PDF file: 20220501_May Monthly Service_Meishu-sama’s journey to become the Messiah_Masaaki-sama
Hello, everyone.
Today, it was forecasted to rain in the afternoon, but it seems to have started earlier. Despite that and also being the middle of Golden Week, thank you for gathering today in the presence of Kyoshu-sama. (Editorial note: In Japan, Golden Week is a week containing multiple national holidays at the end of April and the beginning of May during which many people take a long break.)
Now, we have exactly a month and a half left until the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah.
Today is the last time before the Grand Ceremony that I can convey my thoughts to all of you like this, so together, I would like to check off a few things before the day of the ceremony, like things we should know, what we must accept and also the kind of resolve we should have as we approach the day of the service. I would like to welcome the day of the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah truly without any regrets, together with all of you.
And so today, what I would like to talk about is Meishu-sama’s brain hemorrhage.
The year before he ascended, Meishu-sama came down with the symptoms of a brain hemorrhage. What was his state of mind after that? This is what I would like to look at with all of you today.
This brain hemorrhage occurred 68 years ago on April 19, 1954. Today is May 1, so it is just about 68 years. According to records, around 4 p.m., and it seems that it was while Meishu-sama was taking a walk, he suddenly fell ill. Understandably, at that time, he did not go to the hospital, so based on the symptoms and such, it was believed to be a hemorrhagic stroke. And he could not move his right hand or leg at all. This was the situation that emerged.
Immediately after, the Church publications Glory and Heaven on Earth were suspended. I heard that even the materials that were already sent to press were pulled back, so you can imagine the gravity of the matter.
For us left here now, the Church continues to exist like normal, so it may be difficult to get a real sense of the crisis. But for the two Church publications to be called off for a while was definitely a crisis.
Meanwhile, what was Meishu-sama going through? According to records, three days after he fell ill, on April 22, after his evening meal, he felt an immense joy and had an assistant call his wife, Nidai-sama. She came, and there, the two of them cried out of great joy.
It seemed that he could move his right leg somewhat, but he could not move his right hand at all. This situation had not changed. Usually, this is not often a factor that brings joy, but Meishu-sama said that he was happy beyond words. Nidai-sama was so happy with the way he was and joined Meishu-sama in crying tears of joy. This was on April 22, three days after the brain hemorrhage.
And then on the next day, the night of the 23rd, Meishu-sama went to bed, but his head hurt and he couldn’t sleep, waking up around 2 a.m. Regardless of not getting much rest, he rose the next morning, on the 24th, around 6 a.m. He went out to the garden, very likely in a wheelchair, and what he said at the time was “It’s the morning of hope.” He said, “It’s the morning of hope.”
Then Meishu-sama said that because it was after his plans for the time being were more or less finished, it was the perfect time to rest. He said, “How considerate God is!” Now remember, his right hand could still hardly move. In this situation, he said those things. This was April 24.
The next day, on April 25, he recorded his Sacred Word on audio, and I think there are some of you who know about it. There is the well-known recording from June 5, but there is also this shorter one from April 25, whose words still exist today as an official record.
He said that it came suddenly, and he was confused. He also said that it was “an extremely mysterious illness.” But in the Church publication, “illness” was changed to “purification”: “an extremely mysterious purification.” Meishu-sama had originally said “an extremely mysterious illness.”
And he said that this illness was a good thing and not bad by any means. This was on April 25.
Then, in another separate account, a week had not yet passed since the brain hemorrhage occurred, and it was recorded that Meishu-sama’s becoming ill like this was such an immeasurable blessing that he cried hard out of joy. He said that there had been things that made him happy up until then, but this time, “the happiness I feel is beyond words,” and he cried hard.
There are those of you who are aware of the episode where Meishu-sama cried after his brain hemorrhage, which is also written in Meishu-sama’s biography, Light from the East. He cried from knowing that God was the One who was most saddened about the destruction of humanity. We know about these tears. But you probably didn’t know about the tears that Meishu-sama cried out of joy, that he cried really hard. That happened within about a week after the brain hemorrhage.
Next, about a month after April 19, thirty-one days after on May 20, there was an episode where Meishu-sama went to Izusan Shrine for Omiyamairi, as he was born anew. (Editorial note: Omiyamairi is a traditional custom in Japan where a newborn baby is brought to a local shrine for the first time and their birth reported through prayer.) On his way to the shrine, it became difficult for him to continue, so in the end, he had an attendant go in his stead.
Meishu-sama does not consider his being born anew a made-up story, does he? I mean an actual prayer to report his birth was done at Izusan Shrine. This happened on May 20.
I knew about these episodes, these facts, so from them, I had a picture in my mind about who Meishu-sama was.
Normally, if the right side of the body suddenly becomes immobile, it would be cause for panic, wouldn’t it? Maybe after a month or two, once things calm down a little, I can imagine us reflecting and maybe thinking something like “Ah, this illness was for something good.”
But for Meishu-sama, only a few days after the symptoms of the brain hemorrhage began, he felt that. At the time, Meishu-sama was joyful, saying that this was a great blessing from God.
So until now, I understood Meishu-sama as an exceptional existence. On our end, when we go through something difficult, we think it is impossible to have the same mindset as Meishu-sama. But Meishu-sama was exceptional, so when we bow in reverence to the divine image of Meishu-sama, we believe it is important to receive this exceptional existence of Meishu-sama into our hearts. This is how I understood it.
But something made me take a second look at this image of Meishu-sama I had in my head.
It was the fact that the discipline Meishu-sama underwent to be born anew as the Messiah was so painful that he even thought of committing suicide, repeatedly. Everyone, he thought about suicide. Meishu-sama thought about it repeatedly.
Meishu-sama spoke about this suicide the year after his brain hemorrhage, around the New Year in 1955. I’ll say it again. Meishu-sama said that the discipline he underwent to be born anew as the Messiah was so painful that he repeatedly thought of suicide.
This episode had been in my head until now. I knew about it, but recently, I was made to think. As I thought about the Meishu-sama who was suffering so much that he wanted to commit suicide, I was starting to get a sense of a genuine Meishu-sama, so to speak, different from the one I spoke about just now, different from the “exceptional Meishu-sama” I spoke about just now. I was starting to see the real Meishu-sama.
What do I mean by this? To commit suicide means to feel hopelessness, the feeling of desperation. Meishu-sama’s wanting to commit suicide means that he was thrown into despair, doesn’t it?
Although Meishu-sama said “It’s the morning of hope” on the sixth day after he came down with the symptoms of the brain hemorrhage, the truth is, the night before, he could not sleep due to pain in his head and his hand wouldn’t move—in this situation, I think Meishu-sama was actually in despair.
For Meishu-sama to think about committing suicide repeatedly means that at some point, he was in despair. When was that? It must have been when he could not sleep because of pain, when his hand wouldn’t move—he must have experienced the feeling of hopelessness and despair to the verge of wanting to die.
And literally, at that point, God asked Meishu-sama, “Is your current situation one of despair or is it a hope? I gave you these circumstances. Will you give into despair or look up in hope? Which one will you choose?”
When asked these questions, Meishu-sama must have been feeling hopelessness in his heart. But since he taught about purification, even in the middle of his despair, he must have said to God in response, “No, this is not a situation to despair over. It is one of hope.” That’s why he said, “It’s the morning of hope”—that’s what I think.
Or what about the way Meishu-sama said “How considerate God is!” as the purification came after his plans had come to a close. Was it really like that?
He could have been thinking that his plans hadn’t been completed and the purification came at the worst timing. Maybe he wanted to do this or do that and had future plans. He could have thought it was the worst timing ever.
Then Meishu-sama was asked by God, “I gave you this blessing of a brain hemorrhage. Do you think this is coming at the worst time or is it coming at the perfect time? Which one is it?”
To this, Meishu-sama must have reported back to God, “Ah, God, truly, this is the perfect time.” I think he shows this to us by having said, “How considerate God is!”
Meishu-sama also said that this illness was a good thing and not bad by any means. In this case too, he first must have been asked by God, “Do you think this brain hemorrhage is a good thing or a bad thing? Which one?”
Meishu-sama wanted to commit suicide. He felt hopelessness. Normally, with this mental attitude, everything just seems bad. But Meishu-sama was asked by God if he thought the brain hemorrhage was a good thing or a bad thing. Meishu-sama must have replied, “This is not a bad thing at all, God. This is a good thing.”
Just a moment ago, I spoke to you about the time after Meishu-sama developed the symptoms of the brain hemorrhage, how he felt a joy he hadn’t experienced before, the joy that made him cry very hard.
Rather than saying it was Meishu-sama’s joy, I say it was God’s—God who loved Meishu-sama, His son. What do I mean by that? God gave Meishu-sama an illness of a brain hemorrhage. Receiving this illness, Meishu-sama was thrown into despair. But then, he overcame this despair and responded to God, “O God, this is not something to lose hope over. Rather, this illness is a hope. At first, I thought ‘Why now?’ but actually, You gave me this illness at the perfect time. O God, this illness is not a bad thing. It is a good thing!” I believe Meishu-sama responded to God in this way when he received his illness. How happy God must have been!
How about us? When something inconvenient happens to us, we usually think, “Why now? This is so bad!” don’t we? But who can deny that it is God who makes all those inconvenient things occur? That is, when something bad happens, if we can respond to God by saying, “O God, this came at the perfect time! You are so considerate, O God. This purification is cause for joy and hope. What I’m receiving is a hope, O God!” God will be happy, for sure.
God is our parent. So He does good things for us and good things only, even though various things may appear bad in our eyes.
So I believe that as the parent, God was truly happy about Meishu-sama, His own child, receiving God’s parental love even though Meishu-sama was in great pain.
Even in this world, in the case where a parent has to do something out of necessity for the child he or she loves even though it is painful, and then that child responds with “Dad, Mom, thank you,” the parent would be really happy, right?
As such, God who exists within Meishu-sama became very happy about Meishu-sama’s accepting His parental love. In turn, Meishu-sama felt God’s joy and became happy too. I believe this is what led him to the state of mind that made him cry so hard out of joy and to say that the happiness he felt was beyond words.
The Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah is about truly having Meishu-sama as our model from here on.
But even though we say that we will have Meishu-sama, who was born anew as the Messiah, as our model and that we aim to be born anew, our actual thoughts are more like “We probably won’t even reach that point anyway” or “Meishu-sama was a man of greatness chosen by God, and we are very far from that.”
If these are our true inner feelings, then the sincere efforts Meishu-sama made for God within his heart that I was just talking about until now will be all for nothing. If we end it with the thinking that only Meishu-sama was special and that’s why he was able to think that way, then it’s all for nothing.
Meishu-sama is someone who fully knows and has gone through heartache and suffering. That’s why he understands our suffering, sorrows and despairs, right?
When you say “follow Meishu-sama’s example,” what exactly is the image of Meishu-sama that you have?
If you make Meishu-sama a special existence, raise him up as an idol and say “My aim is to be born anew and that’s my goal” as empty words only, then you will never reach that point.
Meishu-sama is someone who has experienced similar pain and despair as us, and in particular, when he received the brain hemorrhage.
But he believed that “If God is love, then He would never drive me to despair,” and then said, “It’s the morning of hope.” I believe he said this with the intention to profess his faith in God.
So if we are to follow Meishu-sama’s example, we must follow it one-hundred percent.
He is not an untouchable human being or a made-up existence. He is someone who has experienced the same sufferings and pains of the heart as we have—this Meishu-sama is our model. And we, too, are aiming toward the same goal that Meishu-sama accomplished. If we do not think like this, there’s no point to any of this.
Through the brain hemorrhage, Meishu-sama was able to think like this. He put in an effort. So if we are to follow Meishu-sama’s example, then we, too, must follow his effort.
Well, it is almost impossible for us to be like that, right? So we must receive Meishu-sama into our heart. But we cannot be ambiguous in what kind of Meishu-sama we receive within us.
I mean, when we get sick, we have been offering more or less the same feelings all this time. We wonder why we aren’t getting better or how the timing is bad. We live our lives with these kinds of thoughts all the time. What does God think about us being like this?
Whereas when Meishu-sama became ill, he mustered up his courage and saw it as hope, as perfect timing and as a good thing. That’s why I believe he was able to experience the joy that God felt and why God allowed him to hold the Provisional Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah. It’s because Meishu-sama was like that.
As I said earlier, on the 31st day after his new birth, Meishu-sama had his birth reported at Izusan Shrine, right? I knew about this episode in a vague way, but when I thought about it again recently, for Meishu-sama to have his birth reported at the shrine means he admitted that his self up until he was born anew was like a dead existence. I mean to pray at the shrine to report his birth means that he was born, right?
What about us? Are we alive right now? Or are we dead?
And Meishu-sama? He acknowledged that until the time he was born anew, he had been like a dead existence, right? That is why he actually had someone go and pray at the shrine.
It’s not like Meishu-sama suddenly became a baby, right? This was about something that was going on in his heart.
In Meishu-sama’s case, there were some signs of what happened to him, but for the most part, he did not change in appearance. Neither did he become a baby. A normal person would see an elderly man of 71 years. Imagine, a 71-year-old man saying he was born anew and having his birth reported at the shrine. A normal person would think this is crazy, wouldn’t they?
But for Meishu-sama, his being born anew was not a made-up story. He regarded this as a real matter. So for us, there is no way we can avoid the fact that we are now like dead existences. For Meishu-sama to actually have his birth reported at the shrine means that he admitted to being a dead existence before he was born anew, isn’t that right?
We may think that we are living existences right now, but are we really?
Now this Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah is about living in God’s life, God’s eternal life, right? So for us who are like dead existences, this service is truly a lifeline, isn’t it? The Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah is our lifeline.
For those who believe that they are alive right now, the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah is not necessary. Eternal life or a lifeline is not necessary. People who say that God’s life is not necessary don’t need to participate in the service. Go ahead and sing praises about your life.
But if Meishu-sama is telling us, “If you are not born anew, then you actually are like a dead existence,” then the Grand Ceremony is indeed our lifeline. Without eternal life, it finishes with us being like dead existences.
Life was also mentioned in today’s reading of the Bible, right? (Matthew 6:25–33) It said do not worry about what to eat or what to wear or what to drink.
We are fully occupied with various worries about life, aren’t we? We think about what we would do if we were to die. But actually, rather than fearing death, I think we should be afraid right now that we are not able to grasp true life.
I mean, Meishu-sama was able to do that. Meishu-sama grasped true life and then had someone report his birth at Izusan Shrine. If we have not yet made such a report at a shrine, we must be assuming that we are alive right now. But is that really true?
Here lies the need for us to participate in the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah. I think there is this something that we inevitably must face.
It was said in today’s Bible passage: Look at the birds in the sky, look at the flowers in the fields. Even the things that are destined for death tomorrow, God provides and gives whatever they need. So why worry about life? This was the message left here.
In that same passage, the word “pagan” or “Gentile” was also used. This is referring to us—people not born Jewish or people with no God. It is written that we the Gentiles worry about what to eat, what to wear and what to drink. And we are sorry to You, God, but how can we deny this? Don’t we seek out those things more than anything else?
But then it says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). It says if you first seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, He will provide you with everything you physically need.
You might ask what exactly is God’s kingdom and His righteousness. As it is the kingdom of God, at the very least, it cannot be a kingdom here on earth. It must have to do with the world of God or be like the world called heaven, right? So to “seek first his kingdom” means to first seek heaven, doesn’t it?
One of Meishu-sama’s hymns from today’s service reads:
“In order to save the people of the world into heaven, / First, before anyone else, / I will become a resident of heaven!”
It says become a resident of heaven first. The Bible says to seek His kingdom first. These are saying the same thing.
And what is God’s righteousness? In the human world, there are various kinds of righteousness. This is correct, that is bad, this person is honest, that person is evil, one must judge carefully, etc. These show the righteousness of the human world.
Then what is righteous to God? It is for us, all of humanity, to recognize that we are all sinners without exception, and we have to receive His forgiveness, His love. It is not about allowing the righteous to live and destroying the evil.
God’s righteousness means for God to envelope all of humanity in His love and for us to receive God’s forgiveness. This is what is righteous to God. To say this person is right or that person is evil are matters of the human world. But to envelope everyone and everything in forgiveness is God’s righteousness.
So for Christians, God’s righteousness, of course, means to accept Jesus, the Lord of Redemption. For us, we accept Jesus, and we accept Meishu-sama, who spilled his blood in order to be born anew as the Messiah. We accept the two of them.
Yes, Meishu-sama, too, spilled his blood, as he had a brain hemorrhage. Jesus spilled blood on the cross, but Meishu-sama also bled after a span of two thousand years, a day after Easter, on April 19, 1954.
For us of World Church of Messiah, what is God’s righteousness? It is accepting Jesus and Meishu-sama: Jesus, who spilled his own blood in order to receive forgiveness for the sins of all humanity, and Meishu-sama, who showed us the path to walk as Messiahs, children of God.
So seek this righteousness of God first, is what I am trying to say. If you do so, God is saying that the things you need—food, drink, clothes—will be given to you, and your livelihood on this earth will be assured. Even if you find yourself in trouble, He will extend His hand.
In today’s Meishu-sama’s Sacred Word too, it said that we members of World Church of Messiah, including Meishu-sama, are all under God’s command. And it is true, isn’t it? As God is absolute.
God grows flowers in the fields. He feeds the birds in the air. He prepares our food. He prepares the person who prepares our food. He also prepares nature. Everything is provided by God. Without God’s permission, nothing moves. Nothing moves and nothing starts.
Now going back to the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah. It is set to be held on June 15. Who determined this? Without God’s permission, nothing moves, right? So it could be no one else but God.
Who determined that the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah would be held on June 15, 2022? God. There is no one else but God.
And if God wanted to put a stop to the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah, any effort of ours to continue it would be useless.
If God wanted to put a stop to the service on June 14 or even on the day of, regardless of how much effort we put in, we cannot stop God. That’s because God is absolute. We can point out to God how much we did; we did this, this, this and this. But if God has decided to cancel it, then no one can stop Him from doing that.
If God sees our postures, sees that we consider ourselves living beings and determines that the Grand Ceremony is no longer necessary to us, then it’s all over for us.
On the opposite end, if God determines to hold the service, it will definitely happen regardless of how much obstruction there is from human beings or anything else that may happen. Once God determines something, it is absolute.
So although the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah is a celebration, we must approach June 15 with fear and reverence for God, who holds absolute power. We must carry that feeling with us after the service too.
God may look at our postures and cancel the service. We should be considering that possibility at the very least. We don’t usually think that way, right? Rather, we think about preparations, what we are able to do, etc., don’t we?
Of course, when I say that God does everything, it doesn’t mean that we should take the attitude of “On the 15th, if God decides to hold it, I’ll go. If He doesn’t, I won’t.”
In Meishu-sama’s Sacred Word “Effort,” he talks about how we must leave things in God’s hands, but at the same time, he also spoke about how we must put in our maximum human effort. He says that in its difficulty lies the exquisiteness of faith. We must leave it to God, but we must put in our best effort. This is what Meishu-sama says.
This doesn’t mean forcing someone to make an effort. It was said in today’s hymn,
“O God, / When I think about the happiness / Of my being saved, / There is nothing I can do but repay You / With all my body and heart!”
Like Meishu-sama, we were ones who were truly about to perish. But God told us, “I will give you life.” God told us, “I won’t let you end your life as a dead-like existence.” Not only that, God said, “I will give you food, drink and clothes to wear on this earth too.”
Don’t we want to repay this God no matter what? We must do whatever we can do. This is what I mean.
There’s this conflict at the moment, right? This conflict on earth. Conflict. (Editorial note: Masaaki-sama delivered this Sacred Word two months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine.)
I have been wondering how each one of us is facing what is happening right now.
One of Meishu-sama’s hymns reads:
“Between nation and nation, between people and people, / Conflicts are never-ending. / Who has the authority to end them? / It is God!”
To start with, the meaning of this hymn cannot be understood as easily as you think. Some may say that since only God has the power to end the conflict, let’s pray to God. Others may say that prayer only will do nothing, and you have to do something concrete, actively. These are both sides of the argument, right?
Well, of course, doing something concrete is necessary.
But at the root, what is it? What is this thing we call conflict?
Here is another hymn that Meishu-sama wrote:
“Oh, how lamentable it is that / Nations are faced with troubles one after another. / Know this, everyone: / This is because of the sin committed against God.”
He is saying that a country’s continuous troubles are lamentable and how it is because of the sin committed against God.
Who exactly is the one that committed sin against God? Is it the nation? A certain portion of the people? Or is it us?
Who sinned against God?
Of course, it is all of us. Each and every one of us sinned against God.
Even so, we pray, “May there be peace,” “May the war end,” as if we have forgotten about our sin against God, as if we are good children before God. That kind of prayer will not change anything. I tell you this: even if all humanity, 7 billion people, pray for world peace, nothing will change as long as we place ourselves in the position of good and pretend as if we haven’t rebelled against God.
Even if we take concrete action with that kind of posture, God will say to us, “That’s not it. It is you yourself who have sinned against Me, isn’t it?” Without admitting this, nothing will change. Even if we use human power to take various actions with the thought that it is a conflict between nations or an issue between people, nothing will change.
So we are not at all outsiders regarding this conflict that is happening now. Rather, we are the very parties involved, each and every one of us.
There are probably not a lot of people who think like this, are there? But if we of World Church of Messiah are truly able to realize, “Ah, I was actually a part of this. I sinned against You, God, and it caused all these various conflicts to happen,” and if those thoughts of ours are deemed right in the eyes of God, that conflict could stop even now, in an instant. It could even end tomorrow.
Do you think God cannot achieve that kind of thing in an instant? Of course He can. But we don’t think like that, do we? Rather, we say, “It’ll take some time for the conflict to end,” “That issue needs to be resolved,” “That person needs to change for this to stop.” Don’t underestimate God, everyone.
I don’t disapprove completely of those who offer prayers for peace. But what we have to offer is the true prayer to God. In his final year on earth, what did Meishu-sama say? He said, “Pray in your heart,” right? In the end, Meishu-sama didn’t say, “Practice Johrei,” but said, “Pray in your heart.” Praying means we have to use words, isn’t that right?
Can’t you see how this was a drastic turnaround from the divine work up until then? Until then, it was “Don’t think. Just Johrei.” That is how we were. But from there, Meishu-sama advanced to “Pray in your heart,” that is, use words instead of raising your hand.
He is telling us to pray.
Pray in your heart. You may be wondering how we should pray. If Meishu-sama were still alive, of course, he may have taught us much more about this. But isn’t Kyoshu-sama teaching us what that is?
In the current state of the world, the existence of World Church of Messiah is like nothing, right? But if we are able to offer the prayer that God truly wishes for, we can have a huge impact, did you know that? “O God, all this is taking place because of me! It is because of the sin I committed against You!”—if we can come to this recognition, God may reduce in half the damage of this war or He may cut it down to just a fifth or even more. You never know. It is up to each one of us! We are not at all outsiders in relation to this conflict that is happening now.
Of course, we see and hear about various problems in the news. But in concrete terms, these problems are literally manifested in our daily life, like matters having to do with our families.
I mean, the conflicts or issues in the world are huge, aren’t they? It may seem like they have no relation to our daily lives, but that’s not true.
To be specific, each one of us carries many issues, don’t we? They may have to do with relations with neighbors, problems within family, between husband and wife, at work or something we feel through the condition of our bodies—our bottom-most thoughts and feelings, the very thoughts and feelings that we don’t want anyone to know, the things we feel all day. These kinds of thoughts and feelings are actually related to those huge conflicts and issues in the world.
Regarding those thoughts and feelings, you shouldn’t just say, “O please forgive this!” In reality, they appear in our hearts and minds in order to be saved. So, as I also spoke a little bit about it in March, you should say to them, “You have been forgiven. There is life. You have eternal life.”
Those thoughts and feelings of all humanity and all our ancestors connected to you are welling up within you now. So it would be good if you can say these things to them even just once a day.
Please, just once a day. I know it is tough to think in this way constantly, as we all want to think freely, but even if just once a day, say, “Ah, this thought, this feeling! You have already been forgiven! The path that leads to eternal life is prepared for you!” This is the true prayer, and it will definitely change this world, it will make it better. While we only understand what we see and not so much about the “what ifs,” your offering this kind of prayer will, without a doubt, construct a world filled with light. I am absolutely sure of this.
What is the significance of the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah? Until today, we have lived our lives always asking for God’s forgiveness. But from now on, you will live in the position of God and imitate God. What does God do? He imparts blessings, right? So you have to impart God’s blessings to those who are within you, saying to them, “You are already forgiven,” “You are already made into living beings.”
Until today, our thoughts have been “I have done something terrible. Please forgive my sins.” We have to go well beyond that, for we live in heaven, don’t we? You already can be a resident of heaven, did you know that? Meishu-sama already is, isn’t he? So be a resident of heaven, impart the blessings of heaven to all and construct a wonderful world. We will be like that from now on, especially after the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah.
This way of living, actually, is the way human beings should be living. So the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah is not the goal. Rather, we have to awaken to this true way of living that has been paved for us by God. The time has come. That is why we are holding the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah.
God is entrusting us with such a great mission. Being able to serve on the true path of God is the happiness of us being born as humans.
I mean, we are already experiencing the jubilation of heaven, right now. Heaven already exists. It exists within each and every one of us. So let us be certain of this and greatly rejoice as we welcome the Grand Ceremony to Celebrate the Birth of the Messiah. And still after that too, even though our day-to-day lives may seem, at a glance, like something insignificant, they are related to the salvation of humanity. So through our thoughts and feelings and offering the true prayer, that is, through truly serving God every day, let us build that world of light together—it can really become one overflowing with light, one overflowing with joy.
Thank you very much.
