Covid-19 cannot stop HWPL efforts for Peace: We are One!

The year of 2020 has ended! It left us with self-reflection and took us to the unknown state of 2021 as Covid-19 is still raging on. As of February 2021, the whole world is still down on its knees, the global economy is still in a financial depression, the global community is still in a semi lock-down, our lifestyles are still under extreme abnormality, and we all are still bewildered… No religion, no ethnic background, no skin color, no woman nor man is invincible to its effects. The state of all religions during the pandemic is in lock-down as there are no mass gatherings, no major religious festivals, and no spiritual celebrations… It seems as if it is Mother Earth’s way of telling us that She needs a break for Her physical healing and is asking us to change our attitude toward life as there is too much noise, too many controversies, too much hatred, too many criticisms, and an over population. She wants all of us to stay home for self-reflections. She wants us to be quieter as She reorganizes the order of the world. She tells us that all of us are equal, that She loves us all, but we should stop “taking Her for granted,” that we must cherish what we have, and learn more about life’s deep-dive. She seems to tell us that there will be more chaos and the only way to win this invisible challenge is for us to show compassion and collaboration. She wants us to share the love and care for one another and ultimately together, to create the Culture of Peace.

Amid the global pandemic, the economic chaos, the racial inequalities, and the challenges of political astray toward democracy in the United States, HWPL WARP Offices embraces the impacts and continues its amazing effort for the work of peace in the United States and in North and South America. In April 2020, more than 315 HWPL Peace Messengers delivered heartfelt handwritten letters to the Family of Peace calling for Hope, Strength, Prayers, and Love for the continuous effort of building the Foundation of Peace. Their calling worked. As I read their heartfelt letters, I cried with joy and I let my tears go unrestrained. I know many others felt the same… This is one of the moments in my life that I did not want to swim out of the river of tears… the tears of joy… The spirit in their letters is the spirit of Life, from the spirit of Nature that whispers to all of us that the future generations deserve Peace. That whisper is so loud and clear that it eliminated all other noises from the outside world and also the ones trapped in our inner minds…

Wonderfully, the challenges of Covid-19 cannot stop HWPL’s effort of collaboration and coordination. Since mid-2020, HWPL started to re-organize WARP Office meetings on Zoom, gathering religious communities across different religions in North and South-Central America through online prayer conferences and monthly Zoom meetings for religious scripture sharing to promote respect, searching for the truth, and learning scriptures of various religions. Several meaningful topics were presented within the context of the different religious scriptures of different religions. Some examples of topics are Religious Persecution, The Differences between Laws of the World and Laws of Heaven, The Origin and Standard of Justice, The Test of Faith, The Origin of Righteousness, The Origin and Purpose of Religious Festival, The Appearance of a New Era, and etc… The prayer conference with the interfaith community involved religious leaders across America that crossed national boundaries. We all gathered online to pray for the California wildfires that had greatly impacted the welfare of the people of the California and Oregon regions that have left over four million acres of scorched devastation and have left many people and animals without homes. And HWPL gathered people across North and South America together online for the End-of-Year Prayer, United for Hopes and Prayers for a Brighter 2021.

HWPL volunteers, the Messengers of Peace of the 21st Century!

I want to say, “Thank You!” I refer to you as the Messengers of Peace of the 21st Century as you truly are. More than ever in human history, the world recognizes HWPL leaders around the globe like you, who will lead the world into a better place for future generations. We need the Seeds of Peace, and each of you are one of the Seeds.

God creates religious traditions, and through the learning process, humans create religious contradictions. God creates sciences, and through research and study, humans gradually discover it, but then misuse it for the gain of secular power. God creates all things in the universe then allows humans the capacity not only to observe the physical beings, but also to sense the spiritual natures. Nevertheless, modern humans have known that under the microscope of science, we all are 99% generically similar, we all share 99.9% similar DNA… and under the great scheme of life in the universe, We Are One, and under God, We Are His Beloved Children.

HWPL peace messengers, you have done a great work and I encourage you to continue your effort of building the Culture of Peace regardless of the challenges you might have faced. No great thing on Earth can be achieved without challenges, but challenges may bring you strength, opportunities to learn, and aims for greater achievements. May God bless you and HWPL with the needed Love, Wisdom, and Courage to fulfill the tasks that you are destined to accomplish!

Rev. Tuy Nguyen
Dignitary of Cao Dai Temple of Houston Texas