John 19
25 Jesus’ mother stood beside his cross with her sister and Mary the wife of Clopas. Mary Magdalene was standing there too.[c] 26 When Jesus saw his mother and his favorite disciple with her, he said to his mother, “This man is now your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “She is now your mother.” From then on, that disciple took her into his own home.
Ezekiel 3
6 Seven days after I had seen the brightness of the Lord’s glory, the Lord said:
17 Ezekiel, son of man, I have appointed you to stand watch for the people of Israel. So listen to what I say, then warn them for me. 18 When I tell wicked people they will die because of their sins, you must warn them to turn from their sinful ways so they won’t be punished. If you refuse, you are responsible for their death. 19 However, if you do warn them, and they keep on sinning, they will die because of their sins, and you will be innocent.
20 Now suppose faithful people start sinning, and I decide to put stumbling blocks in their paths to make them fall. They deserve to die because of their sins. So if you refuse to warn them, I will forget about the times they were faithful, and I will hold you responsible for their death. 21 But if you do warn them, and they listen to you and stop sinning, I will let them live. And you will be innocent.
Richard: Why do I speak out to say what is true? See the above reading from Ezekiel.
The Person Who Will Serve the Grieving Father
Sun Myung Moon
May 24, 1959
Prayer
Father! Sorrowful history today is moving forward as it swirls around us. Facing the sorrowful environment of life, we realize that ours is the great task of ridding history of pain and resolving Heavenly Father’s torn heart. As we have taken on such a task, we have to become sons and daughters who can bear the heart of Heaven and earth, experience the sorrow, feel the pain, and be willing to die for You thousands and thousands of times to comfort You.
During Jesus’ advent in this world, many religious groups and believers were awaiting the Messiah. They were all expecting the Messiah to come as someone even greater than their expectations. The Messiah who came was not a Messiah of happiness. Rather, he was a Messiah who embodied the sadness of humanity. He was a Messiah of pain in whom all the pain of human history culminated. We know that no one in that time ever thought that the Messiah, who came as the representative of Heaven, would come so.
We understand that history is realized based on what has gone before. We are learning the principle which tells that all events occurring in history have to reappear to be restored through indemnity. We also know of the responsibilities of the disciples in the last days to horizontally put to rest all the sorrowful remembrances of the Garden of Eden, the sorrows of the course of history that came down vertically, to return to our Father the joy of the horizontal perspective.
Father! We now desire to be loyal for the sake of the world. Do we not want to establish the heavenly promised land for humankind? We can only then become people who inherit Heavenly Father’s deeply engraved sorrow and pain. We have already realized that only those who digest pain and sorrow can appear as the inheritors of heavenly joy. Please allow us to see that those who struggle only for their peace of mind will surely perish and be defeated.
Father! We know that one cannot claim the achievement of victory if he struggles and fights for his happiness. I sincerely pray, Father, that You allow us to become those individuals who persevere in spite of sadness and pain and who say, “I will live for the lives of the whole.” Let us become those who have raised high the altar of the historic offerings and lead history. Let such people lead this perishing race and world.
To whom are we going to entrust our faith when we look at the sad and sorrowful churches, when we look at humanity, and when we look at heaven and earth in this time of sorrow? We are not to follow a certain leader or serve a certain founder of a religion. The final moment of judgment is coming in which we have no choice but to live for and attend the Father and to fight to resolve the Father’s han. Is there anyone among us who lives in shadows which our mind cannot comprehend? Please break down such shadows, and allow us to realize that those who die today struggling to fight against new sorrows will live again tomorrow.
Are Your sons and daughters out there wandering on the path of lamentation and death, engulfed in the incomprehensible pain of the universe? Please allow them to realize that their lives depend on a moment.
It was because of humankind that life or death depends on a moment, and because of humankind that sorrow, lamentation and pain had to come about. I deeply pray, Heavenly Father, that You allow us to realize that since humankind started all this, the only way for us to relate to You is for humankind to liquidate all this, to establish the heavenly ideology on this earth, the garden of happiness, and to search for Heavenly Father.
Please let these words spoken today never be forgotten in the hearts of Your sons and daughters. Please let those gathered here put their sad lives behind them. Allow them to become people of pride who can overcome the sorrowful heart and sorrowful history in spite of the existence of this sorrowful race, this sorrowful world, and sorrowful Heaven. As victors with joyous hearts, let them be able to say, “Father, please do not be sad. Your long-awaited sons and daughters of glory have come. Please embrace us.”
Father! With our effort and sacrifice, please allow us to stand as sons and daughters who can be a joy to this world. Sincerely praying that we can pave the road that will bring forth such sons and daughters before You, even if we must become a sacrifice thousands of times over, Father, we pray all these things in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Man’s portion of responsibility is inviolate. Like Adam and Eve, we can’t blame each other for actions that we took.
We are responsible to uphold and practise the truth. If we listen to others who guide us in the wrong way, that then becomes our responsibility. Sin ultimately is personal. If you do the wrong thing, that is your responsibility, as it was for Adam and Eve.
It’s no use blaming someone else, because you trusted them.
That is why Father said in his prayer above, “We are not to follow a certain leader or serve a certain founder of a religion”.
Our ultimate responsibility is to know God and attend God by keeping His Word, today that is, “The Eight Great Sacred Texts”.
That is why Father said on another occasion:
“You did not know that the conscience was your second God, the central aspect of your existence. You have to attend it more than you attend God. Attend your conscience more than you would the founders of religions, even Jesus. Then you can attain a position higher than that of believing in Jesus. Do not believe in me, the founder of the Unification Church. If you accept my teaching and become completely one with your conscience, you can go to heaven even without following me”.OCSG. P.823. (253-45, 1994.1.1)
In the Kingdom of Heaven we attend everyone, vertically and horizontally centring on true love. Take out true love, and that is not the Kingdom of Heaven.
As Father said, he wants to see us loving each other more than we love him. That is the heart of the parent, as the parent always sacrifices for the sake of others:
“Have a love competition among yourselves. It doesn’t matter whom Mother or I love most, but who is the king of loving brothers and sisters. Who loves me? I know your love is real, so now pledge to me that you will love your brothers and sisters more than you love me. That will please me more than your love for me.
Who says that they can only love me and love God? That is baloney; there is no substance to that love. Who says that they know the truth, and from now on they shall open the Kingdom of Heaven on earth? Amen”! Historical Children’s Day, 1981.
Thank you, Stephen for this timely and sound comment. Yes, we are responsible, centered on our own conscience, which is informed by the New Truth of the Eight Sacred Textbooks.