Before and After the Blessing

Sun Myung Moon
June 27, 1982
Belvedere
Translator: Bo Hi Pak

Would anyone like to volunteer to translate the title of today's speech? It is "Before and After the Blessing." The Blessing is before us now.

People generally keep wanting something more. God is like that, too. He created Adam, and when Adam looked lonely God wanted to create something additional for him. Therefore God created Eve. Some people might think that women are just a fringe benefit, but I don't mean that.

If you have one piece of fruit and decide you want another, you will probably choose something different the second time. If your first fruit was yellow, then you will want a red one, or perhaps a dark blue one.

When you walk down the street you want to carry something in your hand or have something in your pocket. You want to decorate yourself with rings, necklaces, earrings and such. It is a fundamental human desire to look beautiful and ornament oneself. You want shoes that are not just functional but decorative. Women wear makeup for the same basic reason. All of this is good.

A tree has many branches; if you ask why it needs so many branches and why it cannot be content with just one trunk, it would reply that you don't know anything about trees! If you ask the tree why it can't be satisfied with just one leaf, it would tell you that if a bug came and ate its single leaf, it would have none left.

Everyone wants some sense of security. In order to be on the safe side, you need more than one of something. If one item is damaged you want to be able to turn to others. The same applies to children. Do you want only one child or more than one? Somebody here has 13! Actually, human nature is such that you don't even want to stop at 13. What about 40 or 120? You might have a problem taking care of them and feeding all those mouths, but I have confidence that I can take care of 13.

When somebody has many possessions, it means he has more to worry about, doesn't it? What kind of houses do beggars like to call on: rich ones or poor? Are there lots of beggars? What is the next step up from being a beggar? (Fundraising!) So I must be the king of beggars! Fine; there is nothing wrong with being a beggar. What matters is your purpose: Are you doing it just to save yourself, or to save your country, or to save the world and its people? Fundraising activity may appear to be the same as begging, but because of the purpose behind it, it can be your source of pride.

Some people have big ambitions. They may resort to violence, even killing other people, saying that this is the way to save the nation. However, instead of using violence to save our country, we fundraise.

The Unification Church tradition of fundraising is a proud tradition. Actually, I did not initiate the practice of fundraising and I gain nothing from it except perhaps criticism. But as you confront hardship and tribulation, if you can focus every moment on the noble cause -- your mission of saving your nation -- you become great. The value of an activity is determined by its motivation. The same action may have temporary and trivial value or attain eternal noble value, according to its motivation.

Furthermore, we receive criticism, accusation, and curses but that is not necessarily bad. It depends on what we are criticized for. I am extremely controversial; I have been criticized in every way. But everything I do is for the salvation of the nation and world and for the liberation of God Himself. This is the most sacred and noble purpose.

There are two motivations for seeking freedom: One type of person wants liberation just for himself, while the other wants to liberate God from His grief. Which type do you belong to? When you think about it, to liberate even your spouse and children is already quite a challenge and a burden, so how extraordinarily difficult it must be to liberate God!

Whoever is devoted to liberating God from His grief and bondage should be able to reach out to all God's children. Such a person must not focus on helping only white people and disregard black and yellow people.

No matter how many times I may have said that I want to liberate God, God says, "All right. Before you consider liberating me, please take care of the problems of the world first. Then come and tell me that you want to liberate me." This is why I have sought out the most difficult problems of the world and taken them upon my shoulders.

The first and biggest problem is the loss of the order and discipline of love and the lack of a guiding philosophy of life. Love has become thoroughly degraded in America today. People have no guiding principle of how to express their love. To enable everyone to experience true, lawful love, we need to restore its discipline and order. Also, since people lack a superior philosophy of life, they live from day to day, with no central, guiding principle.

The second worst problem in the world today is communism. Behind communism are the forces of Satan which must be driven out. So we have to reestablish the order of love and restore the eternal, unchanging ideology, the central theme of human life. These are difficult tasks. Can the Unification Church and Reverend Moon solve these problems? Yes, indeed! We are going to do it.

The first task facing Reverend Moon and the Unification Church is restoring the central ideology which will reestablish the order and discipline of love. That will enable people to return to the true, lawful love. Our second task is to chase out Satan. God is saying, "All right, Reverend Moon, do it!" And I reply, "Yes, Sir, I'm doing it."

What about you? Are you restoring the order and discipline of love? You need the Blessing in order to do that. The Blessing is the pinnacle in your course of restoring love.

The concepts and ideals that I have been teaching explain what the world should be like, what the nation should be like, how society should function, and how individuals should live. My central, organizing theme is the ideal pattern for individuals, societies, nations, the world, and even the Kingdom of Heaven. Each has a clear-cut formula to follow.

We are presently trying to banish Satan from this world. Day in and day out, we are waging a "knock out Satan" campaign by restoring the order of love and ideology. Satan is always trying to promote illicit and abnormal love. Things are abnormal when they just float around, following no principle, confusing front and back, right and left. What is abnormal love? It is evident when a man goes with one woman one night and another woman the next night; or when people have sexual relations with their own relatives; or homosexuality. These are examples of abnormal, illicit love.

Do you women desire an abnormal type of love or a normal one? Is the kind of life you are living abnormal or normal? Your thinking may be focused on normal love, but Satan will keep following you until you are fully practicing the normal way of love. Only then will he lose hope and give up.

Satan is always right behind anyone who lives for a selfish purpose, but as soon as we start living for the sake of others, Satan will retreat. That is the dividing line. Do you understand? Satan cannot claim anyone who is living for the sake of others or for the benefit of the whole. I am living for the sake of all the people of the world. Therefore, eventually the entire world will welcome me and Satan will have to go away.

I have been talking about the two principal needs of mankind: liberation from illicit love and liberation from the bondage of false ideology. When mankind is liberated, Satan will leave. Satan's presence has kept even God in bondage because He has been unable to end Satan's power over man. As soon as Satan leaves, God will stand up and slowly walk out to greet us. "Finally I'm free!" He will say. "I have no more worries in the world! Who did it? Reverend Moon did. He liberated me!"

Until now, you didn't fully comprehend what I meant by the liberation of God and mankind. You didn't know the definition of liberation. By establishing the central ideology that restores the discipline of love and expels Satan, you are liberating mankind and liberating God. Now that I have explained it so simply and clearly, you understand, don't you? Is the task easy or difficult?

When every person receives this ideology and puts it into practice, there will be no room for Satan. God will be welcomed everywhere. That is how liberation will take place. So to liberate mankind means to liberate God. The two liberations are simultaneous; they are not separate events. One solution will suffice.

Therefore, why do you go out to witness? It is to accomplish this very task. You witness for the liberation of mankind and the liberation of God. Who in history has taken up this incredible task? Only we, Reverend Moon and the Unification Church are bringing both the liberation of mankind and the liberation of God. What an important and illustrious position you have!

The world is embroiled in an ideological war. There is a conflict between the God-accepting ideology and the God-denying ideology, between democracy and communism. What is the ideology of Reverend Moon and the Unification Church? It is Unificationism. We are bringing everything into harmony and unity. The role of our ideology is to digest everything; it is a "melting pot" ideology.

I have a healthy stomach: I can take in everything and digest it. I can eat hot pepper sauce and Korean kimchee, and at the same time I can eat cheese and bread. It makes no difference; everything can be digested into one stomach. Such a stomach is ideal, isn't it? You must be able to digest everything to be an ideal person. What kind of person are you?

At the matching, many Westerners asked for Oriental spouses. This sort of thing flabbergasts the outside world. They cannot imagine what is going on. But from the heavenly point of view, such a phenomenon is wonderful. The newspapers labeled it "Matrimoonie."

Regardless of what others may say, we are happy people, aren't we? Aren't you proud to live this way of life? The term "Moonie" refers only to the formation stage. "Sunnie" is the growth stage. Perfection stage people will be called "Kingies." In the perfection stage, you will become a messiah. The world has no way of understanding the full implication of being a messiah. But you know exactly what the word means as well as the process involved. Through fulfilling the responsibility of a messiah in your home church area, you become a tribal messiah.

At the beginning of my speech, I said that all people want to enhance themselves; we all want to add something of value to ourselves. My topic today is "Before and After the Blessing," but I digressed and spoke about God's liberation, so I already added something, didn't I? Would you protest and tell me to stick to the subject? Would you rather have me stay within the conventional 15-minute sermon length? Actually, I can give 15 minute sermons. Yesterday I spoke at the Unification Theological Seminary graduation and delivered a sermon in English -- and it was only eight minutes long. Would you prefer an eight minute sermon this morning?

Have you ever thought about why I give such long sermons? I have a dramatic answer: because I hate to leave you. I enjoy every minute of my time with you. I study each of you, looking at your features, observing your reactions, inspecting your eyes, nose and mouth. I think about what kind of person would be your ideal mate. That is why the matchings go so fast: I have already done my homework!

I'm not talking this way just to be charming. I mean it. A godly person should be fond of other people. Godly people should love and enjoy their fellow men. Whether you go east or west, north or south, whether it is day or night, it makes no difference. You must enjoy people. That is why people feel so drawn to me. If Africans were told not to come here, they would feel very sorrowful. They would try the front door, back door and side door and find some way of entering. Why? Because they would be attracted to the person who loves and cares most deeply for Africa. That is the result of my ideology. I want to meet everybody and establish bonds with them. I want to love all Americans; I love America more than the Americans do.

Young people are most sensitive to the magnetic power of love. Even before I came to the United States, I knew that young people would be attracted to me, and my prediction was absolutely correct. You are young people, aren't you? Actually, what I am saying is simply that young people have purer minds than older people. Young people are more attracted to true love.

Where else could you go on Sunday to hear a minister preaching on a topic like "Before and After the Blessing"?

Have you also been longing for other people? Have you been missing others, yearning to care for them? Throughout my entire life, my job has been to love people and pray for them. I find that my prayers are answered; my prayers become reality. Whenever I meet someone, I enjoy being with him or her; I can entertain, care for and love that person. When people are in love, there are no strange feelings between them. It makes no difference what habits they may have. It makes no difference whether they eat kimchee and kochee chang, or cheese and butter. There are no barriers between lovers. Their union is the beautiful culmination of love. Nothing else is more important.

A perfect plus is like a dynamo; it always creates a perfect minus. It happens automatically, without effort. Wherever a perfect plus is found, a perfect minus appears. If you are a perfect plus, you can sit in the middle of a village doing nothing, and the villagers will come to you automatically.

People are always drawn to me. Do you feel the same way about me? If I touch your hand, do you feel bad or good? How do you men feel? How do you women feel? Many members think that if they could only shake hands with me once, their heaven would be guaranteed. But they haven't had the chance yet. My handshake is very expensive! I seldom shake anybody's hand, but still people follow me.

Imagine someone who has just met a woman for whom he feels a tremendous attraction. Perhaps the two have just recently fallen in love. But then that man meets the Unification Church and he completely forsakes his lover. Then he begins to yearn day and night, even weeping with longing to meet Reverend Moon. Only love can explain this.

Only God's love can work this kind of magic. Love opens every door, including the door to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Such a person may come to where I am staying and I may yell at him, "Get out of here! Why are you sticking around?" But actually, if he loves me so much, I am already living with him in spirit. I will always remain with him. At night, such a person doesn't have to worry about walking down a dark road, because I will take his hand and lead him. He could even close his eyes while walking down an alley, and I could tell him to step down and he would automatically do it. If I told him to step up, turn left or turn right, he would do so without even opening his eyes. That is how love works.

Physically, I have only one body; I am physically limited. Spiritually, however, I can be a million persons; such a thing is possible spiritually. I am known as a mysterious person, someone with mystical qualities, but actually, it is not unusual. Many, many times throughout the years and decades of my life, I have shed tears out of longing for God. When I cried out for God, missing Him, aching for Him, the entire spirit world would open up to me.

You should long for me just as much as I long for God. Actually, people in the Unification Church who don't long for me, who don't miss me, who have no tearful desire for me are not really members of the Unification Church. When you do reach that level of longing, you can immediately achieve unity, and the entire spirit world will open up to you.

Bo Hi Pak comes to East Garden almost every morning at 7:00 to have breakfast with me. Sometimes he doesn't show up because he has another commitment out of town. Then I long for him. You might think that if I saw someone day in and day out I would become sick and tired of looking at his face again. But I don't feel that way. When his usual time of arrival comes around, I miss him and long for him.

You may imagine that the elder leaders who visit East Garden have a wonderful time there. But actually, they don't, and I will tell you why. When I call the leaders to East Garden for "special workshops" it is not at 0 easy for them. I keep talking on and on, for hours and hours, sometimes until midnight and beyond. This may continue day in and day out. In their minds they ask me, "Father, why can't you let us go?" But of course, they won't say it. And they think, "Father, you are not a young person either. You need some rest, and so do we. Please let us go." All of them think like this inside. But I just hold them there and keep talking to them and pounding on them. Of course, all the elder leaders want to go to East Garden. But once they arrive, there is no time for sleep, and they don't want to just walk out. After two days like that, they are completely exhausted.

My concept is that we should be people of deep longings; we should enjoy every minute we spend with someone. When we care about others, we have no dull moments. Meeting others is the proper job for people of God. That is what my life is all about. I am an expert at meeting others.

Someone who comes to meet me at East Garden for the first time may plan to stay only half an hour, but he discovers it isn't so easy to leave. I never tell anyone not to go, but people just don't want to get up and leave. This is a result of the power of love that draws people to me.

People are supposed to long for and miss one another. If love depended on appearances, an ugly person would have a burdensome life. Therefore, God, who is the king of wisdom and justice, designed us to be lovers. When you are in love, nothing matters; ugliness is no concern; you can accept everything.

However, there is one important principle in matters of love. It should be a lawful, public love; that means unselfish love. True love is definitely public love. Through true love you can gain everything, even the spirit world. Since you cannot go alone to the spirit world, you need to go with your beloved. Therefore, a truly loving person can open up the spirit world.

Those of you who are engaged, raise your hands. Your engagement is unique. Many of you were engaged to a stranger. But even so, when you first looked at that stranger, you didn't hate him or her, did you? After looking at the stranger, you didn't want to go anywhere else. That is the spirit I live by at East Garden. I cherish everyone who comes to sit with me, considering each as my beloved.

When you meet people in your home church work, cherish them, too. Then no one will have to tell you to go and do home church. In the morning you will jump out of bed like a bullet and run to your home church because your beloved awaits you. Perhaps you are supposed to go to the dining room in the morning, but your feet take you to your home church instead. When your beloved is waiting, you forget eating, sleeping, and everything else. Don't you like it when your feet head in the direction of your beloved? That is the way your original mind directs you.

This morning I am giving you another secret: how to do home church. When you consider the people in your home church as your beloved, cherishing them above your own fiancée, spouse, or children, you cannot help going there. And while you are with them, the spirit world will open up and communicate with you. This is the secret of doing home church.

You women, when you are married and your husband rises in the morning and says he must go to home church, will you complain and say, "You don't love me anymore! Why do you go away so early in the morning?"

This morning Mother couldn't join us because she is recuperating [from the birth of Jeung Jin Nim]. I know that she definitely needs a time of rest and some special care. But in my true heart, I still wanted her to be here. So I told her that even though she was not capable of being here physically this morning, she would be here in heart, spiritually. The husband should try to charm his wife and win her heart, so that she will go everywhere with him and not want to be separated even momentarily. This is such a great feeling. There is nothing more valuable.

Dr. Durst is here today. As the national leader, he should long for and miss all the state leaders. He should meet with them, help them, and truly love them even if he collapses in the process. If such a love relationship is created between any national leader and the state leaders, the church in that land will boom and all of spirit world will open up.

When I came to pioneer the work in the United States in 1973, I knew no day or night. Every moment of the day was so precious to me. I always wanted to see one more person, visit one more center. I drove from one place to another, one meeting to the next. If you follow the same principle, your results will be greatly multiplied.

Everything is deeply interesting to me. I am a lover of the ocean because it is another of God's creations. That is why I go out to sea. When various national leaders, world leaders, Korean elders and itinerant workers come to East Garden, I keep waiting for them to ask me to take them out to sea. But so far none of them have done so!

Here is a photo of me standing beside a giant tuna I caught recently. This tuna weighs over 1,000 pounds. How could I become a champion tuna fisherman so quickly? I know how to attract tuna: I do it by love. Every minute of the day when I am on the ocean I stay alert; I never nap. When people go fishing they usually become tired. Even the pilot of the boat sometimes sleeps, but I never lie down even for a minute on a boat. My eyes stay wide open because my interest is so intense. Even if a hundred boats are fishing for tuna, I know that no one loves the tuna more intensely than I do. Therefore, I know that the tuna will come. In Gloucester people say that I even brainwash tuna! Actually, it is not brainwashing, but love washing or maybe Moon washing.

During the matching the other night, 250 Japanese sisters came to the United States after a long plane ride. When they arrived at the World Mission Center, they set their bags down and came to see me with tears streaming down their faces. When I matched them, they accepted without question. All 250 were matched very quickly. The amazing thing is that, although 90 percent of them had never met me before, as soon as they saw me, tears of longing and joy burst from them. You saw it, didn't you?

Does that mean I am some kind of a magician or hypnotist? No. Something else was behind it; there is a definite reason why I affect so many people and move their hearts. It is the very thing I always talk about. The secret is to become a dynamo of love, become a lover. I look at people and even the whole world as my beloved. From the material point of view there is nothing special about me; but I am the richest person under the sun because I have that power to attract people. The secret is nothing other than love.

You lay a cumulative foundation when you love people. When enough has been built up, the blossom opens up. Love is not destructive; it only builds and blossoms. When each of you creates your own love foundation, bearing such a blossom of love, then God will become one with you. Flowers attract butterflies, and the butterflies drawn to your flower of love are none other than God and His angels. It may sound like something incredible and miraculous, but it can happen.

To make a long story short, you won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless you love people, love them and yearn for them. Before I came to America, my major study was how to love American people. I had many plans, I did much homework, and I have precisely fulfilled all MY pledges. There are many things you do not know, but one thing is for sure: After you met me, you became new men and women. You have changed. What power made that happen? The power of love.

When you go out and work hard, you do it out of love for me. When you fundraise, for example, you think, "I really want to do my utmost for Father." That is your motivation. Then whoever gives you a donation receives the benefit of that love.

I have met some Koreans here in the United States who are well known in their community. One of them said, "Many Unification Church members have stopped me on the street or knocked at my door asking me to donate for some fundraising item, and I always do. I never refuse them." I wondered how much they were contributing, but I didn't ask. They reported their donation to me as though they had done something very important and were some kind of hero. Love is at work when people feel such an urge to help your fundraising.

I want you to understand that you are in a position to disseminate this pure love. This love will affect other people and benefit them. When you get donations, every penny is spent for the sake of mankind, for the sake of the world, and for the sake of God. How wonderful that is! Both you and the people who give will benefit. When your position is one of true love, you want to keep giving until the very end.

I would like to borrow as much money as possible in order to be able to give. For the sake of love, I want to be the most indebted person under the sun. When I live by such a philosophy, even the seemingly insurmountable obstacles can somehow be completely overcome. As I meet each large obstacle, I can jump over it. When I make plans, the difficulties ahead seem to be overwhelming but solutions come from totally unexpected places. Spirit world moves in entirely new ways. If money is needed, money comes; if people are needed, people come; the more money we commit to a certain project, the more resources come our way. When I act, spirit world mobilizes masses of people.

Therefore, fundraising is a sacred responsibility. When you fundraise, you are giving love both ways: love for True Parents and love for people. You knock on people's doors not to gain money from them but because you love each person.

In a way, God, too, is a fundraiser. When you knock on doors, you are rejected 90 percent of the time. Likewise when God tries to pour out His love to you, you reject Him 99 percent of the time. So when you experience rejection while fundraising, you can be in a position to comfort God. When you have tearful experiences, you move. God's heart and comfort Him. Then universal love begins to blossom in your heart. The blossom of love is the most sacred and noble kind of flower.

Without question, I am a superb fundraiser. I never do things just for myself, when I see a need and set the goal for meeting that need, I fundraise very boldly. You must be bold for the sake of the nation and the world. I can tell people, "You don't have to give me anything. Just loan me the money. You can trust me because you know my motivation is correct. Therefore, I ask that you please lend me a large amount of money, not just a small amount."

I had one experience when I was studying in Tokyo during my younger days that illustrates this. I needed to return to Seoul, Korea, which involved a long trip by train and boat and was rather expensive. I didn't have a wallet or any money that day, but at the Tokyo train station I met a very noble-looking woman, a total stranger, and began telling her who I was, where I was going, and how much money I needed, which was quite a bit. Then I asked if she would have enough faith in me to lend me the money. I was so sincere that the noble woman trusted me enough to lend me the money without asking for a receipt. After I completed the trip, I sent her back twice the amount of money she lent me. She was flabbergasted. She paid me a visit to return the money, saying, "You are such a good, honest man. I do not want this much money from you. Please take it back."

People can sense a person of genuine character; purity and genuineness are always communicated. That is the beauty of life. Fundraising is the best way to understand this kind of realm.

When I was a university student in Tokyo, I would ride the electric tram car on rainy days. When I boarded, I looked for the elderly people and stood next to them. Normally, young people wouldn't like to stand close to shabby-looking old people, but I would. I wanted to stand near them in case they needed any help. I would look at some bedraggled old man and think, 'Suppose this gentleman was my father. What would I do if my father was this wet? Could I run away and abandon him?" It is normal to feel repelled by smelly old women or men, but when I thought of myself as their son, everything about them became attractive, and I felt very affectionate toward them. Old people have a loving heart for their children, and on such occasions I wanted to reciprocate that love. So I would talk very warmly to an old woman, even though she was a total stranger. What beauty there is in such an intimate conversation!

Sometimes I would wear dirty, ragged working clothes and a smelly jacket on the tram car. I would try to sit next to the most attractive woman on board, someone wearing eye makeup, lipstick, and manicured nails. Ten times out of ten, such women would move away. I was hoping to find someone who would ask herself, "What if this were my husband and he was working so hard for me? If he was suffering for my sake, what would I do?" Then, while these thoughts were going through her mind, we could have started speaking and she could have become the first person to hear the Principle and the first person to join the Unification Church.

I am able to do my mission now because I put myself in many different positions. I want you to understand that the Unification Church was born upon this foundation of sincerity and a genuine, loving heart. Whoever tries to use this foundation and exploit it for his own benefit is a robber, the worst kind of thief.

I want you to become the same kind of person I am and inherit this tradition. That is why I am asking you to go out and endure tribulation.

Still we have not come to today's topic of "Before and After the Blessing," but what I have been talking about is something you find very precious, isn't it? You don't think it's a strange subject; you love to hear these things.

I started out by saying that everyone wants to add something to what they have, so I keep adding on to my speech. You have already been given a great sermon, so you don't need anything more today. You can go out and preach this same message to others.

Have you had the experience of missing me and longing for me? Have you been able to love someone unselfishly? Those experiences will be your assets when you get to the spirit world. Such experiences are the only things you can take from this world to the spirit world.

You have met someone whom you can love. What an incredible blessing that is for you. Think of all that lies behind this marriage. But this love should not be just a horizontal bond between you and your beloved; you must link it to the vertical dimension. It isn't easy to add vertical love to horizontal love, is it? The horizontal aids links the husband and wife. However, unless a vertical line extends from your family upward, there is no way that the vertical realm can reach down.

The vertical line above you is your nation. You should feel patriotic. Do you pay taxes because you have to or because you love your country and want to pay them? Those who pay taxes because they can't escape it are in the majority. However, in the original way of serving our country, we should pay taxes because we love our nation more than our family.

When you and your spouse deeply love your country, this creates a reward for the future generations. The intensity of your love for your country will benefit your descendants; your children will receive the reward. Your blessings will multiply and your circle will expand. This is how you will become an ideal family and form an ideal nation.

Once you create the full circle of love, you can dwell at the core where you receive special protection. Also, once the core is established, true love can expand. When you and your spouse achieve the unity of true love for each other, when you devote yourself to loving your country, you will become the core. As you expand your territory of love to your country, you will be protected by it.

It is an Oriental custom always to use both hands when you serve your elders. Also, Orientals have the custom of bowing. To bow means to empty yourself and to convey the attitude, "I am nothing; you are everything." When you bow, you acknowledge your elder as the perfect plus, and you empty yourself totally to that person, becoming a perfect minus. Whenever the plus is perfected, the minus is automatically perfected as well; and the interaction between plus and minus creates energy.

I want you to understand that whenever a man and a woman have give and take of love, a vertical element is always present. You cannot disregard it. God is the vertical element. He created Adam and Eve so He could meet them horizontally. Their love and blessing was to have borne fruit in their children, who would also be objects of God. This is how the heavenly four positions were to come about. When four directions are established, a circle can be formed. Circular movement is the only permanent movement.

What holds a man and woman together? Men and women have interlocking shapes, to keep them from missing each other or sliding apart once they meet. The man has the additional role of anchor, so that when a couple is bolted together, they won't slip and lose their footing. This way, a couple can be anchored and bolted together with true love. There is a space-age glue so strong that something mended with it may break anywhere else, but never at that joint. Likewise, a man and a woman bonded together in complete, true love might get hurt someplace else, but nothing will ever be able to separate their union. True love is the super glue which holds husband and wife together. Do you understand? Don't just laugh. This is an operation of natural law; tell me whether you understand.

I could push, toss, knock down, or kick such a couple bonded by true love and they would never come apart. They will always stick together. I envision such a couple coming out of this Blessing. Are you going to be such a couple?

I would like to take such a blessed couple to a mountain peak and try rolling them off, as a demonstration that nothing could separate them. I think many couples would be reluctant to be put to such a test. They would say, "Father, don't kill me; keep me on level ground, or just gentle hills." But I'm looking for a couple who would protest against an easy course and say, "That is nothing, take us to a bigger hill. Take us to the highest peak!"

What kind of couple would you like to become: one which stays on the plains and gentle hills, or one which challenges the highest peaks? Let's see the hands of those who would challenge the highest mountains. Accidents could happen when you roll down the slopes; you could break your wrist, your leg, or your jaw. Would such a mishap weaken you? Not at all. You would be willing to tackle greater and greater challenges, so that by the time you reached the bottom you would become genuine gold.

At the start of the plunge, you and your spouse are two beings with two purposes; but as you roll down, you get closer together. The two of you get mixed together, compressed, and finally totally one. When your spouse laughs, you would laugh, too, because you would share the same emotions. God will notice such a couple and say, "Hmm, this is a model couple, an ideal couple." God has a museum in spirit world dedicated to the best of everything. He wouldn't choose a single man or woman for the prize display; He wants an exemplary couple. God will pick the most united couple to display in His museum.

A totally united couple is completely one; nothing can break them up. Even if someone drills a hole through them, the dust from the drilling won't leave; it will return and stick to them! You can apply pressure to them until they are flattened out, but when the pressure is removed, they will become round again. Nothing under the sun can alter their unity.

Would you rather be a mediocre couple, or a completed, perfected couple? Therefore, will you be the kind of couple that chooses the easy way? Can you become an ideal couple if you say, "Today I want to stay home. I don't care about home church. Why should I go out today?" Can you attain perfection as a couple if your focus is only on having fan and a good time; if you long only to see beautiful sights, smell nice things, eat good food and listen to good music; if you can relate only to good feelings?

If your husband is lazy and sleeps too late, you women should kick him and say, "What are you doing here? What about home church? Why don't you go out?" Will your husband complain and threaten to divorce you for repeating such things? The ideal husband would say, "Well, my beloved wife, you are absolutely right. Now give me my home church clothes."

When you know you are sending your husband or wife out to suffer, your eyes fill with tears; but if you still push your spouse toward the ultimate goal, you are on the road to becoming an ideal couple. Do you follow me? An ideal parent is not always the one who pats the children and gives them candy. Rather, it is the parent who sternly sends them out and encourages them to do the right things. Knowing that the children will suffer, the ideal parent turns around and sheds quiet tears. Do you think I am telling you the truth? This is the challenge of the Blessing. This is the way to become an ideal couple.

After being a single person so long, it is wonderful to get married because something is added to you. However, in order to sustain that added stature, you need a strong root and a broad foundation. Your roots are your parents and relatives. Anyone who tries to flee his parents by getting married is making a mistake. Once you are married, you cannot think of yourself as an individual but as part of the larger root system. Furthermore, once you are married, you have not only one family to worry about, but two. You have in-laws now-brothers, sisters, mother-in-law, father-in-law, as well as many other new relatives. You should be able to plant yourself firmly upon this new root and foundation.

If you women try to be clever and take advantage of your husband's relatives for your own benefit, you will be kicked out of the house. Here I am referring basically to women; if you act that way, your husband will eventually throw you out.

Marriage is like a grafting process. The root of the man and the root of the woman are grafted together and become one. Your two roots join into one common trunk line, which branches out and produces blossoms, bearing the fruit of both families. A couple is not just one family but represents two families. Your parents and relatives will see your blossoms and rejoice; your in-laws as well will look on and feel joy. Marriage is not just the meeting of husband and wife, not just the union of one individual to another, but the joining of two families. Two roots come together and become one trunk; a new trunk, new branches, new leaves are produced, and then the blossoms, flowers and fruits come.

Would you like to have a broad and embracing kind of tree, or would you rather ignore your in-laws and focus just on your spouse and yourself? Those who disregard the roots and focus only on their marriage relationship may try to justify themselves by claiming: "We are like Adam and Eve. We are the only ones that count. We just want to concentrate on ourselves. Life is simpler and more convenient that way; we don't have any burdens. Why should we bother with the roots and branches?" Is that the right attitude? Unfortunately, however, this is the trend in America today.

One danger in focusing just on your spouse is that your relationship may easily break up. The wife may meet a man who is more handsome than her husband, someone who tells her how beautiful and attractive she is and how her husband is not treating her right. If she has no anchor or foundation, her heart can be affected. Or the husband may meet a pretty woman who flatters him telling him how handsome he is. Perhaps his wife never told him that, and when another woman says it, his heart starts to quiver. He thinks, 'You know, my wife is like a stump; she is unattractive and ugly. She's a good housekeeper but not adequate as a wife." Then the marriage breaks up.

Your marriage needs to be anchored to its roots and secured to its branches. Then when you consider all the foundation upon which you are standing and your commitment to the future, you cannot take your marriage lightly. You should tell yourself, "I am marrying for the sake of my spouse, my parents, and my future children." You are the present. The present could not exist without a past, which is your parents. A future is coming, which will be your children. The past, present and future must be linked in your Blessing.

Who bestows the Blessing? Who makes your Blessing complete? In the past, ministers of a church officiated at marriage ceremonies. But ministers are in the archangel position, so the archangel, in effect, officiates at such a marriage. In the Unification Church ceremony, however, the parents perform the marriage. By officiating, we are saying, "Go ahead and inherit our tradition, our love, and our discipline and pass this tradition on to the future." By blessing you we are saying, "You are now husband and wife; live like your Father and Mother." This is what Unification Church marriage is all about.

Actually, when we give you our Blessing, we are telling you to do more than we have done. You should love each other more than we do. Why do parents want their children to have greater love? That is how families prosper. When the roots and trunk are strong, when more branches reach out, and when flowers and fruit are produced in abundance, this is prosperity. When you love your parents, you strengthen your own roots and increase the blessing your children will inherit. As you become parents yourselves, you are better able to love your parents, and you receive greater protection from them. Don't you want your children to be prosperous? Don't you want to be protected for the rest of your life? The secret is to love your parents; the more you love your parents, the more you are protected and the greater the blessing you can pass on to your children. So you must serve and love your parents even more than your spouse.

Since you became Moonies and have adopted this attitude, you women have become a different kind of woman, haven't you? You are not ordinary American wives, but very special people. You want to become a trunk, with your parents as the roots and your children as the branches. You may have a good, strong trunk, but can you ever say, "I don't care about the root"? A strong trunk can develop only on the foundation of a strong root. Then vigorous branches can grow from that strong trunk. The parents are the foundation of the tree; therefore, by loving your parents you are strengthening the trunk and the whole tree. You will secure future branches, leaves and flowers.

I explained that if you are to become a giant tree, you must have strong roots. The basic root comes from loving God, who is the first parent of mankind. When you make God your root, you have an invincible, gigantic foundation, and you can become an enormous trunk, producing stupendous branches. When you grasp God as your root, your root spreads to all six continents: Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia, and Australia.

What kind of trunk would you like to become? An all-encompassing trunk, right? The formation level is the family trunk, the growth level is the national trunk, and the perfection level is the worldwide trunk. You are American families, so you should be grafted onto the American national root. When you have a strong family foundation connected to the national root, your branches and leaves will produce many blossoms; your children are your prosperity.

But further down the line from the American root is an even greater foundation: the worldwide root. When you are anchored upon the worldwide root, will your trunk be an American trunk or a worldwide trunk? It will be worldwide. Then when your trunk is worldwide, your branches, leaves, flowers and fruit also will be worldwide.

In the Unification Church we have a tradition of international marriages. Why do we take pride in our international weddings? It is because we want to form a worldwide trunk, a many-hued trunk, composed of living colors. Then from this one trunk, all kinds of multi-colored branches will spring forth: white, black, yellow, and red. When such a tree bears fruit, its fruit will seem delicious to every kind of taste bud. Whether one is white, black, or yellow it will make no difference; the fruit will be savory to all. Such fruit is suited to every taste, and everyone considers it delicious.

Since such a foundation has not been formed, however, grafting is necessary. Grafting is like welding, or like mending broken bones. A shoot grafted onto a new root must be bound with tape for three years. Whether the plant likes it or not makes no difference. The grafting will work because the two parts are bound together; they have no choice.

While you are struggling with the binding of black, white and yellow, you will notice things changing. When you look down, you will discover yourself sinking worldwide roots, and when you look up, you will see worldwide branches beginning. Soon you will become a grandparent and will be able to travel by plane throughout the world to visit your children. One day you will visit your white grandchildren, the next day your black grandchildren, and the following day your yellow grandchildren.

Why should you try to live this way? Once you are elevated to the spirit world, you will meet the supervisor and owner of all the trees and orchards -- God. God is ultimately picking everybody and arranging them in His basket. God visits all His grandchildren in turn, black, white and yellow. That is how God lives and works in the spirit world, so if you live that way here on earth, you can go wherever God goes in spirit world. You will be able to follow God everywhere; nothing will be off-limits to you. So your motivation for this way of life is to become like God.

This is the spirit upon which your Blessing is founded. Do you think I am telling you the truth or not? After you are married, suppose some night a visitor unexpectedly comes knocking at your door and it happens to be me! Would you call me an intruder and run to find your gun? Perhaps you would grumble to yourself, "Why does Father have to come at midnight? He should have come in broad daylight." Would you say that?

I understand that when American parents want to visit their children, they have to call in advance and make an appointment. So if you find me at the door, would you say, "Oh, Father, why didn't you call first?" Or would you jump up -- no matter how you are dressed -- and say, "Father, how wonderful to see you here? How many of you would say, "Father, do anything you want. Please come to our house"?

There are about 4 billion people in the world. If they were all matched, there would be 2 billion couples. If I spent one hour in every home, I would need 2 billion hours to make the rounds! Would that be physically possible? So you must have good luck to get me to visit your house. It would be like hitting a jackpot, an incredibly rare opportunity. I would like to do that, however. I would like to visit as many homes as possible.

If I arrived at lunch time, would you protest, "Father, you didn't call me in advance so I could prepare lunch for you. I'm sorry, we have only water"? Or would you quickly prepare something and say, "Even though we do not have the very best, this is what we can offer you. Please stay for lunch"?

This means that you should be prepared at all times. Suppose you spent seven years -- or a thousand years -- getting ready for my visit, longing for and missing me. Then even if I didn't notice your home, God would tell me, "Reverend Moon, go visit their house. I demand it!" Don't you think I would say yes to Him? If you have the spirit of yearning for one visit from, me, missing and anxiously expecting me, what else could be more important? Is there anything more precious?

It is a happy family who lives in anticipation of the heavenly visit. Each day you clean the house thinking that today might be the day, the day God will visit you. Each meal you cook you tell yourself, "Today might be the day!" Day after day is spent in anticipation and love. You rise early in the morning to prepare the meal and make preparations for the visit. If God were to ignore the home of such a couple and not bless it, there would be no such thing as a Blessing and no such being as God.

I, too, have always lived in anticipation of a heavenly visit. There was a time in my life when I would sleep curled up like a shrimp, feeling unworthy of sleeping comfortably, because I expected a visit from God at any moment of the day. I was always ready to spring up to welcome God.

My parents had the tradition of feeding everybody that came to our house. They would offer them whatever money they needed. All kinds of visitors and travelers received food and money for their expenses. At my home, more food than what our family needed was always prepared in case someone came to the door. That is the kind of tradition I grew up in.

You may suppose that my family received many blessings on account of me. But actually, because of me, incredible suffering was brought upon the household. Every single one of my family was exterminated by the North Korean communists, because Kim Il Sung knew me as the arch-enemy of worldwide communism. All these sacrifices were paid in order to establish the foundation upon which you can blossom right here in America today. I am not trying to obtain comfort or riches, either for myself or for my family. That has never been my goal. They have all become sacrifices.

No country has undergone so much political upheaval as Korea. In order to give the blessing to the world, the Unification Church itself has to suffer as well.

Considering all this, if you want to become a trunk and reach out to serve the branches, you must become sacrificial. In this respect, a good looking spouse is not necessarily the best one. The kind of spouse you should hope for is someone truly loyal, steadfast, down-to-earth, and sincere. That is the best kind of husband or wife because they can provide the utmost sacrificial service for the well-being of their children. Handsome or beautiful people usually become arrogant and boastful and think, "How can such a good-looking person as I stay home and serve a 90-year-old grandmother? Let somebody else do it. I should go out and show myself off."

A beautiful woman is often reluctant to nurse her children because she is worried about ruining her beautiful figure. There are two kinds of beauty to consider. One is the external beauty of face and body. A woman who focuses on external beauty spends much time putting on makeup; she tells her child not to come to her breast and disfigure it by nursing. That is one kind of beauty. The other kind of beauty says to her baby, "Well, my love, it doesn't matter how I look," and she smiles at her nursing child out of the joy of becoming a mother. Which is the true beauty?

How dramatic it is when a woman with snow white skin nurses a very black baby! Don't you think that God would like to witness such a scene? Which would God find most dramatic: a white mother nursing a white baby, a white mother feeding a yellow baby, or a white mother nursing a black baby? From an artistic standpoint, a white mother nursing a black child is the most dramatic scene.

Which time of day do you like best: morning, noon, or evening? Noon is like white people, evening yellow people, and morning black people. Evening is the close of the day and heralds the darkness; darkness ends in the morning when a new day begins. The morning light is very sharp and luminous. The light is conquering all the darkness. In the daytime, everything is clear, because it is already broad daylight. In the evening, as the sun sinks in the west, yellow and orange tones are dominant.

Just as morning is followed by noon and then evening, one dominant civilization or culture is followed by another. In the United States, for example, black people are becoming more and more prominent. Why? It is because white people have become rather lazy. The white people have already seen high noon; they have already experienced the best so they have become sluggish and negligent. They want to have fun; they have no true motivation. But black people have suffered so much under the darkness of oppression that they have more ambition. They want true respect and freedom. Most boxing champions, for example, are black; the same is true in basketball. In all fields of sports, more and more outstanding athletes are black. More than 50 percent of American football champions are blacks.

There are 25 million black people here in the United States, out of a population of 240 million. The ratio of blacks to the population in general is one in nine. Black people have been developing healthy bodies and excelling at sports; next they will move to intellectual achievements. When you black people are educated and guided spiritually, physically, and intellectually, you can become super citizens, the number-one Americans. You can lead America. Why not? You can rise early in the morning, for instance, and clean your neighborhoods so that the black communities become known as the cleanest communities in the whole United States. Wouldn't you like that?

Then white women will say, "I don't want to marry a white man because they are all lazy. I want a black man to be the father of my children." Still the time is not ripe. I had hoped for even more interracial marriages in this last matching.

Look at the Japanese brothers and sisters. They are standing in the forefront of our movement now as the most diligent and hard-working members. Therefore, I am sending them out in leadership roles all over the world. Am I doing the right thing in this case?

The Blessing itself is special, of course, but you must be concerned about what happens before and after the Blessing. This is very, very important. More than your husband or wife, you must serve your parents. God has made incredible sacrifices to come this far. You have achieved your position upon His foundation. If you strengthen your root and sacrificially serve both the root and branches, you will become strong and steadfast people. After your life here on earth, descendants will come and bow down at your tomb, paying you tribute and respect because of the beautiful tradition you have left behind. This is the kind of tradition you should establish in your marriage.

I think about my life this way as well. There will be a tomb for me someday. Visitors will come from all six continents to line up at my tomb; people of every color of skin will bring flowers and incense to pay respect to me. That is the kind of tradition I want to leave behind.

In your home and in your nation, you should follow my example. Then God, the angels, and all of spirit world will come to visit your tomb and pay respects to you. Cemeteries will become holy places. People generally don't enjoy spending time in cemeteries, but when you become an ancestor of love, that will change.

Therefore, please live in love, serve in love, and set the tradition of love. Then you will leave behind the fruit of love and become the ancestor of love. Once you have planted this tradition and disseminated this love throughout the world, when you are lifted up to the spirit world, you will encounter no barriers and will be welcomed everywhere.

In conclusion, set up the tradition of true love based on the family, not on the individual. That is the practice you should establish. The greatest treasure you can give to the nation and the world is true love. The tradition of love is the core of life.

As husband and wife, you should unite and establish a vertical line centered on your nation. When you unite as subject and object centered upon the country, you become the vertical subject capable of spreading your blessing to the world. You will become the core, and the world will be your fence, embracing and protecting you.

When you expand this to the scale of heaven and earth, you will be a victor of love. With such love, you will be welcomed everywhere you go. The bearer of true love is welcome even at the White House. The essence of your mission is to create this tradition of love and expand it to your posterity.

I am sure you haven't talked with your fiancée about all the practical aspects of your future life, but you should have already established the rule that both of you will follow my teachings 100 percent. If you have, you are ready to inherit my tradition of love, practice it, enlarge it, and hand it down to your descendants.

Those who are resolved to carry this out in your family, raise your hands as a pledge. Thank you. Please do well, and serve your parents and brothers and sisters.