Living for Others

I think we can say that the reason True Parents came to the earth was for the sake of each one of us sitting here. Even though we started from different places and situations, we became brothers and sisters through having the same parents.

This morning I would like us to share this time together as brothers and sisters who have been guided to receive God’s words through our True Parents. I want to take this opportunity to share about True Parents.

As you know, when we speak about “goodness” we mean living for others. Good actions, or good deeds are those which benefit others. A good person is someone who exists for the sake of others. Therefore the way of goodness means existing for a higher purpose. This requires that an individual exists for the sake of his family. The family exists for the sake of the clan. The clan exists for the sake of the nation, the nation for the world, and the world exists for the sake of the cosmos. The cosmos exists for God. This is the way of goodness.

We call the people who follow this way ‘good people’. Those who exist for the sake of the nation are called patriots. Those who exist for the sake of the world are called saints. And those who exist for the sake of God are called men of God. When children exist for the sake of their parents, we call them children of filial piety. The family which exists for the sake of the clan is the patriarchal family. Thus, we can call good people by different names according to the level of their goodness. We call this ideology ‘living for others’.

Let’s say there is a family with ten children. If there is a child among these ten children who serves the parents and brothers and sisters with a parental heart, it doesn’t matter whether he is the eldest or the middle child, or what; if this child serves for the sake of others more than anybody else in the family, he will become the central figure of this family. This is because the parents or other brothers and sisters will always want to be together with him. So he automatically becomes the center of the family. Being the center means that he can connect to everything. For this reason he is the center. Everything goes through this center.

When we speak about our Father’s course, we mean the course of living for others. On every level Father lived his life for the sake of others. When he started his mission he had to start on the foundation of Christianity. But when Christianity rejected him, he could not use this foundation anymore. For this reason, Father had to make his own foundation. This was the start of the Unification Church.

Christianity was supposed to make the foundation to receive Father, but because the Christians rejected Father, Christianity went to the Satanic side. For this reason, Father had to go to North Korea. At that time Father had a family and his wife had just given birth to a baby. Nevertheless, Father had to leave this mother and son and follow God’s directions to go to North Korea alone. It was the beginning of June. It will soon be June, so we can remember Father leaving for North Korea.

Father said that the difference between our church and other religions can be explained as follows: other religions sacrifice their family to serve the world. But the teaching of our Father is not to sacrifice our family but resurrect our family for the sake of the world. At that time, since Father received persecution, the members also received persecution as his followers. Seeing these members Father felt pain in his heart, so he told them, “No matter what difficulties come, please try to follow without dying. Please survive.” Thus, we can understand and realize that what God desires is not a dead offering, but a living sacrifice.

During those early times, when members met Father, they forsook everything so that they could concentrate on following him. They received so much persecution at that time that they came to Father to ask for guidance. These members were people who had lived a religious life for a long time. They had many experiences with God and kept a deep prayer life. They even had spiritual experiences. Some of these members were able to see spiritually and even cure people from sickness through their spiritual power. They could also see people’s past or their character, and even prophesy about their future. They were such kind of people.

Because of their abilities they were often served by others as if they were God. They were the ones who had been waiting for the Messiah. Through direct revelation from God, they could realize that Father was the one they had been waiting for. Because of this, as you can imagine, they were able to cut from their past, their family etc. and follow Father. They wanted to be with him always.

There was an old lady who followed one of the oldest religions in Korea. She was able to cure people from diseases with her spiritual power. One day she received a revelation in which the leader of her religion appeared to her from the spirit world and told her, “Until now you followed me faithfully, but from now on you must follow this person.” And then the leader guided her to Christianity. At that time Christianity was quite new in Korea. She was led to Christianity by the direct guidance of her religious leader in spirit world.

After meeting Christianity, she had the deep desire to know God’s words. She wanted to read the Bible, but at that time she couldn’t read. She was then shown by the spiritual world how to read. This lady had the experience of being led from her old religion to Christianity, and even to read the Bible. She then received another revelation which helped her to understand that the Messiah had come. She then joined the Unification Church. After her life-long search for God, when she finally met Father, she was able to separate from everything and just follow Father.

In those days such people received a lot of persecution, because at that time the Christian leaders could not understand God’s words. These members were really served and respected by their own family and congregation as if they were God. They were really respected people in society. But after joining the Unification Church they received so much persecution that they could not go anywhere else but to Father.

At that time Father was twenty-six years old. If you were in Father’s position and such people came to you, what kind of advice would you give them? There was a Christian minister who was married and had a family. His daughter was married but was then guided through revelations to join the Unification Church. She also had children. Her husband was anti-religious. He was a member of the Communist party. When she joined our church she always followed Father. Her husband then became so angry and resentful towards Father that he threatened her, saying he would kill Rev Moon. This lady had three children. They were all Christians. After she joined the Unification Church she started to receive incredible persecution from her parents and relatives.

These members came to Father to tell him their revelations. They told Father that the spirit world had ordered them to totally focus on doing God’s will, to pioneer, to witness and share God’s word with the people.

If such people came to you for advice, what kind of advice would you give them? I ask this, because everyone here has the position of leader. What kind of advice would you give to such members? We are now in the time period for the restoration of the tribe. Therefore we are taught to follow God’s will as a family. But at that time they were still in the pioneer stage. In those days, whenever such members came to Father, he gave them the following advice, which I can never forget: “If you sacrifice your own family for the sake of God and for the sake of goodness, your family will be protected by God.” However, at that time

I could not really understand the deep meaning of Father’s guidance.

If we determine to work for the liberation of the world and of mankind, sacrificing our own family, since we do this for the sake of God, how will God react? As you know, God exists for the sake of man, and man exists or the sake of God. So, when we sacrifice our family and children for the sake of God, He will sacrifice Himself to help our family and children. But on the other hand, if we worry about our children and take care of them by ourselves, God does not feel the need to concern Himself with taking care of them, because we are already doing that. So, you won’t need God to take care of your family or children.

Which do you think is better, that your children are taken care of by yourself, or by God? Which do you think is better? When Father gave this guidance I could easily understand that he did so because he himself has walked The same course. Therefore he gave this advice. Father walked this same path: sacrificing his family, sacrificing his clan, all for the sake of doing God’s will.

I now want to change the topic a little. We should realize that our blessed family is like Father’s tribe. So, in order to save the nation, Father sacrificed his tribe (us) for three years. He sacrificed the blessed families for three years, sending them pioneering in order to save the nation. I suppose you already know that in America, Father sent all the blessed couples to the frontline in order to save America and the world.

As you know, the Japanese members have been working on the frontline for a long time, sacrificing themselves to make a financial foundation. Father sacrificed the nation of Japan in order to save the world. If this nation is sacrificed for the sake of the world and the world can be saved through this sacrifice, the world will then protect and save Japan. Therefore, in the future we have to sacrifice the democratic world to save the communist world.

Father is asking us to sacrifice ourselves. We should exist for the sake of our family, our family should exist for the sake of the clan, the clan for the nation, the nation for the world, etc. Father is asking us to walk this way, following his example. Through following Father’s guidance we will realize that we are able to become a child of filial piety (individual level), a true patriot (national level) a saint (world level), and finally a man of God. I would now like to share with you about the kind of course Father walked as the best child of filial piety, the best patriot, the best saint and the best man of God.

Whenever Father served others, he always felt he was not doing enough. This is the course Father walked. He did not say, “Oh, I did everything, what more could I have done? I served enough.” Even when Father invested so much, he always felt it was not enough. When we compare these two attitudes: “I did enough”, and “I couldn’t do enough,” which one expresses the most serving attitude? Even when I love somebody, I should still feel my heart is not able to love enough.

After being released from prison, Father wrote a song expressing his heart of gratitude to God. He expressed gratitude above gratitude, saying that even this was not enough to praise God and be grateful to Him. Also, even though Father worked day and night, he always felt he didn’t have enough time to do all that he wanted to do for God. Father’s heart is that 24 hours is not enough for one day. He would like to have 48 hours, or more. He has such a heart.

Father works from early morning till late at night, and even when he goes to bed he prays to God feeling that he still has many things to do, so many things still unaccomplished, that he feels sorry before God. Father’s heart is also expressed when members want to speak to him. After spending some time with Father, when the members have to leave, he always asks them to stay a little longer, even if he sees these members every day. He has such a heart! So, when members visit Father, and it gets late and the members want to go home, Father often asks them to stay a little longer. He has this kind of heart.

Before, if there was a member whom Father knew well and he didn’t see this person for some time (when the persecution was so strong that it was difficult for him to leave his family), knowing this situation, Father even went to visit the member’s home. He didn’t go directly to the member’s home for fear of causing difficulties for him, but remained at a distance, hoping at least to catch a glimpse of the member’s face. He waited all day long to see the face of this member. Father has such a heart.

Since Father served the members with such a heart, amazing phenomena happened. For example, one sister left her home early in the morning to go shopping, but after leaving her home she found herself suddenly in the Unification Church. She was drawn to Father. Father’s heart and his love for members created a magnetic power which drew brothers and sisters to him even physically. But even though Father served the members, he always felt that it was not enough.

Father is also able to read the creation with this kind of heart. For example, in East Garden there are many big trees in front of Father’s room. There are also guards surrounding the house, who protect Father day and night. Sometimes, when Father looked out of the window he could see a guard almost falling asleep with tiredness. Father said to himself, “The trees are not sleeping. Therefore the trees are protecting me without sleeping.” Father felt he should learn from the trees how to protect God even without sleeping.

Even though Father served so much, he nevertheless felt that he should do more for God’s will. When God sees this, don’t you think He wants to protect Father even more?

This is God’s desire. When God Himself is like that, how do you think the spirit world would be? Of course the spirit world would want to protect Father as well. Therefore spirits appeared to the guards, telling them not to fall asleep. Such phenomena happened. Such kind of spiritual phenomena and spiritual support does not happen without a cause.

We must realize that because of Father’s heart the spirit world is moved to support and protect him.

Father wants to do more, but he doesn’t have enough power. The same applies for us. When you want to do more but you don’t have enough power, don’t you think the spirit world will support you? On the other hand, when you do something and you still have energy to do more, there is no foundation for the spirit world to help you. On such an occasion, if the spirit world would support you and you would rely on their help, you would never be able to fulfill your portion of responsibility. If we cannot fulfill our portion or responsibility we cannot become a person who is loved by God. In other words, we cannot separate from Satan and be victorious in love. We cannot become a person who can dominate Satan. Therefore, when we invest everything, including our last ounce of energy and we still want to do more, the spirit world will then support us.

Even when we are not in such a situation, the spirit world may still support us. This happens to help us understand how much the spirit world would help us if we invested more.

The same situation can be found in the relationship between parents and children. Sometimes children don’t do as their parents ask. The parents may then give a small gift to their child when they ask him to do something, in order to encourage him to take responsibility and accomplish the task. This gift would normally be given when the task has been accomplished. But in this case it is given beforehand.

When the parents give the gift to their child, he should not feel, “Oh, I received a present so I don’t have to do as my parents ask.” He shouldn’t think like this. So the same gift can be a gift after accomplishment, or a gift in anticipation.

In our case, if we ask the spirit world for help. they may help because we invested a lot of effort, sometimes without eating or sleeping. We also invested our prayer, so the spirit world can sometimes help us on this foundation. But, this is not the same as the help we would receive after accomplishing our responsibility. The blessings that were given to Father were always given after Father had accomplished his responsibility. Nevertheless, Father always felt that he hadn’t done enough.

We are different. We couldn’t yet accomplish everything, so when we eventually accomplish our responsibility we too should feel as Father does. Then the spiritual help given to us will be the normal spiritual help. Usually when we receive the grace of God or some blessing, we are not qualified, yet we still receive it. Therefore we must become qualified to receive these blessings. We have to raise ourselves to this standard. Our situation is like that of the child who received a gift from his parents before he could fulfill his parents’ desire.

I have given you several different examples to show that even though Father serves others, he always feels that he didn’t do enough. As leaders we always meet members, but we should want to meet these members again and again. We should want to stay longer with our members. When we talk with members and invest a lot for their sake, offering guidance etc. we should nevertheless always wish that we could do more. We need to develop this kind of heart as a leader.

I feel we need to be more like Father. If we talk to members we should always feel the desire to talk more, to give more to the members. If there are some members you don’t see so often, just as Father did, we should have the heart to visit their home just to see their faces again. If we would have such a heart as Father, I’m sure many people would join automatically. Therefore you should not think, “Oh, I have written a letter to him, therefore I have already done something for him.” We should not think like this. Even after writing a letter we should still want to meet the member personally. This heart of concern for others is very, very important. It is not a technique. It has to come naturally from our hearts. Then people will naturally want to be together with us.

I suppose those gathered here are no longer single. Most of you already have your own family, a blessed family. Therefore you husbands and wives must be united in order to lead your members. This unity is an important condition. If we cannot fulfill this condition, we may give a beautiful speech to our members, but it will not really touch their hearts.

At the end of the day we should never think that we have invested enough in our mission. When you return home after working for the public mission, you should not forget that you then have the mission of father and husband. Even though you may not have much time, you should never forget this aspect of

your mission. If you cannot fulfill your mission at home, you will get into difficulties in your public mission as well.

Father is also very busy in his public mission, but when he returns home, he also fulfills his mission as a father and husband. I want to share a testimony about Father which illustrates this point.

When one of Father’s children was only one week old, Father was so busy he had no time to greet it. Therefore, one day the baby was brought to Father to greet him. Father was due to give a public speech, so he was very busy. But when he saw the baby he started to talk to it. The baby was only one week old so it could not understand what Father was saying. Nevertheless, Father spoke to the baby as if it were an adult. He told the baby, “Many brothers and sisters are waiting to receive my speech, so I’m sorry I don’t have much time to talk to you. Please forgive me.”

In this way, although he could only spend a short time with his child, he fulfilled his mission as a father with utmost sincerity. So let us fulfill our mission following his example. Even though you may be very busy and have a lot of responsibility, when you return home you must remember your mission as a husband and father. Let us fulfill this mission in our home.

We should not forget this, even when we are tired. I feel especially leaders should be very careful about this aspect. This morning we considered how Father has been walking the way of goodness, and when Father does things, what kind of attitude he has. Thank you for listening.

Curated by Antonio Ciacciarelli