Be True Parents, True Teachers, and True Leaders

Distinguished guests, parents, graduates, alumni, board, administration, faculty, staff, ladies and gentlemen:

Welcome to the 21” annual graduation exercises of the Unification Theological Seminary. Today we are here to honor 48 graduates of the class of 1997.

My message to the students who just graduated is: Be true parents, true teachers, and true leaders.

I believe that the positions of parents, teachers, and leaders are three primary positions in society because the destiny of society is largely determined by them. For parents nurture their children; teachers educate their students; and leaders lead people under them.

There are many, many parents, teachers, and leaders in this world, but the question is: Who among them are true parents, true teachers, and true leaders? In my opinion, true parents, true teachers, and true leaders are those who cannot only teach how to become children of filial piety in the family, loyal citizens in the nation, and saints in the world, and holy sons and daughters in front of God, but also exemplify this way of filial piety, loyalty, sainthood, and holy sonship and daughtership within themselves as parents, teachers, and leaders. Especially the role of true parents is important because only after you become true parents in the family can you become true teachers and true leaders in society.

True parents teach their children progressively to complete the way of filial child, loyal citizen, saint, holy son and daughter. They do this on behalf of God because this is God’s desire. In fact, God himself is a True Parent, having the highest standard of true parentship.

God is a God of love and relationship. He therefore wants each family to establish love and relationship amongst its members. They are related to one another within the family through the basic structure of what is above and below, right and left, and front and back. In the family, therefore, there are parents and children (above and below), husband and wife (right and left), and brothers and sisters (front and back). They all have to love one another to reflect the love of God. When this happens, the family will become a sphere of love revolving centering on God, within which true harmony and unification are realized and the equality of the value of each family member is established.

Then, what is the most important aspect of the love of God to be reflected in this family relationship? It is unconditional giving for the sake of others. God unconditionally gave himself for the sake of his objects of love at the time of creation, and he has also been unconditionally giving himself for the salvation of fallen mankind. To give and forget sacrificially - that is the essence of the love of God. In order to reflect this within the family, therefore, all members should sacrificially give themselves to one another in their love relationship.

Here, especially parents as true parents should make sure that their children grow as children of filial piety who can sacrifice themselves for the sake of their family. Moreover, true parents should also teach their children to become loyal citizens who can even sacrifice their family for the sake of the nation. They should also teach them to become saints who can even sacrifice their nation for the sake of the world and eventually to become holy sons and daughters who can sacrificially work for God. Needless to say, in order for true parents to teach their children this way, they themselves have to be exemplification of filial piety, loyalty, sainthood, and holy sonship.

Here you see a family pattern formed at every level of reality, whether the level be family, nation, world, or God. This is the reason why we need true teachers and true leaders in society as well as true parents in the family. True teachers and true leaders should teach in society what true parents teach in the family.

If the love of god is thus manifested at every level of reality, there will be no room for individualism or egotism, in which one usually claims anything as “mine alone.” If filial piety, loyalty, sainthood, and holy sonship and daughtership are realized everywhere, there will be no room for family feuds, divorce, promiscuity, free sex, crime, murder, war, etc. World peace and unification will be realized.

Dear graduates! I expect all of you to become true parents as described above. Did you bring the sacrificial love of God to your family as true parents? Unless you become true parents this way, you will not be able to be true teachers and true leaders.

You find many prominent teachers at Ivy League universities such as Harvard and Yale, but are they true teachers? Do they know the primary importance of being true parents who exemplify and teach the way of filial child, loyal citizen, saint, and holy sonship? There are many leaders such as the President of USA, but are they true leaders? Do they know that they have to be true parents first? Unless they are true teachers and true leaders after being true parents, how can they educate students and lead people property?

Twenty-two years ago, I founded the Unification Theological Seminary here in Barrytown. The Seminary with its two degree programs of M.R.E. and M.Div. is already chartered by New York State and accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Universities. So, people might regard you graduates, and you might regard yourselves, as teachers and leaders primarily from the external perspective of its chartered and accredited degree programs. But I want to tell you that I founded this Seminary for the purpose of training and producing true parents, true teachers, and true leaders who can handle the various problems of the world centering on the love of God.

Now that you are graduates today, please be true parents, true teachers, and true leaders who, with the sacrificial love of God, love more, invest more, give more, and forget what they have given. If so, you will become central figures. This is cosmic law. Such people will change the world without fail.

God bless you all! Thank you.