These letters were written in 1977, where there were no cell phones or texts available. We wrote those letters by hand, stamped them and mailed them. And I kept all of them. They are treasures to our heart of a life of True Love with our Heavenly Father and each other. Only the last letter, written to Dietrich after he passed, was written on the computer after 40 years of our life together.
I truly experienced the love of God when introduce to my husband Dietrich, and looking deeply into his eyes it was like a spiritual experience, going through a tunnel all the way to Heaven and sensing God and his profound love. God was looking at me through Dietrich. It has been our deepest wish that everyone can experience true love with our Heavenly Father and each other as husband and wife. With God all is possible.
Dear Elisabeth, you are more in my thoughts than my studies. Heavenly Father performed one of his miracles to bring the two of us together. My whole outlook on life is changed since I became a married man. I send you my love, your Dietrich
Dear Dieter, there is warmth in my heart when I think Heavenly Father picked me to be your wife. I will pray more for you, with all my love, Elisabeth
Dear Elisabeth, I think of you often, and feel your pure spirit sometimes very intensely in my heart. I feel very close to you, and ask Heavenly Father to guide us strongly in building our relationship. Let us patiently build what will last for eternity, your Dietrich
Dear Elisabeth, I want to thank our Heavenly Father and you, for this uniquely beautiful Sunday we were able to experience together. My heart is filled with indescribable joy when I think of you, and to realize that God led us together to be united for eternity is too much to be contained in my heart. I feel like overflowing and embracing the whole world. We are tasting just a little bit of God’s love. How beautiful it will be when the whole world is able to fully welcome God’s presence, and to respond to His invincible love. The more I think of you, Elisabeth, the more I am convinced that it is only you who can be my wife. I send you all my love, Dietrich
I only want to add that true love is eternal, and we continue to grow together and love each other, from two different realms.
Early in our marriage when my husband was studying for a PhD in theology in Toronto and my birthday came around, this particular day he surprised me with a gift. He must have been thinking hard what to get me. and he was practical.
When I opened my present, it was AN UMBRELLA! Oh no! Not this! How unromantic! Not that I enjoy walking in pouring rain because it was October, my birthday month, but I can buy myself such a thing. I just wanted something else, even if students are poor, or in debt, could not make ends meet. I just wanted something else.
Like what? Perhaps a dress, a blouse, a perfume, a necklace, an expensive ring? Chosen thinking of me his beloved wife. Women never have enough of those. A night at a restaurant, a get away from it all.
Given our situation, I could have toned down my expectations. But did not Mark Gungor, a marriage expert, say that to please a woman, “You need to love her. Die for her. Take her for dinner. Miss the game for her. Buy her jewelry. Be interested in what she has to say.” (I will let you guess his opinion on how to please a man.)
I love my husband to the moon and back, but choosing a gift was kind of hard for him. After that there were some improvements. One year I got an envelope with a card with loving words and 40 dollars. I have to confess then I got 40 dollars for my birthday every year for the next 30 years or more while he was alive.
Forty was a good number for him, because he loves numbers. He always said, “God loves numbers. God is a great mathematician.”
My husband is a man who never changed. I also liked that he never changed. I was his only begotten wife. One man, one woman. No adultery. True love never changes.
Every year I knew what I would find in an envelope: a special card with loving words written with loving care in a most elegant handwriting and 40 dollars. More gifts to redeem came along, like a body massage, foot massage done by him, restaurant of my choice, and one get away to enjoy within the year.
It got even better for our thirty-year blessed marriage anniversary: We went to Europe by boat (the Queen Mary) to visit our relatives (my idea).
One Christmas I dragged him to a department store to show him where the rings with precious stones were displayed. Because there were on sale, I got one as blue as blue can be. I always feel God’s love in precious stones. God made the beautiful creation for His children to enjoy. He wants everyone to appreciate the beauty He made for us. By now I knew how to talk to a theologian.
But my most precious gift was truly the undivided love. Love between husband and wife does not fluctuate. Love is a commitment. Love is eternal.
My husband’s greatest gift was to love God, and to love me.
When there was a conflict with a family member, my husband Dietrich, when he was on earth, always said: “No matter what, I always love you!”
We remember the song Whitney Houston sang with so much conviction and passion that it gave us goose bumps, because we all want to experience such a thing: “I will always love you.”
So, when Dietrich was saying (many times to myself) after the storm passed, “I always love you, no matter what!” it was a balm to the heart, a soothing sentence in the mist of hardships, that gave hope. The impossible dream became possible, when worked at every single day until our sentence became: “I will always be with you! Forever together.”
When Dietrich came back home at night, and I heard the sound of his car engine coming up the driveway, my heart was happily beating for him, because in an instant he would open the front door and hug me. Then our young children would be rejoicing to see him again and holding on to his jacket, to receive attention and love.
Harmony in the family is the basis and cornerstone of the kingdom of heaven on earth. In the family we learn and practice true love.
Whose responsibility it is? Mine? His? In a conversation this summer my daughter Diesa declared, “It is not my responsibility!”
Thinking deeply about it, we are all responsible to maintain and preserve love and harmony, and to go the extra mile, to nurture each other with love and forgiveness.
I love you no matter what means we can be mean at times but we love each other anyway, no matter what!
We can be rude sometimes, but we love each other anyway, no matter what!
We can fight and want to be right, but it does not stop me from loving you, no matter what.
This is why every time when I heard the sound of his engine driving up the driveway, my heart rejoiced and was beating for him, because I could experience true love.
True love? How does it work in practice?
This summer 2022, which I spent in France, I had many opportunities to practice Jesus’ sentence “Love your enemies.” Some days everybody was my enemy, my heart was shrinking. I could not love anymore.
I tried to get hope by reading my horoscope. It said: “Avoid all conflicts. Avoid all confrontations.” It seemed strange planets were crossing my sky.
This sentence kept coming to my mind: No matter what, I love you! No matter what, I will always love you.
As we grow and become spiritually mature, we get tired of fighting and learn to control our emotions, control our behavior. We respond and do not react. We become serene and calm surrounds us. We digest the difficult feelings. Suddenly, we are no longer rude, or impatient, unforgiving or disturbed, but we apply “I love you, no matter what.” Suddenly we are a step closer to our Heavenly Parent, closer to how we should be, closer to Jesus and to each other. And suddenly we feel happy because we could create a true love moment.
True love needs to become a lifestyle. This is how we change the world As we build relationships of heart with our family, we need to build relationships of heart with our tribe, our people and our nation. This is indeed no simple task. I love you all, anyway.
When my husband Dietrich passed away in 2016, I felt extremely lonely, with tears in my eyes every day. How could I continue a loving relationship with my spouse after he left?
When he was staying at the hospital, I would call him first thing in the morning to wish him a good day and pray together over the phone with him. After he passed, I continued calling him first thing in the morning, pretending I was calling heaven and asking my angels for connection with my husband. I was talking to Dietrich in one way conversation. This helped me a lot to go over the grief and loneliness. I felt he was hearing me.
I also read all the books I could find at the library, about the other world, including his “Eternal Life in the Spirit World.” I learned I could continue the love we experienced on the earth because love travels everywhere, and I sensed his presence when he was visiting.
Over the years some medium friends gave me hopeful and interesting messages here and there. Some are clairvoyants (they can see pictures), others clairaudients (they can hear), others clairsentients (they can feel emotions and energy vibrations).
Spirit world does exist. We were born to live together forever with our loved ones in the spirit world after we die. But the communication has been severed, because of the fall of man as mentioned in the Bible (Genesis chapter 3).
In today’s modern world some scientists are busy inventing a “spirit world machine” where they can receive the different vibrations coming through the other side. It is the time when many inventions will be made possible because God’s providence is progressing, and among all the wars and rumors of war a better world of peace will be established and better communication for all. This makes me happy.
Now I want to share with you my latest message received from the other world.
SPIRITUAL READING
The medium started by describing an underground room with heavenly light. There was an angel sitting at the table. It was an old-fashioned check in, with an Austrian atmosphere from Tyrol. A second angel as a security guard took her upstairs.
There was a handsome man, taller than average with a beautiful smile, my husband Dietrich. He gave me a big hug, saying thank you, merci. He showed me the four-position foundation diamond shape, the beautiful foundation of the universe.
He said I am a champion of going through trials, and he gave me tools to face new challenges. He told me that even if nobody reads my stories right now, the stories will be a treasure. There are many stories to tell where I came out victorious. He asked me to please preserve all my stories and write more. Any work that he left behind please do it. Write your personal memoirs; it is very valuable, our life together.
Outside Unification Theological Seminary where Dietrich taught for many years
Then there was an open field with two houses, and he wanted to show both of them.
The first is a big house with a team of many people working together with many angels. They watch what is happening on earth. It is a very high-tech place, where he does his official public mission. The work involves looking for people who can receive a higher understanding of truth. Dietrich’s passion is to give deeper truth, with no end of understanding. He will be forever a student of truth.
The other building is a small hut, just two rooms. It has no bathroom or kitchen, because they are not needed in the spirit world. It is very rustic, in the mountains, similar to the Austrian huts. Mountains represent the high spirit world. This is where Dietrich goes for alone time with God, where he recharges himself from the intensity of his mission.
He goes to this cabin in the mountains with pen and paper. There he meditates, converses with God. God gives him a theme and he develops it, writing down inspiration as it comes to him. He has a notebook and pencil; nothing high-tech. When he gets these understandings, he gives them to people on earth.
This cabin is his happy place, where he likes to be alone with God. It is his place to rest, a place to recharge his energy away from the intensity of work. It is a simple place, and it is enough for him. Now he lives in his mountain cabin, and likes it there, but want me to have comforts. He is preparing something very dignified for me like for a queen, and many wonderful surprises, in a beautiful place in the spirit world for when I come!
Dietrich said he knows I miss him. He misses me differently because he visits me on a regular basis. He can hear me, even when I do not hear him. He wishes he could talk openly with me and make me laugh. He suggested I practice laugh therapy. He said he misses our conversations and my feedback. He is very proud of me.
Concerning our ancestors, there are so many of them. There are lots of people coming forward, and they are bringing foods. There is lots of support around me and a lot of gratitude. They bring good things, healing, sustenance for my children, love and tenderness. A gentleman is bringing tomatoes. A lady, probably my mom, reminds me how to make the best of every situation. If you have nothing but carrots you can make a delicious soup. She was grateful for what she did have. She could make delicious dishes out of nothing. Dietrich’s parents brought wine in heavy chests, each one with a label of love from different years, very special. Dietrich gave me a huge heart of chocolates, and a good bye hug.
The reason for Jesus’ coming was to establish the kingdom of God on the earth.
Jesus brought a revolutionary heart when he said “God is your father.” No one never said such a thing before, that we are children of God, that God is our father.
Jesus was proclaimed the Prince of Peace, Christ, and Messiah. He fought evil all his life and one of his ministries was to liberate people from evil spirits and heal them. He saw that the evil spirits could give people diseases and disfunction. That is why today we feel the power of those evil forces, and there will be wars and rumors of war before Christ comes again.
Another of his great statements was, “Love your enemy.” Those powerful declarations can conquer the world.
He also said that he will come back to fulfill the marriage supper of the lamb. Today we are living in such a time as this. It means that at his return, Jesus will find his bride. And with this event (the marriage supper of the lamb) his kingdom will finally be firmly established on the earth.
He prayed, “May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” We will then enter the kingdom as couples. People will have to learn to love with true love. It will take a revolution of heart. It will not be easy. But the Second Coming will show the model. The first coming emphasized individual salvation; the second coming will be to establish family salvation.
We love Jesus even 2000 years after his first coming. And, as my neighbor said, he feels it in his bones that Jesus is coming soon, or already came again.
I remember the first time Dietrich held my hand. Just minutes after seeing me, he took both my hands into his, and said he liked me.
The second time he took my hand was a few days after our Holy Marriage Blessing, when I visited him in Barrytown. We went for a walk somewhere beautiful together with his friend, Dr. Masuda, and his new wife. Both couples were holding hands. I recall the nature being more beautiful than usual. The deer were greeting us. To walk hand in hand with my new husband was a heavenly experience; so much electricity and love was passing through our touch. Throughout our life we always held hands.
I also remember when I was in the midst of trouble, hardship, sorrow, confusion, in the midst of tears, just to know his hand was near, and I could reach out to him, gave me courage to go on. Without his hand nearby I could not persevere.
I remember sometimes feeling exhausted at night, refusing to stand another 5 minutes, or refusing to get up in the early morning. But hearing his voice praying to heaven, I felt so comforted and secure. It was music to my ears. Then I would ask him to massage me back to life. His touch transformed my depleted energy into new hope and new life. Hands have healing energy.
When my mother was spending her last days on earth at the retirement home in our hometown, my family took turns to be with her so that she was never alone. She was very scared of dying, because during her life she did not take the opportunity to love God, did not want to, or could not do it because she had endured so much pain and difficult circumstances. But somehow, she loved her son-in-law like her own son. So, Dietrich was assigned to be with her at night.
She wanted to hold hands during the day with my brother or me, her daughter. She held our hands very tenaciously. Even when she could not talk or drink anymore, holding on to our hands was the last sign of life. At night my husband would hold her hands with gratitude and deep love for his mother-in-law. He would sing lullabies to her.
When I remember the scene of my mom dying and Dietrich holding her hands singing lullabies from his sleeping bag on the floor next to her, tears roll down my cheeks. It was really comforting and beautiful. God must have been comforted by this scene as well.
Before Dietrich passed, he was in the ICU intubated because he could not breathe anymore. The doctors had to trap his hands in what looked like handcuffs so that he would not take the tube out of his mouth. The moment I came to visit I would liberate him and hold his depleted hands. And when it was his time to go, the night before our daughter Diesa, holding his hand, asked him to wait a little longer until we all came again to say good bye.
The hands of blessed couples receive the divine power of Heavenly Parent. Now that Dietrich is not here, how I long to hold his hand again.
A long time ago, when I was living in Italy, one day I started dancing in the streets of Milano. I was feeling so happy I was literally running to the Unification Church center because I thought I had finally found what I was looking for.
One night, coming back home and feeling emotionally distressed and disturbed by what I was learning, and losing at that time my so called “boyfriend,” I threw my bag and coat on the sofa and headed to the kitchen. There were two birds in a cage there with the purpose of singing for me or on display for me to look at their beautiful colors. I sat by the kitchen table and started crying. That’s what I do if I do not know how to find my way.
Warm tears started falling from my eyes. I noticed when I started crying the birds started singing. I paused, and they paused too. Then I started crying again, then sobbing. The more I was sobbing the more the birds sang with joy and more loudly. How could this be? I thought, I am in turmoil and those birds seems happy about my circumstances.
It was God’s plan back then, through the beautiful creation that God made, He gave me insight that all those dramas will pass, and that He had me on the road He wanted me to be on. The road where I would find my direction, and the true purpose of my life, my life mission and above all the man of my life, my true love for eternity. Love cannot be felt alone. We arrive at the kingdom in pairs.
Blossom-headed parakeets
Lately I have been working together with Dr. Tanabe a colleague of my husband, Dietrich. She also has birds in her kitchen. When talking meaningful things, or sharing some passages to include in a book, or a new idea, her birds would accompany our discussions with joyful singing. And when they sang louder than our voices, we were on the right track. We felt God’s touch every time this happened.
Rev. Moon, affectionately called True Father, shared this bird story in a message entitled “Where And How Do You Want To Live Your Life?” which he gave at Belvedere on June 9, 1996:
“When Father was growing up he felt he had to conquer every aspect of creation. Once Father caught a mother bird and three baby birds together and kept them in his house. At that point Father didn’t realize that there was a father bird. All of a sudden the father bird appeared and began to cry in a sad voice. When this father bird looked at Father, he cried even more sadly because True Father was the destroyer of this bird’s family. Then Father released the birds, one by one. The sad tone of the father bird’s song lessened. Finally, when all three baby birds were released this father bird seemed content. But when the mother bird was released then the whole family of birds greeted Father and then flew away. How did Father know that they came and greeted him? Because they circled Father’s house and then flew away.“
We can learn so much about life and love from birds. Birds are truly comforting to people’s heart.
Last night I felt drawn to the reality tv series called “Married at First Sight.”
Since there are so many singles feeling lonely and looking for love and marriage, a team of psychologists, sexologists, sociologists and marriage counselors matched six couples from a large pool of volunteers. These six couples, matched by this team of experts, were supposed to marry the moment they met each other.
It looked a bit like my own matching and wedding.
In fact, those six couples, in my opinion, looked like excellent matches for each other. Even though this team of professionals claimed that nobody did this before, I have to say the Rev. Moon did exactly that during his life time.
With insight and intuition, by looking spiritually into our lineage of ancestors, and through our body characteristics, he would determine the best matches. But we still had our portion of responsibility to make our marriage work.
“God’s vertical love is perfected through the horizontal love of human beings, in the highest form through the husband-and-wife relationship. That model is then extended to how families relate to each other, and how nations relate to each other. The whole Kingdom of God is characterized by these loving relationships.”
When we resemble God, that is our original value, our divine value. And, as Dietrich stated, we resemble God through the love relationship of a couple in a God-centered marriage. We can only enter the Kingdom of Heaven with our spouse. This is our salvation.
Today we need to recover the family, which has been under attack since the beginning of time. If we do not have a family, we do not have much at all.
That is why singles feel lonely and want to find love, and why popular television shows like “Married at First Sight” attract many viewers.
In our precious family, the mom (me) was labeled “backward thinking” by the daughter of the family, and the dad (my true love) was labeled “ok thinking,” because of who he is, she said. Backward thinking means I do not fully comprehend or acknowledge the hurt of others in the past or present she said.
I myself am from the older generation who happened to make amends and reparations for the unity and reconciliation and restored love between the European countries who were at war with each other. Dietrich, my husband, came from German Austrian parents, with ancestors from Hungary. I have French, Italians, and ancestors from the House of Savoy which was once a sovereignty in Savoy between Switzerland and Italy in the French Alps. Often, my husband talked about the Alps, as you find them in many countries. The mountains united us.
Because of the World Wars, reparations between the French, Germans and Austrians started right there the day of our holy wedding. That was day one of the 40 years of reparations, amends and true love, the time we were married together on this earth. Through loving me, my husband brought comfort and reparations to my ancestors.
I was representing all of them. through loving me unconditionally, he could reverse the pain, suffering, and abuse of the World Wars. Even some days I was not lovable, he loved me anyway. True love has no borders. By giving true love the wars were forgiven.
Myself too, I had to learn to forgive, even when it was Impossible. I did forgive. Our marriage blessing was for the sake of our nations.
So, I would say that the quickest way to offer reparations is to be more loving, more forgiving, more embracing, and as Jesus said, “Love your enemy.”
When we walked into this room to receive the holy wine ceremony at the Belvedere estate and three days later at the New Yorker Hotel to receive the holy water marriage blessing ceremony from the late Rev. Moon, who is well known for marrying former enemies to each other, we did not fully realize how much hard work it would be to love one’s enemy. It took 40 years.
My daughter, Diesa, who first said in one of our conversations that whatever I was saying was backward thinking, after hearing me talking about our love story she agreed that this was forward thinking, because of our determination and desperation to love each other despite our differences and our parents and grandparents and ancestors being former enemies.
I am eternally grateful to my late husband that we could do this to advance peace and love for all humankind. Elisabeth Seidel
There is no greater force against evil in the world than the love of a man and a woman in marriage.
Cardinal Raymond Burke
As I was browsing Facebook, I stopped at this sentence from Cardinal Burke. I savored it for a long time. It was illustrated with a most stunning painting of a man and a woman dancing tenderly together as their kids, 5 and 7 years old it seemed, sat and watched. What a beautiful sight! Love is the most powerful force of all.
On Tuesday August 13, 1963, I wrote in my journal: “It is wonderful to think that soon I will be 18, all of a life to fill, so many things to get to know, and not knowing yet who will be the man of my life.”
Fast forward to February 1977. Just a few days before our wedding day, February 21, I was in the library at Belvedere estate together with many single men and women, who had come there to hear a speech from Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
I had heard rumors that Father Moon, as we call him, was preparing to conduct a Holy Marriage Blessing soon. Instead of a speech, Father Moon asked if we wanted him to start matching us right away! I was taken by surprise, a little in shock, and suddenly overcome by anticipation.
Father Moon started on the spot. He would ask a participant to stand up, ask a few questions and then point at a woman in the crowd. The two would then proceed to another room to talk and decide if they would accept the match. They would then return to the library and bow to Father and Mother Moon if they accepted. That afternoon 12 couples were matched. The next day the matching would continue.
When we were matched, Dietrich and I talked shortly. He said, “I like you.” I said, “I like you too.” As he was holding my hands, I was looking into his romantic green eyes and transported into the heavenly realm where God was telling me “I will love you through him.”
A few days later, on the 21st of February 1977, the Holy Marriage Blessing ceremony was held with 74 couples.
So, I totally agree with Cardinal Burke: There is no greater force against evil in the world than the love of a man and woman in marriage.
Dietrich F. Seidel 