By FFWPU Philippines
The Blessed Children Department of the Philippines conducted the 5-Day Divine Principle Workshop from April 6 to 10, 2023 for blessed children in Junior and Senior High School. With the theme, “Finding the Divine Principle in Me,” the workshop is designed to guide blessed children in learning the Divine Principle and developing their relationship with Heavenly Parent and True Parents, as well as their parents. It was held through a hybrid setup where participants can either attend the workshop onsite in the HJ National Training Center or online via Zoom. Overall, a total of 71 participants from different regions attended the workshop; 29 onsite and 42 online.
The workshop aims to accomplish the following objectives: 1) To educate blessed children on the Divine Principle as inheritors of True Love, True Life, and True Lineage; 2) To guide blessed children to deeply understand the Heart of Heavenly Parent and True Parents and to transform their lives from a “self-centered life” to a “God-centered life”; and 3) To create an environment for blessed children to form and improve relationships with their parents and other blessed children in their local districts.
Lectures on Part One and Part Two of the Divine Principle, True Parents’ Life Course, and an internal guidance about Life of Faith were delivered by senior lecturers who are earnest in contributing to blessed children education. Part One of the Divine Principle consists of the Principle of Creation, the Human Fall, Eschatology, the Messiah, Resurrection, Predestination, and Christology, and was lectured by Mr. Herwin Calinawan, the Assistant Director of the National Education and Nurturing Department HPHC-FFWPU Philippines. Part Two lectures are Introduction to Restoration, Adam, Noah, and Abraham’s Family, Moses and Jesus’ Course, Parallel Providential Periods, Preparation for the Second Advent, and the Second Advent, which were lectured by Rev. Ariel Realin, the Director of the National Education and Nurturing Department HPHC-FFWPU Philippines. And Dr. Julius Malicdem, the Regional Vice President of HPHC-FFWPU Asia Pacific 2, gave the lectures on True Parents’ Life Course and Life of Faith. Through the DP lecture sessions, the blessed children were reminded of the love of Heavenly Parent and True Parents and the value of their love, life, and lineage.
The participants expressed their enthusiasm in learning the Divine Principle during the Question and Answer sessions where they raised questions about the topics and acquired additional knowledge from the lecturers’ answers. This encouraged them to study the Divine Principle and True Parents’ speeches further to guide them in witnessing to their friends, classmates, relatives, and their family members. Furthermore, team discussions and reflection writing were facilitated for participants to convey their realizations, insights, and determination that they gained in the duration of the workshop. The participants closed each day with a 3-minute unison prayer; a time for them to sincerely report and connect with Heavenly Parent and True Parents.
The 5-Day Divine Principle Workshop was administered smoothly because of the utmost dedication and love of the leaders, staff, and parents, with the active participation of the blessed children. The workshop culminated with a graduation ceremony on the last day. Asia-Pacific regional and national leaders graced the ceremony with their congratulatory messages and guidance. Representative participants also rendered their reflections, sharing their overall experience of the workshop. They voiced their conviction to live a life of Hyo Jeong toward Heavenly Parent, True Parents, and their parents with unwavering faith and to strive to witness and teach the Divine Principle to others.
With the workshop conducted in the midst of Semana Santa or Holy Week, just like how Jesus was resurrected, the blessed children participants also experienced a new awakening as they were able to reflect on themselves and build a new determination to become filial sons and daughters who can work with Heavenly Parent and True Parents in accomplishing their Will by practicing the Divine Principle in their lives.
Reflections
Benedict Magangat:
“The part of the lectures that struck me the most was about the time when Abraham willingly sacrificed his son, Isaac, whom he loves the most. Isaac, who was being cooperative and fully trusted his father, knew that he was the “lamb” offering and with all his heart and mind, gladly accepted his fate. From the lectures, I learned that central figures are really important in God’s providence. Because of them, we can be restored and brought back to God’s bosom or God’s side to claim us as His sons and daughters. I felt extreme sadness because of human failures and irresponsibility. They were prolonging the Providence of Restoration. I think that God’s heart was repeatedly crushed, exploding, and imploding for so many times that words can’t even explain what He had gone through. Through DP seminars like these, it helps me understand the heart of Heavenly Parent.
Also, some activities like witnessing and fundraising; as someone who has done fundraising, I can say that being persecuted by the secular world/people is both a blessing and a curse, why? It’s because when you are being persecuted, you can feel the sorrowful heart of God. At the same time, I am thankful for the experience because I felt even just a glimpse of what God really had felt throughout the course of restoration. Thanks to today’s lectures and studying, my determination has been renewed for the day, the week, the month and for the upcoming years. I know that it won’t be easy but one of the things that I realized is that Heavenly Parent is always with us, just like the central figures from the past and even today in the present, our Beloved True Mother.”
Jeung Soon Dela Cruz:
“We received a lot of wisdom from today’s lectures. The topic that really stuck with me today is about The Messiah. Jesus was sent by God as the messiah to complete the Three Great Blessings and fulfill the restoration of humanity. But because of the failure of the people around him which are the “chosen people” who should’ve helped him, the restoration in Jesus’ time failed. It must have been painful for God that time that His only hope was killed by the chosen people’s failure to believe and protect the Messiah. Just learning about it hurts me knowing that humanity could’ve been saved that time if the chosen people had united with Him. Then how much more did God felt that time, the sorrow that God might have felt seeing His son suffering.
The learnings today also led me to realize about our portion of responsibility. Human’s portion of responsibility is only 5% compared to God’s portion of responsibility with 95%. However, that 5% is equivalent to 100% of our effort. Even if it appears so small compared to God’s portion of responsibility, mankind still fails to fulfill it. It made me realize how important it is for each and every one of us to fulfill our responsibilities because that 5% will not be fulfilled if humanity will not be united. Through today’s learnings, it reminded me about our responsibilities, human history, and how sorrowful God’s heart is. This motivates me to give my best in fulfilling my portion of responsibility.”