Good morning brothers and sisters. I hope you are all doing well. Today is the first Sunday of the new year. This year of 2002, the second year of the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity, is a profoundly meaningful year. At the recent ceremonies at Chung Pyung, we already had the blessing of hearing from True Parents about the providential meaning of this era and how we should live. I would like to take a little time to reflect on the points Father has emphasized, and on our responsibility.

True Parents set the year 2000 as the year to culminate the restoration of all things and humanity, and the spirit world, following the sequence of the original creation. They then helped us to begin 2001 with new determination to move toward the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity. Cheon Il Guk will be the official title of the Kingdom of God.

True Parents held the Coronation Ceremony on January 13th, 2001, the Settlement of God? Fatherland in July and events for the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity throughout the months of November and December. By passing through those three stages they opened up a historic new age.

From the viewpoint of the Principle, the Old Testament Age occurred before the coming of Jesus, the New Testament Age refers to those years during which Jesus was the central focus and the Completed Testament Age to the time during which True Parents have been the central focus of the providence. Father told us that the Completed Testament Age ended with the Transition of the Three Ages Four Position Foundation Registration Unification Blessing Ceremony. And this year, Father proclaimed the beginning of the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity that was to begin after the Completed Testament Age. The providential significance of the year 2001 is that the world of the original creation could take root on earth. 2002 is the time of complete settlement, bringing closure to the past and heralding a new age. That is where we stand in the providence at this time. It is indeed a time to be joyful and excited.

True Father has demonstrated how excited and enthusiastic he is about the providence these days. He read the news from the Spirit World for two hours straight and held Hoon Dok Hae by telephone for about four hours. On January 2nd, Father donated a lot of money for prizes for the yute competition on the Day of Victory of Love at the Chung Pyung Training Center. How could anyone act this way without being full of enthusiasm and having joy in his heart? During the Day of Victory of Love service, Father had asked everyone present to offer all the money in their pockets. He then said he would return ten times more money than what had been collected. In those ways, Father revealed a very different side of himself than he has in the past. Why do you think he is doing things he has never done before? It is because his heart is full of enthusiasm and happiness. He is deeply moved by the changes that have occurred in the providence.

Our people suffered forty years of occupation by the Japanese. Though I wasn't alive to experience the excitement and joy of that day of liberation, I can well imagine that those who experienced it will never forget that happiness for as long as they live. Can you imagine how much joy people who had suffered the misery of the occupation felt? Even students who have finished their final exams feel liberated and happy, but that joy and excitement does not compare with that of the people who experienced the liberation of their country. People feel good when the things they have worked hard on, whether large or small, result in something good.

Let us think about True Father's life. He has been imprisoned six times and has had to endure four of his children going to the spirit world before him. It is said that when a child dies, his parents bury the child in their bosoms. Can we really understand someone who has come to the earth with the heart of the original parent of creation? As you know, True Parents have had to endure persecution of all kinds throughout their lives. How deep has their anguish been? Now, though, True Parents have begun a new age, the providence has changed, and this is a time when they can be liberated from all their sorrow. How could they not be excited and joyful? This is a time to be excited. Are we excited? Naturally, this is something we should seriously think about. If we are not excited, it is because we have not been as involved as True Parents have.

I was at the main Olympic Stadium on April 10, 1992, for the establishment of the Women's Federation. Nowadays, we don't think much of having events at the Olympic Stadium, but in those days it was quite a big task. Every single church in the Seoul area prepared for the event as if it were preparing for war. I was then the regional leader of the Youngdeungpo area of [southern] Seoul. When I woke up on the morning of the event, it was raining. It was quite cold because the temperature had abruptly dropped. I arrived at the stadium very anxious about whether or not the event would be successful, but I soon found that I had been worrying unnecessarily. The stadium was completely full. When I saw that people had come from every part of the nation in the midst of such uncomfortable conditions, I was moved to tears.

Likewise, when we really pour our hearts, with a profound sense of ownership, into making something very difficult come true, our joy is a hundred times greater than when we are just onlookers if the outcome is really good. If we don't really work hard for something with a real sense of ownership, our joy is so much less, no matter how great the outcome may be. The reason that we don't feel joy about providential developments is not because there has not been real providential fruit, but because we have never really worked as hard as have True Parents on the front line. As we begin 2002, we must be clearly aware of the changes that have taken place and renew ourselves.

True Parents gave us this year's motto: The complete settlement of Cheon Il Guk of freedom, peace and happiness, which is the ideal of the Parents of Heaven and Earth Mansei! What does all of humanity value the most? Freedom and peace. Those must be the universal ideal. Freedom has individual value and peace has communal value. I would like to offer the concept that freedom is vertical and passive and that peace is horizontal and active.

We would be miserable if we didn't have any freedom. If happiness is the ultimate desire of humanity, what are the fundamental conditions necessary for happiness? Freedom and peace. You couldn't feel more miserable than you would if you were to lose your own freedom. When we are restricted, we are deprived of the essence of the original nature of creation. Therefore, freedom is the most fundamental condition for happiness. It was also the most important value in the original world of creation.

The Principle defines freedom in three different ways according to its different philosophical aspects: First, there is no freedom outside the boundary of the Principle; cross over that boundary and freedom is lost.

Secondly, freedom always goes hand in hand with responsibility. Only when we take responsibility for our own freedom have we rightly earned it. Without having taken responsibility for it, we become slaves to whatever we achieve. This is especially so because God gave us a portion of responsibility in the original creation.

Finally, freedom is meaningless when it does not bear fruit. People are created to be the lords of all things of creation. Through the exercising of our own responsibility we have to establish the position of lord of creation. Through that visible accomplishment, people can achieve the right [to the position of lordship] as our original freedom. Even more so on the path of the providence. If we look at the providential meaning, we are the substantial fruit of history, the owners of the present who represent the past, present and the future. So we must have providential accomplishments. Then we can have freedom in front of God, True Parents, our ancestors, our descendants, in front of history and the world.

Our responsibility is to find the principle behind the original creation. You should understand that freedom, the ideal of the Parents of Heaven and Earth, can be realized only when people take responsibility and bear the good fruit of that freedom.

Moreover, people around the world are more aware now than ever that peace is desperately needed. However, the peace True Parents are trying to realize is far more essential. The most essential struggle we face is the struggle between good and evil within each one of us. If we do not succeed in our inner battle and realize peace, we cannot realize peace in our families, societies and nations. We must be able to free ourselves from the struggle of good and evil within ourselves; that is how we can realize peace on every level. The opposite of peace is conflict. Why do people fight? When our egos are too strong, we fight. When we become selfless, peace develops very easily.

Eventually, you have to fight with yourself. How could we realize eternal peace from struggles and fighting? You have to be humble. If you are self-centered, you are bound to run into trouble; if you lose your self-centered egos, you are bound to find peace.

Individualism functions as a means to protect self-identity. However, in an attempt to protect oneself, it kills and alienates that individual. Conversely, if you lose yourselves, you may think that you will lose your identity and character, but as time passes, people around you will be attracted to you. Peace will be realized where there is that kind of people. It is easy to think that we may lose our self-identity if we lose ourselves, but as time passes, we will eventually find our own identity. Therefore, the most basic philosophy of peace is to lose ourselves. When we center on ourselves, there will be trouble; we will struggle. When we lose ourselves, peace will be actualized. It works the same way with problems from the individual level to problems that involve the whole world. From the smallest level to the largest, the solution is the same. True Parents taught us that we can realize and maintain peace by losing our egos. Eventually, the world of happiness will be established on this earth through the realization of freedom and peace, the absolute values.

In 2002, we should live our lives fully reviving through the new providential situation to free ourselves and become a subject [facilitator] of peace. What should we do, then, to live that kind of life? True Father strongly emphasized three points around the thirty-fifth True God? Day. First, he told us that the spirit world should be the center of our focus. There are many ways to find solutions to the world's problems, and there are various ways to restore people. The most urgent thing though, is that we have an accurate understanding of the spiritual world. Do you know how deeply impaired humanity is? The world lost its sense of direction. The situation is getting worse and worse every day. We must ask the question: What came out of the twentieth century? Our bodies grew very big, but our hearts shrank and became so very small. Human reason reached toward God, but human integrity became as low as animals.

In this miserable situation, how can we restore humanity? Many answers may be offered but most importantly, Father pointed out that we should know about the spirit world. He told us that not only must we tune in our spiritual antennae but we should also be able to teach all humanity about the spirit world.

Father next emphasized that we must restore our tribes. Through his own exemplary life, we have learned how to return to the original path of creation and how to be central figures in the providence. True Parents' lives are the model of what we must do.

True Father was born without original sin and became the Messiah, the True Father and the Parent of Heaven and Earth. We must be born again to follow in his footsteps. That is why we had to go through the blessing, to be born again. Now, we must walk the path of the Messiah, which True Parents want us to do successfully. That is why True Parents have taught us to bless our own tribes and become ancestors of those tribes.

Brothers and sisters, what I read just prior to my sermon came from a speech Father gave in 1972. That was a very serious time in the course of restoration. Father told us that we had to cause Satan to surrender to us. The Principle taught us how to go about accomplishing that. What did it teach us to do? We were to raise three spiritual children. That was Father's direction during the course of restoration.

This is not the restoration age. It is time to settle Cheon Il Guk. The providential mission given to us at this time is to follow in the footsteps of True Parents on the tribal level. As registered blessed families we should organize our tribes into 36 couples, 72 couples, 124 couples, 430 couples... We should emulate True Parents' course in our own lives and settle our tribes on the heavenly side. That means that we should be exemplary, first of all, as true parents.

Father told us that the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity is where peace and unification between the spirit world and the physical world are realized. On the smaller level, it also means two people totally united as one. Father explained that the Chinese character for Cheon (heaven) is comprised of two words, "two," and "person." Thus, where two people become one, that is Cheon Il Guk.

The meaning of the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity is one world united beyond the barriers of race, nationality, religion and culture, in both the spiritual and physical worlds. However, creating a true family where a husband and wife are completely united in mind and body can also be a good starting point for Cheon Il Guk. Therefore, our responsibility this year is to go to our tribes and organize them into blessing groups from 36 couples to 430 couples. Father told all the continental directors to visit their tribes every four months and do this. He emphasized that organizing the families of our tribes is the most fundamental mission of all.

As much as True Parents have invested themselves, determining to walk the path of the Messiah, True Parents, the Parents of Heaven and Earth and to create God's kingdom as if all were a matter of life or death, they truly wish for us to do the same in becoming true parents to our own tribes. That is the reason that they have bequeathed all their achievements to us. This is indeed a concrete movement to build the Heavenly Kingdom.

The third thing Father emphasized is how important the Ambassadors for Peace movement will be this year. Substantial organizations in each nation are to be established that will help create Cheon Il Guk. Peace embassies in each nation will help break down barriers between countries and establish one united world. Identification cards for the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity will be issued as evidence that we are people of God. True Parents are beginning Ambassadors for Peace activities in seventy-one countries. This will lead the providence in restoring those in the Cain position as they designate them Ambassadors for Peace.

Brothers and sisters, now is the time to settle the world of God on earth. The detailed strategy is that we work centering on the spirit world, organize our tribes and that the Ambassadors for Peace movement makes progress. True Father taught us this on the thirty-fifth True God? Day.

True Parents also gave all blessed families the special blessing of a holy wine ceremony to enable us to make a new start and accomplish all that we have to do. Through the providential holy wine, True Parents want us to cleanse all of our past sins and to start as new people of God in the new age. What remains is for us to fulfill our responsibilities.

Then, what should we do now? Brothers and sisters, do you remember the apples True Parents gave us on the nineteenth Day of Victory of Love on January 2nd? True Parents bought several truckloads of apples for the members and told us that we should harmonize with one another and apologize to one another for our mistakes. [Korean words for apple and to apologize are the same.] Father told us to always apologize to each other.

I believe that one thing we must always remember to do is to create harmony among ourselves. I sincerely hope that you live a life of service to one another and live in harmony. Internally, in your families and church communities, externally in your tribes and the world. We should all open the door of the settlement of Cheon Il Guk by centering ourselves on true heavenly love and harmony.

[Originally published in Today's World, January 2002]

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