Dr. and Mrs. Pak

Vienna, Austria, December 2, 2007

Rev. Dr. Joong Hyun Pak
President, Universal Peace Federation- Central Europe



Ladies and gentlemen, Ambassadors for Peace!

I want to thank you all for coming here tonight to celebrate our second annual True Family Values Award Banquet here in Vienna. Last week my wife (introduce) and I were in Bern, Switzerland to inaugurate True Family Values Award Banquets there- and we will be traveling to Milano, Italy next week for the same reason. It was the report of the success of your event in Vienna last year that encouraged them to do the same in
those nations.

I cannot greet you here in Austria without telling you how much I appreciate the inspiration that you have given to the world through your music. Korean people have greatly appreciated musicians like Mozart, Schubert and Strauss, having often invited artists and orchestras from Austria to Korea to perform their masterpieces. The Mozart Museum in Salzburg is in Seoul right now, the first time ever on display outside of
Austria. Also, in celebration of Mozart’s 250 year anniversary, 50 musical groups came to Korea to perform his works.

We are here tonight to appreciate the contribution of families. Raising good families is really not easy, not today and not at the time of Mozart. But, does that mean we should give up trying, or try to replace the family with another institution? I don’t think so, and I doubt that you do either- as you’ve decided to come here tonight. Mozart himself was very much influenced by his family relationships, although as we know,
it was at times a source of great pain. Yet there was a very positive influence too that greatly contributed to his being able to become the musical genius that he did.

We can identify four essential realms of love or heart that are cultivated between family members: children’s love, fraternal love, conjugal love and parental love. As love is the most important aspect of our lives, it is also the most difficult to master. Fortunately, God has provided a school where people can learn and practice the lessons of love in a safe environment. The order of development of these loves is
extremely important, whereby each type of love corresponds to a particular grade level. It is extremely difficult to master a course in “conjugal love” or “parental love” without graduating successfully from classes in “children’s love” or “fraternal love”. Our modern society is filled with examples of this.

And in the same way, it is very difficult to succeed in our partnership relations at school, in the workplace and elsewhere in society, if not having been able to work out these types of relationship in the “nuclear” family, which is microcosm of the “global” family. As an added benefit, as each level is mastered, corresponding elements of divine love are tapped into, bringing a new depth and richness.

There are not many cases in history of brilliant and talented artists- or even religious figures who are remembered for their outstanding success in family life. Yet it is sure that the innate desire to succeed in those four relationships of love and to develop the corresponding aspects of heart and personality were at the core of the drive and passion that they had in their endeavors. Mozart, too, at his happiest times knew the love and encouragement of his parents. His heart, his passion for music and his work ethic were instilled during those years. As a child, he enjoyed performing with his sister whom he loved- and his wife tried her best to support him throughout his periods of instability.
Despite his disappointments in the sphere of love, his emotional descriptions through music are unequaled. We can only imagine, what might have been the outcome if he had been free to describe his true love and heart.

It cannot be denied that a healthy, happy family is rooted in a stable, loving marriage. Tonight, we are promoting marriage culture, where marriage is encouraged, supported and expected, where marriage means strength and perpetuity. Marriage and family are in crises today, and we want to guarantee that it is not the institution of marriage that is blamed and finally sacrificed, but the failed application that needs adjustment. In the modern trend of individualism, marriage too has been reduced to a private matter, disconnected and unanswerable to the larger community. This extreme came as an overreaction to the emphasis on duty and obligation in marriages in the past- at the cost of personal fulfillment. It is possible to have the best of both. Marriage is meant to be the building block of community and simultaneously to bring great fulfillment and joy to both husband and wife. Marriage deserves to reclaim its central role in human affairs.

Tonight we are strengthening our network of this marriage and family culture and we feel great joy at being able to honor those who have worked so hard at it. “Family” is the cornerstone of an ethical and moral society and is the most natural way for each family member to fulfill their greatest potential and joy in life.

Family is an investment in world peace.
Thank you very much and God bless you.