True Parents’ Day

On April 7, 2016, Unificationists celebrate the 57^th True Parents’ Day, a day for God as our ultimate parent to experience joy with His and Her children.

True Parents’ Day is one of the major Unificationist Holy Days, and it represents the day of God’s joy when, after creating all things, we were given the blessing to love the world with God’s parental love as true parents, and is a reminder to put true love into practice as True Parents have all of their lives.

What are you and your community doing on True Parents’ Day? Let us know!

About Our Holy Days

The eight Unificationist Holy Day ceremonies are celebrated on their lunar calendar dates, and include the tradition of prayer, scripture reading, and offering tables, with towers of various fruits, nuts and packaged sweets.

The first four Holy Days relate to the order of creation (parents, children, the created things and God). The second four relate to events in Unification movement’s history (True Parents’ Birthday, the Nation of the Unified World [later, Cosmos], Day of God’s Eternal Blessing and the Cosmic Sabbath).

Holy Day Ceremonies can be conducted at home or at local churches. The Main Ceremonies for Holy Days are conducted in the presence of True Parents. Each Holy Day, we are encouraged to make a collective donation as a family offering to True Parents.

You can make your Holy Day Donation here.

True Parents’ Day from the Historical Point Of View

True Father gave the following message about True Parents’ Day and its historical significance on the 18^th True Parents’ Day (April 18, 1977) in New York City.

Today we commemorate the 18th anniversary of Parents’ Day. No other group on earth celebrates True Parents’ Day. We have four major celebrations during the year: Parents’ Day, Children’s Day, World Day, and God’s Day, and by celebrating these Holy Days we are truly celebrating the rebirth of heaven and earth.

If there had been no fall of man, we would never have seen such Holy Days as God’s Day, Parents’ Day, Children’s Day and World Day. Adam and Eve would probably have been the only two people who would have celebrated these days, while their descendants would have celebrated only the victory of their established foundation. All of humankind was supposed to have been born on the foundation of these days. Through the fall of man, however, there was no fulfillment here on earth, and all joy was lost. Consequently there was no day of joy for God, no day of the True Parents, no day of the true children, and no day of all things. All humankind is born in sorrow and suffers in sorrow, and struggles to recapture the original world; because of the fall, however, that perfection has always eluded man.

There are many celebrations in our world, but all of them are for the joy of the satanic world, not for God. There has never been one day in which God could declare His and Her joy.

When is the day going to come that humankind will establish a new kind of holiday? It will be the day that all men and women and God can be joyful together. That day will not be your own birthday or wedding anniversary or day of national independence. Throughout history all humankind has been looking forward to the day of fulfillment when God could declare His joy and personally commemorate God’s Day and Parents’ Day. Once God’s joy is declared, and God’s Day and True Parents’ Day are established, then automatically the true children will come into being, and all the things of creation will declare their joy too.

Throughout history, however, no one has seen God’s Day or True Parents’ Day, and all the things of creation are in agony in this fallen world. Out of 365 days in a year the most important day would be the day to honor God, the day on which God could declare His joy—God’s Day. The day we can declare God’s Day to the earth will be the king of all days, and that year will be the king of all years. I do not know whether you have ever heard of such expressions as “king of all days,” or “king of all years.” Do they make sense?

Today you are all here to celebrate Parents’ Day, but actually you are not entitled to celebrate on this day. Since meeting the True Parents you may rejoice over this Parents’ Day, but this joyful day is also sad because only this small group of people has recognized Parents’ Day and come together to celebrate. We also feel sorrow that we are still surrounded by the fallen world.

There were several consequences of the fall of man. One, the dignity and authority of God was damaged; in addition, humankind was separated from its intended state and fell into the dungeons of hell; at the same time a portion of the angelic world also fell; finally, all the things of creation were brought down. Thus it happened that everything suffered when man fell, including the dignity of God, and since then the entire creation has been trapped in a place of sorrow and despair. The world has become sick, but in the same way that patients cannot cure themselves, the world is helpless to restore itself. Who will come to restore the world? There is only one superior person who has the ability, power and will to bring man back to his original place—God.

What can cure the disease of fallen love?

What kind of disease have you caught? The diagnosis is that fallen man has the disease of fallen love. The fall was initiated when one person claimed self-centered love. That person denied the value of all other relationships in his desire to make himself the center of the universe. He only sought to bring benefit to himself, and when his desire entered the realm of love the disease was begun. We must find a cure for this love disease. What medicine should be prescribed? Because self-centered love brought the fall, we must find a God-centered or unselfish love in order to be cured or restored.

What is heaven? Heaven is created by those people who live here on earth with unselfishness and an absolute, God-centered love. This is the most basic principle, and all other principles you learn are the expansion of this basic truth. What I have spoken to you thus far is the very heart of the truth of God.

Do you love yourself most of all? Are you the center of your love? Is God the center? Twenty-four hours a day and 365 days a year have you been loving yourself in a God-centered way? If you cannot say yes then you are not destined for the Kingdom of God in heaven, and need liberation from your bondage. This is the most severe battle which you are waging every day, and each of you must become victors in this battle for your liberation.

Soon God will ask us to claim His true love and authority

How do you see me? Am I a tough man of conviction and iron will, with the drive to go to the end, or am I the type of person who is so timid and afraid that I cannot even speak? I am a very hot tempered man of extremes, and no one has a more determined will than I do. On the one hand I am hot-tempered and blazing like a fire, but I am also like a person with no bones who can take beating after beating and remain patient, never desiring revenge and never cursing anybody. I think that being hot-tempered and iron-willed as well as patient and enduring is what God wants me to be, and I am trying to fulfill that.

At the moment of his death, Jesus forgave those who killed him. My determination is that in my own life I will bless my enemies by persevering and absorbing all the beatings and pain the world may give. I want to establish that condition while I am yet on earth. Jesus Christ liberated himself from the satanic world by his crucifixion, but I intend to go past that realm while I am here on earth.

Why do I have this determination? God wants to see that victorious pattern sealed here on earth, not just in the spiritual realm. We need a victorious foundation here on earth, the complete liberation from satanic influence. This is my mission. I came to liberate humankind from all satanic influence, and to do that I have to be victorious by going beyond the satanic realm here on earth. Do you realize that the pinnacle of this providence was reached at the Washington Monument Rally? Then on February 23, the True Parents’ birthday, I offered an extraordinary prayer, forgiving heaven and earth and declaring a new day and a new history. Can you grasp the significance of the new day and new history?

It is not God’s mandate that I continually remain silent and humble while receiving persecution. When all the conditions are set God will ask me to declare my dignity and authority as an individual, a family, a heavenly society, heavenly nation, and world. The time will come when we will claim God’s true love and authority.

The 6,000 Biblical years of God’s history actually equal many thousands of physical years. God has been waiting that long for the day when one man would come to the earth who would truly grasp His concept, and possess His own will and conviction to fight and declare victory over the entire satanic world. That is happening now. Only with that viewpoint can you see how truly momentous this day is. Even if I were to die now I would not be a failure. I will go to the spirit world with dignity and power and authority and stand before Heavenly Parent to receive His and Her welcome. In the meantime my work on earth will continue. Do you believe this? We are already outside the satanic realm; I have already gone beyond it.

The work of restoration has been proceeding by the application of God’s Principle and that formula of restoration will endure. It was there in the beginning, it is now, and it shall remain until we totally liquidate all satanic influence, when we will no longer need the application of this formula.

When I declare that I have won over and transcended the satanic world, I do not mean that I have gone alone, but that the entire spirit world has also moved with me. As you know, the spirit world is equivalent to the angelic world. Angels by nature were supposed to follow Adam’s path as his servants in the original creation. Yet not only the angels were to follow Adam in his growth, even God would follow Adam. It is the Principle.

I am leaving the satanic world behind, and as I move further and further way from it God is establishing a new sovereignty here on earth. When that sovereignty is finally declared by God, anyone or any power which opposes it will be shattered. The Christian nation of America is a great giant among the sovereign nations of the world, but if America stands against the dignity of heaven, America will be shattered. That is the judgment of heaven.

Christianity prospered for 2,000 years, but in the two decades since 1960 it began a steep decline. I want to clearly declare that the reason for that decline is the Christian opposition of the new sovereignty, the new power and truth of God. If the Christian cultural sphere continues such a trend then it will be caught in an unavoidable decline. On the other hand, if Christianity will accept True Parents, and if America will accept True Parents, then there is a ray of hope. There is no other way for either America or Christianity to find hope. Many people may think this declaration is boastful and blasphemous, but I have declared this with the authority of the entire spirit world, which already supports it. I merely bear testimony to the truth.

Satan must acknowledge that you have walked my path

Once we can create our own society outside of satanic influence, should we not worry about the rest of the world, and say, “Let them just go to hell?” If we leave the world alone it will certainly decline and die. Do you think that is God’s will? I know that is not God’s will. Though we are now living in the same world our kingdom is different, and just as God sent His son Jesus from His throne to this fallen world, God is now sending you to save it.

I am now urging you to go into the satanic world to save it, even risking your life. I want you to set the condition that you walked the same path the True Parents walked. I walked this suffering road for 33 years and by your setting the necessary conditions in the next three and a half years I would like to give you all the blessing of having walked the same path I walked.

I came to America to stir up this nation, expecting it to come against me. I did not come to elevate my own honor or dignity, but only for the purpose of God. For God’s sake I faced controversy and let America come against me. The turmoil of the hurricane lies in our path, but we are going to be victorious. I am the captain who is steering the ship through the stormy weather.

Who among the Pilgrim Fathers on the Mayflower had a visa to come to America? They came with religious conviction in the name of God. They came to this land to unselfishly fulfill God’s will. For the same reason, but on the universal level, the Unification movement’s young people have gathered in America in the name of God, to establish the Kingdom of God here on earth.

When the Pilgrim Fathers came from Europe in the name of God they were actually illegal aliens, but God’s dispensation lay with them. We are the New Age pilgrim fathers of the universe, and even though this nation may think we are illegal aliens, God is on our side. Ultimately God will overcome this negativity and opposition. The Unification movement is the first movement of liberation. No religious leaders today are even thinking on such a scale. Only I am taking a stand without fear, speaking out directly for God so seriously that I am willing to give up my life to declare my message.

Regardless of who is listening, there are certain things which I must declare. If I do not declare these things then I am not obeying God’s order. Who is going to bring the resurrection of humankind? Not Christianity, Judaism or communism, but members of the Unification movement. We have the power, we have the knowledge, and we have the conviction to resurrect this nation and all the nations of the world. Do you have the confidence to do it? Raise your hands, those who have such confidence. This is our responsibility.

Who will inherit my mission?

Your lives must be different from yesterday; each day you need to be re-created. Will you change yourselves today? On this Parents’ Day, let’s forget what you have done in the past because what counts is today and tomorrow. Boldly take the responsibility that God has bestowed upon you; courageously undertake what God has bestowed upon you and fulfill this mission. I want you to know that through you God will change the history of humankind.

I am not delivering this message today solely for your benefit. My audience is the world, history, and the spirit world. I am speaking to the world and every person here on earth shall listen to this word in due course. The entire spirit world is listening right now. The entire world will be without the excuse that they did not hear me.

If the 240 million people of America and if Christians the world over could really humble themselves to listen to the truth, there is no way that they could say, “Reverend Moon, you are seeking to deceive and I do not trust you.” The power of the truth will unite humankind.

It is not yet too late, but America and the world need to repent. God still wants to bless America. No one ever even imagined that the emergence of the True Parents could be this difficult and precarious. To come this far I had to persevere through and overcome impossible opposition and headwinds; I want you to inherit these experiences from me. Unless you inherit this heart of mine, you will have nothing to do with the place where I dwell and where God dwells.

When I die, I shall ask God, “Is there anyone who loved You more? Is there anyone who loved the world more? Is there anyone who really gave himself more totally for the sake of the world? Heavenly Parent, can You name one?” There is no other such person.

I pray that among you someone can come forward to say, “True Father, I can inherit your mission. I feel precisely as you do; I am another Reverend Moon. Leave it to me.” My prayer is to see even one person like that come from among you. The greatest blessing that God could give me would be to see such a person. That person will say, “True Father, I shall not only equal your own record, I shall exceed your record so there can be glory for God.” If many of you feel like that, then this is truly the glory and victory of Parents’ Day.

Can you pledge in this sacred, holy room, “God, I give You my covenant, my pledge, that I will never let You down, that I shall persevere even more than True Father himself persevered, and with my hands Your mission shall be done. This world shall see resurrection and health because of me.” If that is the pledge you can give, then this is the place where God will look down and take great joy. Those who can solemnly pledge this severe and most difficult yet down-to-earth commitment, raise your hands. Thank you.

In this concept and in this conviction let us rejoice on this Parents’ Day. God bless you. Thank you all.