Good Morning, everyone! Happy New Day, Week & a special, "Thanks" for attending this, our 2nd monthly service for July. I hope you are all enjoying good health & in excellent spirits.
As you know, I could go back to Japan around the end of June & attend the funeral service of my mother Mrs. Itsuko Takeuchi. By coincidence this put me at KC Airaku on July 1, the day when their regular, annual summer faith training began. This year that one-hundred-day period of faith training began on the same day toward the 130th Memorial Service of our founder's passing that would be held this coming October. All through the morning prayer service on that day I felt very powerfully that my mother, now a Mitama herself, wished me to experience this important start of this period of faith training which would last about 3 months & 10 days.
They promised to do their best to deepen an unbreakable peace and joy in their hearts by taking the following message as an oath:
"What we wish for the 130th Anniversary of our founder is to revive his vivid way of life so that anyone can hear Kami's voice everyday until Kami becomes more perfectly joined with them. We seek to touch the essence of our founder's faith and blaze a trail in the active world of Konko Daijin as if we feel the warmth when touched and as if blood come out when picked."
I have returned to Chicago with a vivid impression of Airaku's passion for this year's 100 days of faith-training. I too equally passionate to share this profound experience with these believers of KC Airaku, & I most sincerely invite you to share it with us as well. In order to fulfill this oath we need to pray for an enriched understanding of the process of life & whole heartedly accept everything that happens in these 100 days as Kami's intended will for us, whatever happens and no matter how difficult it might to be to deal with.
Everything that happens is Kami' doing. When we thoroughly accept each and every happening with respect, we can vividly come to sense Kami's presence.
Kami tested our founder many times. Whenever Kami tested him Konko Daijin accepted it more cooperatively than Kami expected. For example Kami told Konko Daijin to go from his town of Otani, as it was called at that time to Tamashima, the town next door & pick some of the money that was falling there out of the sky. He went to Tamashima as Kami instructed in vain. And Kami asked him if he had found any money. He answered that he picked up treasure much greater than money. Kami asked again what it was, & he replied, "I usually sit at the Mediation place all day long. But today I walked for a long time & gained a blessing for my health."
This type of testing & positive acceptance happened time after time. Then finally Kami wanted Konko Daijin to be his loyal partner in serving other people to establish a mutual fulfillment. And at last Kami reveled, "This is the person I cannot test any more thoroughly."
During this one-hundred-day faith training toward the 130th anniversary of our founder, I will do my best to clearly accept everything that happens in my daily life, develop unbreakable peace and joy in my heart and manifest this oath everyday. Won't you please join me?
Thank You.