Sun Myung Moon
February 12, 1961
Excerpt
Heavenly Father Whom We All Want to Attend
The Selected Speeches of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Volume XI
Unofficial Translation

Here is the third and last excerpt of the remarkable speech that True Father Rev. Moon gave on February 12, 1961. The speech as a whole talks about keeping faith in the midst of great tribulations, both external and internal, and knowing God in an intimate, personal relationship. This excerpt, titled “The Best Gift You Can Offer to God,” is about meeting God in the place of suffering. This short quote captures its essence: “When you are shedding tears of blood and calling, ‘Father,’ you hear His voice saying, ‘I have endured pains so that you can endure your pain.’”

Members of the Unification Church should not attend God only in a glorious place. I am always aware of this. You must be able to attend God when He visits you in the most miserable place. You must be able to embrace Heavenly Father, whose heart is filled with pains and sorrows, while He is visiting you. Standing as objects of His heart, you must understand His heart so that God could tell you, “You are my son, and my daughter.”

If God gives you His blessing at the bottom of Hell, you must have a heart that you are willing to go to the bottom of Hell. If you keep such a heart at the core of your faith, you will never end up in Hell. The spirit world is different from the place people thought of who said, “We are going to Heaven.” In this world, people are boastful about anything and believe that they will brag about the same things in the spirit world. However, the spirit world is not like that.

You wish you would attend Heavenly Father. And you must attend Him in reality. You may be longing for a time when Father visits you and looking forward to seeing Him. Then, what kind of preparation did you make in order to meet Him? Did you want to prepare a gorgeous and splendid place to meet Him? I tell you, God will never visit such a place. Heaven is not looking for a luxurious place. Heaven wishes to meet you at a place where you shed blood and tears. This you must know. The Father you meet is not a Father with a smile but a Father who is wounded. He is a father regardless of His own wounds who wants to console and comfort His son who is also wounded, with the deepest and most loving heart. For this purpose, He visits you. From this point, everything will be reversed. Those sons and daughters who are miserable and suffering will be placed in the highest position. Otherwise, other sons and daughters who do not know suffering will be placed in the lowest position.

You have many gifts that you would like to offer to God. Even though you have no possession and have empty hands, there is a gift that you can still offer to God. That gift is not something that people enjoy in this world. That gift is prepared through your attitude to stand before Heavenly Father shedding blood, sweat, and tears. That is the best gift you can offer to God who is a father of suffering, sorrow, and anguish.

God does not demand you to offer all the gold, silver, and jewels that you possess in order for you to follow His Will. Rather, God wants to comfort His suffering son (child) whose situation is similar to His by holding hands and embracing. Under such a circumstance, if you can call God, your father, there will be no one who will resist you wherever you go in heaven and earth. You are allowed to sit at the right hand of His Throne. Otherwise, such a person who wants to sit at the right hand of God will be accused by the Heavenly army of angels, millions of saints in heaven and as well as the earthly Satan.

Therefore, the path that true Christians must go is the path of death. True believers go the path of suffering. The path that true believers have trodden is a path filled with sorrow and anguish, a path of endurance, and a path of misery. However, it is never miserable. It is because Heaven who visits you under such circumstances in order to tie a strong bond with you; not through treating you coldly, but through treating you with warm kindness. Such relationships and bonds you gain will be a condition that allows you to stand boldly as sons and daughters of God eternally in Heaven. You must know this.

In order to do so, you must become sons and daughters whom God will respond freely when you call out for Heavenly Father in a valley of tears. Filled with tears, when you call out “Father!” you will hear, “Son, I am here so that you can endure your suffering.” When you are shedding tears of blood and calling, “Father,” you hear His voice saying, “I have endured pains so that you can endure your pain.” At the moment that you face death, you will hear from God, “Be peaceful, I am with you.” What matters is the fact of how well you attend God and how long you live with God when facing difficulties and suffering. It does not matter how much you call out to God in a glorious place. This is because God’s glory has not been realized yet.

Until today, the advanced nations like America led and guided the world from the external mission. Now America must humble herself. Holding her wealth and money, America must go down seeking the miserable races and nations. Not only with her wealth, must she go down with her mind and heart. Otherwise, other races and nations will take away the mission from her. Because of this, America must assist and help other nations in need. However, if she assists other nations only with money, that would be a big mistake. Since America is established centered on the ideology of Christianity and representing all nations of the world, she must assist other nations and races with her core ideology plus her mind and loving heart. Otherwise, other nations will wrest away the mission from her. 

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