This content is drawn from a book entitled True Mother’s Life Course published by the Unification Church History Committee in 2012. In this third and final part we look at the period just before True Parents’ Holy Wedding.
Part 3 (Click here to read Part 1 and Part 2)
After enduring a time of imprisonment,[1] Hong Soon-ae moved from Chuncheon to live in Seoul. She continued to lead a life of prayer in a difficult living environment; she took up residence in the former headquarters church where she devoted herself. Entrusting her mother and her daughter to the care of her younger brother, she began her life of dedication to the providence and offered devotions.
True Father said, “Hong Soon-ae suffered much in the Unification Church. In the beginning, she carried out the duties of a housemaid. She was even imprisoned. Yet she has never complained. Before she joined the church, she had been a member of the Holy Lord Church and a follower of Baek Nam-joo of Cheolsan. Even though I knew of their recent history and that the Unification Church had inherited their tradition, which made her the most central of all central members, when she joined our church I made her start again from the beginning.” Father also said that Hong Soon-ae’s life of devotion was based on his wish for her to “show her loyalty from the lowest position.”
However, during this time she contracted an illness. When she became ill, after eight months of leading a life of devotion, True Father told her to go somewhere quiet to recuperate. Accordingly, Hong Soon-ae moved to a house rented by Mrs. Oh Yeong-choon, across the street from her own home in Noryangjin. At the time, her daughter Hak-ja (True Mother) was living at her maternal uncle’s home in Shindang-dong. On weekends, she would visit the Noryangjin house to spend time with her mother.
True Mother as a teenager
Mrs. Gang Eui-hong, who was sharing the house with Hong Soon-ae at the time, distinctly remembered what Hak-ja looked like in her school uniform. “Though she was only a young, sixteen-year-old girl, it was amazing to see how well she had grown up. She was as beautiful and fragrant as a flower, and intellectually, and in all other aspects, she seemed mature. I felt that she was neat and tidy—although a little cool in her personality.”
At that time, Han Hak-ja was attending the headquarters church as a member of the Seonghwa Students’ Association and practicing a mature life of faith. Until the age of sixteen, she had seemed like a young student, but by the time she reached seventeen, she was becoming more and more mature.
In the eyes of the members of the time, True Mother had uncommonly beautiful features, and she had a noble air, almost as if she had never known hardships in her life. She always appeared smart and neat. Untainted by the secular world, she looked pure and innocent, and she practiced the virtues of obedience and submission to the providence. She was silent, chaste, and courteous, yet she had good judgment and wonderful powers of observation.
True Mother remembered those days as a time when she lived a life guided by Heaven under God’s complete protection:
Until the 1960s, I lived an inconspicuous life, almost as if I was covered up in clothes. Heaven guided me to lead a life in which I could not make compromises with the world, so I lived in a simple environment. God protected me so completely that I hated even to inhale the air of the satanic world; in such an environment, I rid myself of all of my personal thoughts and lived following only Heaven’s guidance.
I also kept a journal every day; interestingly, I wrote things in it without thinking, phrases such as “our cherished hopes are for unity.” Afterward, when I heard True Father’s teachings, I remembered those words and saw their significance.
… I always feel that Heaven had prepared everything based on my character and background. When Isaac climbed the mountain with Abraham to make the altar, he asked his father where the sacrificial offering was. Abraham answered that God would prepare one for them and refused to say more. Young Isaac, however, already knew what was actually happening right there and then. Similarly, I, too, could determine what was expected of me from a young age. Deep down, I realized that I had been prepared to become the wife of the returned Lord.
Chosen as True Mother
From three years prior to True Father’s reaching the age of forty, a great number of members offered devotions in silence as they waited for the manifestation of the new bride of Heaven prepared by God, that is, the True Mother. Meanwhile, the spring wind of true love swept across the female members, and they competed invisibly against one another, each of them anticipating and aspiring to become the mother of the universe. As a result, tension and internal confusion built up with each passing day. Every one of them believed themselves to be the right woman to assume this position, and from women at or around the age of thirty, to grandmothers who could communicate with the spirit world, every one of them was convinced that she was to be the spouse of True Father.
The candidate for the position of True Mother, however, needs to inherit the realm of shimjeong (the heart) of women, passing through three generations from her grandmother, to her mother, to herself. In other words, if the grandmother met the Lord, she needed to pass down the position of serving the Lord to the mother, and the mother to her daughter. Based on this principle, after waiting for many years for the Second Coming of the Lord, Grandmother Cho Won-mo and Hong Soon-ae fully passed down, to True Mother, the position of serving True Father.
Moreover, the candidate for the True Mother needed to be younger than twenty. Since Eve had fallen at the age of sixteen, the candidate should not be more than three years older—no more than nineteen. In addition, she would need to give birth to at least twelve children in the course of twenty years, so she needed to be young, healthy and physically strong.
In October 1959 preparations for True Father’s engagement were begun centering on Mrs. Ji Seung-do. From early 1960, signs heralding the appearance of the bride of Heaven began to appear. As the announced date drew near, Mrs. Oh Yeong-choon, who had offered devotions for years to attend the bride of Heaven, received a revelation and recommended True Mother, even though she had not known about True Mother during the years of offering devotions.
Mrs. Oh said, “At the right moment I presented Father with the saju astrological information about Mother and told him about her; two months later, Father finally decided. Thus, I succeeded in finding Mother after seven years of offering prayers. I came to know that Heaven gives to those who pray, and I attended Miss Han Hak-ja as the True Mother even though I had never thought of her before, even in my dreams.” [See Mrs. Oh’s testimonies on pages 18 and 20.]
Around that time, Mrs. Ji Seung-do also received a revelation in her dream, and she made her way to True Father in all haste and reported, “I saw innumerable cranes come flying down from the heavens, and even though I kept trying to chase them away with my hands, they came and covered True Father.” Explaining her revelatory dream, she expressed the opinion that Heaven wanted someone whose name included the character for hak (crane).
Hong Soon-ae also had a revelation through a dream. A phoenix flew down from the sky and another flew up from the ground to meet it. The phoenix from the sky had eyes that looked like True Father’s. One day, after taking a cold shower in the early morning, she was reciting the Pledge, and she saw a vision. Then she heard the words, “The phoenix from Heaven symbolizes True Father, and the phoenix from the earth symbolizes True Mother.” At the time, Hong Soon-ae had no inkling that her daughter would become the True Mother, and she danced with joy and said, “Heavenly Father, thank you. We are no longer orphans, for we will now become the children of True Parents. Isn’t that so, Father?”
After that, Hong Soon-ae received revelations every day. She received the revelation that her daughter would be chosen as the True Mother. After this, she could no longer think of True Mother as her daughter.
In February 1960, True Mother dreamt that True Father came down from heaven and said to her, “The day is close, so prepare yourself.” True Mother prayed with a heart of complete selflessness and resigned herself to the decision of the providence. She answered, “Until now, I have lived in accordance with God’s providence. From now on, no matter what God wills, or the purpose of His Providence, I will follow all that I am commanded to do as Your humble servant.”
Just as Isaac had obeyed Abraham in silence, True Mother had felt for a long time that she had a path she must follow, and her faith was such that she was determined to walk whatever path was laid before her.
On February 25, True Father mentioned Han Hak-ja for the first time, and he told Hong Soon-ae, “Bring your daughter here right away.” On the next day, the 26th, True Mother met face to face with True Father, and her internal disposition and character were examined as the bride of Heaven. It was True Mother’s second face-to-face meeting with True Father, the first meeting having been when she came before him at the age of thirteen. During this nine-hour meeting, True Father asked True Mother many questions, and True Mother answered them all honestly, boldly, and clearly. She also drew a picture for him that day and the way she shyly showed her drawing was more wonderful and charming than her drawing. Her mother later said that she had been much amazed on that day to see Mother so gentle in appearance but strong in spirit.
After the long interview, True Father said to her, “I will introduce you to an excellent teacher.” He told her mother to leave and called in Mrs. Choi Won-bok. From then on, for a month until the engagement ceremony of March 27, True Mother was given bridal instruction under the guidance of Mrs. Choi Won-bok. However, True Mother was not officially introduced to the members. She was once asked to sing on the podium of the headquarters church, and the members were deeply impressed by the way she sang so naturally and boldly. In addition, when they saw True Mother eating the food prepared for the table of True Father together with Mrs. Choi Won-bok, they wondered, “Who is that young woman?” A few of the more thoughtful members assumed that there was a great purpose behind her being there.
Foundation for True Mother
For the holy wedding of True Mother, three great foundations had been prepared.
First, God prepared a foundation of devotion for the Lord at his Second Coming through devout Christian groups in Korea. In particular, centering on the history of Eve, He established women leaders to fulfill the mission of the bride to receive the Lord of the Second Coming. True Father said, “Kim Seong-do’s legacy was inherited by Huh Ho-bin, and by her daughter, who was being prepared to receive the Lord. It is amazing to see that they also made other preparations such as twelve disciples.” However, Huh Ho-bin, who had been thus prepared, failed to fulfill her mission to attend the True Father, and so she passed on the mission of the bride to True Mother with the benediction, “You were born with the destiny to become the bride of Heaven.”
Second, the three generations of True Mother’s maternal grandmother, Cho Won-mo, her mother Hong Soon-ae, and Mother herself united together in heart, and the three eras of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Completed Testament were connected. Thus True Mother’s family prepared a family-level foundation to receive the returning Lord. Their family had practiced a life of faith to receive the Lord at his Second Coming and inherited the foundation established by devout Christian groups from Kim Seong-do to Huh Ho-bin, and her daughter. After coming to the South, Hong Soon-ae continued to offer devotions and eat raw food in preparation to receive the returning Lord. Moreover, after she met True Father, she lived a life of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience and True Mother was able to stand on this foundation.
Third, True Mother inherited the foundation of devotions laid through the history of the preparation for the Second Coming that Korean Christian groups carried out. On the family-level foundation to receive the Lord at his Second Coming, she learned to practice absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience naturally, as part of her life. True Mother therefore lived a chaste life according to her faith—similar to that of a Catholic nun—growing up in an environment completely separated from the secular world in all its aspects.
[1] She had attempted a “faith healing” of a young, mentally unstable man who later died.