The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2010
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The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2010 |
Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Good afternoon. Welcome to the headquarters of the Unification Church on this day. It is really, really great to see you all. This week we sincerely hope and pray that we live in God's presence and True Parents' love in our hearts and in our lives. Aju.
Good evening brothers and sisters. I'm sorry, good afternoon! That happens sometimes. Let us begin by manifesting the Principle. Give and receive action; four position foundation; may I inherit the true love and word of God. Aju.
Today's reading is from the Cheon Seong Gyeong 2201. True Father says:
The filial child is the person who can accept what he dislikes more than what he likes. The person who sacrifices his precious love in order to fulfill his filial duty to his parents will be able to go anywhere in Heaven, and if there are twelve pearly gates, then not one of them will be blocked to him. All the gates will be wide open.
Brothers and sisters, if you understand that God is in the world of the mind -- the spirit world, as Father says, the world that transcends time and space, a different dimension -- and if you then understand that God's heart and mind have been filled with suffering and pain, then you understand that His whole being is as if covered with pain and suffering. And if there is a son and a daughter who can come and alleviate that stress and anxiety and pain that He feels in His heart, then He not only feels liberated in His heart, as separate from His body, but He feels liberated in His heart and His whole existence.
Brothers and sisters, we know that the ones who have liberated our heavenly God, who have liberated this pain that He has had in His heart, that incredible mental anguish and disappointment, are none other than our True Parents of Heaven and Earth. Yes, let's give it up one time for our True Parents who have liberated God's heart! This is what True Father is talking about with the filial child.
At this time, brothers and sisters, we always take the time to meet one of our wonderful families here on the ground. Today we have a beautiful Unificationist family, such an amazing family, doing many things. Today let's meet them through the video. Let's take our time to meet our beautiful Blessed family.
"I'm a Proud Unificationist: Lee Cheong-gun (48 years old) and Muramatsu Kanako (51 years old)"
In the 16th century, the founder of the Way of Tea, Sen no Rikyu, was a secretary of General Hideyoshi Toyotomi. He would serve the general tea, discuss culture and advise him about governing Japan. Hideyoshi was thinking about unifying Japan and invading Korea. Rikyu opposed him to the end and said, "You should never do that." However, Hideyoshi ended up invading Korea, and ordered Rikyu to commit suicide by hara-kiri. So, Rikyu did as he was told, and committed hara-kiri. When I went to Chung Pyung, I liberated the Sen no Rikyu couple, the special liberation, so they are now a Blessed Family.
This Tea Center was built in 1988, at the time of the Seoul Olympics, to teach the Ura-Senke Way of Tea. At the time, a Korean instructor was here. A sister who was in charge was a member, who became blessed with a husband from Singapore and had to go to start her family. However, the foundation was very well-established here and she loved it, so did not want to give it away to a non-member. She recommended me, but I didn't have much experience and I declined three times.
Then one day, the top chairperson of the Ura-Senke School, who is called an Iemoto, Mrs. Shizu Sengen, appeared in the elevator of this building. She made a deep bow to me with her two hands together in the Buddhist style, and said, "You are the only person who could do this, so please accept this position." She bowed to me. I had no confidence, but thinking if this will help Korean-Japanese relations that Father speaks of, I will do it.
Our first seven-year course was full of hardships, striving to build a foundation here. In front of the Japanese Embassy close to here, there were demonstrations every day, about the sex slaves issue, the Tokdo Island issue, and so on. Some college professors came here as well, and looking at me straight in the face, said things like, "So you've come to culturally invade Korea." I was so shocked. I felt like crying, but I smiled and I tried to serve tea to them well.
Due to this kind of stress, or indemnity perhaps, we could not conceive a child. I did 100-day prayer conditions, went to hospitals, my husband gave me moxa treatment, and after much effort, then one day we finally conceived.
This wasn't something we were doing because we liked to. Right now, it is so difficult, but later, due to this, better things will come to us, we thought. We felt that kind of sense of mission. Her position now with Hyung-jin nim and everyone liking tea, and being able to serve close by, I think is really wonderful.
The second seven-year course, at that time in 2003, Hyung-jin nim is now of course the International President but before he became a minister, while he was still at Harvard, he visited this Tea Center when he was in Korea, together with Yeon-ah nim. I was really surprised and so grateful; they spent the whole day here. They gave us many words and a calligraphic writing; and from that day on, I felt hope that, although until now I had only gone through hardships in teaching the Way of Tea, from now on, this Way of Tea has become somehow connected with God's will.
By chance, that same year, I was awarded the "Foreign Minister's Award" in Japan. That a young woman by herself continued with cultural exchange in this area that even the Japanese Embassy was unable to touch, was evaluated, and so I received the Minister of Culture Award in Japan. This really gave me a sense of satisfaction.
Now, I've been through the 21-year course, and if there is a goal for us, it is to enter into the Abel realm, and our couple to unite to enter the direct dominion of God. I want to live a life in which we can truly feel the dominion of God, and witness in earnest.
Hyung-jin nim's calligraphy:
"Devotion and Love for your Hometown Forever, Feb 26, 2005"
Brothers and sisters, let's go out witnessing! We love you.
Let's give it up one time for our wonderful brother and sister, Lee jipsa nim and Kanako Muramatsu sensei, for the wonderful tea master. I had the honor and privilege of learning Japanese tea ceremony from her and some of my children did as well. Just an incredible teacher, and doing so many things.
Today I would like to speak to you all about "True Filial Love". As you know, it is the autumn season. In Asia, this is the time for remembering the ancestors. So, let's begin first with our core scripture from Matthew 12:46-50. Let's read together:
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
Aju.
Here, Jesus shows that it is those who partake in the will of the Father, who have the same purpose and mission, the same life purpose that moves forward for the Father, who are his brothers and sisters and mother.
When we look at the Unification Movement, we can see that in the early age, at the foundation level, we were HSA-UWC, which is the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. There, the foundation was to expand to unify Christianity, and if they had received True Parents as the Lord of the Second Advent, then we know that Cheon Il Guk could have been established at a much faster rate. But due to that particular situation not occurring, then the providence was extended.
In the 1990's, True Father then moved us to the growth stage, where we not only had the mission of unifying Christianity, but we now had the mission of moving and transcending many different boundaries: political boundaries, social boundaries, national boundaries. We made very many networks and many Peace Ambassadors, and we were able to reach out and connect with many, many different realms of existence.
Now, at the perfection stage level, in the age of Cheon Il Guk and after the coming of heaven, then True Parents have blessed us with the name Tongil-gyo, which is different from HSA-UWC. In the west, I do not think this is clear, but within the name Tongil-gyo there is an incredible and profound secret.
When we look at the Chinese characters Tongil-gyo and we look at the 'gyo', it means the teaching or the tradition. Buddhism, for example, is bul gyo; Confucianism is yu gyo; Christianity is gidok gyo; it's the same gyo. And in this 'gyo' character there are two elements: the element or radical on the left is the character for filial piety, that's hyo-ja, and on the right side of that is the character for father, or parents.
True Father explained that when there are many filial sons and daughters next to the parents, next to True Parents, next to God, next to the Father, then unification will occur. Within this short but amazing meaning, we have the real essence of what it means to be Unificationist; to be filial pious sons and daughters near the father, who protect, uplift, glorify, etc.
Now, growing up in the west, I never understood the meaning of filial piety so much because in the west we do not necessarily have the concept like in East Asia about filial piety. It is a little different. In the west, when you call your parents once in a while, visit them on Thanksgiving, visit them at Christmas, you are considered a very good son or daughter. This is pretty common. It is quite normal in the west because we do not have the tradition of that kind of filial piety. There is also not the tradition of bulhyo or 'unfilial' piety which we have in Asia, for example. So in the west, it is quite normal that kids will argue with their parents in their teenage years, etc. This is the notion of filial piety that I had understood, being from the west. I understood it as treating your parents kindly, thinking about them once in a while, visiting them at Thanksgiving, etc.
I heard a lot about filial piety in our tradition but I did not understand exactly what type of filial piety True Parents were looking at, or what perspective they were coming from. We know that Korea, for example, is influenced by Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian thought. It is also influenced in the modern day by Christianity.
When I started studying the East Asian traditions from a western person's perspective, I was fascinated by many things from different traditions: Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. But studying a little bit about Confucianism, there was the notion of filial piety that Confucius explained at three different levels. The first level of filial piety is the level of filial piety where the son or daughter will attend their parents and take care of them, prepare their meals during the day, and attend to them. But this is basically the first level where you are attending them every day of your life, almost. So already it is a very high level of filial piety compared to what we have in the west.
In the second level of filial piety, Confucius said that you do the first -- you attend your parents and take care of them and their wellbeing -- and at the second level, you not only take care of your parents in your relationship with them, but now when you leave the house, when you deal with people in society, when you go about your work or your business, you do not embarrass or shame your parents through your actions. So, not only do you have the first level, which is the relationship between parents and child, but at the second level, you have to look at yourself and you have to reflect on whether your actions and thoughts are influencing your parents negatively or hurting them, hurting their reputation, hurting their honor.
In the west we have somewhat similar notions to this, how one must be cognizant of how his behavior will affect groups. In the west, if you are working in a company, or in a group or business conglomerate, then how you behave is also reflective. You would have to be someone who is cognizant of how you behave ethically with transactions, etc., so that your behavior reflects the integrity of that enterprise or that business. We have that concept a little bit in the west.
Confucius then went on to describe the third level of filial piety: the first, attendance; the second, not shame; the third level of filial piety, which was the greatest he said, was that you do level one, you do level two, but at level three you do everything in your power to glorify your parents, to glorify them. This, he said, was the greatest level of filial piety.
What I realized, in understanding and studying this, and coming to Asia and explaining this to Asian people, I realized that they did not learn this. They did not learn this in the history books or in their studies. But, what I felt is that, although they did not learn this in a book, they could feel and intuit that which would be in the realm of filial piety.
In the west, we have a notion of patriotism for the nation; that is very strong in America and in other countries, Great Britain as well. It is patriotism towards the queen or patriotism towards the nation. This, of course, everybody in the west can understand.
The notion of the Asian filial piety is kind of like patriotism towards your parents. That is an easy way to understand what we are talking about when Father is talking about filial piety; the type of patriotism and heroism that we see in the west when soldiers go out and fight for their country and really sacrifice their life. This is the same type of mindset as when filial piety is offered to the parents. This is the type. In my own perspective, this is what I feel is an easier way for a western person to understand what is meant by Asian filial piety in this context.
Let's move on to our next scripture, which is from Mark 12:29-31. Let's look at this verse because this is a very important verse. Let's read this together:
"The most important one," Jesus answered, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
Now, when we look at these two quotes, people usually make a mistake. We tend to focus on the second quote as the teaching of Christ, so the real action call of Christ is to love thy neighbor as you love thyself, practice empathetic compassion towards other people.
But this is a misreading of this verse. Jesus first says the greatest commandment is what? "The greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength." That means 100%. That doesn't mean 80%, 20%, on Sundays… No, no. It means with all your mind, with all your thoughts focused on God, with all your heart, all your heartistic inklings and emotional content, driven towards that focus. All of your will, all of your soul, all of your spiritual action is moved towards that. All of your strength, all of your effort is moved towards that aim. To love the Lord, is the greatest command, is the testament of being Christ-like.
So this is the question to Unificationists, "How much do we love God?" This is the question. This is what others wish to see, because if Unification Movement has the truth that is to unite the religious traditions, to bring into one the nations and the world, as the prophecy has been spoken, then they would want to see not only what our teaching is but how then we apply it in our life. Not just how we treat our neighbors, not just how we are kindhearted or nice to people. That's not the greatest commandment. The greatest is how much, how intensely we love God. How intensely our life resembles the intensity of focus and admiration and love and praise towards God. That is what serious religious practitioners would want to see.
I had a chance to be in Jerusalem this time with many Muslims. I love their seriousness and the intensity with which they focus on God, orient themselves toward Mecca every day and center themselves five times a day. In the West, we have the notion of Sunday faith. We think of God just on Sunday, but not Muslims. Muslims, every day. Practicing Muslims, every day. Orient yourself five times a day, orient yourself towards God, bow down before Him and recognize who you are in relation to God.
So then, if we are the tradition to lead, to influence and to bring together Muslims and Christians, and others, they are not only going to look at our teaching -- they are going to see, of course, how we much we love our neighbors, how much service work we do -- but on the deeper level, how intensely focused we are on loving God. This is what intense religious practitioners will want to see.
I remember before I started ministry, I had a chance to spend a little time in China and I had a wonderful opportunity to spend time at Shaolin Temple. Oh, I love it! Shaolin Temple. Let's do it [showing a slide of his teacher at Shaolin Temple] I love his beard, he has this huge Boddhidarma beard. I had a chance to train with him a little bit. We know Shaolin Temple is very famous now worldwide because of Jet Li and Shaolin Temple, and all those incredible movies that they made.
Of course, in modern days, there are some problems with the government, etc. The monks who have upheld the tradition have become somewhat marginalized in some contexts, but traditionally, the monastery has always been a place of intense practice, intense training, as of course now the world knows, and intense sutra recitation, study of the Boddhidarma and the texts, the practice of meditation, the physical training and all this kind of thing. Very intense.
The seriousness, the manner in which the monks would train was very inspiring for me when I was there. Very inspirational and also very heartfelt. Before the world came to know about Shaolin Temple, China already had a great love for Shaolin Temple because the monks, known as the martial monks, were the ones that sharpened their skills, and through those skills were able to protect even the Emperor during invasions during Chinese history. So they were seen as patriots of the nation.
These monks were trained from a very young age, training their bodies very rigorously. They were training even when they were eating rice and eating meals. They would be sitting in a horse stance position and strengthening their leg muscles as they were eating; that was wonderful kind of training. As they increased in age and also in maturity, they would then not only practice the body in a hard way but also practice the mind, training the mind. It was this intensity of focus even the older monks had in training their mind, in training and practicing in their spiritual life.
When I saw this I was very inspired because I always wished to train at the Shaolin Temple and be with the real monks there. We are now doing eight times a day prayer training here in Cheon Bok Gung with our Hoonsa nims and Mooksa nims and also with a couple of leaders in Europe. More and more, here at the Cheon Bok Gung, many members are starting to join us in the eight times a day prayer. Per day, not just Sunday faith. Not just thinking of God when we need a blessing, but focusing our attention, constantly training the mind, training, training, constantly, constantly, we are orienting, constantly coming back to prayer, constantly coming back to training.
When we practice this brief training, maybe five, ten minutes, it is very short but very often, we start with the Unification Principle, manifest the Principle, and we start by doing Eok Mansei. You all know the Eok Mansei… let's do them together. [Hananim – Eok Mansei!]
We start with Eok Mansei because that means we praise God first. We praise True Parents first and we praise Cheon Il Gook, which is the nation and the will. We praise the will and Thy Kingdom and Thy will first. Before anything, we start with that in prayer. As we do that then we move on to the next stage, which is the eight stages of prayer. We talk of that many times, eight stages of prayer. What are the levels of eight stages? We can do them together. Ready? Individual, family, tribe, society, nation, world, cosmos (that includes spirit world), and God level. Let's do it backward. I can do that in Korean. Let's see if I mess it up in English. Let's do it backward. God, spirit world, the world, nation, society, tribe, family and individual.
So when we pray after we offer the Eok Mansei we go on to the eight stages of prayer. We first start prayer and focus on God. We start praising God first, remembering His goodness, then we move to the second level which is then praying for the spirit world and praying for our ancestors and also the four great saints. Remember Jesus, remember Buddha, remember Confucius, remember the Prophet Mohammed. Remember our four great saints. Remember the ones who have passed on to the spirit world, who come before us.
And then we also offer prayer for the world. As Unificationists, we offer prayer for the world. For the world to become one and the world to be unified. We also offer prayer for the nation. In this current atmosphere we offer Nam-Buk-Tongil, which is North-South-Unification. For the nations of the world to come to understanding of True Parents. Also, societies and tribes and families to become blessed families and to be able to glorify heaven not just through the transfer of lineage but also until our Seunghwa ascension ceremony. Until our dying breath we can offer and glorify heaven with our life.
And then when we arrive at the individual level, we don't pray, "God give me a golden house and a golden car and golden radio." We don't pray that; as Jesus said that's not even a prayer. That's not prayer. Jesus talks about in the Lord's prayer that you first have to praise God, praise Thy nation and Thy kingdom first then you can talk about what you need, but God already knows. So starting with what we need, "God bless me this, God bless me that way, give me this, give me that…", these are not prayers as Jesus is talking about.
When we offer the individual prayer, we offer the prayer saying, "God use me for Thy Kingdom, for Thy will. Use me how You will it to be. How You decide to be. I don't have the expectations. I surrender my expectations to You. I'm not expecting You to use me in the way I want to be used or use me in the way that I expect. I surrender that. Use me how You will, for Your kingdom and Your purpose."
This is the mindset; this is the posture that we set when we train. After the eight stages of prayer, then we move into the family pledge, which is the reading Father said is the greatest prayer among prayers, and then we recite that eight times a day. Then we finish by manifesting the Principle. That's fast, about five minutes, up to ten minutes long, not that long, but what it does is centers us completely on our purpose.
During our normal day in life, when we are being hit by tribulations, the waves and the winds of normal life, then we will very often forget our purpose in life. We will forget why I am living, why I am fighting, why am I going through these winds and waves, what am I doing? We will forget why it is we are living. But when we re-orient, when we bow down, when we humble ourselves, when we remember and focus with all our hearts, all of minds, all our souls, all our strength in our training, then we start remembering every time the prayer session comes, then we remember, we let go of the things that are controlling us. The different worries, the different stresses and anxieties, let go of that and return back to what we are doing here on this earth.
When we think of every day, eight times a day prayer, we think that's impossible. I can't even think of praying five times a day, let alone eight times a day. Too much, too much, can't think of that. But we found that when we train like that, it's actually easier than we think because it's so refreshing, because it gives us purpose, it returns us back to our life value. It returns us back to our posture before heaven, etc. So the things of this world, the things that usually stress us, take our energy away, sap us, the person over there who is really stressing me out, those kinds of things become small and weakened in the central focus, which is great, which we have when we come back to prayer.
So, when we look at this training, what I always tell my Hoonsa nims and Mooksa nims is that when we are training, our posture is so important. When we do meditation training, our posture is important because it holds us up straight, allows us to breathe and allows us to focus and not fall asleep. In the same way when we pray, our posture is the same. It's so important not only our physical posture but our spiritual posture. How we are posturing before God? This is so important.
You all know the story of Job in the Bible. We know the story of the wealthy man who was very blessed, very faithful to God. But Satan challenges God. He says, "Know what? Job is faithful to You because You bless him. He is rich and he is famous and he is wealthy and he has abundance; that's why he is faithful to You. If I take everything away, Job will betray You in an instant and He will curse Your name. He will forget You." This is what Satan says to God in the Bible.
God says, "No, he won't. He won't do that. I know he will not betray me. I know his faith is real." So Satan says, "Okay, fine then. I will move ahead." And Satan then attacks Job. He takes his family, he takes all his riches, his wealth, even his reputation that it took years to build, destroys his reputation. All his networks, all his success and all his business enterprises, everything, Satan takes away. And on top of that, he gives him a sickness, a sickness with bleeding. He has sores on his body, he is bleeding and nothing can stop this kind of pain, this disease that he has been given.
But in the course of all that tribulation, Job does not curse God. He gets to the level of saying, "God, why am I enduring these things?" He gets to that level, but he does not go to the level where he curses God and betrays Him. It is through that victory that God is able, in the story, to bless Job two times over because through his victory Satan is defeated, he is chased away, he is proven to be false. Also, Job is blessed double with his family. Blessed double in his business. Blessed double in his assets. Blessed double in his blessings, in his reputation. He is blessed completely in abundance, more than he ever saw or even thought.
Whether or not this story is literally true, that's not the point. The point is that Job has the right posture, the spiritual posture towards God. He didn't say, "God, You use me how I want to be used, just don't take away my riches, and use me in the proper way." He said, "Use me however You wish. You give me sickness, You give me health. You give me riches, You give me famine. You give me whatever. You use me for Your purpose. I will continue to praise Your name." This is the spiritual posture that is so important when we train.
This kind of spiritual posture is the type of heart and posture that can focus us, and not only focus us, not only allow God to bless us in greater ways, but also allow us to defeat evil as God used Job's life to defeat evil in his realm. So, how we train, we are not just praying petition prayer, "God bless me, give me this, give me that." These are not prayers, as Jesus said, but how we posture ourselves before God. How we sit before Him -- not physically, I'm talking spiritually -- is the key that we can learn from the Job story.
It is in this way that we are training once again, in the Unification Movement, to come back to prayer, to come back to training, to come back to the intensity of training in our daily lives, not just on Sunday, not just praising God on Sunday. Doing it as a habit even more than Muslims bow down before the one and only Creator, to remember that we also are that much more in love with God, that much more oriented on God. Of course, it doesn't mean that it makes you perfect, that the training makes every flaw disappear. Of course not. But what it does is trains us in a way that we can slowly progress and become greater and greater filial sons before heaven and before earth.
This is exactly what Tongilgyo needs. This is what we need once again. We need to not only be the Tongilgyo that is doing great things for our neighbor or doing great things for our society and service work -- this is the second commandment -- but we need to be the Tongilgyo that is showing the world the intensity with which we love and glorify and praise God every part of every single day.
Let's give God some glory and let's give Him some praise. Let's give True Parents some glory and praise. (Applause).
If we get back to training how it was when we were training in the beginning when True Parents were just starting, how everybody was praying and training all the time, climbing up mountains all the time -- when we get back to that type of training, that type of spiritual intensity and spiritual training, then we can be the Tongilgyo that is not only gathering the religious leaders together or the religious practitioners together, but we can be the Tongilgyo that they see, the teaching they respect and also the practice they can respect and the practice that they can learn and emulate and come closer to God with.
Brothers and sisters let's end today with True Parents' final words with our Hoon Dok Hae. This is from the 84th volume, 205th page. Let's read together:
God is the first parents among parents. The first king among kings. The One who alone can rule over all of heaven and earth and the first ancestor capable of formulating His ideal. Our purpose in the Unification Church is to attend Him as His sons and daughters who are capable of offering Him filial piety, loyalty and saintliness and for the first time stand before Him and inherit His vast work of creation without shame or accusation.
Aju!
Brothers and sisters, let's all rise and let's lift our hands up and wipe the tears from God's eyes as we extend our hands towards heaven. Let us pray.
Dearest, most beloved Heavenly Father, our most beloved True Parents,
Thank you so much. We praise you today. We want to glorify and magnify You with all our mind, all our hearts, all our soul and all our strength, as Jesus said. Father, we want to remember this day that it is the greatest commandment that we must first accomplish, and it is through that accomplishment and that training that we can become compassionate to our neighbors and to the world, Father.
Let us always be rooted in the one and only God which is You, our eternal God, our creator of the universe of time and space. Father it is because of You that we can move and have our existence. It is because of You that we live this day and we breathe this breath. Father it is because of You that we did not perish yesterday, or the day before, or ten years ago; but, Father, it is because of You that we can experience this moment. We offer gratitude to You, Father. We offer grace and glory to You this day and we pray that You may receive it with a happy mind.
Thank You so much. We pray for True Parents today, Father, the ones who liberated Your pain and mental anguish and psychological anxiety and suffering and torment. The one who can liberate that heart, Father, how much gratitude You feel towards that son and daughter.
We thank You, Father, for our True Parents, that we can live in this age. Father, we pray that we can inherit that type of True Love. Father, we pray also for the spirit world because we know that none of this is done alone, that we have the ancestors looking down at us, our loved ones who have passed and ascended, who are looking down and working with us, the four great saints who are in motion. Father, we pray for all them this day.
We also want to pray, Father, for the world, that the world may come into unity and become one, can understand You are one and come to You, Father. We pray that all the nations, as the Scriptures foretold, that all the knees will bow and every tongue will confess that the Lord has returned.
We want to pray for all the societies and the tribes and the families, that we can all become Central Blessed Families and glorify heaven to our Seunghwa ceremony, all the way to our dying day, that we can live our life and glorify You here and in heaven. Father, as we reach the prayers on the individual level, Father let us be used for Thy purpose and Thy kingdom alone. Father, we know that when we focus on my kingdom and my will, on our own things, then we cannot receive Your abundant blessings.
Father, let us be for You, let us be for Your kingdom. We know that You will use us in great ways. We know that You will use us to bless others. Father, even though it is not in the way that we assume or expect, we know that You use us for Your purpose and Your will to glorify goodness and Your essence, true love.
We thank You so much. Father, we pray these things also in remembrance that we are not perfect. Father, we pray that every day as we train and wipe away the stains that are over our spirit that we can become better and better each day, that every time we bow down in our prayer, we can improve and come closer to You.
Father, we also pray for forgiveness because we have things to be forgiven of. Father, we pray that we may also forgive others in our lives who have scarred us, who have hurt us, who have betrayed us, who had made us suffer. We pray that we can resemble You and forgive them. Father, we pray that You don't lead us into temptation but that You lead us into deliverance, into bringing others into Your deliverance, that others can also come into Your realm of love and understand what it means to be a true filial son and daughter.
Father, we pray that all the filial sons and daughters may rise up and that we may become filial sons and daughters that can surround our True Parents and You. We know that when that happens, Unification has already occurred.
We thank You so much. We pray these things with a grateful heart and an everlasting love, and we glorify You this day with all our hearts and mind and soul.
In our own name, as central blessed families. Aju!
1: At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2: But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath."
3: He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him:
4: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5: Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless?
6: I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
7: And if you had known what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.
8: For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath."
9: And he went on from there, and entered their synagogue.
10: And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?" so that they might accuse him.
11: He said to them, "What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?
12: Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath."
13: Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, whole like the other.
14: But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him, how to destroy him.
15: Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all,
16: and ordered them not to make him known.
17: This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
18: "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved
with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon
him,
and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
19: He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will any one hear his
voice in the streets;
20: he will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smoldering
wick,
till he brings justice to victory;
21: and in his name will the Gentiles hope."
22: Then a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.
23: And all the people were amazed, and said, "Can this be the Son of David?"
24: But when the Pharisees heard it they said, "It is only by Be-el'zebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons."
25: Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand;
26: and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?
27: And if I cast out demons by Be-el'zebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
28: But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29: Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.
30: He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.
31: Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
32: And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
33: "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
34: You brood of vipers! how can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35: The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
36: I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter;
37: for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
38: Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."
39: But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41: The men of Nin'eveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
42: The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
43: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none.
44: Then he says, `I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
45: Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation."
46: While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.
48: But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"
49: And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
50: For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."
1: And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country.
2: When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
3: And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
4: Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully.
5: And he sent another, and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed.
6: He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, `They will respect my son.'
7: But those tenants said to one another, `This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
8: And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
9: What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others.
10: Have you not read this scripture: `The very stone which the builders rejected
has become the head of the corner;
11: this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
12: And they tried to arrest him, but feared the multitude, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them; so they left him and went away.
13: And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Hero'di-ans, to entrap him in his talk.
14: And they came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?
15: Should we pay them, or should we not?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why put me to the test? Bring me a coin, and let me look at it."
16: And they brought one. And he said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to him, "Caesar's."
17: Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at him.
18: And Sad'ducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying,
19: "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother.
20: There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children;
21: and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise;
22: and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died.
23: In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife."
24: Jesus said to them, "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?
25: For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
26: And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, `I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
27: He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong."
28: And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"
29: Jesus answered, "The first is, `Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one;
30: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
31: The second is this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
32: And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he;
33: and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
34: And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any question.
35: And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
36: David himself, inspired by the
Holy Spirit, declared, `The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right
hand,
till I put thy enemies under thy feet.'
37: David himself calls him Lord; so how is he his son?" And the great throng heard him gladly.
38: And in his teaching he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes, and to have salutations in the market places
39: and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,
40: who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."
41: And he sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums.
42: And a poor widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny.
43: And he called his disciples to him, and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.
44: For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living."