The High Priest Protecting Love - To Global Leaders Of Cheon Il Guk

Greetings to all you peace-loving members of the Holy Community. I’m happy to see all of you here in the hall. And welcome to all of you joining us online.

On April 16th, in commemoration of the 62nd anniversary of True Parents’ Cosmic Marriage, a special worship service and a commemorative event were held to honor 55th Heavenly Parents’ Day and 63rd True Parents’ Day. And the Blessing Ceremony was held at the World Peace Center. In our Cheonwon church, 22 people attended, received the Blessing, and new Blessed Families were born. I would like to congratulate you from the bottom of my heart and introduce you to these families and we’ve prepared congratulatory gifts for them.

On the 17th, the Victory Ceremony was held to dedicate Cheonwon Palace. At the same time was the unveiling ceremony of the Tower of Heaven.

From the 19th to the 21st, there was a three-day, two-night “Special Education Workshop for Leaders of Cheon Il Guk and the Special Devotion of Cheon Shim-Won” organized by True Parents.

On April 21st, the 30th anniversary of the founding of Women’s Federation for World Peace was commemorated at the World Center with True Mother in attendance.

To sum up in a word, all these events together made for one great feast. Amid beautiful weather, a warm spring bursting with flowers, and together with Heavenly Parent and True Parents, this great festival was held at this Cheon Il Guk revival with Cheon Il-guk leaders from all over the world. In other words, I thought that God had unfurled Heaven on earth in advance, like a preview of how all mankind will greet Heavenly Parent and True Parents. It also prompted me to look forward to how happy and beautiful will be the day the Cheon Won Gung and Cheon Il Seong Jeon (The Cheon Il Sanctum) is dedicated one year from now.

Today I have prepared my sermon focusing on two things. One point is addressed to the newly blessed families and the other concerns special education and devotion to the global leaders of Cheon Il Guk.

First, I wish to congratulate the newly blessed families, and I’ve decided on the title “The High Priest Protecting Love.”

This title is taken from Cheon Seong Gyeong, p.321 No. 23:

“We must be high priests who guard our love for one another. Husband and wife are the high priests protecting love. Married couples are high priests to inherit and pass on God’s love.”

Now, I pray that the blessed couples will keep the blessing and the love they have received from heaven, and that the blessing and love will be inherited and flourish among their descendants.

Cheon Seong Gyeong uses the term “high priest” to keep the Blessing and guard love. Why did does it call them high priests guarding love? Can’t we just call them priests?

The most dramatic use of the term “high priest” was during the 40-year wilderness journey from Egypt, where the Israelites had been slaves, to Canaan.

During their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness, they could not build a temple to serve God. Instead, they built a movable tabernacle so they could revere Yahweh. The priests were responsible for guarding the tabernacle and offering sacrifices. There were several priests, and one of them was anointed as the high priest.

The tabernacle was divided into the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place. The Holy Place was where priests would offer sacrifices and honor Yahweh each day and on the Sabbath. However, the Holy of Holies was a special place within the Holy Place set apart by a curtain, where the High Priest entered once a year on the Day of Atonement to perform a rite for atonement for the people of Israel. Jehovah God would appear and issue the word directly. It is recorded in Leviticus 16:2 that if anyone so much as peeked into this Most Holy Place at any time, they would die.

Just as the high priest would guard the Most Holy and enter just once a year to offer sacrifices and meet God - it means that husband and wife must be high priests for one another and guard the most holy love. Protecting love is for inheriting God’s love, and if you err in keeping this love, you may die. Guarding love is like that: If you do it wrong, you die. Just as God warned in the Garden of Eden, if you eat the fruit, you will die.

As I was preparing this sermon, I was worried lest there should be some who misunderstood. Since as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies once a year to hold the sacrificial service, they might wrongly understand this and think that’s what is meant by the word “to guard love.” I was worried that some couple would be thinking, “Oh, it’s too difficult to insist that a married couple meet only once a year.” Is anyone thinking I meant that? Please don’t think that way. That’s not what I mean. It does not mean that couples should meet only once a year. If that’s the story, then some couples might meet only once in 2 years and some might join together only once every 3 years!

Everyone can understand readily if you say, “You must take good care of your health,” so I’ll talk about health first. Then, let’s discuss what we can do to guard love well.

What should one do to stay healthy? The best thing is if you don’t have any aches or pains. With some ailments, once a person has taken sick, it’s already too late to go to the hospital. So it’s best to identify a disease when you’re not sick. But most people don’t visit the hospital unless they’re sick. Korea is a very nice country: Even if you are not sick, you must go to the hospital for regular check-ups.

When you go to the hospital and see the doctor, what question does the doctor usually ask first? “Where do you hurt?” “How do you feel?” “When did you start feeling sick?” Usually a patient replies, “I came to the hospital because I was feeling sick,” and the doctor asks, “Where does it hurt? How does it feel?”

Even if a client feels no pain, X-rays and MRI scans are performed. Even if one doesn’t feel sick, there may be a problem, so the standard checkups are done.

If you’re physically ill and go to the hospital, the doctor asks where you are sick, what sort of ailment you’re suffering, and how long you’ve been feeling out of sorts.

We all know prevention is the best medicine, so what should we do? The answer is simple: Once you lose your health, what you should do from then on to recover good health is those things you should properly do if you’re healthy. Isn’t that easy enough?

After your health falters, you start reading up, taking interest in what kinds of food, exercise, and lifestyle are good for your body. Also, one starts perking up their ears and listening to stories about such health stories here and there.

So if you pay attention to your health and study good lifestyle habits while your body is healthy, that’s the best way to maintain good health.

Now I think that safeguarding love is the same. Even a beloved person can also get sick. When loved ones have problems in love, that hurts not the body but the mind. My soul hurts. What to do when I suffer a heartache about love? I need to go to the hospital. What will the doctor ask me when I pay him or her a visit? It’s the same: “Where are you sick? How are you feeling? How long have you had this condition?”

So what hospital do you go to when your loved one is sick? And which doctor should you consult?

As we said, husband and wife are high priests protecting each other’s love - but the couple are not the only priests to protect each other’s love: there are also hospitals and doctors to visit when one’s soul is sick and love is on the rocks. Let us become the hospitals and doctors for one another.

Masanori Tasaka who read the Word for us this morning. With appreciation to the Jeong Seon-ok family, I will read over one of the passages we read:

Mother of Peace (Mother’s autobiography) p. 277: “When a couple believes in and is committed to the sanctity of love and fulfills their responsibilities, then a happy family home is created.”

To create a happy family, both partners of a married couple must fulfill their responsibilities. There are many responsibilities, but I don’t think there is any more important responsibility as a couple than to protect the love for one another.

Who’s the first to know if a husband or wife is sick? Whether it’s a physical ailment or a problem in their love, the spouses must know about each other’s situation first.

The fact is, even a doctor who’s studied medicine for many years does not automatically know where the pain is when a patient comes to visit. So won’t he ask, and won’t you tell him? You won’t know what the problem is unless you consult your doctor. If he can’t identify the source, he’ll use a machine to find out what’s causing the hurt.

How well do you know love as husband and wife? How well do you know their heart? You don’t even know although you’ve lived together for a long time, do you?

If you’ve done farming a long time, you’ll know a lot about crops and how to cultivate them well. Those who run restaurants accumulate know-how and cook delicious, popular dishes over the years. Likewise, as a couple lives together for a long time, they get to know each other better and better, and the more they get along, the happier they are. Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen? But does that always happen?

Somehow it’s weird with married couples. It doesn’t seem like we know each other so well and get along marvelously after living together for a long time. On the contrary, there are cases where problems arise.

Just because a couple has lived together for a long time doesn’t mean they know each other well. Especially when there is a pain somewhere in our heart, it seems there are many cases where it doesn’t heal by itself with the passage of time.

So when do you come to realize it? It comes out when a couple argues with each other. Things that were disappointing or irritating 10 or 20 years ago come out. Injuries of the body heal over time and no longer hurt, but wounds of the heart don’t seem to heal well. It hurts at odd times or all the time because of that wound in my heart.

Even if it doesn’t seem like anything important, you should ask. So what should I ask?

“Where do you hurt?” As you ask, “Is there something that you’re not comfortable with?” “How does it bother you? Are you angry? Are you upset? Are you annoyed? Don’t you want to talk about it at all? You don’t want to see that? Do you hate it?” Both spouses should be able to ask such questions at any time. The easiest way is very simple: If I tell you first that it hurts, then it hurts. (Or vice versa.)

But the reality is, even though it’s not difficult at all to ask each other where it hurts or what’s the matter, and it is easier for me to say where it hurts, what troubles me now - yet there are many cases where we don’t ask our spouse and cannot tell them ourselves, either. There are many reasons, but a chief reason is pride.

Saying I’m sick right now hurts my self-esteem and also makes them annoyed. Even more so when we’re fighting. Is it easy for me to tell the person I’m arguing with that I’m sick? If you don’t like something, the more you hate it, the more you force a smile. Even if it hurts, you pretend not to be sick. Because that’s how you get the upper hand.

If you don’t like something the other person does, you’re not about to ask where it hurts. On the contrary, it feels good that the other person is sick. At such a time, the one party sees that their partner is in pain and without hesitation drives a nail into their chest. After pounding a nail into my opponent’s chest and hurting their heart, finally their heart is wounded, and eventually the body blocks off the injured part, and that’s where the sickness starts. After my partner loses the healthy wholeness of body and mind, that’s when finally I try to unwind my mind. I say I’m sorry and beg forgiveness, asking you to understand and saying, “I love you,” but you say my heart is insincere.

Before I lost my physical and mental health, I had time and opportunity to relax my mind, but I didn’t.

Because of that pride. The effort to mend things starts only after I lost everything. Seeing that, people seem wise, but we are actually really foolish.

The bottom line is that before your body and mind get sick, you can keep your body and mind healthy by doing things that make you feel good without hurting your body and mind. You can keep love. You have to live by speaking normally and frankly: “I’m sorry, thank you, forgive me, I love you, thank you for understanding, you make me strong. Just thinking of you makes life worthwhile.” There are many words that warm the heart without hurting the heart. You can do whatever you want without hurting another person’s heart. Instead of approaching someone lying bedridden after getting sick, stroking their hands, rubbing their legs, or going out to buy some good food, do those nice things when they’re not sick.

How? Before you go up to someone who is lying down sick and saying “I’m sorry, forgive me, understand me, I love you…” - can you do those things while you’re both healthy? All it takes is lowering your self- esteem a notch.

In that respect, I respect Gyeongsang-do husbands. Husbands in Gyeongsang Province say they always ask their wives when they come home from being out: “Is there no work?” They say, “All the words you say after coming home are 8 letters: “Is there no work? Let’s eat, let’s go to sleep!” Anyway, as a wife, it’s really wonderful that when my hubby gets home he asks if I’m not sick or if I felt bad about anything.

Let me repeat this once more: It is best to avoid hurting each other’s heart before they become ill, but then how should we do that?

The answer is so simple: Just like you should study and find things that are good for your body before you get sick, rather than looking for things that are good for your body after you get sick - the same is true of our souls and hearts. Instead of trying to heal another’s heart after he or she’s been hurt, we should study and find out what’s good for each other’s soul and mental health before our hearts get hurt.

So, what is good for the well-being of a person’s heart? The answer is too simple: You don’t want your own heart to be hurt. So all you have to do is just find out what your heart likes. No one knows what the heart likes. But while most people care about what my heart likes and is pleased by, will it please my wife or husband? Would they like it? It’s not easy to think about.

It feels good when your wife or husband says “I love you.” However, there are some people who find it difficult to say “I love you” to their spouse. If one person says “I love you” but the other doesn’t respond, as time passes, the person who used to say “I love you” will stop saying it as well. Finally, they end up not saying “I love you” anymore.

So isn’t it better to say: “I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

“Actually it’s my fault. Relax.”

“When I think of you, I feel strengthened.”

“The flowers were really beautiful today. It makes me think of you.”

“Looking at you today, that’s the way I felt when I first saw you and we fell in love.”

It feels good to hear you say that. My mind is freed. But it’s not easy for me to get those words out, is it?

How did you feel when I said you must become a high priest rather than a priest to keep love? I mean, it’s that important. It’s not really that hard, but it can be difficult with very trivial things. We just need to know each other in advance of the pain before we lie down. Before the high priest enters the Most Holy and meets God, he prepares in advance so that God will not be angry. The Bible tells the high priest what to wear and what to do before entering the Most Holy. If you accidentally enter the Holy of Holies and die, you will never have a chance again, so prepare thoroughly before entering.

It also means you must prepare well to safeguard love between husband and wife.

Let’s read a passage from the Cheon Seong Gyeong p. 452, No. 19:

“A person who lives by always discerning what is pleasing and what is sad to God cannot become an evil person, nor can he violate the laws of heaven.”

So think: will Heavenly Parent be happy? If you always think about whether He will be sad, you cannot become an evil person, and you cannot break the laws of heaven. First, we must not violate the laws of heaven. So, will Heavenly Parent be happy? Would He be sad? He will always let you know. If you live life thinking about whether your husband or wife will be happy or sad, at least you cannot become a bad

person in front of your husband or wife, and you would not go against the laws of the family.

That’s right. Will husband and wife rejoice in each other at home? Will you be sad? You should always look carefully and pay attention to whether there are any painful or uncomfortable places, physically or mentally. As long as a doctor is trying to cure a patient’s disease, a couple should become each other’s doctors, always paying attention to where the pain is and what the problem is, taking care of each other.

Now, in order for the Blessed Couple to inherit the love and Blessing and prosper through your descendants, you must first keep the Blessing preciously. Just like taking good care of your health.

Now I’d like to tell you about the special education of Cheon Il Guk leaders and the special prayer condition at Cheon Shim Won, hosted by True Mother from the 19th~21st.

First, as the conclusion of three days of special education and special devotion at Cheonshimwon, there was a special meeting with True Mother on the 21st, and I’ll read a section of True Mother’s message:

“The time has come to reveal the truth. That is why it is essential to show humankind the life of attending our Heavenly Parent here on earth and the life of the kingdom of heaven on earth. … Because it is now such a time, we cannot keep going on having doubts and questions about things we do not understand in our heart. Isn’t that right? That is why I have spoken these things to you people. Because life in the kingdom of heaven on earth is reflected in the spirit world, I explained to you that your life must be conducted with a crystal-clear spirit body.”

This time, in the presence of leaders of Cheon Il Guk from all over the world, True Mother was invited to the “Victory Devotion Ceremony of Cheon Il Guk.” There is one year left until True Parents’ wedding anniversary in 2023. On that day, Cheon Won Gung will be completed and the Cheon-il Temple, the center of Cheon Won Gung, will be dedicated to Heavenly Parent.

A little while ago, I told you about the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place recorded in the Bible. The Holy of Holies is the most holy place in the sanctuary; it is separated by a heavy curtain; it is the place where God appears in a cloud and the high priest enters once a year to perform the sacrifice.

The high priest made preparations with utmost sincerity to enter the Holy of Holies once a year and offer the sacrifice. Undergarments like this, inner paji like this, sash like this, robe like this. With all these holy vestments, it is natural that you wash your body clean before donning them.

So what sort of place is Cheon-il Temple in CheonWonGung? It is not the place where Heavenly Parent appears once a year, but the place where Heavenly Parent always abides with True Mother to reign in Cheon Il Guk. In other words, the time has come to live the life of heaven on earth attending Heavenly Parent and True Parents.

In Old Testament times, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies and that only once a year to prepare and offer sacrifices before Jehovah God.

But now that the time has come for all people to live in heaven on earth attending Heavenly Parent and True Mother, does this mean that we no longer have to prepare the High Offering in a holy manner as the high priest did back then? Not at all!

Heavenly Parent’s holiness is eternal. We cannot meet Heavenly Parents without making holy preparations. However, the level of that holy preparation has risen up. Going beyond the holiness of clothes and vestiments, we must prepare the holiness of our heart.

I’ll present True Mother’s words here once more. Mother said, “As the life in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is the life of attending Heavenly Parents, we must display before all mankind the real life of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Because the life in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is reflected in the spirit world, our lives must be with our spirit body clear as crystal. And because such a time has come, we cannot go on harboring doubts and questions and things we do not understand any longer.”

So Mother said the most important thing all leaders of Cheon Il Guk should do this time, one year before consecrating the Cheon Il Guk Temple to Heavenly Parent, all our blessed families, the people of Cheon Il Guk, must pray about True Parents, about Heavenly Parents, and about the church. Because there should not be even one speck of shadow in our heart. She directed that we receive special education to clarify our souls and our lives to be pure and clear as crystal without any shadow before Heavenly Parent and True Parent, so she instructed us to inquire with questions to clear up any point or issue we do not clearly understand. So, in addition to the 3 lectures, there was one Q and A lecture during the special education session.

So to repeat, the life in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is the life we live attending our Heavenly Parent.

About True Father, about True Mother, and about Heavenly Parent, if there is even a shadow in my heart, then I cannot see Heavenly Parents. Moreover, it will be impossible to live in attendance to Heavenly Parent.

What was the time of Jesus like 2,000 years ago? What words did Jesus proclaim?

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

What do Jesus’ words mean, that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand? The Kingdom of Heaven is God’s nation. His message is that God’s nation is drawing near and the day we can directly meet God is at hand, so we must repent, namely, to purify ourselves body and mind. God is our Parent, our Heavenly Parent. The clear message is that, as the day to meet our Heavenly Parent in person is near, we are to prepare for the day we will meet our Parents with a holy mind and body.

So True Mother, is proclaiming, as Jesus did: “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” This is the announcement that “the day to meet our Heavenly Parents is very near, so prepare to meet our Heavenly Parent with a holy body and mind.”

The words that True Mother gave are the same as those preached by Jesus the Only Begotten Son 2,000 years ago. Didn’t He likewise say, “The time has come to show the life of heaven on earth in attendance to Heavenly Parent in front of all people, so your life must be with a crystal-clear spirit body.”?

I also received special education on the Cheon Il Guk Constitution. The Cheon Il Guk Constitution is supposed to be in the process of being amended for the third time. With the completion of Cheon Il Guk next year, the Constitution of Cheon Il Guk will be published and its authority will be manifested. I think this special education is something that all blessed families must receive in the future. Before the completion of the Cheon Won Gung Palace next year, we will arrange an occasion for all of our family members to receive this special education. As Mother said, we must all become Blessed Families who can show the world the life of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth living in attendance to our Heavenly Parents with a crystal-clear heart.

At the same time as the completion of the Cheonwon Palace next year, the Hwawon Garden will be opened and an electric cruise ship will go into service. Many people not only from Korea but also from around the world will be coming to visit the Cheon Won Gung. What is the most important thing to tell them? It is the contents that I was speaking about earlier. We need to proclaim: “The time has come to live the life of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth attending Heavenly Parents. Please purify your body and mind and build Blessed Families attending Heavenly Parent.”

Many people will be asking, “How can we become a Blessed Family receiving the blessing of Heavenly Parents?” Then guide those people to the Training Center so they can participate in 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, or week-long education programs, and we will be holding the Holy Wine and Blessing Ceremony every day for those who desire to become a Blessed Family. Then they will return to their homes and will want to visit those who are already living in the realm of the Blessing. They will be curious to see if you are truly blessed and living happily in attendance to Heavenly Parents.

I am certain that from next year such an era will open up. People will flock to the training center, where education programs and blessings will be held day in and day out. At each local church, people who have completed the pilgrimage to Cheon Won Gung and received education and the Blessing at the training center will come to our churches to learn more about Blessed Family life and True Parents.

Mother foresaw what would be happening next year already a year in advance, and guided Cheon Il Guk leaders around the world to prepare for it starting from now. True Mother gave these words to all our blessed families to prepare for such an era. Do you believe this?

For how many years have you been longing to cry out, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! You must receive the Blessing!” Now that time is truly drawing near. Isn’t this just marvelous!? Thinking about the grace of this coming year when all of our family members will be experiencing once again the grace of when we were Blessed the first time, in front of the whole world, how our hearts will be just brimming, 100 percent aligned with True Mother, with a crystal-clear natural appearance and not even a speck of shadow in our hearts. We earnestly pray for all our blessed families and family members to be able to confidently declare, “Please receive the Blessing as the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is now at hand, where we live in attendance to Heavenly Parents!”