Unification Sermons and Talks

by Reverends Jones

Blessing Candidate Preparation Workshop

Mrs. Betsy Jones

I. Matching

I will conclude with some thoughts about the ceremonies. I don't know if there's someone brave enough to share what it's like to allow God and True Parents to be involved in your mate's selection, but we know that all the ceremonies that Father and Mother have set up for restoration are for paying indemnity and often go against your emotions. I don't know if anybody would be willing to give a brief testimony of what it's like to let God and True Parents be involved in your mate's selection. When I heard how our children were matched, although I had given a lot of Blessing talks in the past, I really experienced that just by going through this process, more Blessing and more grace could come to our family through our children accepting their matches. My husband and I changed our lineage to a certain level, and by our children going through this process, I could also feel something changing.

I would like to repeat: Don't ever give up your Blessing. Hang on tight. God's original heart was to be involved, and we know that didn't happen. So our True Father, in the position of True Parents, knowing heavenly laws and many things that need to be restored, asks us to stand in the position to restore those things. Our part is to stay close to our original mind.

The other point in accepting our mate is to realize that this person is our second messiah. Even though we may think we are good, our parents had this or they had that, it's nothing. You cannot get into the highest realm in the spirit world alone. You need to humble yourself to another person. Someone said, when you get to the spirit world, you can't put a crown on your head and say, "I did it." You can't. God stands back and watches--can your mate crown you? Can you say, "He gave me my happiness" and crown him? True Parents gave you to each other. So when you see them in the spirit world, they will be so happy to stand back and watch you crown each other: "Thank you for giving me my happiness." The other person: "Thank you for giving me my happiness." That's our goal. One time Father said to us: "When you get to spirit world, your first question should be, `Where are True Parents?'" Do you think you are going to get close to True Parents by carrying their picture and by doing a lot of mission activity? By turning your back on your mate you are turning your back on True Parents now. Father said last night, "True Parents have sacrificed to bring ideal families to this world. God-centered families will bring peace to the world. So we have to bring True Parents' message by fulfilling our part and making good families that care for the world.

2. Holy Wine Ceremony

I will speak about the Holy Wine Ceremony. This is a very special ceremony that will be the first ceremony that you will participate in when you come to Korea or if you come to the satellite Blessings. The Holy Wine Ceremony symbolizes the change of blood lineage from the satanic lineage to God-centered lineage. Since it was woman who fell first, it's the ceremony in which the woman internally passes through a course in order to be restored first and then gives the Holy Wine to the man. Therefore, True Parents give birth to a woman, and pass this on to the man, giving spiritual birth to Adam. In our Holy Wine Ceremony, a person representing archangel, True Mother and True Father, came around to every couple and stood in front of every couple, and the cup of wine passed like that, until Father gave the wine to me, and I drank some and I gave it to my husband to drink, and he drank some. So the Holy Wine Ceremony is the return to the original starting point. Adam and Eve didn't become husband and wife, love each other and live centered on God, but instead the order of love was reversed. Symbolically we reverse that order through the Holy Wine Ceremony. Through this Holy Wine Ceremony, the original sin is cleansed by receiving a new blood lineage centered on God. I described the procedure to you and when the bridegroom performs this ceremony with the heart that says, "Mother, please give birth to me," it's a very meaningful ceremony. After the bridegroom drinks the wine, he gives the empty glass to the bride and then the bride bows to True Father and gives him the glass. So there will be people representing these positions at your ceremony.

Our Holy Wine Ceremony came in the middle of the night. True Parents called us to come and do the Holy Wine Ceremony. Just to give a short testimony, it was really amazing to me that it was a beautiful moment. I really felt something spiritually change. When I went back to my room I started going to sleep. I'm not very spiritually open, but I realized that my ancestors were dancing in the spirit world. And I felt my husband's grandfather and my grandmother and others were dancing in the spirit world. I sat up in bed and I said, "Isn't it great?" I didn't even know what, but I felt like something great had happened. I really experienced that they were just so glad to have representatives on earth participating in this ceremony. I could feel it. So that was a beautiful moment.

Then, of course, the public ceremony is also very meaningful. Your position before God and Satan changes. After you go through the Holy Wine and then publicly, before True Parents, you say your vows to each other. But you've got to mean it. You will take responsibility. What does that mean? It means when the going gets rough you are going to pray, you are going to consult with others, and you are going to find a way to win a victory. That's what taking responsibility is. Father said to us, "Love your enemy." He gave a talk in 1970, "Love your enemy, love your enemy," and he was jumping around, and then he said to us, "When you go back and you start your family, your enemy will be your mate." So expect to feel sometimes like that. But what do I do? I want to take responsibility. I'm going to love my enemy. And the more you humble yourself and keep your position, if you stay in your position as wife, no matter what, if you stay in your position as husband, no matter what, step by step, things can be solved.

In this public ceremony, Father will proclaim you as sons and daughters of God. It's like he takes us into his bosom and proclaims us as God's sons and daughters. So on the foundation of your confession, and on the foundation of your Holy Wine and this public ceremony, you are now in a whole new position with God. And if we don't go back into the fallen ways, we stand in that position for eternity. And it's great. It doesn't mean that people and situations won't try to tempt you, but what it means is you stand in a new position before God and Satan. So you have to feel that these ceremonies have made the difference.

3. Indemnity Stick Ceremony

There are two more ceremonies that I want to describe briefly, because you will be instructed about these too. There is a ceremony called the indemnity stick ceremony. There are many thoughts about this, but basically it's a ceremony to resolve the resentments of the past, between men and women. Because men and women misused each other, misused each other's sexual parts, for selfish purposes, it gave birth to this resentment: "It's your fault!" "No, it's your fault!" Where did this come from? The misuse of the sexual part. So this is again, a restorational ceremony. Because these areas were the ones misused throughout history, and men and women have resentment toward each other, the condition of the indemnity stick ceremony makes a condition to restore this. We do this ceremony pledging to live and make harmony as an eternal couple before God. So we receive three hits of the stick. When my husband hit me once, I thought, maybe I will go sit

down now. I didn't realize there were two more. He used to play baseball, you know. But I think it knocked something right out of me. And it can do the same for you. Those are some thoughts about the indemnity stick ceremony.

4. 40 Day Separation

I'm going to try to have these instructions available for you at the various Blessing sites. But there is a time of separation after the Blessing itself. When we were blessed, there was a 40-day separation period. During that 40-day period there were certain standards we were trying to uphold. Not having a feeling of unprincipled love toward each other, and not trying to meet each other so much. And not falling during that time. It was a time of brother and sister love. And we really tried to go through this 40 days with the idea that Jesus died and resurrected spiritually. After the Blessing the subject and object offer a 40-day separation as an indemnity condition, to enter the realm of resurrection.

In our case there was a 40-day period, and then we started our family life with what is called the Three Day Ceremony. Just like the Holy Wine is the symbolic change of the lineage, the Three Day Ceremony is really a substantial change of lineage. There are three separate days. The first day restores the position of the Old Testament, the second day restores the position of Jesus in the New Testament, and the third day is when the bridegroom recreates the bride. So there are certain things to prepare. You will receive a holy handkerchief. There is a sense of physical purification with the holy handkerchief, and then starting the love together with certain prayers and a certain heart. This will all be explained to you. Let me just say, go through the separation conditions that Father suggests for you, and really be very close to each other, but as brother and sister, and then start the Three Day Ceremony in which the wife is to feel like a mother in the first two days, giving birth to the Adam position, and on the third day, the husband takes the Adam position.

When the time comes to start your family, I know for previously married couples, there may be a certain time period where you could offer a period of abstinence, like last time it was for 50 days. Some people did the 50 days before and some people did it after the Blessing, and then begin their life again with the Three Day Ceremony. For the couples who are beginning their life from the position of being matched to each other, Father will give a different kind of challenge. So for the 1800 couples, he told them to go to different nations for a while, and then start their family. For each group he suggests certain things. So my guideline to you is to do your best with these conditions. But the number one rule is, do not fall. Absolutely, ever again, after the Blessing. That's the minimum standard of a blessed couple. Even if you can't do everything perfectly and you just offer your best as a couple. But the minimum standard is your purity. You must be absolutely clear on that point.

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