Rev. Watanabe Message, Spring Service

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Rev. Watanabe Message, Spring Service

April 1 and 2, 2006,

Hall of Worship, Atami, Japan

Introduction

Good morning, and thank you for attending today’s Grand Spring Service.

The season of cherry flowers is upon us. This year, it looks like cherry flowers are blooming a little earlier than usual. Here and there we see some cherry flowers in full bloom at the Atami Sacred Grounds. This is a really pleasant and wonderful time in Atami.

Sandai-sama [our third spiritual leader] was re-appointed on March 31 as chair-person of the Board of the M.O.A.Museum Foundation. She keeps herself busy in her art activities in response to Meishu-sama’s teaching. Recently, her paintings received an award at the Kofu-kai Society’s exhibition. This exhibition will be held at the TokyoMetropolitanMuseum in Ueno from April 6 to April 21, where her art works can be viewed. I encourage you to visit this exhibition and see her art works.

[April 1]

In Japan the new school year and new fiscal year begin on April 1. Some of your children or grandchildren entered schools or kindergarten, or finished school and began working. The new fiscal year also begins for our church organization, and we will be “serving in the totally new phase of God’s work, under the grand Plan of God,” as Kyoshu-sama said. I am determined to renew myself totally and be born as a new person, to serve in this new phase of God’s work.

[April 2]

In Japan the new school year and new fiscal year begin on April 1. Some of your children or grandchildren entered schools or kindergarten, or finished school and began working. To begin a new life in a new environment can be stressful.

For me, this month is a new beginning. Yesterday, after the spring service here, we had an election of new directors and officers, since the 3-year term of the former Board of Directors expired at the end of March. I was elected and appointed to the same position, the President of the Izunome Kyodan, with the approval of Kyoshu-sama and the blessing of Sandai-sama. Kyoshu-sama told me to serve in the new phase of God’s work, as President of Sekai Kyusei Kyo [SKK] and as President of SKK Izunome. I realize deeply that I have to renew myself totally and be born as a new person so that I can be allowed to serve in this new phase of God’s work.

Introduction of the pilgrimage groups from abroad

[April 1]

First, I would like to introduce the pilgrimage groups attending today’s service from abroad: 53 members from Korea, 10 from Taiwan, 52 from Thailand, 10 from Australia, 6 from Greece, 5 from Germany, 2 from Hawaii, 36 from Brazil, totaling 174 members from 8 countries. Please welcome them with aresounding applause.

[April 2]

Yesterday, we had 174 members from 8 countries outside of Japan attended the service here. Our services at the Atami Sacred Grounds are becoming more and more international.

Members’ testimonials

[April 1]

We received a wonderful report from Brigitte Kampf of the FrankfurtJohreiCenter in Germany. Thank you very much Brigitte. Rev. Tome is the head minister of the Germany church, and he is attending today’s service, so I would like to introduce him. He once felt that his faith and his work in Germanyhad reached a deadend, but through an encounter with Brigitte he felt that he was able to open a new way in his ministerial work in Germany, and he is very grateful for her help. Meishu-sama talked about how each country has a different spiritual character and a different mission, and he said that Germany represents the spirit of soil. Our Kyoto Sacred Grounds represents the spirit of soil. Along with the progress of the construction work at the Kyoto Sacred Grounds that we are currently doing, I believe the Johrei movement in Germany will expand and grow further from now on.

[April 2]

We just heard a wonderful testimonial by Ms. Harue Shirabayashi of Japan. Thank you very much Harue.

Reports of Practicing Faith Through Daily Reflection

Currently, many of you are doing this “practice of faith through daily reflection.” We received many wonderful reports of the results of this practice, and Iwould like to relate some of them.

[A female office worker.]

This is a report from a female office worker in Japan. One of her co-workers hurts the fellow workers’ feelings constantly with her words and behavior, and she is disliked by all. So, our Johrei member began this practice of faith through her daily reflection, and soon she noticed some changes in her own attitude. After some time, the co-worker’s words and behavior did not bother her at all, and she was able to smile while talking with this co-worker.

One day, another co-worker commented, “How is it possible for you to talk normally with that awful person?” To this she replied, “There are ancestors behind that person, and whatever negative or sarcastic comments she makes is a message from her ancestors who are seeking light. So I try to acknowledge her ancestors and leave their issues to Meishu-sama to be purified by him.” The co-worker then said, “I don’t know the person named Meishu-sama, and I am not a member of your church, but I would like to try this,” and she began doing this practice through her daily reflection.

After some time, our Johrei member asked this co-worker if she was still doing this practice of faith, and she replied happily, “Yes, I am doing it every day, and sometimes I pray to Meishu-sama four times or more in a single day. That offensive person still sayshurtful things, but it does not bother me at all.”

This is an interesting report. If you pray this way and think of the person’s ancestors, then your mental condition changes and you are no longer bothered by the person’s words, even though that person remains the same. Do you know why this happens? Please think about the reason. As the next step, probably this offensive co-worker will change too.

[Report of Ms. Teramoto of the KasugaiJohreiCenter.]

Another report is about a couple in Japan. When the husband comes home from his office, he takes a bath and has dinner; then usually he says his back is itchy and asks his wife to scratch it. When the wife began this practice of faith through reflection she thought, “If my husband has an itchy back, it may be a reflection of our ancestors. By scratching his back with love and care, I can send light to our ancestors and can have a better relationship with our ancestors,” and she continued doing it with care. Then one evening, the husband while being scratched suddenly turned around and said, “Thank you very much. You must be tired. Thank you very much for doing this every night,” and he held her hands tenderly. He had never shown such tenderness, and she was surprised by his reaction.

Later she commented, “Probably our ancestors were happy with my thought, and expressed their gratitude through my husband. What I was doing was the same, but I began doing it with a different attitude and feeling. Kyoshu-sama said that if only 100,000 of our Johrei members worldwidebegan to practice their faith through their daily reflections, we can change the spiritual atmosphere of the world. I would like to join this group and become one of these 100,000 members, and help turn around the spiritual atmosphere of the world.

I believe that this person learned something very important from this simple experience as a result of practicing her faith through her daily reflection.

[Experience at a Sangetsu class.]

One Sangetsu flower arranging instructor had this wonderful experience, and sent this report. A student in her class who was not a Johrei member had a severe headache from the morning and planned to skip the flower arranging class that evening. But somehow, she felt the urge to come to the class and showed up in spite of the headache.

During the class,the Sangetsu instructor watched this student suffering from the headache and finally channeled Johrei to her. The instructor was doing this practice of faith through reflection, daily. While sending Johrei, she remembered it and asked Meishu-sama to alleviate the student’s suffering, and through her the burden of the student’s ancestors. By the time Johrei was over her headache was completely gone, and she shed tears of gratitude for this blessing. When the instructor saw this instantaneous result from Johrei and saw the student’s happy face, she felt that one of the student’s ancestors was also happy receiving the light.

The suffering of the headache was alleviated not just by the instructor leaving the sufferings of that person in the hands of God, but byleaving the burden of the other person’s ancestors in the hands of God and Meishu-sama.

Physical purification is also a message from ancestors.

[An experience of a Brazil member.]

Last month I visited Brazil to attend a youth leaders’ seminar. On that occasion, one group leader in Brazil, Mr. Glauro, made this report. For the last 2 years he has suffered from stomach inflammation. He tried diet and received Johrei, but the situation did not improve and he more or less gave up on this condition.

When he heard of this new method of “daily practice of prayer,” he thought that his stomach pain may be the reflection of the suffering of one of his ancestors, and decided to try this practice. So he prayed to his ancestors that he was going to leave their sufferings to Meishu-sama, and prayed to Meishu-sama to accept and purify and alleviate the sufferings of his ancestors. The moment he finished this prayer, his stomach ailment, the heavy feeling in the stomach and uncomfortable sensation, were all gone, totally and instantly. Since then, he felt no heart-burn, no stomach pain even when hungry. He was so surprised with this result that now he is encouraging other members in his group to try this practice of faith through daily reflection.

From this I believe all purification, whether it’s physical pain or mental suffering, can be a message from our ancestors. This stomach inflammation of Mr. Graulo of Brazil, or the headache of the Sangetsu student, may be the message from one of their ancestors.

[A child’s purification. A student who could not eat school lunch.]

The same applies to the purification of one’s child. Here is one such report. A mother began this practice of faith through daily reflection, and one day her son, who was in the 4th grade in school, said, “At the time of school lunch today, the food was my favorite, but suddenly I felt uncomfortable and threw up the food.” Starting that day the son often vomited food, and because of fear and anxiety he could not eat normally.

The mother’s faith in Johrei and Meishu-sama’s teachings is strong, and she felt that there may be some spiritual reason – that she, the mother, may be the cause of the son’s eating disorder. When she related this story to her husband, he said, “That is strange. I had the same problem when I was in the 4thgrade and suddenly could not eat school lunch. It took me two years to recover from that condition. Even now I don’t understand why I could not eat school lunch.”

When she heard this from her husband, she was so surprised. She continued her practice of faith through reflection. One day, while receiving Johrei at her Johrei center she realized that one of the ancestors must have had this eating problem and had shown it to her husband. But the family did not realize it, so the same ancestor is sending a message through their son that the ancestor wants to receive the light.” She received Johrei at the JohreiCenter with the thought of leaving the ancestor’s problem in God’s hands, and with the thought of receiving Johrei light along with that ancestor.

She went home after Johrei. In a while, the son also came home from school and reported happily, “Mom, I ate all the food on the plate today at school lunch. I did not throw up.” After that day, the son began eating normally.

The mother reported later, “Just by my thinking this way, the situation changed completely. I realized once again about the power of our thought, about the fact that we are connected with our ancestors through spiritual cords and that our ancestors are seeking light. Kyoshu-sama said that we are tour guides and guideposts for our ancestors to guide them to the light of God, and I am happy I was able to fulfill my mission and duty to bring the light to this one ancestor.”

We have been taught that “a child’s purification means the purification of a parent.” Many of you must have heard this. Maybe you feel uncomfortable to hear about this, that whatever problem a child has it is the reflection of a parent’s negative consciousness. You feel that it is your fault as a parent if your child is not doing well. But in reality, Meishu-sama’s teaching is true: if a parent changes, a child changes. It is because when parents change, their ancestors receive light, and as a result children also receive blessings. When you realize, like this mother, that your ancestors are using you, by then representing those ancestors you can work more effectively for God and for them.

We can receive many blessings by humbly putting this into practice.

I shared some of the blessings our members received by practicing faith through their daily reflections. What do you think of this? When you put this into practice humbly, you witness many blessings. I report these experiences and the many other blessings resulting from this practice of faith through daily reflection, which we receive from all over the world, to Kyoshu-sama, and he is happy reading them.

But some of our Johrei members may be looking at this new practice with a cold attitude, saying, “This is a simple, childish practice. This won’t change anything. I am doing Johrei, and pray to God and my ancestors every day. I don’t have to do this practice of faith through my reflection. Maybe this is just a temporary fad or a new trend, and it will disappear soon.” As a result of this attitude, some of our members are not practicing it.

Kyoshu-sama said that we should depart from the “mental attitude of the age of night,” and change ourselves from “the customary, habitual attitude of the past.” He also said that “our invisible thought is conveyed to living human beings, to our ancestors and to everything else in the universe, through a countless number of spiritual cords, surpassing the limit of time and space.” (June 2005) He said that thought is not weak; thought is limitlessly powerful, and we have to pay attention to our thoughts. Based on these words of Kyoshu-sama, we began this practice of faith through our daily reflection.

If we keep the same, habitual mental attitude of the old, we can not advance new work for God. I recommend that all of you try this, at your home, at your school, at your place of work. I am certain this new practice is worth trying.

How to practice this faith through daily reflection.

Do you have the “practice of faith” card with you now? I understand that many of you are carrying it with you all the time, or reading it aloud in the mornings and evenings. I believe that it is important for us to keep this firmly in our mind, and be conscious of it and serve in God’s work.

For that purpose, Iwould like to review this practice of faith one more time with you today.

It is important for us to remember firmly that we all have a divine essence within us, our individualized part of God, that we are all instruments of God, and that we are the reflection and synthesis of numerous ancestors. Also, we are the tour guides to take our ancestors to God’s light.

Whatever suffering we have, or whatever sufferings others have, we recognize them as a reflection of the suffering of an ancestor.

We can explain to the ancestors, as if talking to ourselves, that we will put their sufferings or problems in Meishu-sama’s hands to be purified by him.

Then, we can pray to Meishu-sama and ask him to accept such sufferings of our ancestors and to purify them and alleviate them.

If another issue or problem comes up, we can repeat this process, recognize it and explain it to the ancestors, and leave it in Meishu-sama’s hands, many times. Any suffering or difficulty can continue from generation to generation, so, even if the issue of one ancestor spirit is resolved, then another ancestor spirit can appear asking for help. We can send these spirits to Meishu-sama, one by one. This is how we practice our faith through our daily reflection.