Belvedere, Tarrytown, NY
Translated by Mrs. Won Pok Choi
As you well know, today is the 14th Anniversary of the Parents' Day. Today I am going to speak about the significance of Parents' Day. In this world there are many days to be celebrated. Nations have their own days of celebration. To the people of each nation, those are days to be celebrated and happy days for them, but there have not been such days to be celebrated under God. For God, the day of creation of His first son and daughter was a day of hope and happiness; and centered on Adam and Eve, too, that day must have been the day of hope and happiness. The day of Adam's fall was the day that caused misery and grief to God, instead of happiness. God's hope and ideal were nullified on that very day -- that was the day of grief and sorrow, and more than anyone else, God was grievous and sorrowful. Ever since the day of grief, God has been developing His Providence of Restoration in order to have His children back to His bosom.
In order for Him to have that happy day back, He had chosen the nation of the Israelites and prepared them to receive the Messiah. As you read in the Bible, at the ford of Jabbok, Jacob won over the angel. At that moment God must have been happy, but that happiness cannot be compared to the happiness if Adam had not fallen. When Moses led his people towards the blessed land of Canaan, there must have been happiness, too; but that also could not excel the happiness God could have enjoyed if Adam and Eve had not fallen. God wanted to lead His people out of the land of Israel into the blessed land of Canaan, but by the disbelief of the people, by the rebellion of the people, Moses could not carry out his mission; and at that time, God's grief was so great. The chosen nation of the Israelites ended up in a failure that caused God's grief again, deeply carved in His heart. Moses was a failure because of the disbelief and disobedience of his people, but God then had to choose Joshua and Caleb in his place to lead the second generations into the land. But God was grievous of the fact that He had to do those things over again.
We know too well when we read Israelitic history, that even after the people entered the land of Canaan they repeated being rebellious against God. Then God had to have Gentile people go against His own people. If people were not obedient when they were blessed, God had to smash them to Gentile hands. But God did not and could not discard His people all through history. Over several thousand more years, God had to prepare His people to receive the Messiah. After having prepared His chosen people, God would have the Messiah restore those people back to His bosom; and through Jesus as the mediator, He wanted to enjoy the happiness of His own people. God had set His hope on the day to come when His people would be united into one with the Messiah -- so as to glorify Him -- and for Him to be proud of His people. The day could have been a proud day for God, not only for God but for the Messiah himself and for the people, also. But, because of the rebellion of the people to Jesus, Jesus could not accomplish his mission and God's grief was so great as to excel the grief of when He first lost His children. For Jesus part, he understood God's Heart, he understood every particular of what God has in mind, so he was grievous of the same fact and he had to meditate over how to sooth God's Heart. While he had to restore happiness to God and make Him proud of His children, his mission was nullified and grief was caused in God's Heart. So before the crucifixion, before the fate in which he had to die, he was so serious and grave and heartache was there.
Jesus was there for his own family, own nation and for the whole world, but because of the disbelief of the chosen nation and especially the disbelief in his own family he could not fulfill his primary mission. So after having nullified his mission, he was so grievous and with a consoling heart had to turn to God and God had to put him on the cross; but He would provide resurrection for him to make his mission even a one-sided success. Jesus knew that if he would die, there would be no one else who could really return joy and happiness to God. The chosen nation of the Israelites, which God had so long prepared, disbelieved; and there was rebellion among his own disciples. So finally he had to take his three main disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. We remember that Jesus was so serious as to kneel down before God in prayer, but what did his disciples do? Three main disciples of his were there, near him in slumber. All the Israelites who were supposed to return happiness to God were gone and his disciples, too, were rebellious; and then Jesus felt that he was left all alone. Jesus told his disciples to sleep and relax and he proclaimed that there were days to come in darkness. This was at the end of 4,000 years in history in which God had prepared the chosen nation of Israel. But, Jesus knew too well that God had to realize His providence and even upon death he remembered that and would leave this earth with that in mind.
While all the rest of the people were in utter darkness, the Messiah had to cling to the ideal of God and could not give it up. So even after his death, resurrection could come about to raise him from death. Would you imagine that God was happy to see the resurrected Jesus? He could have been happier to see Jesus, the newborn baby, with full hope and mission ahead of him. God was not happy at all to see the resurrected Jesus. The fact that he had to die was a grievous one and God's Heart was torn in two. God's intention was to have Jesus accomplish his mission both on the physical and spiritual levels, but his physical level of things being unaccomplished, he had to die on the cross with only things on the spiritual level accomplished.
In Jesus' day, there was the chosen nation of the Israelites on the physical level and they had the nation under God but these people failed in being cooperative with God. After his death Jesus accomplished his mission only on the spiritual level and after that the Christian people of the whole world had no footstool for the family or nation. So, everything taking place in Christendom, from the things on the individual level, to the family level, national level and worldwide level -- only on the spiritual level -- there has been no footstool for that. Having been deprived of a foothold, the Jewish people had to scatter all over the world without having their own nation. God's intention was to have His chosen people succeed in their mission both on the spiritual and physical levels, but now that they had failed, He had to rely on the Christian people scattered all over the world and they were doing things on the spiritual level only, and God was not pleased with them, of pleased to see them. In the Christian world, any family, and group of any church, any nation should have to strive for the day to come when it could return happiness and joy to God. But, in Christian world never such a thing has taken place. At the close of the age in the latter days, God would want to have His chosen people and have them accomplish that mission left unaccomplished by Jesus, by His working through this group. The day is what we call the Day of the Second Coming of the Lord. In that day, the Lord of the Second Coming will be here to locate his bride. He would look for his bride and find one -- but before doing that he must fight against all the Satanic power and after having repelled those powers, he can erect his home, his family -- being the central one in the whole world.
Why are we here? What are we here for? We are here to eradicate the failures caused by our passed away saints and prophets and by the people in the Christian world and we are going to erect a world in which we will have accomplished our mission, left by Jesus. Up to the present moment, God has been a grievous God; and there are many particulars to have caused God to be grievous. But, do you think that we have welcomed in and ushered in the day in which God can be happy? In order for you to be able to do that you must be greater and better than Jesus himself and all the passed away saints and prophets, and better than Adam and Eve before their fall. But are you situated in that position, better off than Adam and Eve before their fall? Never so, but it is because you are in the fallen sphere besieged by Satanic power.
We are in the place of Jesus, but we are going to carry out our mission, which is greater than Jesus; therefore, we must not create the same involvement as did Jesus. We must have our people obey the command of the Lord to come and make our mission a success at all costs. Even at the risk of our own lives, we have to erect the nation of our own and nation of God's choice and have them be cooperative with our mission and help carry out the mission as a success. If we are really children of God, with filial piety and knowing God's grievous Heart, we cannot celebrate our own birthdays in happiness. We cannot celebrate the days for the nation, for the family, for the whole world. We can take no pride in those things. In celebrating those days, we are always having God meet grievous days all over again.
In the simple history of mankind, we have gone through so many difficulties under God's providence and we have set up several holy days to be celebrated. Above all others, the fact that we have established a Parents' Day is of historical importance. This is the day to be celebrated with the whole part of yours, because this is not like any ordinary day to be celebrated. We are still far below the standard of God's expectation of us, but for us to be celebrating this precious Parents' Day is of great joy and privilege. After going through the days of curse and unhappiness, we are here to enjoy the day in happiness and joy. We must know that we could not have erected this day -- set up this day -- if we had not been able to fight against national power to erect a nation of our own, even on the spiritual level. With these particulars and contents, Master could erect the day, despite all the objections and persecutions by the outside world. At that point, we could inherit what the Christian people have accomplished on the spiritual level to the physical level of things and we are at the starting point to enter the New Age as the 3rd Israelites. We must be awakened to the fact that we are the chosen people of the 3rd Israelites and we must realize that our mission is great.
The first Adam and second Adam have both been failures -- well, Jesus being the failure on the physical level is what he means -- and we are now entering the age in which we have the 3rd Adam as the central figure and we have to make this mission a success, under his guidance. We are here for that mission, both on the physical and spiritual levels. There are Satanic powers still around us -- both physical Satans and spiritual Satans -- but we are in the battlefield to fight against that dark force and our mission must be a success, made a success by us. We are warriors on the front line. Satan has hitherto tortured our ancestors, our predecessors, and they would accuse and they would try to nullify their mission; but we are now here, immune and being the stronghold for the dark force to fight and win over us. We must be ready to win over Satan, saying to them, "well, you have been torturing our predecessors in this way and that, and you are here to come against us, but we will never be defeated by you. We will reclaim happiness and joy from you and leave everything belonging to darkness to you and you cannot win over our group." We have been going through such hardships and struggle in the fight against the dark force. In the battlefield, we cannot be overwhelmed with the darkness, we cannot be defeated by the darkness, but we have to be determined to overcome all those powers, conquer and win over Satan. Even though we are on the verge of life or death, we must be thinking of how to bring joy and happiness to God. You must be ready to die, because you know too well, that even if you are dead, even if you have to die, you will have accomplished your mission both on the spiritual and physical levels, to a certain extent at least. So, you are not going to be a failure, but a success. It is a wonderful fact that while Jesus did not have anyone left behind him who could inherit what was accomplished by him, we have our descendants, our group, who are going to inherit what we accomplished while in life even if we may have to die here.
As you well know, this is the first occasion in human history that the world has seen blessed couples. Up to the present, there have been many religions where they advocated celibacy- but not one encouraging blessedness, in marriage. It means that even though one of a couple may have to die -- there is still left his or her half, to accomplish the mission that was left unaccomplished by his or her spouse. Have you ever stopped to think of that? Are you ready to carry out your spouse's mission, when he or she would have to pass away? If you have not been contemplating over that, you must repent it and be prepared for that. Then alone you can be qualified members to be present at this celebration.
Fourteen years ago, we had our first Parents' Day -- that means that on that day, Master could repel the dark power of Satan, besieging the whole world and from then on we have been released from that power. We must be happy over the fact that there is a dedicated group in this world now, in which the children, instead of being grievous over their parents' death -- even though our True Parents may have to die -- instead of being grievous, will be determined to fight to accomplish the mission victoriously.
At the time of Jesus' death, there were two thieves crucified on both sides of Jesus, but at this time, there will be Master's disciples to be crucified and you are going to be willing to die in place of him or by him. Then, even before that or even in the face of death, you will be consoling each other and you can get rid of the accusation of Satan. Then you will have won over the power of death and from then on New Life will be animated and activated. Even if your parents would have to die, you will still inherit the things of virtue from then and you will still cherish the hope and happiness.
After the establishment of the Parents' Day in 1960, the Childrens' Day followed and then the World Day and now a few years ago, we could set up a God's Day. The 7 years were the years during which our True Parents have had to go through untold difficulty and darkness themselves, to fight against Satanic powers -- so these powers cannot invade you.
In the Christian world, the Christian population have accomplished things only on the spiritual level, but we could inherit those things accomplished on the spiritual level, to be connected with what we are, what our group is, in which things on both the spiritual level and the physical level are being accomplished.
After the first 7-year course, the 5th or 6th years in the second 7-year course, 1972, we have moved to the United States to work and develop our Providence to reach out to the whole world. In Adam's family, Adam and Eve as parents failed to carry out their mission, while their children Abel and Cain were failures, too. In these days, centering on our group, our True Parents will accomplish their mission and you, in utter obedience and belief in them, must be able to accomplish the mission to restore yourselves as true children to God.
Korea was in the position of the nation in Abel's position, but he was going to inherit, or connect, Korea to the United States, the leading nation of the whole world. That signifies that he is going to inherit what is accomplished in Korea, as the chosen nation, to the whole world. What Master is going to do here is to elevate the spiritual standard of this country to that of Abel's position, responding to what Korea has; and, from then on, to start our mission to reach out to the whole world to bring them to the same level. It is almost too late for him to come to the United States now, when he is in his 50's, but the battle was so fierce in Korea and he knew that only having made this battle in Korea a success and victory, could he come to this country to reach out to the whole world. He had to recover or restore the things undone in the past history, left unaccomplished, by the chosen people and saints of God' choice. He had to do so many varied things to accomplish those things left unaccomplished by his predecessors. That is what made it difficult and late for him to come to this country to develop this project here. Only having restored the things left unaccomplished by the first Israelites, could he establish the second Israelites. Only after having accomplished the mission left unaccomplished by the second Israelites, the Christian population, could he try to accomplish or begin to accomplish his mission with the people belonging to the third Israelites. Between our group and the chosen nation of the Israelites, there is an historical relationship. Centering on the Christian world, our group has something to do with the United States -- we have relationships of historical importance here.
Back in Korea he could restore what was unaccomplished by the first Israelites and things unaccomplished by the second Israelites, the Christian population. Then he could develop some portion of God's providence on the level of the third Israelites. All those things will be done on the spiritual level. By having done that he could bring over those things to connect to the United States. And here, on the horizontal level, he can connect the first Israelites and the second Israelites, the Christian world, and then our group; those three will be connected on the horizontal level. The fact that our members came from so many nationalities from Europe, corresponds to the fact that the forefathers of the American people came to this continent in search of freedom of religion, freedom of worship. Well, it is not a coincidence that we have many Jewish members here. Then, we will have many Christian people coming into our movement. How many Jewish members do we have? Hold up your hands.
On the horizontal level, we can connect first the Israelites (the Jewish people) and members of the Christian world, the established church Christians coming into our movement and the newborn members from other circumstances. With those three connected, we are somewhat like three brothers harmonious in oneness under the love of our Parents. The United States being the melting pot of many people from many nationalities, this is something like the descendants of the first Israelites, second Israelites and third Israelites connected with us. We want to unite these people or bind these people into harmonious oneness and then train them and dispatch them to every corner of the world, to reach out to every man.
The first Israelites symbolize the Formation Stage, while the second Israelites represent the Growth Stage and the third Israelites represent the Perfection Stage. In another sense, the first Israelites symbolize material and the second Israelites represent man and the third Israelites, God and True Parents. The fact that the United States has been blessed with abundance by God and this abundance is the target of almost worship, respect and envy from all the people of the world, this in the symbolic term has something to do with God's providence. There is also providential significance in the Jewish people having tremendous wealth under them. Then, what do we as the Unification Family have different from others or what is characteristic of us or our virtues? We have God's love here and because of that, for this we are going to be respected, envied and worshipped by other people, because we have love of God under True Parents' love and all of mankind are brothers and sisters with the common True Parents. We are going to occupy the world of heart, the world of love. This is the only thing that can make us the sons and daughters of God, make us the central movement of people's envy and respect and we must make it the mainstream of our thought, the core of our ideology. It is a wonderful fact that we have paved the way up to now and here like this and here we sing the love of our True Parents and we advocate the brotherhood of mankind and even the Satanic power will be subjugated by us. It is a wonderful thing to have Parents in common. We have a new concept, new consciousness -- up to the present moment we have thought highly of our physical parents, physical family, physical relatives and clan and physical nation and world. But those ideas and concepts fade away from us and there is a new family, a new tribe ... born out of God's love and we are strongly connected with each other in harmonious oneness. This is what makes us a most wonderful group. This is miracle of miracles which history has never seen. Do you believe in that? [YES!]
When we look into our selves, we must cry out to God, soothing His heart, saying, "Father, you don't have to worry about us." You can say to God, "after having gone through such bitterness to eradicate the sinful power in past history, we are not willing -- we don't feel like looking back to our past -- but we are headed for the future, to the goal you have set before us and we are the warriors on the battlefield and we will not rest until we obtain the goal -- so don't worry about us." If any power would come and want to drag us back and holding our arms, we would be willing to cut off our arms but be headed for the goal.
In the days of Adam and Eve, they whispered to each other for a plot of evil though and in that way they were tempted to fall. But, in this group, among the members, we will whisper from ear to ear, encouraging each other to strengthen ourselves to win the goal, to make it a victory, to return to God. We must know that Satan is still active and works day and night. So we must not be frustrated, we must work day and night and in more strength and in more zeal until we can win over the last one, Satan. With this done alone, the passed away saints and the people of the Israelites would smile at us and rely on us saying that, "you are a success in place of us" and all the Christian people who have once been against our movement and been persecuting us would be astonished at the fact that we are winning the minds of the people of the world and they will try to come and belong to us. And our group, as the third Israelites, will become a success to glorify. Therefore, we must be able to restore the sovereignty in such a sense that we can reign over the world with God's dignity. God blessed the Jewish people with material abundance and God has been on the side of the Christian people helping them out, but He has been a failure, more or less, in that way. But now to see us, our group, being so active and being so dedicated to carry out our missions to glorify God after having fought against Satan and won over him, then He will smile at us and be pleased and take Sabbath.
During this tour of mine, which is the 4th one, I am sure that God will bless us with material abundance. He will provide for us, provide manpower for us. More and more people will be coming to our movement. Can you feel that? [YES!] More than these two things, you want to become the heroes of God's love or the occupants of God's love. You want to monopolize God's love, don't you? [YES!]
One thing you must know is that however hard you may ask for wealth, ask for people, you will not be given and even though you may be given those things, it will not last long, without love there. With love there, the material abundance will be yours through eternity and the men you earn will be your people through eternity. We must put love before material, before man. If you are with wealth in which there is love planted, if you are with your spiritual children with whom you associate with love, then God will welcome you back to His bosom and you will be consoled and He can be consoled by you. Have you been doing that and are you determined to do that? [YES!] Well, it is easy to answer in the affirmative.
When you are blessed, you are blessed with three things: well, even though you don't have an abundance of material, you are more or less wealthy people already and your wealth in the blessed family will be an eternal one and you have parents over you and you have your own descendants -- children. With those in your family, you are sort of a contraction of the three stages -- formation, growth and perfection. When you enjoy the property, your wealth, you must pour out your love there first. You must love the thing which you are going to use and in having man ... you must put the value in him with your love towards him and your descendants. When you love them, you must love them by putting the value of the love over all other children of the world.
Well, in setting up the days of celebrations, Master had to do that in the reverse order, in the reverse way. He set up the Parents' Day first and then Childrens' Day and Worlds' Day -- which is all things day -- and then Gods' Day. It means coming down on the vertical line, but we must spread it out on the horizontal level. You must have your own Worlds' Day which is the day of all things and your own Childrens' Day, your own Parents' Day, to be celebrated in your own family -- do you have that? Only after having done this, you are victors both on the vertical and the horizontal level. You must be able to celebrate this day both on the vertical line, inheriting things from our Master, but you must have your own way of celebration, so as to spread out the things on the horizontal level, too.
If you are well aware of the fact, you must always think that what you are wearing is not yours, but God's. Your children are not your own, but God's. You, yourselves must be returned to God and after returning all you have back to God on the vertical level you will be elevated to that standard and there again you are going to be given those things and can enjoy as your own. Then, alone, your own Gods' Day, your own Parents' Day can be celebrated in your own family. Then, what we are here for is to inherit the tradition of the Parents' Day from Master on the vertical line, too, and have it celebrated on the horizontal base. You have to be able to do the same with Childrens' Day, the Worlds' Day and Gods' Day, or else you are not qualified enough to be present at this celebration. Then, if you have done this ... if you are in such an attitude, in such a mood, what we have to do here is to sing glory to God in praise of Parents' Day, in praise of Childrens' Day, Worlds' Day and Gods' Day. On this foundation, you must be able to celebrate those days on the family level, tribal level, national level and worldwide level and then you correspond to the Israelites who should have accomplished their mission on the family level, national level and entering the age of things on the worldwide level in which Jesus would not have died, but would have realized those things while in life. Without your even knowing this fact, I have gone through so many things to make these days possible, make it possible for these days to be established. To you, it is even difficult to understand what I am saying to you, I am afraid, but I have gone through such a difficult way to establish those days.
Now I am here in this great nation of the United States, which is the leading one of the world, and I can proclaim the message to these people, which is a mixture of all the nationalities and it is something like Jesus being able to cry out to the people of the Israelites and to the people of the Roman Empire, at that time, paving the way to reach out to the things on worldwide level. After having met so many senators and congressmen, 1 confirmed all the more, that we alone, our group alone, including myself can save this nation and save the whole world. We cannot rely on other people for that. We must train our selves to be steel -- as hard as steel, and this strong steel must be pointed and sharp and the handle must become wider and thicker. If we drill into the hard wall, then the opening will become wider, by the time we have pierced through the spear. There may be many Americans who are proud of the highways, paved with asphalt that links some 5,000 miles in all directions, but that is nothing before us. We are paving the way, connecting the east and west on the spiritual sense which is in a way more than physical things. You are automobiles and God is there as the driver and you are going to move at His will. Don't you want that road? [YES!] So, that He have wonderful time here (Master in English -- followed by applause)
We will dash you on the highway ... have you ever stopped to think -- so many people have died in paving this way. Then, would victims cry out against you saying, "'you are passing through the way paved at the sacrifice of our lives, don't you think about us?" Would they cry out to you like that? If they are good spirits, they would know that their purpose of paving the way was for you to dash on the way with full speed. And, they would be overjoyed to see you dashing on the road, instead of blaming you in not being thankful. Things are just the same with me. What I have gone through -- the bitterness I have gone through is to pave the way for you to go. Instead of thanking me, I want you to dash forward at full speed. I am anxious to have you obtain, the goal at the soonest possible date, without having to spend so many years, but at an instant, if possible. And, would you blame me for that? [NO!]
Well, time has passed ... would you want me to stop? [NO!] You see, I am perspiring all over, inside, everywhere. This is Parents' Day and you are not sympathetic with me...1 am joking. I have done that because I saw some dozing up here. Now you are awake. I will start again. (Applause) I will conclude section one. (Laughter)
In other words, history has seen so many days celebrated by the people, but God has never seen one in which He takes delight, and happiness. We are determined to erect the days to be celebrated in happiness -- to return happiness to God with our own hands. If we fail to do that in our lifetime, we must be determined to bring up our own children to be able to celebrate those days in full qualification; or we must influence our relatives and friends to be able to celebrate the days in full qualification. If we cannot have the people of our nation to do that, we can have the Gentile people to do that. If we fail to do all those things in our lifetime, even when we pass on to the next world ... we do the same in the spirit world. Then, sooner or later the core workers and fellow men on earth will pass away to the same world and in that place, you can be active in the same way and you can come to the earth, the second time, to help to do the things through individuals. We will go through those things on the individual level, family level, national level and worldwide level and if we fail to do that one time, we will try the second time, third time and we will do it so many times until success is brought about. If you are determined to make yourself a success and return glory and happiness to God, you must reawaken yourself. We know well enough that we have not been able to establish a nation of God's joy. Would you want to have God see that kind of nation? [YES!] Our one day corresponds to thousands of days in value ... we have to work it out. We must pour out our whole being into this project. We have got to make it a success ... to be returned to Him, God. Are you ready to dash forward to that goal? Would you be relaxed and in retreat? Would you wait for the day to come ... in eating and merrymaking-or would you dash forward, even though you have to go through fast. Can you, at all, be self-centered in this movement? You can never be that. Day or night, sleep or awake, you must realize that you are for this, this alone.
This is the 3rd of April, 1973 -- the 14th Parents' Day -- and on this memorable occasion, on this historical day, if you are resolved to carry out your mission with all your might, with all your energy and your being ... hold up your hands and pledge before God. LET US DASH FORWARD! Where, where are we going? First of all, we must dash forward to the battlefield ... to the front line, where there is hunger awaiting, thirst awaiting, sleeplessness. Only having won over and conquered those obstacles (dark things) we can see the light of victory. Let us advance forward, let us go straight forward -- those alone are our cries, battle cries. We must see the day in our lifetime, even if we may. have to die ... we want to see this day being realized -- or if God would seen even 1/10th of our members here would be so dedicated as to carry out their mission to make it a success, He will be overjoyed and happy. SO THAT WE CRY OUT -- MARCH ON! [YES!]
That is the end of Section 1, Chapter 1! (Applause!)
Mrs. Choi: He said Scene 1.
