Hak Ja Han
March 4, 2012
20th Anniversary of the Founding of Women's Federation for World Peace
Daejeon Convention Center, Daejeon, Korea
Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon address an audience of more than 3,500 during the Anniversary of the Founding of the Women's Federation for World Peace on March 4th, 2012.
My beloved Women's Federation for World Peace members, and most honorable women peace leaders!
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to God and Rev. Moon for the great success of this 'Convention to Open, Inherit and Fulfill the Era of the Victory, Liberation and Completion of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind', held today in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Women's Federation for World Peace. At the same time, I would also like to convey my grateful heart to all of you.
The 'Women's Federation for World Peace' (WFWP) was founded in April of 1992 as a central organization of the women's peace movement, in accordance with the will of Heaven, by Rev. Sun Myung Moon and myself at the Olympic Stadium in Jamshil, Seoul, together with the declaration of the 'advent of the global era of women,' attended by women representatives from 70-some nations in the world and 150,000 Korean women leaders.
WFWP did not start off as an ordinary sort of women's organization. It is not an extroverted, political or militant movement founded to recover women's rights, or a movement that mainly speaks to men about feminism, gender equality or women's labor rights. Rather, it has the providential significance of realizing the world of God's ideal of creation.
WFWP, which was founded with such providential significance, has achieved remarkable growth and development over the course of the past twenty years through carrying out various service projects and educational programs based on true maternal love in all parts of the world, in order to establish families of true love and to elevate the status of women.
Ever since the founding of WFWP, I have undertaken speaking tours throughout the world's nations and continents in order to build a global organization and activity base. Early on, I sent out 1,600 Japanese WFWP volunteers to 160 nations in order to mobilize WFWP members in each nation. Throughout the years, WFWP has carried out various service projects, educational programs and campaigns to bring about resolution and reconciliation to international conflicts. All of these efforts were accomplished by transcending the barriers of race, religion, language and nationality through maternal love, which is inherent in women, and in accordance with the core of my husband's message at the founding rally of WFWP: "True Mother has triumphed as a representative of all the women in history and all the women in the world. Attending True Mother, model movements to practice true love should unfold throughout the world in every field of life, including politics, economy, culture and society, in order to bring about world peace. Moreover, ideal families must be realized through a movement of true love that establishes the image of a true mother and the image of a true wife."
In addition, building on the momentum of the special address I gave at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in September 1993, WFWP exerted itself for three years and as a result obtained the status of an NGO in general consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, which is the highest status afforded to an NGO by the UN. I am joyful that, since then, our status has been reapproved consistently at the quadrennial re-evaluations, which entail strict assessment of activities and achievements. Only 140 of the more than 3,400 NGOs at the UN are given general consultative status. The fact that WFWP's status as such has been consistently reaffirmed signifies that the UN is recognizing WFWP's value.
WFWP has carried out various local projects in many parts of the world in order to realize the 'Millennium Development Goals' instituted by the UN at the beginning of this new millennium. Now WFWP has taken root in many nations and communities and has begun to bear fruit. It has been greatly rewarding for me to see WFWP receive recognition and support from the governments of such nations.
One of the great achievements of WFWP is the Middle East Women Leaders' Peace Conference, which WFWP has hosted annually since 1997. The conference has attracted much interest and participation from women leaders of more than twenty nations in the Middle East, and has inspired a steady development of concrete field activities. It is a truly remarkable achievement that women leaders of the Middle East are now becoming pivotal leaders for human rights and peace activities, going beyond religious conflicts.
In addition, we have hosted the 'World Women Leaders' Workshop' in different continents each year from the year 2000, which has taken root as a beautiful meeting place for the participants to share their wisdom, their vision for the future, and their on-scene experiences in all corners of the global village. It is also an opportunity for participants to cooperate with one another. Taking it a step further, the different continents and countries including Korea, which is the WFWP International Headquarters, Japan, USA, the UN Secretariat, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Canada, Central and South America, Africa, and Northeast Asia are all developing and carrying out various projects adapted to the needs of their locality. I cannot but feel proud of and grateful to all of them.
Furthermore, we are also actively conducting relief aid to resolve the problems of natural calamities and poverty in various parts of the global village. In particular, under the slogan, 'Let us share a little of what we have', we are carrying out the 'Love Share Project' to help the children and women in North Korea, and we have achieved great results. Moreover, through several effective enterprises including local specialized businesses for the solidarity and expansion of the influence of WFWP in local societies, we are realizing only too keenly that the power of women is changing societies and achieving amazing results in the construction of a peaceful world.
More than anything else, the Leaders Invitational Peace Divine Principle Seminar?, which helps women leaders recover their divinity and presents them with the right life direction, has been held more than 30 times now, and it has deeply moved many leaders and brought them to a new turning point in their lives.
As can be seen, from the founding of WFWP to reaching the highest status as an NGO in consultative status under the UN, our members have never lost heart and have pioneered the path of women's peace in silence with an unchanging heart. Therefore, I would like to give a big round of applause to express my infinite gratitude and love for them, and also for the women leaders who have never failed to give us their encouragement and participation.
Beloved Women's Federation for World Peace members and women peace leaders!
What is the path that humankind should take today? Even now tens of millions of innocent lives are being lost each year to war, disease, starvation and natural disasters that arise in all parts of the world. In every field you observe, whether religion, politics, education, culture or ideology, from the individual to the collective level people are deeply mired in the swamp of self-centered egoism, raising walls around themselves. We now live in a world brought to ruin, where genuine communication has broken down.
Ultimately, the problems afflicting humanity can only be resolved through the worldview of 'One Family under God. 'In other words, this worldview is the ideology based on true love which my husband and I, the True Parents, have learned from Heaven and have championed and taught throughout our lives. This is because it is the only way for humankind to find the path toward peace and happiness.
Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon stand together at the podium during "Convention to Fulfill, Open the Gate and Inherit the Era of Victory, Liberation and Completion of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind."
Ladies and gentlemen!
We are now living in a historic time for a great cosmic revolution to change history, to unite the spiritual and physical worlds and to create the ideal kingdom of heaven that God has longed for since the beginning of time. We can no longer postpone or prolong it. Heaven has already proclaimed that January 13th, 2013 will be 'Foundation Day'. That day will mark the beginning and genesis of the substantial Cheon Il Guk. That day is now less than a year away.
Therefore, it is time for all people to be humbly obedient to Heaven's decree. The fateful moment lies before us on this day, when we need to devote ourselves completely with a life or death commitment for the remaining year under the guidance of True Parents, who are carrying out the Providence on earth as the substantial representatives of God, the King of Peace.
Ladies and gentlemen! Do you have any idea how much pain God suffered the moment our first ancestors, whom He created investing eons and unreserved devotion as His children, fell and inherited Satan's lineage and disappeared into darkness? Have you ever even thought about the long, dark tunnel of indemnity our Heavenly Father has had to undergo as He waited and endured tens of thousands of years of excruciating heartache so great that His bones shed tears and His flesh quivered? Have you ever shed even one teardrop for our pitiful Heavenly Father?
Ladies and gentlemen, in silence God has raised and prepared the Korean people over a period of thousands of years. You well know that God sent His true son, Jesus Christ, to earth two thousand years ago to save humankind.
The result, however, was truly a wretched one. The people of Israel, who were supposed to receive Jesus as the Messiah and follow him with absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience, instead drove him to die on the cross, didn't they? In the end, Jesus left behind the words, "It is finished", referring only to spiritual salvation, and left this world. Sadly, it was after two thousand years of preparation that his Second Coming finally took place on the Korean Peninsula.
From the past, the Korean people have worshiped God as the highest and primal ancestor of their forefathers. They called that single being and progenitor of all people the "One", that is, God and served Him as the Lord (Creator of night and day), and this is why all numbers begin from one and two. Because the Korean people have served God as their original ancestor, mutual dependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values are alive in their spirit and tradition, and what is more, in their spiritual selves, and thus they have been continued to this day.
They have maintained themselves over five thousand years of history, yet not once have they invaded or plundered another nation or people. The spirit of benefiting all humankind still flows in the veins of the Korean people. Furthermore, the spirit of filial piety, fidelity, and loyalty, which are the fundamental virtues of human life, are still alive and breathing in Korean history.
The true filial piety shown by Shimcheong, who threw herself into the sea when she was still a blossoming girl so her blind father could see, is the standard of filial piety for the Korean people who serve and attend their parents. The profound love and fidelity displayed by Choonhyang, who came to the verge of death while keeping the promise she had made to her husband, is the signpost for the lives of all Korean women. The unbreakable loyalty exhibited by Admiral Yi Soon-shin, who gave his life to save his nation and people despite being forsaken by his king and other leaders, is indeed the pride and noble spirit of the Korean people.
These noble Korean values and traditions are not just matters of historical chance. God prepared the Korean people and laid down the foundation for the Providence to establish the Messiah based on those traditions.
Thus, riding on the energy of the Korean Peninsula, the True Parents of humankind and the King of Kings could finally be manifested after receiving the Seal of Heaven.
Beloved WFWP members and my fellow women leaders!
The path that humanity should now take is clear. What would give you cause to hesitate in the face of the D-day that Heaven has revealed through True Parents? Only a year remains now. Heaven's blessings will be with you on your ambitious and busy course.
If you view the flow of history from the viewpoint of Providential history, you can see that the changes of the times can be broadly classified into three stages.
First is the 'era of worldly matters', that is, a time when materialism took precedence. Next came the 'era of human affairs', a humanistic era when peoples' knowledge and Heaven's impartial emotions took precedence in dominating the world.
However, these eras were transitional. They were eras we needed to undergo in the process of entering the era in which people can rid themselves of their fallen nature, return to their original selves and live as one united family under God as their Father.
The era of the final stage is the 'era of heavenly affairs', in which human beings should follow 'the path of living for the sake of others' by establishing an absolute standard based on their internal and external purification through the Marriage Blessing Ceremony. In other words, this is the time of opening up the era of Cheon Il Guk, a time in which we can return to the heart of the one true God, and I hope you will engrave this on your heart
Once the era of the substantial Cheon Il Guk begins, the 'Union of the Spiritual and Physical Worlds' will be established in the central axial position, and it will govern all created things. To put it another way, the spiritual and physical worlds will be connected and substantially united as one, and the Providence will be carried out according to the heavenly law and the heavenly way.
Then, elections conducted in a purely secular fashion will disappear from the face of the earth. All people will become one family through cross-cultural and inter-racial marriages, and we will live in tranquility and prosperity and enjoy true love of peace and happiness. This day is now right before our eyes.
You need to all engrave True Parents' teachings onto your bones and practice them in your lives. We have no choice. All that is left for us to do is to inherit, succeed and accomplish the blessing of the opening of the gates to the era of the victorious liberation and perfection of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.
If we do not prepare now, we will surely be left behind. We should learn from the courage and fortitude of the white-necked cranes that fly across the Himalayas, which are more than seven thousand meters high, in preparation for winter.
I believe that, based on the public laws and principles of the universe, our WFWP members should engage themselves in the task of forming sound families in accordance with the Heavenly way and rightly establishing their societies and nations with a special sense of mission.
However, I would like to emphasize once again that the movement we should prioritize before anything else is the true family movement of true love of living for the sake of others, carried out in conjunction with the right values education.
Women should also become the standard-bearers of the peace movement. Even in the essential businesses of this Federation, various activities for the unification of South and North Korea are stated clearly. Women should play a leading role in bringing about the unification of South and North Korea and world peace through education and the practice of true love.
Wars and conflicts arise from selfish motives of desiring to take others' land, possessions or the like by force. On the other hand, peace arises from investing oneself for others, that is, giving true love.
In the final stage, the 'era of heavenly affairs,' in which we should follow 'the path of living for the sake of others', the Cold War has ended, and new hopes for peace and social justice are spreading out across the entire globe at an amazing rate.
Those leaders who turn their faces away from the new realities of the world, or who fail to see them, will be swept away by the changes coming upon us like a tidal wave. I believe the time has now come for us to step forward boldly and receive new opportunities and values.
Beloved WFWP members and my fellow women leaders!
Women are not there to help or to be protected by men; rather, they are independent individuals who, as the representative of the other part of God's nature, are meant to make men more complete and manly.
Centered on the ideal of true love, women are the precious objects of men's love. In terms of value, men and women are absolutely equal.
Thus, men and women, who are united as one through the original true love under God's Ideal of true love, have been created to become completely equal beings in terms of value, centered on true love, by sharing not only the same rank and the right of participation but also their possessions with one another. Therefore, men and women do not need to confront or contend with each other, for they don't need to imitate the characteristics, dispositions or roles of the other or to covet them and take them by force. Instead, by giving what they have to the other with true love and completing the other, they can become united as a bigger whole and share one another. In the 21st century, women should play a major role in world history by serving as one of the wheels of the tractor pulling forward the construction of a peaceful world together with the men. Going beyond the century of power and technology, women will be the central axis in building the century of love and the peace culture, and their role will be more important than ever before.
Even though the world of today is filled with confusion and chaos, the women's peace movement of this organization, united as one under God's vision of true love, should soar up to a whole new level based on our achievements of the past twenty years. We should strengthen our network with global women leaders for the expansion of the worldwide women's peace movement and dedicate ourselves to the utmost with the conviction that we can purify this world into a beautiful world of peace wherein God's Ideal of Creation can be realized.
If we can do so, God's Absolute Authority and the divine protection and great blessings of the spirit world will be with us. Ladies and gentlemen, Let us all walk the path of the true mother, true wife, true daughter and true woman leader, who can construct a unified world overflowing with true freedom, peace and happiness.
Thank you for listening attentively, and may the blessings of God be with your families and businesses.
Thank you.