How are you, brothers and sisters? Across the ages and in all countries of the world, there have always been religions. As we see in history, whether or not the religions were of a high or low level, there have been many, of a variety of types, with a common characteristic. That common characteristic is that they all have tried to lead people to unite with the absolute being. That is the ultimate purpose of all religions. Although every religion has different creeds and rituals, the steps through which the members' faith matures are similar. Though every religion has unique rituals and doctrines, I believe there is a common and general process for all religions to develop their members' lives of faith.

The first step is repentance. After going through this step of confessing one's sin and asking for forgiveness, there comes a healing process. People have to go through this first step to be forgiven -- the second step.

The third step is to joyfully celebrate with deep gratitude after having been forgiven and pardoned; and the fourth and last step is to be given a mission and to be sent out to the world to attack the power of evil.

How much a religion focuses on each of those four steps differs according to the characteristics of the particular faith. For example, Christianity in Korea today focuses mainly on the first and the second steps. What does the faith that we practice, that of the Unification Church, focus on? We have all four steps, but our focus mainly lies on the fourth one.

There are many characteristics that distinguish the Unification Church from other faiths, but I want to point out that we have a very strong sense of history. We don't believe we go to heaven when we die. We believe in creating the ideal world of the original creation in this earthly world.

That is our strongest point and what is unique about us. The ultimate purpose of our faith is to unite theory and practice -- mind and body -- and to unite the spirit world and the physical world. In accordance with what True Parents teach, we are trying to unite our mind and body on our own small scale, and also to unite the spirit world and the physical world. We want to be fourth Adams, because True Parents blessed us to be so. We want to go out to the world to make the heavenly kingdom a reality. Providentially, that is where we are today...

As people who are blessed by True Parents, our destiny is to walk the course of the Messiah. It was our task to go the way of the Messiah by finding 160 families and completing the mission of tribal messiahs by going back to our hometowns.

The next course we must go on is that of the fourth Adam. We must be true parents for our tribes. This providence started in 2000. Right now, we pray in our own names. We must be able to represent True Parents to our own tribes to restore them back to God. That is the providential stage we are in.

In the past, our members used to pray in the name of the Lord. Then, we prayed in the name of True Parents, but now we are living in the age when we report to God in our own names. As we look back, we can see that now is the most amazing time of providential change that has ever existed in history. What must we do at this important time? The answer is simple. On a wider scale, safely establish Cheon Il Guk [the heavenly kingdom] and, on a smaller scale, restore our own tribes for God. How can we restore our tribes?

Father has said: "Go and have feasts in your hometowns. You should have a cow butchered and make rice cakes and share them with everyone. Even if they only eat some of the beef soup you've made, they will be connected to heaven by that simple act." Yes, let's all go to our tribes and have great feasts just like Father told us to. A feast means a festival. It will be a festival centering on God. Sharing rice cakes and sharing meals means creating unity. Eating doesn't only mean sustaining one's life but creating joy.

Brothers and sisters, you know, in the past in Korea it was traditional for people of different social rank not to even eat together in the same place. Masters and servants could not have meals at the same table. What does it mean to be able to have meals at the same table? It means that, to some degree, a foundation of heart has been established. The fact that we give something to others will make enough of a foundation for us to have heart-to-heart communication with them. Here we can understand the meaning behind True Father telling us to hold feasts. They are to prepare a foundation for our meeting others. "Create an atmosphere where people can have heart-to-heart communication. Create the right environment." That is what he meant.

When we meet our tribes, the first level of activity should be to have a feast of all things [that is, a nice meal, or feast, together] to make the right foundation. The second is to have a feast of words that bear fruit. Hoon Dok Hae, lectures and videos can be a feast of words, as can Internet communication of Father's speeches. There are various ways to do it. In whatever way is possible, we must get the message across to our tribes. We must infuse them with the power of truth. The first step in doing this is creating the environment through all things and the second step is to instill life through words. Giving God's word is building bones and giving all things is adding flesh.

The third step is to hold the blessing feast -- to impart new life to the people in our tribes. When Father told us to return to our hometowns in 1989, he didn't allow us to hold the blessing. He allowed us to have the feast of all things and of words, but he didn't let us give the blessing. Yet, in 2002, Father has urged us to hold the feast of the blessing, the last step in our efforts to restore our tribes, because this is the age of Cheon Il Guk.

Beloved brothers and sisters, who do you think we are? We are the fourth Adams sent to the world by God. How can fourth Adams deliver the heavenly message to the world? We can do it by following exactly what Father has told us to do. We should have feasts. While enjoying wonderful meals together, we can proclaim the truth and complete the blessing. We can do this by creating the right environment through a feast of all things, giving life through a feast of words and infusing them with eternal heart through the feast of the blessing. These are our providential tasks.

True Parents gave us a clear guideline when they ordained that we return to our hometowns: To set up the heavenly tradition for our tribes. What is the heavenly tradition? The heavenly tradition is the tradition of heart; the tradition of heart is true love, the true love tradition. What does this world thirst for the most? Is it riches, honors or glory? No. It thirsts for true love, true life and true lineage. That's what the world lacks. People don't know the joy of living for others. In view of that, what kind of tradition must we set up for them? We must restore our tribes to God's dominion, as people of Cheon Il Guk, and eventually instill God's culture of heart within them. Restoration of tribes means implanting the culture of heart within the tribal sphere. We must transform the secular, selfish culture into God's culture of heart. What is the philosophy of the culture of heart? It is to live for others. Living for the sake of others is the point.

People want someone to remember them and take an interest in them. It is sad if nobody remembers your birthday. We are lonesome if no one is interested in us. We feel joy when someone remembers us. Particularly these days, people tend to be more cut off from each other, so when someone remembers and shows concern for another person this can move that person's heart deeply.

The last time Father was in Korea, he said "Love means taking an interest in others." True love does not develop without concern for others. When you take an interest in others, you become aware of what they need. Without concern for others you remain unaware of their situations. Similarly, because you are focusing on what I'm saying, you aren't paying attention to the sounds of cars and people outside. Even if there's a lot of noise outside, you aren't really aware of it if you have no interest. Likewise, if there are a lot of people, you aren't aware of them unless you take an interest in them. When you are interested, you are more aware.

Members of our tribes becoming the people of heaven means that secular culture must be transformed into a culture of heart. A culture of heart is a true love culture and a true love culture is one in which people have an interest in one another. Dear members, how much interest do you have in your tribes? Please gauge your level of interest in them. What is your elder brother doing? How is your younger brother doing? When are the birthdays of your father and mother, and when did your cousin enter college? When you are interested, a culture of the heart of heaven sprouts in your tribe.

In conclusion, the secure establishment of Cheon Il Guk can start from recreating our tribes. How can we recreate our tribes? Father says two things about that: Hold a feast and establish a true tradition. Father's directions are for us to go to our tribes and create a new environment through a feast of all things and the feast of the blessing in order to restore our tribes and securely establish Cheon Il Guk. After that, we have to establish a new tradition of heart through truly loving our tribes. True love starts from genuine interest. When we are interested in everything related to our tribes, we can be the owner of true love. At that point, a true sovereignty can be securely established on the earth and in our tribes.

My beloved brothers and sisters, True Parents are leading the providence with such urgency. Now, those in the spirit world are so active. We have received so many messages from the spiritual world. We have to fulfill our responsibility on earth. If we can't keep pace with True Parents at the perfection stage of the rapidly moving providence, we may end up as unfilial children who fall into lasting regret in front of heaven.

Beloved brothers and sisters let us host our feasts. Let's be masters of the culture of heart. If we can all establish the True God's kingship and the sovereignty of Cheon Il Guk within our tribes, then on that basis God will grant us rebirth as the heavenly royal family.

[Originally published in Today's World, July 2002]

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