The family of humanity and the world community will no longer have the opportunity to be in the physical presence of one of the greatest spiritual leaders and champions of world peace in modern times. The Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon is affectionately known by thousands of clergy, heads of state as well as his followers and devotees as “Father Moon.” He has cast a wide spiritual net across a swath of humanity during a ministry of almost 76 years in a tireless effort to return the world back to God’s original ideal: namely, where all men and women could recognize God as the Father of us all and each of us as brothers and sisters, one to another.
He earnestly believed that this goal could be ultimately achieved through the Ceremony of the Blessing of Marriage wherein the descendants of enemy nations, marrying one another in a cross-cultural blessing, could tear down the walls that separated and divided nations, peoples and races. I too have been a beneficiary of the Marriage Blessing Ceremony as my wife and I were matched and blessed by Father and Mother Moon.
He lived to see not only his vision blossom and bear fruit in the lives of his church members associated with the Unification Church, but also in the lives of countless faith and civic leaders and their communities, individuals and families who were touched and influenced by his uncompromising love of God and his undying passion in the pursuit of world peace.
He and his beloved wife, Mother Moon, stand as the “True Parents,” and now, as he stands in spirit with Mother Moon the presence of the love of God only will expand through them as our “True Parents” – parents in the image of God that see all humanity as God’s family – regardless of race or religion.
As people of faith, we know that from the moment he met Jesus on a mountainside in Korea until today he has been faithful, and therefore he transitions now from a temporal life to an eternal life. He lives and will continue to guide, inspire and lead us to the promise land in spirit and through his beloved wife, Mother Moon.
His mantra of “living for the sake of others,” “loving one’s enemy,” and “liberating and comforting the suffering heart of God,” caused by man and woman’s rejection of God through disobedience, set him apart from other world spiritual leaders and caused faith leaders from Christianity and other faith traditions as well as his followers to see and embrace him as a messianic figure called by God and anointed by Jesus to restore humanity back to God’s kingship. Not a “self-proclaimed” “Messiah,” but rather as a man “anointed” by Jesus, confirmed and widely acclaimed as the “messiah” or “anointed one” by some of this nation’s and the world’s most prominent religious leaders.
In some instances he was maligned, misunderstood, misjudged and criticized, even having his divinely appointed mission misinterpreted, yet Father Moon never allowed the naysayers to deter him from advancing God’s Providence through Spiritual Principles based upon the Word of God as revealed to him and recorded in his magnum opus, “The Original Substance of the Divine Principle.” He lived for God and God’s People and not for himself.
Our love and condolences, heartfelt prayers and deepest sympathy go out to his beloved and devoted wife of 52 years, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, Co-Founder of HSA-UWC and Co-Founder of the Women’s Federation for World Peace, their many children and more than 45 grandchildren, church leaders and devoted followers. She will now stand strong to lead us on with her youngest son, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon – who Father Moon appointed in 2009 as the one chosen to represent him.
We are confident that the Unification Movement will flourish in the wake of the passing of its fearless and gifted spiritual leader. In the eyes of his detractors, his powerful and prophetic voice, radical ideas and brilliant ways of thinking no longer will be a threat to their myopic worldview or intimidate their narrow minded reasoning. Yet, history tells us that even though the visionary passes on, the vision still lives and presses on towards fulfillment. As the great American poet laureate, Carl Sandburg, articulated so succinctly, “A tree is best measured when it is down — and so it is with people.”
The world has yet to discover, realize and appreciate the genius, selflessness, humility and true love of a man of God and the driving force behind everything that he sought to achieve and accomplish in his earthy life: namely, to realize in concrete and visible ways “the hope of all ages – a unified world of peace.” That vision and hope live on in those who believe in and embrace him as the True Parent, True Father, True Teacher, servant and lover of all humankind.
May he rest in peace.
