President’s Corner: What is True Love?
Dear friends,
What do Valentine's Day, Black History Month and our Founders' birthday, which we celebrate in February, have in common?
It is love! True love!
How and why?
Valentine's Day surely is about love, although most of the time this takes the form of transient romantic love. However, I personally prefer to reference the origin of this day, which in the past was celebrated as a minor Western Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named St. Valentine. In particular, I like an account of the imprisonment of St. Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century. According to an early tradition, St. Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer, which to me is a sign of true love: loving your enemy.
Black History Month also has to do with love, as we honor, uplift and celebrate the wonderful lives and major contributions our black brothers and sisters have made to this country, amazing men and women! To me, those who stand out among them are people who have overcome hate with love, and stood strong, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth and so many others, whose faith and love for God were stronger than the hate around them. They truly lived by the Logic of Love.
And love is also common to our Co-Founders, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and her late husband, the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon. Their lifetime legacy has been selfless love for God and for the sake of others, including loving their enemies. Their decades of work for peace constitute a testimony of living by the Logic of Love put into action.
And there are many more true love stories, such as the one between my husband and I. Bob and I have been married for 38 years, and our love is only growing stronger as we grow older.
Needless to say, we need true love, commitment, and men and women who contribute their gifts and talents for the sake of the betterment of humanity. These are like an oasis in the desert. Maybe there are people in your life who exemplify true love. Maybe it is you yourself!
Therefore, I would like to invite you during the Valentine's Day weekend and this month of February to study the lives of those who truly exemplify unchanging love for God, self and others, in the hope that thus we can slowly but surely take a step toward a better world.
So, happy Valentine's Day, happy Black History Month and happy birthday Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon (on February 17, 2021, which is January 6 according to the lunar calendar)!
And also HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR 2021!
With love,
Angelika