when the path of the cross came to me unexpectedly, …I remained determined to go forward, renewing my resolve and renewing my hope

By | August 17, 2016

Even when the path of the cross came to me unexpectedly, and even when that path drove me into difficult and despairing circumstances, I remained determined to go forward, renewing my resolve and renewing my hope.

11 I have been walking a long and arduous path alone, pioneering the mission of a forerunner. But I did not speak about it to others. My mission requires me to risk my life. Nevertheless I am not a lonely man. I do not need sympathy from you, either.

Actually, I am a happy person. Since God, the owner of the universe, recognizes me, I could be happy even through torture, when my tendons were cut, my flesh was torn and blood flowed from my torn flesh. I could be happy, because I knew the heart of God, who suffered more than I in order to send His Son on such a path. I was fighting to find the nation that would be able to embrace and comfort heaven. For that I could endure any torture, no matter how severe. Even when the path of the cross came to me unexpectedly, and even when that path drove me into difficult and despairing circumstances, I remained determined to go forward, renewing my resolve and renewing my hope. (065-091, 1972/11/13)

12 Looking at the trail of history until now, we see that the central figures of history are the ones who in their time surmounted suffering and fought unceasingly while never giving up hope for their nation and for the kingdom. Such people are the owners of history.

Saints and sages are the people who honored the will of heaven. They gave up any attachment to what the human world valued, and more than that, they changed its direction. They elevated the existing world to the world of hope by overcoming all the difficulties in their environment, even at the sacrifice of their lives. Hence, although their lives appeared to be miserable, all the pain and suffering they experienced internally became the motivating power that enabled them to connect the existing world to the world of joy.

The suffering path that God made the Unification Church walk until now was not for the purpose of bringing our church to ruin. On the contrary, its purpose was for the sake of God’s love. The Unification Church has been developing so that it can meet the spring of tomorrow and become a greater light to the world. (042-320, 1971/04/04)

~from Cham Bumo Gyeong: B7-2-3:11~12