Congratulations on your graduation! My final message to you who are graduating today is: As UTS graduates, bear the cross on behalf of God and humanity.

As all of you know from the teaching of the Divine Principle, throughout human history God has been suffering because of the miserably fallen condition of the world. The fall of man, which happened at the dawn of human history, completely shattered God's dream of living together with human beings as His beloved sons and daughters. Even the omnipotent God, who since the fall has been pouring out His heart of unconditional love for the sake of the salvation of human beings, has not been able to complete the salvific process due to their continuous rebellion and faithlessness. This has caused Him unspeakable pain and suffering. As regards human beings themselves, they too have been experiencing much agony and pain-which they inflicted on themselves as well as on God. Look at this miserable world where egotism, war, immorality, free sex, homosexuality, crime, etc., are rampant. It seems that there has been no real way out of this misery once the whole of humanity came under the domination of Satan after the fall.

Given this situation of the world, why don't we courageously go out been trained here as heavenly soldiers for two years or more. Here, you have studied not only the Divine Principle but also other subjects such as theology, church history and the Bible. You have also lived a communal life as comrades and reflected on your faith and commitment. Now is the time to go out and bear the cross in the battlefield. To bear the cross means to accept all problems in the world as if they were your own and to solve them out of your genuine love towards your fellow humans whose problems you are dealing with. To do that means to liberate not only humanity but also God from all pain and suffering, because the liberation of humanity means the fulfillment of God's own dream.

Some of you might wonder how you can bear the cross for others when in many cases you are busy dealing with your own problems. But let me say that if you are absolutely willing to serve others in spite of your own problems, God will be so impressed with you that He will give you His powerful help to miraculously overcome not only your own problems but also the problems of others. If you are absolutely committed to bearing the cross out of love, God will definitely be with you. For to bear the cross in that way makes you resemble God, who is always willing to bear the cross at the parent of humanity.

God's problem is that He has not been able to find people who fully resemble Him in this regard. Of course, Jesus bore the cross for the spiritual salvation of humanity two thousand years ago, and many sages and saints before and after him also bore the cross for the sake of others. And this assuredly advanced God's providence of salvation immensely. But there has not been a full breakthrough so far. So, evil is still flourishing in the world. Who will stop evil fully? I believe it is UTS graduates who should do this job. UTS graduates should boldly go out there to serve and bear the cross in order to testify to the power of God to overcome evil.

The point I am making has come from the teaching of Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, who tirelessly and sacrificially spent 50 years after World War II to bear the cross for God and humanity. Because of their absolute commitment out of love, the way of complete salvation has been victoriously opened. A new ear of tremendous hope has come.

Now, I have a question. Because of the complete victory of Rev. and Mrs. Moon, shall we just think that God's will shall be done without our doing anything for the sake of God and humanity? Therefore, shall we just remain lazy, seeking our own happiness and enjoyment in our lives, after hearing the good news? Absolutely not! We have to inherit the best tradition of Rev. and Mrs. Moon and work even harder than before until every corner of the world is covered by the love of God. We have to go beyond our level of satisfaction, always challenging ourselves. We might even have to leave Rev. and Mrs. Moon behind to courageously go out to the battlefield on their behalf to build God's kingdom out there. That would be the best way to make God rejoice. That way, God will be with you.

Here at the Seminary, haven't we been trained that way? Haven't we learned about God's suffering heart? Haven't we studied the tearful course of Rev. and Mrs. Moon to serve God and the world?

Today is the day of your graduation from the Seminary. Therefore, I really want all of you to renew your understanding of the significance of bearing the cross. May God bless you in your work after graduation.

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