What Father Taught Me Through Tuna Fishing

We are gathered here at this workshop in order to realize the triple up of membership. Through this, and through inheriting Father’s victorious foundation and tradition, we want to realize the unification of the fatherland. This is why we are gathered here in Camberg. This morning I would like to share about the time when Father was tuna fishing in Boston. This may help you in your present situation.

This was Father’s very first experience of tuna fishing. I joined Father for tuna fishing in 1979. I was responsible for the IOWC campaign in Great Britain at that time. However, I went to America in June to give a report about our activities in Great Britain. When I arrived Father was already preparing for tuna fishing, and when July came I went with Father to Boston.

At that time we had many activities in Great Britain and it was quite an important time, but Father kept me in America for two and a half months for tuna fishing. Actually, Father taught me so many things through tuna fishing. It was also the first time I went tuna fishing. I had never even caught small fish before on the ocean, so catching such big tuna was really a new experience for me. Many members actually got seasick on the boat, but fortunately I didn’t get seasick.

I heard from Father that it was not so easy to catch tuna; even Father found it difficult. Sometimes he would catch a tuna and then it would escape again. This happened a total of twenty-one times. Because of this, the people around Father really felt sympathetic towards him.

In 1979 I went fishing with Father, and in 1980 Father became a champion of tuna fishing in Boston. Boston is a place where many tuna fishermen gather from all over the world. Tuna have the nature to travel around the world. They usually spawn by the Gulf of Mexico and then go to Boston where they eat a lot, then up to Canada, from there to Scandinavia and afterwards down to the Mediterranean. From there they cross the Pacific Ocean and return to the Gulf of Mexico and finally Boston. Oher tuna leave the coast of Mexico and go to Canada and from there to Scandinavia and the Mediterranean and from there, around the African continent and finally return to the Gulf of Mexico. So tuna have a tendency to travel long distances. Usually they spawn by the Mexican coast and then go up to Boston. After laying their eggs the tuna are usually very hungry when they arrive at Boston.

This morning I would like to share some testimony about Father. Actually Father failed to catch a tuna twenty-one times. But after twenty-one attempts he finally caught one. This was the beginning, and from this point he graduated to become a champion of tuna fishing. I would like to talk about how he could manage it. As you know, Jesus told his disciple, Peter, that fish symbolize human beings. If I were to explain everything in detail it would take a long time, therefore I would like to mention the main points only.

The purpose of fishing was always very clear for Father. However, a religious leader catching and killing

such big fish is always questionable. But for Father tuna fishing has a clear purpose. When the human population increases year by year, the number of people who eat fish will also increase. As a result, the number of fish available will decrease, so as Father mentioned, a food crisis will result. For this reason Father is really interested in aquaculture.

Actually the boat building industries and fish industries are not so well developed in America. The reason is because when the American fishermen leave to go fishing, they don’t return for two or three months. When the husbands go to sea for two or three months, the wives cannot wait such a long time for them.

The number of divorces among fishermen has increased as a direct result of this long period of separation. Many young people don’t want to become fishermen. So without Father’s teaching and ideology we cannot build up the fishing industry.

Under such circumstances Father began to develop the fishing industry and boat building industry. This project was started for the salvation of mankind and to solve the future food crisis, and to save the American nation.

Concerning killing animals, Father taught us as follows: The tuna are really quite big. The smallest one we caught weighed 550 pounds, we also caught tuna that weighed over one thousand pounds. Therefore the small ones are comparable to the size of a small cow. Usually, when you catch small fish you don’t think that you killed an animal. But when you catch bigger fish and then kill them, you really feel that you killed it. Tuna is like a queen among the other fish. A shark looks very aggressive, but the tuna looks beautiful or cute in comparison. Father told us that each tuna is destined to die of old age. This is a normal death. Some tuna may die of sickness or injury. Others may be caught by fishermen and killed. So eventually each tuna will die.

As we know from the Principle of Creation, each living thing has a purpose for its existence. However, these tuna are destined to die without receiving true love from true men, and for this reason the creation has resentment. But if they can be dominated by true men, if they can receive true love through true men, then they can return joy to man. True men will then be able to re-=urn joy to God. In this way each living thing can fulfill the purpose of its creation, or the purpose of its existence. So, from a principled point of view, when the creation is sacrificed for the sake of true men, and through this returns joy to man, all the resentment can be washed away.

Thus it can fulfill the purpose of its creation. So, from the principled point of view, the only one who should catch tuna is the Messiah. The followers of the Messiah can also catch tuna.

So, as Father explained, if he doesn’t catch tuna they will one day die anyway. In this case the resentment of the creation would never be cleared. So, as Father explained, he is liberating them from resentment. Therefore, what Father wants to do is liberate the creation from resentment. Through fish farming Father plans to solve the food crisis in the future. This is another reason why Father started Ocean Church.

I want you to clearly understand that when Father went tuna fishing he had a very clear purpose. He wanted to liberate God, mankind and the creation. This shows that Father’s intention was very clear. We can see that right from the beginning Father had a very clear purpose.

Secondly, in order to be successful, you need knowledge. So what Father did was discover more about the nature of tuna. He studied the structure and habits of the tuna and what it likes or where it tends to go and when it bites the line. If there is a fish which tuna likes to eat, it will surely go to where these fish are to be found. Therefore, Father first started to study about tuna. This doesn’t mean that he read many books. When Father listens to other people he always thinks ahead.

Another point is that in order to start fishing you require many different materials. Father carefully considered the type of hooks he would need. He collected many different kinds of hooks and then found out which one was the best. He tried out all the different hooks himself. Sometimes he would change parts of the hook. Of course the hook is also connected to the rope so Father then considered which kind of rope would be best. He tried out each item one by one, very carefully. He also considered which bait to use and how to use it. He thought about how many hooks to use and how deep they should be. Father explained that when a tuna finds a bait, it doesn’t approach it directly. It circles the bait to observe it, and then comes closer. Sometimes the tuna rises from deep in the ocean to find a bait. Father puts the bait at different depths so there will be a greater possibility to catch the tuna. He himself calculated the depths at which the bait should lie. People usually use three baits on one line, but Father uses as many as eight baits at different depths on the same line.

Father selected many different fish to be used as bait. He wanted to find out which kind of fish tuna like. Even though many outside fishermen were tuna fishing, Father still tried out different baits. In this way Father invested all his knowledge for this project. Even when he was just sitting on the boat he was always thinking about how to succeed.

The third point is that whatever Father does, he invests all his heart into the project. He explained that tuna is like a queen among fish. So, if we want to welcome a queen we need to prepare well, using the appropriate things. But outside fishermen consider the economical aspect as more important. Actually it is not possible to catch tuna so often: maybe one tuna every ten days. Sometimes one tuna every two or three weeks. For this reason it is not so easy for normal fishermen to manage financially. Of course Father must also consider the economic aspect, otherwise he would accumulate debts.

When outside fishermen go fishing, they usually use floats. Sometimes they use plastic water bottles as floats because they are cheap. But Father told us not to use such cheap things. He then bought the proper floats which cost four or five dollars each and taped around them beautifully. Even the basket he used for the ropes was carefully selected by Father. He concerned himself with every small detail, even the size of the ropes. Father invested money for the equipment in this way.

We usually used fish as bait. We call it ‘cham’. Some fishermen throw almost rotten cham into the water, but Father bought good fish, cut it and then used it as bait. When the other fishermen cut the chum, they usually just threw it into the ocean as bait. But Father expected us to do this differently. He wanted us to cut the bait carefully with a prayerful attitude and then pass it on to the tuna. We should have this kind of attitude. We should consider which kind of apple we would like to receive. One that is cut carefully and beautifully, or one that is cut roughly? Which one would you rather receive? When the apples are cut and arranged on a plate you would naturally want to take the most beautiful piece. This is a natural desire, isn’t it? You want to take the one you like the most. This is how Father prepared everything for the fish.

Father also forbade us to walk about the boat making a noise, because through this we would disturb the tuna, so they would not come near the boat. When you cut bait, you get dirty very quickly, but Father always told us to keep everything clean.

There is a time period when the tuna bite, and after this it is usually quiet for a few hours. When this time comes, we usually feel quite tired. One day I was reading a book on the boat, but Father told me I should not read a book then. What he wanted to say was that I should really invest my heart in tuna fishing. The third point which we can learn from Father then, is that he invests his whole heart in whatever he is doing.

The fourth point is that Father invests all his energy. Normal fishermen go to sea at 5 o’clock in the morning and return at about 6 or 7 o’clock in the evening. (Because after this time the tuna don’t normally bite.) But Father usually continues one hour longer than the other fishermen. Because of this Father caught many tuna, one after the other. When the other fishermen saw this, when they realized that one boat had caught a tuna, they saw it was Rev Moon’s boat. When you are tuna fishing and somebody catches a tuna, everybody pays attention. They realized that this Moonie boat left at four o’clock in the morning and could then catch many tuna. After observing this they also did the same. They too went to sea an hour earlier than usual.

When they followed Father in this way, Father left even earlier, at three o’clock in the morning.

One day we invested all our heart and energy but couldn’t catch any tuna. Finally all the other fishermen left to go home. During the tuna fishing season more than one hundred, and as many as two hundred fishing boats would gather in one area. After a long day tuna fishing Father asked the members on the boat whether they had heard of anyone catching a tuna at night. One brother answered that he had never heard of such a thing. This shows that if it were possible to catch tuna at night, Father was prepared to stay out all night. Father invested all his energy in this way.

If you catch tuna during the day, you leave the fishing area earlier than normal, because once you have caught one you cannot catch any more. Then we received permission to catch two tuna per day. One day Father caught two tuna in the morning, so he had to leave the fishing ground earlier than usual. After returning to shore that day, he didn’t go back home, but went out the boat again in order to catch other kinds of fish.

When we went tuna fishing we usually left at three o’clock in the morning, so we woke up at two o’clock in the morning. We were busy all day fishing, and afterwards Father would usually speak to the members. Thus we would never go to bed before twelve o’clock, so we could only sleep a few hours.

The day we caught two tuna in the morning we were to go back. When Father said we should go out again to catch more fish we were really disappointed, because we were hoping we could take a rest. Under such circumstances even catching tuna became an undesirable activity. Father invested all his energy in this way. Whenever the other fishermen heard that somebody caught a tuna, when they looked they would usually see that it was a Moonie boat. Since Father’s boat caught so many tuna they began to wonder how. They started to investigate the boat and look into it, to find out what Father was doing.

One day the Coast Guard came to investigate our boat. The reason they came was because some outside

fishermen reported that the Moonies were using some strange method to catch fish. Therefore the Coast Guard came to check everything. They investigated everything, but couldn’t find anything unusual. They saw that we were using the same methods as other fishermen. Then, at that moment we caught a tuna. But because such a big boat was at the side of ours, the tuna managed to cut the line and escape. Anyway, the outside people were so suspicious and curious to find out how we could catch so many tuna. They finally came to the conclusion that the Moonies were brainwashing the tuna. And when we cut the bait we were most likely chanting. This was their conclusion. They really couldn’t imagine how we could catch so many tuna.

When we brought the tuna into the harbor people began to bet, “Oh, the biggest fish will surely be caught by the Moonies.” “No! maybe somebody else this time.” They would bet a beer with each other in this way.

Father also showed concern for the welfare of the fishermen. The tuna had to be sold for a higher price, otherwise the fishermen would have financial difficulties. So Father raised the price of the tuna and then bought everything himself, in order to support these people.

Father also shared some of his experiences with us. The day he couldn’t catch any tuna he returned home to meet Mother. At that time Father could not hide his feeling of regret from Mother. Then Father could really understand the heart of a fisherman. When a fisherman returns home his wife is waiting for him, hoping that he could catch a tuna, because they earn their living in this way. So Father could really understand the fisherman’s heart. Therefore, on the days Father couldn’t catch any tuna he tried to catch other fish, so that he had at least something.

The outside fishermen couldn’t understand why Father caught so many tuna, but he was successful for these reasons.

The first point was having a clear purpose. The second was that he invested all his knowledge. The third tint was he invested all his heart, and fourthly, all his energy. On this foundation Father also invested such prayer. So, in our case, when we desire help from spirit world, only when we have such a foundation can we really expect help from spirit world. Whatever our mission may be, I feel we can invest ourselves in the same way, following Father’s example. Then we can be as successful as Father.

We need to be clear about our purpose: to liberate God and mankind. We must also liberate True Parents and hell. We need to have a clear awareness of our goal. Our goal this year is the unification of the fatherland. So, let’s be clear about our goal.

Investing knowledge means that we have to understand and apply the Principle. The third point about investing our heart means that we have to invest our love: our sacrificial and parental love. Next, we need to invest all our energy. As Father said, 24 hours a day is not enough, we need about 54 hours a day. We really need to invest our time and energy because of the lack of time.

Father recently said in a speech that in America it is usual to work for eight hours a day in the outside society. This is the law. But as Moonies we should feel that even working 54 hours a day is not enough. When the outside fishermen went out at 4 o’clock in the morning, Father then went out at 3 o’clock in the morning. And when they came home at 6 o’clock, Father came back at 7 o’clock.

Following Father’s example, we must set a high standard and then invest ourselves completely. We can learn this awareness of purpose from Father, then we can invest all our knowledge and wisdom. Thirdly we can invest our heart and love and fourthly, all our energy. Finally we should invest our prayer. When we follow Father’s example, I believe nothing will be impossible.

Father didn’t become a champion easily, but through dedicating himself in this way he could gain victory over Satan.

Let us learn Father’s tradition of heart and apply it in our daily lives. I want to conclude with this. Thank you. Curated by Antonio Ciacciarelli