Happy True Heavenly Parent’s Day!

On Thursday, February 19, 2015, Unificationists around the world celebrated the 48th True Heavenly Parent’s Day. In Korea, True Mother gave a morning Hoon Dok Hwe message. In America, families gathered together and celebrated in their local communities. The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) USA national ministry and local Unificationists in New York gathered at East Garden to celebrate Heavenly Parent’s Day. In the message below, Dr. Ki Hoon Kim, Continental Chair of FFWPU North America, describes the significance of this Holy Day.

Happy True Heavenly Parent’s Day from Around the Nation!

Dr. Kim’s Message on True Heavenly Parent’s Day:

True Mother already celebrated the Lunar New Year in the third year of Cheon Il Guk in Korea with her family and with 200 brothers and sisters. They had a wonderful time spending the morning with True Mother and having lunch with her. Right about now they are playing the traditional New Year’s game, Yute. I haven’t heard yet who is winning. This is a very joyful and happy occasion to be sharing with our True Parents and our Heavenly Parent. As you know, True Father and True Mother’s Holy Wedding Ceremony was held in 1960. The only begotten Son and the only begotten Daughter of God came together and, in doing so, became the embodiment of the spirit of our Heavenly Parent. We call this the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

God’s Day and the Only Begotten Son and Daughter of God

This year—2015—is the Year of the Ram. The ram symbolizes much giving and sharing of love and the parental heart. True Mother was born in the Year of the Ram. But this year is a very special Year of the Ram. Every 200 years, a special Year of the Ram rolls around.  But in this, the third year of Cheon Il Guk, 2015, this rare Year of the Ram is made more distinct and we anticipate many great things to happen centering on True Mother. Only great, good things.

After the Holy Wedding Ceremony of the only begotten Son and Daughter of God in 1960 True Father testified: “With my wife, True Mother, we spent seven years enduring all kinds of suffering, all kinds of life-threatening attacks from many elderly established churches and from several other organizations. We made many special conditions during these seven years of suffering, and then True Parents established God’s Day.” And now, today, we can have True Heavenly Parent’s Day. This is the outcome of True Parents’ incredible efforts.  In 1968, True Parents were able to establish the first day of the year as a day to celebrate God for the first time in history. Not only our history, but in all of human history.

True Father said that God’s Day should have been celebrated and established for the first time when Adam and Eve completed their growth and perfected their individual states and then came together centered on Heavenly Parent and received the Marriage Blessing. That day should have been the original God’s Day. Before God created all beings, he wanted to create God’s Day. Adam and Eve coming together with God and becoming parents was God’s original purpose of creation.

True Father also said we should celebrate God not only on the first day of the year, we should celebrate God 365 days of the year, every year, 24 hours a day! We are God’s sons and daughters. Calling ourselves God’s sons and daughters means we have a 24-hour relationship with our Heavenly Parent. It is with this thought and this purpose that True Father and True Mother established God’s Day in 1968.

In 1960 right after True Parents’ Holy Wedding, they first proclaimed True Parents’ Day on March 1, then True Children’s Day on October 1, 1960. Then in 1963, True Day of All Things.  True Parents tried to offer all of this to our Heavenly Parent before 1968.

Why do we have so many proclamations in our church history? In New York, right here at East Garden and Belvedere, and also in Las Vegas and Hawaii, how many proclamations has True Father made? Innumerable. True Father suffered and made many conditions to protect God and God’s people, True Parents’ people, before Satan could attack. The 6,000 years of human history is God’s providence of restoration. We lost everything that God planned after everything God invested to build God’s kingdom with God’s sons and daughters. So with True Parents’ Holy Wedding we can try to rebuild all the days that God longed for these last 6,000 years.

True Father is now in spirit world and True Mother is still with us on earth. This third year of Cheon Il Guk is a very crucial one, I feel, and critical. These last two years have been especially hard for True Father and True Mother. I really want you to take ownership of this day and of 2015. Taking ownership does not mean, “I have everything within and under my authority.” No. Ownership means, centering on God and True Parents’ ideal, we have the authority to live as blessed central families and as tribal messiahs.

Take Ownership of Tribal Messiahship

I met with Neil Salonen, President of the University of Bridgeport, Frank Zullo, chairman of the university board, and with Dr. Thomas Ward, Vice President of the University of Bridgeport. Frank is an incredible man. I’ve never seen such an energetic fellow for someone his age. He is powerful! He takes personal ownership over Bridgeport. When he speaks about the university, he sounds like the historian of the city and of the university. This is how I know he takes ownership of it. He talks about Unificationists and of “Father and Mother Moon,” as he puts it, very kindly. With this kind of ownership, the University of Bridgeport is growing. Ten years ago they had about 900 students.  Now they have more than 5,500.

Of course, the great leadership of Neil Salonen has played a huge part in this success, but individuals in a position of leadership taking ownership can change our family, community and movement around the world. This is what True Mother practices and what she asked outreach participants in Las Vegas and Hawaii to do. Without taking ownership, it’s hard to say anything is yours, to say any outcome belongs to you, just because you answered the call to come. These outreach initiatives last only a short time and you will get inspired, your spirit will be revived, but if you take ownership from start to finish and live the life of ownership, then each experience and each outcome will belong fully to you. If we lived every day like this, we wouldn’t need to hold special initiatives or events. 

We are moving toward new tribal messiah activities, district by district, trying to inherit True Mother’s vision for outreach and tribal messiahship.

Planting Our Roots in Cheon Il Guk

Last year in Kona, Hawaii, True Mother bought two trees. We went to a nursery and there were these two, huge 30-year-old Monkey Pod trees at the entrance. We were inside looking at small trees, but True Mother pointed to the large trees and said she liked these ones; she wanted to buy them and plant them at the Kona Coffee farm. After six months I went to see how they were holding up. True Mother gave special directions for which tree would be planted where and which tree would represent True Father and which would represent True Mother.

So I went back to where they had planted them and I was shocked. The beautiful leaves were gone, the red flowers gone too. I asked Tim, the gardener, what had happened. It had been only six months. He said they cut all the branches off.  The trees looked so miserable. They looked like they were naked and dying.  They used to be lush and green and offered a huge canopy of shade. To transplant the tree properly, they had to lop off all the branches so that all the nutrients from the water and sunlight would go directly to the roots.

A plant cannot settle without its roots settling first. Maybe if I go back now, I will see some green on them! So though the branches and small twigs need to be chopped off, and the tree may reject the new soil at first, True Mother is very clear: in order for it to settle, we need to commit to nurturing the tree. We shouldn’t stop. We need to be like that tree. Even though True Father has ascended into the spirit world, we need to move forward. We sometimes may need to cut off some attachments so that we can focus on settling our roots in Cheon Il Guk.

In this third year of Cheon Il Guk, centering on True Mother, let’s make 2015 a year of action!  True Mother may be over in Korea, but spiritually she is here in America. True Mother said, there is no place like America because True Father and True Mother spent over 40 years here and even now, they still go back and forth between America and Korea. I feel that America is like that big tree in Hawaii, that America is also represented by True Mother’s tree. Together, America can support this tree, give it water and ask God to clear away the clouds and let the sunlight in.  We can support True Mother. So let us take water in one hand and with our other hand, pray to True Father and ask him to help take the clouds away so that we can take care of True Mother.

Once again, thank you and happy New Year and happy True Heavenly Parent’s Day. God bless you throughout 2015, the Year of the rare Ram. God bless True Father and True Mother in Korea.