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H.J.H. Moon: Forgive, Love, Unite
Written by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, Co-Founder, Universal Peace Federation
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Address at the Memorial Program on the Second Anniversary of the Passing of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Cheongshim World Peace Center, Gapyeong, Korea, August 12, 2014
Distinguished guests from home and abroad! Beloved blessed families and members from around the world! Ladies and gentlemen! I offer my heartfelt appreciation to you all for coming here today to commemorate the second anniversary of the universal seonghwa (ascension) of my husband, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Today, many people throughout the world are suffering the effects of war, conflict, climate change, environmental pollution and, most of all, a confusion of values. This reality fills me with pain and makes my heart so sorrowful. We must take action to fundamentally change this situation and open a new era of peace. I believe this can be done by carrying on and further developing the work of Rev. Moon, who dedicated his entire life to liberate our Heavenly Parent, bring salvation to humankind and realize a world of peace.
All people desire to live in a world where they can enjoy freedom, peace, unity and happiness. Rev. Moon and I have invested ourselves fully throughout our lives, working to build one world where God is attended as our Heavenly Parent.
Forgive and Love
Ladies and gentlemen, we must forgive one another, love our families and neighbors, and unite under the banner of peace.
My husband and I forgave those who were unforgivable, and loved even the enemy that could not be loved, all for the sake of the Heavenly Parent and humankind. We called for the breakdown of borders that divide us while working in practical ways to unite people for the sake of world peace.
While working in the underground independence movement, in the 1940s, against Japan’s forced annexation of Korea, my husband was incarcerated and tortured to the brink of death. Yet, more than anybody else, he has prayed for Japan and has continuously loved our Japanese members. This is one of the reasons we have many Japanese members in our movement. Our Japanese members have gone out to the world and have worked actively with international NGOs in different nations.
After Korea’s liberation, my husband went to Pyongyang, in North Korea, which was under communist rule. While teaching God’s word in North Korea, he was unjustly imprisoned twice. From 1948 to 1950, during his incarceration in a forced labor camp at a fertilizer factory in Hungnam, a place known as a “death camp,” he led such a life that his fellow inmates referred to him as the “saint in prison.” My husband narrowly escaped execution there: the prison and fertilizer complex were bombed by UN forces countering the North Korean People’s Army during the Korean War on October 14, 1950, the day my husband was scheduled to be shot.
Forty years later, in 1991, my husband and I were filled with emotion as we passed the very site of that prison while we were traveling to meet Kim Il Sung at the Presidential Palace at Hamhung. It was through this meeting that we laid the cornerstone for renewed efforts for the reunification of North and South Korea. I was reminded once again that our Heavenly Parent works miracles when we forgive and love our enemies.
Even in South Korea, my husband endured unjust imprisonment. Yet, we continued to spread the Korean spirit and culture of loving God, loving humankind and loving one’s nation, and the Korean language, to the world. I still remember how, in the 1970s and 1980s, many people were moved to tears seeing our western followers from America and the United Kingdom singing the Korean national anthem in Korean.
My husband was also unjustly sent to prison in Danbury in the United States, but he did not relent in his efforts to save the world through moving America. As a result, many American leaders and Christian ministers took the lead in bringing an end to the Cold War, and since then have come together to promote an interfaith peace movement.
My husband and I never stepped back from challenges. Even when we faced persecution, we did not harbor any ill-will but rather prayed for those who opposed us. By overcoming such challenges we were given even greater blessings than we could have dreamed of. In less than half a century, we established missions in 194 nations of the world, laying an international foundation for peace. We built a firm foundation to create one world under God, our Heavenly Parent.
Unite
Beloved world leaders! Then how can we become one? We must first meet our creator, the Heavenly Parent. The path to Him, however, is not an easy one because of the fall of our first ancestors. The fall means that human beings fell into ignorance, dimming the light of our original nature bestowed on us at the time of creation. The walls separating us from knowing God have grown tall and thick for six thousand years, while the river of our self-centered nature continues to deepen.
It is difficult for us to climb over this wall or cross this river by virtue of our own efforts. Our Heavenly Parent is always at our side, ready to assist us. Yet everything depends on us. Therefore, we must awaken our conscience; our conscience is our second God. If we are filled with the divine spirit and truth and lead a life of constant prayer and gratitude for all things, we will be able to hear the voice of our Heavenly Parent, which will sweep through our entire being.
Moreover, everyone needs to meet the representative of our Heavenly Parent. Human history is the history of God’s providence of restoration through which God sought to establish a single central point. Two thousand years ago, God sent His only-begotten son, yet Jesus died on the cross because the people of that time could not believe in him. Heaven’s providence was unavoidably prolonged until the time of the Second Advent.
Humankind is now living in a blessed era where the Second Advent of the Lord has occurred on this earth. The Lord has found his bride, God’s only-begotten daughter, and they have manifested as the True Parents. All of humankind need to meet the True Parents, who are the representatives of the Heavenly Parent. They should attend and follow the True Parents. Only then can they eradicate original sin, which has been passed down for six thousand years, and be reborn as a human being overflowing with love and wisdom.
Unite in one heart, one body, one mindset and one harmony
Beloved blessed families and Ambassadors for Peace!
It is easy for siblings to quarrel among themselves when the True Parents are not present. The reason such struggles continue is because children do not always understand their parents’ intentions. We can understand our parents’ intentions only when we create a bond of heart with them in true love. You must become one with the True Parents in heart, body, mind set and in harmony. Your oneness with True Parents must be manifested through your thoughts, emotions, words and deeds.
When you live your life as a true child who resembles the True Parents, you will understand and feel that other people are not strangers but your brothers and sisters who share the same lineage as you. By freeing yourself from internal anguish, you can ultimately bring an end to conflicts between nations, which are like the quarrels between siblings.
Beloved leaders! Ladies and gentlemen!
All of us desire to live in happiness in a world of peace. We can attain this dream. Let us forgive our enemies, love our neighbors as if they were our own flesh and blood, and unite for the sake of peace. Let us advance toward one world under our Heavenly Parent. Join me in marching courageously forward until the day all people can live as brothers and sisters, as one great family.
Thank you very much.