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Dear graduates, professors, parents, ladies and gentlemen:
Today the Unification Theological Seminary celebrates the graduation of its ninth class. I convey my warm congratulations to all the graduates. These students have completed their course work within the prescribed period of time, and are now ready to start a new life. In their hearts they are hoping that the knowledge and experience obtained in this seminary will help them to work for God and humanity throughout the world. At the same time, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the professors of this seminary, for the excellence of the teaching and guidance they have provided to these students.
The year 1985 marks the tenth year since the Unification Theological Seminary was inaugurated. This adds additional significance to the graduation of the ninth class. When this school opened ten years ago, the financial and human resources available to the Unification Church for the work of spreading God's will in the United States and throughout the world were extremely limited. In spite of that situation, however, I decided to go ahead with the project of opening this seminary. I selected a few members, who had been active leaders in their own missions, and asked them to enroll in the first Class of this school.
My desire has always been that the theological curriculum of this school should not be dependent only on doctrine and ritual. I have also endeavored for this Campus to be a place where the students can develop deep personal faith and authentic spiritual communication with the spirit of God. This campus should always be a lively place. This seminary must not be a place producing ministers leading secluded lives; rather, it Must be a place producing creative men and women who will endeavor to rebuild this world and save humankind according to God's will for restoration, confronting the reality of this world that is full of unrighteousness and evil.
It is not through books that God wishes to relate to you. The living God longs for the opportunity to walk with you on this campus and to dwell in your hearts, and you can have that experience through mature faith expressed in your daily lives.
God, who created the universe, endowed each individual with the power to achieve God's purpose for the creation. God then harvests with love the results of your efforts. In a special way, God created man and woman as God's children, the eternal objects of heart and love. And yet, people have not been able to form a parent child relationship with God, on the vertical level. As a result, they have not been able to live as brothers and sisters on the horizontal level. God, therefore, has come to deplore the heartlessness of racial discrimination, Conflicts among people, and prejudice among religions and religious denominations. The seminary that proposes to educate leaders for the realization of God's ideal for the creation Must certainly place itself beyond racial discrimination, religious prejudice, and denominational strife. This is God's will, and it is also the will of your Founder.
God's loving concern is not restricted to this earth; it also embraces the spirit world. The physical and the spirit worlds are to communicate with each other in harmonious unity through the mediation of perfected men and women. Since the Human Fall, however, people have lacked knowledge of the spirit world. As a result, communication between the two worlds is blocked, and God's purpose for the creation is yet to be fulfilled.
Fully aware of such matters, I started on the path for the accomplishment of God's will-but not just to become the leader of a religious denomination. As the name "Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity" indicates, I started on my spiritual journey with a principle that can unite all Christianity and even all religions. When I started on this path, I bad an absolute conviction that God's ideal for the creation can be realized on earth. In order to achieve that goal, I cannot pause in my journey on this destined path, no matter how difficult the conditions of indemnity I may have to endure or how dreadful the ordeals I may have to undergo.
My dear, loving graduates, please bear in mind that this message is Coming to YOU from Danbury. In my busy schedule of daily activities, I take no time to complain about or to attack the prejudice and unrighteousness behind my Case. I pray and work for America and for the world.
My only desire is that God's providence may be accomplished through my hardships, and that these hardships may stimulate and awaken all conscientious people, both in America and throughout the world. As you may already know, the International Religious Foundation, which includes New ERA, the annual conferences on God, the Youth Seminar on World Religions, the Assembly of World Religions, among other activities, has a budget of several million dollars. Such activities were initiated for the achievement of world peace through the harmonious unity among religions. In addition, the yearly budget for medical aid and other relief, administered by the International Relief Friendship Foundation, amounts to several million dollars all by itself. Likewise, the budget for the activities of the International Cultural Foundation such as the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, the Professors World Peace Academy, Paragon House Publishers, and the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy is also several million dollars.
The same is true of the seminars sponsored by CAUSA, whereby thousands of members of the clergy from all denominations are being educated on Godism as a means to prevent the infiltration of communism Into God chosen American Christianity. CAUSA, also, has a budget of several million dollars. Over ninety percent of our activities and budget is devoted to setting America right with the Will of God. Those Americans who have come to realize that I am innocent and who are trying to actualize the teachings of their Christian faith are coming to my support in greater and greater numbers. They now see clearly that neither I nor the Unification movement had any intention of evading a small amount of taxes over a three year period, as charged. It is a bit late for such phenomenon to be happening now; nevertheless, the groundswell that we now experience is a fortunate thing for America and for the free world. My dear, loving graduates, you are graduating in a providential year that will not be forgotten. As you rejoin the ranks of those who are practicing the teachings of the Unification Principle, you will be starting as leaders who will take responsibility for God's providence of restoration not simply as graduates of a denominational seminary.
The realization of the human ideal, which can occur only through the process of restoration, should not be limited to the individual level, but should rather be expanded to the family, society, nation, world, and universe. At each stage the process of indemnity must be carried out. The path of indemnity is not traversed either through theoretical thinking or through meditation; in this path one should confront hardships in daily life, and overcome them. I sincerely hope you will base your daily life on faith itself, by placing God first in your life and by always attending Him. That is how you will become God's children, those who can inherit God's tradition, going the principled way. I also hope you will become disciples of love and heart, ready to walk with conviction on any path, even the path of pioneering, never for a moment disregarding the heart of God, who wishes to accomplish His will through you.
In conclusion, again our sincere congratulations from myself and Mother. Be bold and strong and have a great success. Thank you very much.