Chambumo Gyeong - 254. Children's Day Significance
On the 1st day of the 10th lunar month in 1960 (November 19), True Parents personally presided over a Thanksgiving Day service at the original Cheongpa-dong headquarters church in Seoul, and in the following year they proclaimed this day to be Children's Day. Through the institution of Children's Day, they built a foundation on which to eradicate the seed of sin sown by Adam and Eve and liberate humanity from evil. This day commemorates the fact that fallen human beings, as children, for the first time in history, have finally won victory and come to participate in God's cosmic glory. 1 For 6,000 years, God eagerly awaited the establishment of Parents' Day. Orig- inally, the fallen descendants of humankind would have been the ones to eagerly await this day, but instead it was God the Creator who for 6,000 years eagerly awaited it. From the day history went astray there were many difficult and sorrowful events for God, moving along on a path of innumerable crises. But even in the midst of all that, all that God longed for was Parents' Day. With the coming of Parents' Day, God was able to set up the truly good parents of humankind who could work together with Him and He designated them the True Parents of humankind. With the name of Parents whom God has set up, the parents' blessing standard was established. Following this, faithful and truthful children can be established, and we can welcome Children's Day on earth. (017-079, 1966/11/12) 2 After I established Parents' Day in 1960, I established Children's Day. When the Parents of humanity appear, children will come next. Originally, before children appear, you first need to have parents. However, in the course of restoration, we need to form the connection not only for the parents but also for the children. Again, from the viewpoint based on the children connecting horizontally, Parents' Day comes first, followed by Children's Day, although from the viewpoint of restoration, Children's Day would come first and Parents' Day second.
Working according to the horizontal standard, I established Parents' Day and then proclaimed Children’s Day. Accordingly, for the first time since the beginning of the history of heaven and earth, Children’s Day appeared. This day is the day we are able to raise a victorious shout of joy throughout heaven and earth. Through its establishment, the time of the spirit world has come, and that which has been knotted up is being unraveled. Therefore, the evil forces on earth gradually will be cleared away. (021-200, 1968/11/20) 3 How are we to celebrate Children's Day? First of all, go to the homes of your sons and daughters and have a feast, and then have them gather at your home for a feast, and after that, go to the church and have a feast. In this way, you have feasts as symbols of the three ages of formation, growth and completion. This is in accord with the Principled notion of restoration through three stages—symbolic restoration, image restoration and substantial restoration. You have to realize that if your sons and daughters die without having celebrated Children’s Day, they will feel deep regret and their sorrow arising from this will fill the heavens. Therefore, we need to restore the world centering on our sons and daughters, we need to restore all good spirits in paradise centering on ourselves, and we need to find the way of heaven and earth centering on the church. You need to follow the rule of going through these three stages.
You especially need to commemorate this day starting within your own family environment. You have to arrange it so that your children will eagerly await the coming of this day. The children in the world at large await holidays, saying, "When is that day coming when we can wear pretty new clothes and eat delicious food?" Similarly, you need to make preparations so that your children naturally will eagerly await the coming of Children's Day, even counting the days off on their fingers, and rejoicing when the day is near. (026-318, 1969/11/10) 4 Due to the Fall of humankind, parents were lost, children were lost, and all things were lost. To set the standard that indemnifies this, we established Parents' Day, Children's Day, and the Day of All Things. Among these, the most difficult day to establish was Children's Day. This was because Adam and Eve failed to become true children. So, what do we need to do to become faithful and dutiful children? We all must be born into one lineage. To become such children, we must fulfill our filial duty to our parents. Filial children must be able to take dominion over any environment, no matter how difficult or unstable, and they need to receive formal recognition from their parents and their environment.
God told Adam and Eve to have dominion over all things, but Adam and Eve have to receive formal recognition to take such dominion. As the center of hope, they must be recognized as children who can take responsibility for God's Will. They need to be in accord with the heart of their parents. If their past, present or future deviates in any way, they cannot be called filial children. They cannot be called loyal patriots either. Filial children and loyal patriots must never change. They must represent the past, the present and the future, always acknowledging God's heart. They must receive recognition in a position that transcends time and space, centering on the heart of God. (017-081, 1966/11/12) |