The Words of the Beutl Family
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The Words of the Beutl Family |
My dear brothers and sisters,
I offered you two parts of my Appeal to support the Victory over Communism and then the first two letters of the given theme. I continued with two more parts of my appealing to you for the sake of the Victory over Communism in our own hearts and here I would like to share more about the important topic of our unity. The inner reason for this sequence lies in the fact that both themes are closely connected with one another: The more we succeed to eliminate all traces of communist ideas from our minds the more we will naturally unite as loving brothers and sisters rather than being (unconsciously) dominated by concepts and ways of behavior which to not correspond to the absolute Heavenly standard.
The second half of this year started with the holiday Chil Il Jeol. When True Father first proclaimed this day of God’s eternal Blessing he affirmed in prayer that through proclamations that would happen after July 1, 1991, all the historical indemnity courses that were full of pain would be put aside, and left and right [wing ideologies] would become one, North and South [Korea] would become one, and all the religious realms and political realms would become one.
For much of the morning on this year’s anniversary of that important holiday (at the link: www.foilprints.com/chililjeol/chililjeol.doc you can find a precious compilation about its meaning by Mary Jane Despres for which I am very grateful) Father spoke in English about his determination to continue fighting for God despite the betrayal and lack of enthusiasm to fulfill God’s Will of those around him.
This means that our True Parents are determined to keep fighting for God even though there is betrayal and lack of enthusiasm to fulfill God’s Will in the ones who are with True Parents. Who are they? It is me and you, we are the ones who betrayed them, leading to their crucifixion one year ago. We are the ones who lack enthusiasm to do the will of God.
Therefore Father encouraged members to shed tears of repentance in order to return to God and reminded them that Jesus did the same thing. The fact that we have to repent so that we can return to God means that we are separated and distant from Him. Are we aware of this reality to which Father referred just a few days ago?
Father also reminded members that since he has taught them the way to live as sons and daughters of God, it is their responsibility to embody his directions. True Father had explained many times about the great importance of his words, which he studies eagerly in order to make sure that he himself lives up to the content of his speeches -- of what God expressed through him.
Father emphasized on this holiday that he is teaching members how to live in concrete terms, not just through concepts. He then asked members to understand his teachings and to take appropriate action, and to evaluate themselves based on his teachings, giving themselves an O mark for good results or an X mark for failing to follow his teachings.
Addressing especially American members Father encouraged them to invest sincerity and cheon song in order to practice and fulfill Father’s teachings. This applies of course also for each one of us, no matter what nationality we may have. Father said that while it's easy to see the Kingdom of Heaven, it's difficult to do the right things in order to establish it.
He even went to the extent to say: “If you can become greater than Father, then Father will follow you.“ Through such a statement we can see once again the desire of our True Parents that we reach a higher standard than they in attending God.
Father encouraged us on that day to invite God to partake of the meal together when we are eating to show our attendance to God. Of course it is not only at meal times that we should invite our Heavenly Father but we are created to live in His presence 24 hours a day.
This is the challenge ahead of each one of us who have been born to live under the direct dominion of God’s love. As this is a very difficult goal we definitely need each other very much on our individual path towards perfection. Shouldn’t we therefore have a completely open heart and mind towards each other so that our Heavenly Father can speak to us on a daily basis through our brother or sister?
The essence of our basic situation is clear: We do need revival of our hearts and minds as we lack enthusiasm. The original meaning of this word refers to divine inspiration or the presence of God. The dictionary says that originally an enthusiast was a person possessed by a God. This is surely what our True Parents want us to be: That we belong fully to God and act in accordance to His desire for us, about which they have taught us on countless occasions.
The more we listen to them and to the voice of our conscience, the closer we come to where we should be: enthusiastic people who are filled with the spirit of God, dedicated to the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth with a culture of true love being realized in every situation. In order to achieve such a standard we need to deepen especially our understanding of what true love means practically in the various situations which we encounter in our daily lives.
In the January 1997 edition of the Today’s Word Magazine Father’s speech on December 30, 1995 is printed with the topic Responsibilities given to the Blessed Children. Under the subtitle “Loving the enemies children“ Father is telling us: “There is no way of salvation unless you can love your enemies children more than our own.“ This statement is confirmed through Father declaring in the Peace Messages that Satan can only be subjugated through loving our enemies.
Upon encountering reborn Christians when witnessing one is usually asked whether we are saved or not. In their understanding it is essential to believe in Jesus in order to receive salvation. What does it mean to believe in somebody? We listen to this person and gladly learn from him or her. We do our best to practice what this trusted person asks us to do. In this respect we have a broad common ground with Christian believers in that we make efforts to love in the way Jesus / True Father have taught us. Both ask us to love our enemies, to do good for the ones who persecute us etc. The degree of our salvation clearly depends on the extent to which we love our enemies.
How can we show somebody that we love them? In case this person has children, we will naturally win this person’s heart if we are dedicated to the happiness of his or her sons and daughters. No matter what attitude people have towards us, even if they are our enemies, we are called to walk a path of loving them and their children more than our own beloved who are ever so dear to our hearts.
If we all practice this attitude of loving each others children more than our own we will naturally feel great gratitude and respect for one another because we know well how difficult it is to love my brother’s or sister’s children profoundly. To the extent we live with such an readiness we will automatically feel united with one another and experience true unity of heart.
This is the attitude which our True Parents have shown all throughout the years by loving us as members of the Unification Movement more than their own children -- but we have not done great in becoming one with such an attitude which became the cause of so much frustration and suffering, ultimately separation within our church, leading to the fact that we have not lived united as one worldwide family.
Personally I am convinced that it is in this point that the main key lies to overcome the problems we have in our church or movement. We are still far too self-centered on the level of heart even though we may do many good things on more external levels.
It makes a great difference whether we do things with a truly loving heart or only out of good-will because we know we should or we have to do it but deep down in our souls we do not really want to love this or that person. Still it is the dedication of heart which decides the value of our investment and surely other people sense how sincerely we are offering our love to them.
Because we have been doing on the whole poorly in practicing the Heavenly tradition of loving the children of our enemies more than our own, our church did not develop well and therefore True Parents and True Children are calling for fundamental changes, which we should implement step by step through improving ourselves day by day.
When Hyung Jin Moon spoke on August 7, 2008 about developing our church he requested: “Pastors must have a totally different mindset in order to relate well with the members and be successful. If we can truly guide the members and help them shine as blessed families then the Unification Church will shine.“
To what does shining refer? Essentially it means to radiate light and warmth -- to pour out God’s love and His truth. It means investing ourselves into others with a loving heart. This is our basic task as members of the Unification Movement -- and the wonderful thing about it is that the more we succeed in doing it the more we benefit ourselves.
Why are e.g. Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim such shining people? Because they give so much to others -- they truly live for other people‘s happiness. Through the internet we have the chance to participate in their weekly Cheon Il Guk Family Services live every Saturday. The more we unite with them in heart the closer we will naturally come also to our True Parents and of course to our beloved Heavenly Father.
Last weekend Hyung Jin Nim quoted Father’s words starting with: “You must share true love…“ and ending: “… and that is by sharing true love.“ Hyung Jin Nim told us at the beginning of the service: “Father is asking us today that we make sure that we are loving and sharing.“ This refers to the essence of our life: to share our loving hearts with others.
The theme of his sermon was “Seeing our destiny“ while In Jin Nim spoke one week earlier about the topic “Realize who we are”. These exemplary True Children offer to our worldwide membership on a weekly basis precious internal guidance from the standpoint of a son and a daughter respectively - expressing the masculine and feminine perspective with a truly loving heart.
At the end of last week’s Family Service Hyung Jin Nim prayed for us to inherit the love of God and encouraged us to become global citizens of peace. The more God’s love has become our own the closer our hearts are naturally united with one another.
May we all do better day by day in practicing this basic purpose of our lives,
Sincerely yours,
Nikolaus