and struggle between our own mind and body. Thus, prior to world peace, we have to prepare peace within a nation. Prior to peace within a nation, we have to prepare peace within our individual selves. Where can we ﬁnd the individual yardstick of peace? It is a serious problem. Can you trust yourself ? Your answer is no. It cannot be helped. Today, we have the habit of debating on the trend of mutual mistrust in a so-called relativistic society. Are there any people here who can conﬁdently claim they are overcoming the cause of the trend of mutual distrust in themselves?

REFLECTION We are invited here, at the end, to reﬂect on a most per- tinent yet seldom-asked question. I see trends in society that I dislike, but how am I dealing with the cause of those trends if they are present within myself?

Tuesday 17 May From: “Twelve Talks”

The difference between good and evil

I want to give you an example. Let’s say a man has ten friends. If this man goes to his friends every day and asks them to do something for him, the friends will do so one time or two times, but then they will go away. They won’t even say good-bye. But if this man serves all his friends, sacriﬁcing himself, doing something for them, then the friends will stay with him and will even bring their friends and families to him also. If this man wanted to leave, his friends would cling to him and ask him not to go. In the ﬁrst case, everyone is leaving him; therefore, that man will come to unhappiness and destruc- tion. In the second case, however, everyone comes to him; therefore he will prosper and grow. Good and evil are fundamentally different. Evil asks everything and everyone for itself. It asks everyone to be and exist for himself or herself. But good lives for others. The way to destruction is to conquer others; the way to prosperity is to serve others. We have to understand that this is the dividing point. When we follow the formula of goodness, we become the greatest people. But if we go the other way, we become dictators. The saints are those who sacriﬁced themselves for the sake of humankind and God. We revere four great religious men - Jesus Christ, Confucius, Buddha, and Mohammed (pbuh). Those are the ones who lived for God. They did not live for themselves, or for just their own nations, but for the whole world. For this reason they were persecuted by their own people and nations. Those four saints are the founders of the major religions. These are the historical facts; they cannot be changed. But now, the people of this modern world even deny religion, saying that religion has nothing to do with the world. Religions are the symbols of morality and discipline, but the world today tends to reject them. With- out religion, however, this world can never restore itself.

REFLECTION The words are spoken in defence of religion. The formula of goodness is recognised in the lives of the great founders of religion. If we truly care about the future of the world, should we defend all religions or just one path that appeals to us?

Wednesday 18 May Total Calculation of God’s Historical Providence Christmas Day, 1994 East Garden

A quick run through history

U p to the time of the coming of Jesus, the Israelites used circumcision as a sign of indemniﬁcation of original sin. Water baptism was not even recorded in the Old Testament, but at the time of Jesus John the Baptist appeared and began prac- ticing baptism. Who was the father of Jesus Christ? (Zachariah.) What about Elizabeth? She was the wife of Zachariah. Elizabeth was in the position of Leah [Jacob’s ﬁrst wife], whereas Mary was in the position of Rachel [Jacob’s second wife]. At the time of Jacob, Leah and Rachel fought in order to occupy their husband Jacob. At the time of Jesus this had to be indemniﬁed. The original wife, Elizabeth, was in the position of Leah to Mary, in the position of Rachel, who was supposed to become the second wife or concubine. But Mary was supposed to be in the position of plus in terms of restoration, and had to be united together with Elizabeth, in the position of minus, in order for restoration to occur. We can’t ignore this course of restoration. At the time of Jacob’s family Rachel and Leah always fought in order to occupy their husband, whereas at the time of Jesus, Elizabeth in the position of Leah, the ﬁrst wife’s position, introduced Mary, the second wife’s position, to her husband Zachariah. Behind God’s providence lies this complicated situation. Many people were unaware of this. Only Father’s appearance on the earth can make these things clear. Do you understand? Mary gave birth to Jesus and Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was in the position of Cain and Jesus was in the position of Abel. Centred upon their mothers, this Cain and Abel relationship was supposed to be restored. By doing so, Jacob’s position, in other words the position of God was supposed to be restored. Only on the founda- tion of the unity between Cain and Abel would this occur. Suppose Mary revealed whose baby she was carrying. According to the law of Israel at that time any unmarried woman found pregnant was supposed to be stoned to death. Therefore Jesus would have lost his life even before he was born. In the Garden of Eden Eve betrayed God and her own husband, Adam. In order to restore Eve’s position, Mary in the reverse course, prevailed in faith over her father and her husband, just like Jacob and Esau’s course. Through follow- ing this indemnity course she could stand victoriously in Eve’s position upon the earth.

REFLECTION Father has revealed secrets of biblical history and we can now see that mistakes of providential ﬁgures had to be reversed later on. Then the providence could progress. We should be aware, however, that we also have to restore past mistakes.

Thursday 19 May Total Calculation of God’s Historical Providence Christmas Day, 1994 East Garden - Continued from previous reading.

Amazing ﬁgures in history

A dam lost his position to the Archangel and so when Jacob was returning home he fought the angel and was victorious. The Archangel represented internal and after this spiritual victory Jacob was to win the substantial victory over Esau. Only after this spiritual victory and physical victory through Esau surrendering to Jacob could the true blood lineage begin through Tamar. At the time of birth the twins in Tamar’s womb struggled to be born ﬁrst. If we reﬂect upon Tamar’s life, her husband died and she was supposed to marry the second son and he died. Then there was still a third son she was supposed to marry but she disguised herself and slept with her father-in-law. In other words she prevailed in faith over her father and husband in order to inherit the lineage of God. It was a revolutionary act on her part. From her womb, the elder and younger brother relationship was restored and because of that condition then God’s puriﬁed blood lineage began from the family level. This extended up to the national level through the Israelite people up to Jesus. God’s nation was supposed to appear at the time of Mary. Mary acted in faith in defer- ence to Joseph, her husband-to-be. At the time of Joseph’s marriage his parents prepared everything in order to see their son Joseph have a new married life and happy family life. When they were told that Joseph’s ﬁancé was pregnant she, Mary, was in danger. But instead of betraying Mary, he saved her by embracing and protecting her. Joseph’s parents strongly criticized and accused Joseph for his actions, but nevertheless he protected Mary by telling his parents that he had caused her pregnancy. Because of Joseph Mary was res- urrected from the dead. This symbolized the restoration of what occurred in the Garden of Eden where Eve spiritually killed Adam. But this time, Joseph saved Mary’s life. In order for Mary to be qualiﬁed as Eve on the national level she was supposed to prevail in faith over her father, husband and son. Ever since the cleansing of the blood lineage in Tamar’s womb, many different events had caused the blood lineage to become stained. Mary had to purify the lineage once again and had to follow this same pattern but on the national level. Because of this condition, Satan had no claim over Jesus.

REFLECTION For the messiah, Jesus, to be born, his linage had to be cleansed completely. People of faith, like Jacob, Tamara and Mary, had to follow God’s will absolutely. Through their conditions of restoration, which reversed what had gone wrong in the beginning of human history, this cleansing was achieved.

Friday 20 May The Providential Path to True Liberation and Complete Freedom, 13th April 2005

Husband & wife and the meeting-place of God

T he relationship between any husband and wife should begin as if they were brother and sister sharing the same blood. After all, each is born with God as their True Parent. Each is destined to live in attendance to God for eternity. When such a re- lationship is formed, the evil hand of divorce will never be able to drive a wedge between them. With Heaven watching and the conscience standing guard with a sharp sword, who would desert their partner of eternal joy? Just as God’s love is absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging, so should be the love be- tween a husband and wife. This is God’s principle of creation, or the law of nature. Couples who become one in mind and body and perfect the husband and wife’s realm of heart manifest God’s joy. They are the cherished hope of the universe. This step is an absolute requirement prior to perfecting the true parents’ realm of heart. The couple perfects the ideal oneness of God and humankind and thus lays the foundation for a true family on the standard of absolute value. In other words, the unity of husband and wife is the meeting-place of God and His children. It links together the siblings and establishes the parents. It is the realm of the absolute subject and object partners in the Four Great Realms of Heart. To the wife, her husband represents a position of absolute value. She sees in him the ideal heavenly son, heavenly older brother, heavenly husband and father. To the husband, his wife possesses the corresponding absolute qualities as the ideal heav- enly daughter, heavenly sister, heavenly wife and mother.

REFLECTION How many couples consider themselves to be ‘the cher- ished hope of the universe’? Without such an ideal being articulated and shared between husband and wife, how easy it could be for the marriage vows to lose their relevance. Seeing the ideal in each other is the key.

Saturday 21 May True Father’s Forty Years of Life Alone 24th April 1994 - Belvedere, International Training Centre

The sacriﬁce of animals in ﬁghting starvation

T here are twenty million people dying from hunger. But we do not feel pain, and we do not feel as though they are my own brother or sister, because mankind lost their understanding where they come from. Only Father has the heart to address their problem. On 13 June 1990, Father began the dispensation of the ocean. Therefore, 13 June must be celebrated by Ocean Church. During this time, Father has studied how ﬁsh products can be caught, manufactured, sold and distributed. Man can live when he has earth and water. That is his minimum. The European colonists in Africa never taught the native people how to become self-suf- ﬁcient through agriculture. They have a rich and fertile soil, but nobody knows how to cultivate even simple plants. This is why Father has the farm in Texas, which represents the centre of the entire farming area of the world. Where there is soil you can grow food, and where there is water you can stock the ﬁsh and farm them. We are surrounded by ocean and water; if it is managed correctly the food problem for the future generations can be solved. Women can learn how to ﬁsh, raise cattle and farm as well. We don’t have to sit and watch our brothers and sisters dying of hunger. Whose burden is this? The burden falls upon those who realize earlier than others. Do you agree? If you know, then it is your burden, especially American women. You are in the central position of the free world. Father told American women long ago that they must buy boats and gain experi- ence in ﬁshing. Through the mass media the people of the world can be taught what we are teaching individually now. You have to teach ﬁshing, hunting and farming, and ﬁnally the media can teach them the Divine Principle. Buddhism strictly forbids killing and Father agrees that human beings were not supposed to kill living things. Love them, but do not kill them. However, the situation now is different. Today man is dying, God’s children are dying; so it is not a problem for a ﬁsh to give its life for the sake of God’s children. Do you agree with that rationale? We see many children dying of starvation and malnutrition; how painful it must be for the mothers of those dying children. Therefore, we must save them. If you develop a transportation system, the food can be transported from one place to another. This is a practical solution to preventing starvation.

REFLECTION So what can we do realistically? How should we invest our energy into helping solve these problems? Our work might be a small percentage compared to God’s work but it can make a huge difference if offered with a pure heart.

Sunday 22 May From: ‘Philosophy of Peace’

The world of peace desired by God and humankind

H ow much did God love humankind? God loved humankind above all. Being prevented from loving, He harboured resentment. What kind of world did he plan to make, having created all things in heaven and on earth? He intended on forming it into a garden of happiness, a garden of love, a garden of peace and a garden of freedom. If God had become a father who lived together with all people in the midst of glory, opening the eternal door of liberation, He would be called Our Father in the family, in the family and clan, in the nation, and anywhere in the world. He was going to live as our Father in Heaven; neither as a God of dignity nor a God of holiness, but as a God of love and heart in our real daily lives. Today we are aware of the fact that human history has seen numerous conﬂicts carried out to acquire freedom. From the individual level, going through the family, the clan, the tribe, the race and the nation, to the worldwide level, such conﬂicts are still being carried on. We also know that people who cherish the Will of God, regardless of the period they are living in, will long for a world of freedom and peace, and an ideal world, liberating this world that has been oppressed. From this viewpoint, historical humankind and human- kind on earth today both are eagerly waiting to see their liberation. Likewise, history has been placed under restraint, not only by evil men but also by Satan. That being the case, it is natural for us today to stand in a position where we demand our liberation, and it is natural to advocate liberation. Therefore, seeing human society today, we conclude that absolutely everyone, without exception, since early times, has been dreaming of a world of peace, a world of a uniﬁed ideal.

REFLECTION Fighting wars to attain peace has been a path of seeming contradiction that humankind has been compelled to take on many oc- casions. How much do we long for peace, and can we successfully make the connection between peace on all levels, from the individual through family, tribe, race and nation to the world?

Wesak - Buddha Day (Buddhism) Monday 23 May True Father’s Forty Years of Life Alone 24th April 1994 - Belvedere, International Training Centre

The blueprint for World Peace

C ommunists were revolutionary. They wanted to make a better world even though they went the wrong direction. Now they try all over again but in the right direc- tion under Father’s guidance. Whereas the free world knew God and had every- thing but did nothing, so now the communist world is taking their fruit. First Father must put the spiritual world in order before he can do the same on the earth. Father meets with all the top leaders in the various ﬁelds and they see a lot of hope in Father. This is why Father must make his appearance and help the people understand, so that they come to respect him. Mikhail Gorbachev was invited to the recent Summit Council for World Peace and he had a lot of good ideas; everybody respected him because of that. However, Father challenged him and said to him, “Mr. Gorbachev, you must do this.” He could not say a word because it was correct. He just listened and nodded. Should Father follow Gorbachev or should Gorbachev follow Father? Naturally. Rev. Moon’s name is becoming resurrected to a higher level. Some people still regard Father as some kind of fanatic. But we can see that after we have put order in the spiritual world we are now bringing order here on earth. Is it visible to you also? A few more steps and you will be there. You are all intelligent and smart people otherwise you wouldn’t be here. (Laughter.) I don’t think you are dumb. You all see the blueprint for world peace. The world is in your hands. Don’t you feel that? You feel it and are conﬁdent in that too, are you not? No one can be better than you. Doesn’t it also mean that even if Father didn’t help and work in your place you can still do it? You feel conﬁdent that you are able to do it. It is that kind of a time, not only for us but for most average people out in the world. Unless they are com- pletely dumb, there is no one who is going to oppose Rev. Moon anymore. They opposed him when they did not know. Therefore, if we are smart enough to know how about Father, can Father feel a million times more conﬁdent than we about the world? This is where the True Parents and the Completed Testament era has been announced. Eternally there is only one set of True Parents. All the spiritual world and all mankind should follow True Parents. That is the way to the Kingdom of Heaven.

REFLECTION We are lucky to be able to live in this time, hear Father’s words and know the Divine Principle. But if we think about it, how much do we really do to support the providence? Do we even know the Divine Principle to a level that we apply it on a daily basis? Before we think about bringing the world back to God we have to come in line with Him and the Principles our selves and then go to others and help them too.

An Shi Il Tuesday 24 May From: ‘Philosophy of Peace’

God’s love is the law in the spirit world

H ow would you feel if you were to pass through God’s realm of love? The feeling would be like watching all the ﬂowers in full blossom in a spring garden, and becoming intoxicated with the fragrance in the air. When you are seated on a spring lawn, you get the indescribable feeling that you are sitting on a cotton wool-like cumulus cloud. Your cells leap and dance in boundless joy, breathing in love. God’s love is the source of energy for all beings that possess the life force, and the source of happiness. Peace and happiness are the absolute requisites for hope in a person’s life and the absolute elements of faith. God’s love is the law in the spirit world. While carrying out His providence of restoration for six thousand biblical years until now, if God had harboured a heart of resentment against humankind who had failed to under- stand His agonies and grief, a world of peace could not be realized. The Will of God who wants to live in a true place could also not be achieved. He has not guided the history of restoration for the sake of His own convenience or comfort. People are tirelessly making frantic efforts to gain abundant wealth and prosperity. The point, though, is to be able to feel eternal joy in one’s heart and to make the mind an eter- nal foundation of life. That point does not change

REFLECTION When we consider that God’s love is the source of all the energy possessed by living things, and reﬂect on the wonder of life it- self, we can imagine what joy is open to us if we live in tune with God’s realm of love and breathe that same air as He does.

Wednesday 25 May Find Your True Self 23 November - 1994 East Garden

Feeling peckish?

I f you are hungry right now and there is some nice food available, your conscience tells you to give it to somebody who is more hungry than you. However, your body doesn’t listen to that and just takes it and eats it. Which of these directions do you fol- low? You don’t want to admit it so that means you are bound to hell. In reality, our body has been dragging and controlling our mind all of these years. So many times our body has made our mind cry and suffer. People do not even realize this, but we know this to be true. How did this kind of tragic event occur? At the time of the Fall, man and woman were at the top of the growth level. That time the power of love was stronger than the power of conscience. That is why it was reversed. Even if it was satanic love, it was stronger than the power of conscience. Do you understand? If the power of conscience had been stronger than the power of love at that time, then, no matter what, the power of the conscience would have triumphed. We realise this logically now. But if you truly know that reality then we have the ability of creation. Do you agree? (Yes.) Since we know the origin of it, now we have to restore back and rebuild. In the satanic world, if teenagers feel love for one another and decide that they want to marry but their parents do not give approval, they sometimes even commit suicide together. The power of love is that powerful. We have to be aware of this extreme level of power. If we truly understand the consequences which mankind has been facing through- out history due to the Fall between Adam and Eve, then we can control our body. No matter what kind of strong desire that our body may generate, our conscience can sup- press it. Do you agree? (Yes.) Even God cannot interfere and eliminate this kind of bodily desire. If we truly understand this, then we can utilize our conscience fully and crush this desire. There can be millions of scandalous problems all over the world, but at the bottom of them all is usually man and woman problem. As long as we eliminate this man and woman relationship problem then most of the other problems in this world can be solved. Then world peace is before us. Is this not true? (Yes.) That is why it is a very serious and critical matter.

REFLECTION Each one of us struggles to attain mind and body unity and too often we give in to the bodily desires. Nevertheless, we should not give up, but continue to train our mind so that it can overcome our physical desires, for the beneﬁt of other people and God. If the mind is strong and we are determined there is nothing we cannot achieve.

Corpus Christi (Christianity) Thursday 26 May Find Your True Self 23 November - 1994 East Garden

God is listening

O ur conscience is directly related to God vertically, but there is also another false plus present. That is why there is always contradiction and conﬂict within you. We can draw this conclusion from our love relationship, because there is false love there. The conclusion is that humankind has been receiving false love, false life and false lineage up until this point. We can trace back to Adam and Eve, our original ances- tors, to see if something went wrong with them. As we know, God created man because of love, but when it comes to the love relation- ship between God’s love and man’s love should there be any confrontation there or should there be unity? (United.) Through what should the relationship between God’s love and man’s love be united? (Man and woman coming together in love.) Have you ever seen love with your own eyes? Is love an object which we can touch or see? What is it? We cannot touch and see love but we can feel love. What about life? Can you see life? You cannot see and touch life. How about our blood lineage, can we see the seed of the human lineage with your eyes? It takes place when man and woman make love. Concave and convex is called in Korean “omok bolok” that represents the love relationship between man and woman. Are you able to see or touch your conscience? Are you able to touch and see God? We cannot touch or see Him, so where is He? Up in the air some place? The earth itself is ro- tating so heaven up here may become heaven down below tomorrow in terms of space. If we look at the planet earth from far way, people at the bottom are standing upside down. For Chinese people, heaven is America because they are standing in China. (Laughter.) Where is heaven then, where does God dwell? (In the conscience.) Heaven explains the state of holiness, highest and most glorious place. God is the root of love, life, lineage and conscience. Do you agree? Therefore, Father concludes that God dwells in the innermost depth of your conscience. Do you understand? If you pray really seriously and reach a state of real spirituality, you will be able to communicate with God directly. In this state when you say, “God, where are you?” Heavenly Father will respond from the centre of your being, “I am here. What is it?”

REFLECTION We might not be able to see God but he is always there, very close to us. God is not somewhere far away but he wants to be in each of our hearts. Through the fall of human kind we lost our ability to see and hear him and therefore we have to try hard to clean our inner self and invite God. That is the biggest wish of our father.

Friday 27 May From: “Twelve Talks”

Making the switch

T he purpose of God is contrary to the purpose of evil. As God’s providence was thwarted in the beginning, we have the directionless state of the present world as a result. God has gone the course of teaching religious people. First He had to ﬁnd one individual on His side, completely one with Him, who could not be broken away from Him. And this man must come to the position where he can make one uniﬁed world. Therefore the primary intention of God is to ﬁnd someone to become one with Him. And his teachings must be to love God and to sacriﬁce oneself for the world. Because man is in the position which is derived from the evil cause, as he is he cannot go to God. He must reverse his direction. To love God, man must abandon his world, his family, material things, and even his own life. Then when he really loves God, God must love him. That man, as the one who receives God’s love, must sacriﬁce himself for the world. That is most important; that is the core of God’s providence. When we think about the words of God that we must love Him with all our hearts, all our minds, all our spirits and everything we have, we might think God is like a dictator. But all these commandments are not for God Himself. When we love Him with all our hearts and all we have, He will love us just as we love Him. That was God’s intention and His ﬁrst commandment to us. Therefore, the word “love” is absolute. When we love Him, He loves back. The commandment that asks us to love Him with our whole being, means to love Him with our life by sacriﬁcing ourselves. For God to love others, He must sacriﬁce the one whom He loves the most. Because of such teachings, we call God ‘Love’. Because God sacriﬁced those whom He loved most for the world, God is the greatest Love.

REFLECTION In love, dominion is never dictatorship. We seek to be dominated by a subject of true love. When commanded to love, it is not an order to be obeyed, but a wake-up call to understand the key to our own eternal happiness.

Saturday 28 May From: “Twelve Talks”

Heart, unity and love

I t is important for you to know about heart in order to love each other. “Heart” is a very difﬁcult word to translate from Korean to English. The Korean meaning has a deeper meaning than is conveyed by the English word. It means to be loving, caring, and sensitive. Heart is the source of love. God has an ideal within Him, just as we have an ideal we long for within our hearts. God’s ideal can be realized through man. Then what is the vehicle through which man can express God’s heart? In order for us to realize God’s ideal, we were created masculine and feminine. Unless male and female beings come together and are united, there is no way for God to express His love ultimately. Unity is the measure of your love, and the source of joy in marriage. If you have your counterpart entirely one with you, working with you toward one goal, joy comes about. When you are happy, there is always you, the subject, and someone else, the object, with whom to share. In direct proportion to the degree of your love in being one with each other, your joy increases. The core of love in the true sense is something magnetic, and once you are united you can never be separated. So love means to be united internally and externally. Unless you ﬁnd oneness, you cannot ﬁnd joy. When you are one with a person, you don’t want to be parted; you want to be with each other for eternity. You never tire of each other. Which comes ﬁrst, unity or love? You can love yourself when your mind and body are in harmony with each other. If you love yourself when your desire and actions are going different directions, then your love has little meaning. When your mind and body are united into one, your love will be eternally protected by God. Unity is the beginning point of love, the point where love can come to abide. This is God’s ideal. Unless God can ﬁnd persons whose quality is in accordance with His ideal, He cannot be happy at all. He has no one He can love. Since this Principle is the core, we in our movement seek unity ﬁrst. And then we talk about heart and love. Then only can our ideal be realized. Before the ideal can be realized, there must be unity, and then love.

REFLECTION First unity and then love. “Loving your neighbour as your- self” implies the importance of loving oneself correctly. The prerequisite for loving oneself and ﬁnding joy in doing so is to achieve unity of mind and body, centred upon God.

Sunday 29 May The Providential Path to True Liberation and Complete Freedom, 13th April 2005

The Messiah must establish a true family

B ecause the Messiah comes as the perfected Adam, he has to receive a true bride whom God can love according to the absolute standard. Then they together are to progress to the position of a true husband and wife. They thus perfect God’s original ideal for husbands and wives, which is the basis for fulﬁlling God’s original ideal of creation. This is because only on the basis of an ideal husband and wife can true children be born who will inherit the pure lineage of Heaven. This husband and wife are the son and daughter of God. They will never repeat the mistake of the human fall. They serve as the starting point for the eternal lineage of goodness. The mission of the Messiah does not end there. After he progresses to the position of True Parents and establishes an absolute true family, then, centring on this true family, he has to establish the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven. In this way, he brings God’s ideal of creation to completion. For this purpose, the six billion human beings who have descended from the fall should, without exception, be grafted into the true family. They should be grafted both in heart and in lineage. How is this grafting accomplished? Everyone here is a wild olive tree, born with fallen nature. Though centuries may pass, a wild olive tree never mutates into a cultivated olive tree. It forever remains a wild olive tree. Unless its lineage is changed, it cannot escape its identity as a wild olive tree. The grafting requires that it be dispassionately severed at the base of its trunk, and a shoot from a cultivated olive tree be attached there. When this shoot matures, that tree will bear the fruit of a cultivated tree.

REFLECTION Salvation comes through being grafted into the messiah’s true lineage and bearing good fruit. Left as we are, fallen people will never change; the change we need is so fundamental. To describe the process we must go through as one of ‘grafting’ is not just a use ﬁgura- tive language. It is the way to solve humankind’s root problem.

Monday 30 May From: ‘Philosophy of Peace’

A Haven of Heart

W hen God made man, he devoted all His heart, mind, soul and energy, and poured all His life, love and affection into man. He created man through a relationship that cannot be split or torn apart by any kind of force. When He looks at human beings, who were created in this manner, peace can come to exist for the ﬁrst time. All love and happiness can only exist through humankind. Humankind, created through an eternal and unchanging love relationship, can become the centre of peace. He must embrace and love all things of creation, with the conﬁdence that he can become the nucleus of peace. The Father and His sons and daughters are grasping one another’s hands. How long has God been waiting for that moment when He could bequeath everything of this world to His children? It was God’s long-awaited desire to be in that position, but man committed the fall without God seeing the fulﬁlment of His long-desired Will. That is to say, Adam and Eve, who yearned for the bosom of love, fell and died spiritually. Due to the fall, they plunged right into the world of death. Where do we, in fact, where do all people absolutely have to go today? We have to ﬁnd a place where we can dissolve God’s resentment, fulﬁl the day of happiness and hope and offer all these to God. We have to stand in the position of ancestors with a high standard of heart, otherwise there will not be any haven of heart anywhere in the world, and the foundation of peace and happiness will not come to this earth.

REFLECTION Create a haven of heart. Perhaps this is what religious communities have striven to do through the centuries. The distance between God and humankind is of our own making; that means He has so much more He wants to give us when we have the necessary foundation to receive.

Tuesday 31 May From: ‘Philosophy of Peace’

The world as one nation

W here is the original homeland? A person’s homeland will, of course, be a country with its own national standards, but the fatherland of humankind that God is searching for is this earth! The homeland that earthly man hopes for is the homeland of humankind that God hopes for. Many of our successive generations of ancestors trod a path of sacriﬁce in the past, but what did they appeal to Heaven for? A homeland of hope. By establishing one heavenly nation, we realize a heaven of peace cen- tring on goodness alone, judging Satan, our greatest enemy, before heaven and completely eliminating evil. All of you have to clearly know that this is the hope of God, Jesus, and our forefathers who have made great contributions to the providential course. All ﬁve billion people living on this earth are aiming for a uniﬁed ideal world. I do not think there is any man or woman who does not have the same aspiration. Furthermore, if there is a true God of humankind, He will hope for the same thing, too. Since God is an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and absolute being, there is nothing He could not do if He wanted. He could create out of nothing. Nothing is impossible for Him. The hope of that absolute being is a world where the unity and peace of humankind is real- ized.

REFLECTION We have become used to the world being its own frac- tious and divided self . The goal of God Himself, of Jesus and all the saints of history cannot but be the same – to create a uniﬁed and peace- ful world. Since such a world cannot just appear from out of the air, how must it develop and what signs will we see of its imminent arrival?

Published by the UK Family Federation for World Peace Compiled by David Hanna and Parmy Withers-Olson Reﬂections by David Hanna, with contributions from Margaret Ali, Dorothy Fujii and Parmy Withers-Olson Printed by Allstar