The beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout Germany, Care of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly.
My dearest brethren and sisters in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá!
I have received with mixed feelings of sadness and gratitude your long expected letter, sent on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly (National Body), and written by our sincere and devoted brother Consul Schwarz. It made me feel relieved and grateful at receiving at last the news of your safety and the assurance of your unwavering determination to serve with heart and soul and to the very end the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh; and it filled me with sorrow to hear of the grievous calamity that has befallen your land and the hardships that are afflicting your country.
Let me assure you, at the outset, of the deep sympathy of the Ladies of the Household, of the friends the world over, and of myself, in your great suffering, and our unfailing prayers to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that He may dissipate these gathering clouds of animosity and strife, and relieve your great and beloved country from its present state of uncertainty and peril.
I have received with mixed feelings of sadness and gratitude your long expected letter, sent on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly (National Body), and written by our sincere and devoted brother Consul Schwarz. It made me feel relieved and grateful at receiving at last the news of your safety and the assurance of your unwavering determination to serve with heart and soul and to the very end the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh; and it filled me with sorrow to hear of the grievous calamity that has befallen your land and the hardships that are afflicting your country.
Let me assure you, at the outset, of the deep sympathy of the Ladies of the Household, of the friends the world over, and of myself, in your great suffering, and our unfailing prayers to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that He may dissipate these gathering clouds of animosity and strife, and relieve your great and beloved country from its present state of uncertainty and peril.
Why fear and sorrow? Have we not the express promise of the Master, uttered after the termination of the Great War, that Germany, now humbled and weakened, will no doubt be freed from its fetters and will develop, materially and spiritually, and shall one day emerge from this sad turmoil strong, united and prosperous, ready to take her place in the great Family of the advanced nations of the world?
I am enclosing for you all my translation of a number of selections from the Master’s soul-stirring and comforting words, revealed some twenty five years ago, and during the darkest days of his incarceration in the prison-city of ‘Akká. You will I hope translate them and publish them in your Bahá’í organ the “Sun of Truth”, copies of which I shall be most pleased to receive and share with my friends in the Holy Land.
I am enclosing also a copy of my last letter to you, wherein I have asked you, among other things, to send me a detailed report of your activities, and I sincerely hope that I shall soon be in receipt of a detailed answer from you on all the points which I have raised in my last letter.
I am also enclosing my revised translation of the Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, both Arabic and Persian, and hope to send you more of His Words and Teachings in future.
Awaiting your news, and wishing you the highest success in your glorious work of service,
I am your devoted brother,
Shoghi
16 February, 1923
(Shoghi Effendi, The Light of Divine Guidance, vol. 1, p. 13)
