Chapter 12
Pray to the End

Brothers and sisters! Aren't you tired? Are you all right? Some people can pray only in a quiet place and others pray working and moving. It depends on the individual. The latter can't pray with their eyes shut, but with their eyes open.

Those who can pray in a quiet place or in a certain place regardless of whether it's morning, daytime or night, raise your hands! Oh, most of you. How about the members who pray moving and working? Only a few. Those who can continue their prayer to the end? Those who are interrupted on the way? Those who can pray for a long time? Those who can pray for a short time? Those whose prayer is short but deep? Those who prefer meditation? Those who prefer prayer? Prayer is more of a direct conversation with God than meditation. Those who can pray with tears? Which is the more usual for you -- prayer with tears or prayer without tears? (Without tears.) You should not think that others also pray without tears, otherwise you cannot decide which is better.

Father prays without resting for people and for solutions to problems. Sometimes he prays with aggressive movements. I heard this from Mother. Sometimes when you are about to pray, you suddenly become sleepy. At such times you should move around. You may have a fixed idea that a prayer should be offered, kneeling down in a certain place. Actually a prayer can be offered even in a kitchen or bathroom, or in a car.

If you decide that you go to bed at 12 o'clock and get up at six o'clock next morning, you sleep and get up according to your plan. When a meeting starts at eight o'clock, you come on time. You do not come before eight o'clock. You don't get up for a prayer between 12 and six o'clock either. Father prays before he goes to bed in the following way, "Heavenly Father, I've still left so much undone in the providence of restoration, but I have to sleep now. Please forgive me for sleeping and leaving many things undone." Have you ever heard about this? Father continues thinking or meditating even after one o'clock, two o'clock and then he falls asleep before even going to bed. Sometimes he sleeps in bed, but he feels that he cannot sleep. His sleep is often interrupted when he gets up suddenly and starts praying. Then, while he is praying, he may fall asleep again. When Father is about to pray, the spiritual world and God let him sleep.

Suppose a child is studying very hard and then becomes tired and falls asleep at his desk. What will his father do? He will carry the child to bed. What is in the parent's heart? He must be thinking how wonderful his child is. Naturally, the father feels to protect his son. When Heavenly Father sees Reverend Moon sleeping, what is His heart like? It is just the same as a human parent's heart. When you become sleepy while you are listening to me, can you feel easy about sleeping or do you feel uneasy? You can have a sound sleep when you think you are permitted to sleep, but your sleep is short if you feel you should not do it. Father gets up many times during the night and prays, because Father thinks that he shouldn't sleep even at night. Father scarcely changes his clothes and just takes off his jacket and sleeps on the bed.

Father always tells us that we can't get help from the spiritual world unless we overcome our limitations by ourselves. Also, Father doesn't think that Heavenly Father is responsible for his body, if he does not take care of it himself. In a situation where we have overworked ourselves because of the Providence, we have to leave our body to God. But it is very wrong to neglect taking care of your body and expect God to cure it. It is your responsibility not to become sick. You can't ask God to protect you from injury after you have jumped off a cliff

In order that he could finish the five year sentence with a healthy body, Father had to take care of his body himself. The prisoners were supposed to get up at six o'clock, but Father got up before that to take special exercise. He would never miss it. In the prison there were two main laws the prisoners had to obey: one was that they must not smoke and the other was that they must go to bed and get up at the right time. If they smoked, they would have needed a light, which may have caused a fire, during which prisoners could escape en masse. In order to escape a prisoner would have to get up earlier than the fixed time. For Father it was very important to get up earlier in the morning and because of this he was put in solitary many times. Father repeated the Pledge number three, "With the heart of a father and in the shoes of a servant." And, exercising his legs, he would repeat, "For heaven, for mankind, for earth." From this, we know that we can pray anywhere and in any way

A holy ground isn't usually located inside the church. Any place where you pray with God's heart can be a holy ground.

When I first used to listen to Father's words, I couldn't pray well and didn't know how to pray. But wherever I went, home, school or church, I always kept Father's words in my heart because they made such an impression on me. I prayed while walking or moving. I walked crying as the words touched my heart so much. I could pray even working at the desk in my office. In those days many members prayed all the night through in the church. I was anxious as to why I couldn't pray, but I was relieved to hear that it was also all right to pray while moving around. When you are busy, you can even pray in the toilet. God wouldn't say that you shouldn't pray there. I pray in the bathroom or in the toilet since I have time to think there. I pray while I am walking too. When I say the Pledge while walking, I wonder who has ever walked this way, saying the Pledge to God?

There is a bench in Hyde Park. When I say the Pledge sitting on the bench, I ask who has ever said the Pledge in this way? I am sure that the bench is very happy because I am giving God what He has wanted to hear for a long time. When Father climbed a mountain, he used to pray sitting on the rock. Father said that he would feel the rock was so happy. Many people happened to sit on the rock, but the rock had never met a true man. All things want to be controlled by a true man. It was the most glorious day for this rock when Father sat on it.

When I was working as an itinerary worker, I was fully occupied thinking of how I could live like Father. One day I had to climb over a high and rugged mountain in winter. I could see no one in front or behind me. The snow was falling silently. I was walking alone and then suddenly the words came to me, "Heaven symbolizes Father and Earth, Mother." I felt that I was walking on Mother's body as I was walking on the earth. When I thought of it literally, I had to change my way of walking. I had been trampling, but now I started walking very carefully so as not to hurt Mother's body. I made one step forward for the True Parents, the second step for filial piety, the third for loyalty and the fourth for virtue. I walked step by step, pledging my determination on the white snow. I wrote down the Chinese character for loyalty or filial piety in the snow after each step. It became a wonderful prayer and is still alive in my heart to this day.

There is a story of a pious son who visited his parents' grave every morning for three years. There was grass in front of the grave, but the earth where he sat and prayed was trampled and the grass couldn't grow. If there are people who attend their own parents so much even without knowing the True Parents, how much then should we attend the True Parents and true God. If we don't attend them with all our heart, we are accused by those pious sons and daughters from the past. How much has Father attended Heavenly Father? Father has done so much that those pious children would be willing to yield to him without any complaints.

There were many patriots in history who died for their country. Father had to set up a higher standard, to serve and work for God's nation and world more than any patriots in history had ever served and worked for their nations or for world peace. If he had not done this, then the patriots in the spiritual world would surely accuse him. Father has to love and serve more than Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, any saints, any loyal kings or men or pious children. If not, Father would be accused by them.

When he visits a country, Father thinks of the most patriotic person in that country. Then he makes a higher condition to love that country more than that person. That's why Father told us to love our 360 area more than any person had ever loved that area. Suppose there is an earnest Catholic or Moslem there. If you love God more than them, their ancestors will cooperate with you.

Love can be compared to a light. As the insects gather round a light, everybody gathers around love, especially around the highest love. Satan also likes love, because love is the root for everything -- life, fulfillment, ideals and so on. Satan thinks highly of love as well as life. But Satan cannot relate to sacrificial love. When we give sacrificial love, Satan will leave us. If Satan could have loved sacrificially, there would not have been any Fall at the beginning. The archangel fell because of selfish love. He couldn't love others sacrificially. Therefore the only way to get rid of Satan is to love others sacrificially. Do you understand?

Jesus told us to love him more than anyone else in order that we might inherit God's true love. Jesus said this not because he wanted to be loved the most, but because he couldn't give heavenly love to the people who had a connection with Satan, unless they got rid of Satan. In order for them to cut off the connection with Satan, they must take responsibility to separate from Satan. So God has taught sacrificial love until now in order for us to get rid of Satan,who cannot love sacrificially. Thank you very much.

(One member is asleep). He will become sleepy again even if you wake him up now. Satan will come to make you sleep when you have determined, for example, to pray. If this happens, you should change your mind temporarily and try to relax, singing songs. Then Satan will go out of you, thinking that you will not pray today. We must learn how to control the spirit world. I told you this as a lesson in doing it.

Return to the index of the book Father's Course and Our life of Faith, a biography of Rev. Sun Myung Moon by his first disciple Rev. Won Pil Kim.