-Shoghi.
Haifa, Palestine,
November 18, 1933
(Baha’i News, January 1934)
November 18, 1933: To Baha’is of North America
Baha'i Communities East and West acclaim with one voice stupendous accomplishments those responsible for this latest manifestation of America's superb, sustained self -sacrifice. Supreme Concourse echo praises those whose shining deeds are shedding on Baha’i name a great, imperishable lustre. My heart swells with admiration (and) gratitude as I contemplate increasing evidences American believers' well-deserved, steadily advancing fame. Hour of victory is at hand. America's invincible heroism must and will achieve it.
October 30, 1933: To Baha’is of North America
Keith’s precious life offered up in sacrifice to beloved Cause in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land. On Persian soil, for Persia’s sake, she encountered, challenged and fought the forces of darkness with high distinction, indomitable will, unswerving, exemplary loyalty. The mass of her helpless Persian brethren mourns the sudden loss of their valiant emancipator. American believers grateful and proud of the memory of their first and distinguished martyr. Sorrow stricken, I lament my earthly separation from an invaluable collaborator, an unfailing counselor, an esteemed and faithful friend. I urge the Local Assemblies befittingly to organize memorial gatherings in memory of one whose international services entitled her to an eminent rank among the Hands of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.
SHOGHI
[Cablegram] October 30, 1933
(Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America, p. 3)
April 21, 1933: To Baha’is in American Continent
Fellow believers in the American continent! Great indeed have been your past and present achievements! Immeasurably greater are the wonders which the future has in store for you! The Edifice your sacrifices have raised still remains to be clothed. The House (Universal House of Justice) which must needs be supported by the highest administrative institution your hands have reared, is as yet built. The provisions of the chief Repository of those laws that must govern its operation are thus far mostly undisclosed. The Standard (of the Most Great Peace) which, if 'Abdu’l-Baha’s wishes are to be fulfilled, must be raised in your own country has yet to be unfurled. The Unity of which that standard is to be the symbol is far from being yet established. The machinery which must needs incarnate and preserve that unity is not even created. Will it be America, will it be one of the countries of Europe, who will arise to assume the leadership essential to the shaping of the destinies of this troubled Age? Will America allow any of her sister communities in East or West to achieve such ascendency as shall deprive her of that spiritual Primacy with she has been invested and which she has thus far so nobly retained? Will she not rather contribute, by a still further revelation of those inherent powers that motivate her life, to enhance the priceless privilege which the love and wisdom of a departed Master have conferred upon her?
Shoghi Effendi
April 21, 1933.
(Baha’i News, November 1933)
October 27, 1932: To Baha’is of North America
I am deeply conscious of the many obstacles that stand in the path of the American believers in their stupendous endeavor to attain their goal -- a goal on which our dearly beloved Greatest Holy Leaf had set her fondest hopes. I cannot, however, overlook, much as I sympathize with them in their financial tribulations and anxieties, the mysterious power that resides in the united will and concerted action of all the members of that self-sacrificing community -- a community which, since the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, has put an impetus to the advancement of the Cause out of all proportion to its numerical strength, its youthfulness, and experience of the powers latent in this sacred Faith. What an untold wealth of blessings will flow out of a renewed, an irrevocable resolution, representing the combined will of all the steadfast lovers of the Cause of God in that land, to carry out in its entirety during the few remaining months a Plan on which so much that is vital to its world-wide interests depends! The American believers, the stout-hearted supporters of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, have already given too many evidences of their preponderating influence in the direction of its affairs to allow the slightest disappointment to mar the radiance of their past achievements. Their will to succeed must eventually triumph.
SHOGHI
(Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America, p. 2)
July 17, 1932: To Baha’is throughout the United States and Canada
The beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout the United States and Canada.
Brethren and fellow-mourners in the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh:
A sorrow, reminiscent in its poignancy, of the devastating grief caused by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sudden removal from our midst, has stirred the Bahá’í world to its foundations. The Greatest Holy Leaf, the well-beloved and treasured Remnant of Bahá’u’lláh entrusted to our frail and unworthy hands by our departed Master, has passed to the Great Beyond, leaving a legacy that time can never dim.
The community of the Most Great Name, in its entirety and to its very core, feels the sting of this cruel loss. Inevitable though this calamitous event appeared to us all, however acute our apprehensions of its steady approach, the consciousness of its final consummation at this terrible hour leaves us, we whose souls have been impregnated by the energizing influence of her love, prostrated and disconsolate.
July 15, 1932: To Baha’is worldwide
Greatest Holy Leaf’s immortal spirit winged its flight Great Beyond. Countless lovers her saintly life in East and West seized with pangs of anguish. Plunged in utterable sorrow humanity shall ere long recognize its irreparable loss. Our beloved Faith, well nigh crushed by devastating blow of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s unexpected Ascension, now laments passing of last remnant of Bahá’u’lláh, its most exalted member. Holy Family cruelly divested of its most precious great Adorning. I for my part bewail sudden removal of my sole earthly sustainer, the joy and solace of my life. Remains will repose in the vicinity of the Holy Shrines. So grievous a bereavement necessitates suspension for nine months through Bahá’í world every manner religious festivity. Inform Local Assemblies and groups hold in befitting manner memorial gatherings to extol a life so laden with sacred experiences, so rich in imperishable memories. Advise holding additional Commemoration Service of strictly devotional character in the Auditorium of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.
Shoghi
[Cablegram] July 15, 1932
(Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America, p. 1)
June 21, 1932: To Baha’is of North America
Feel impelled appeal entire body American believers to henceforth regard Nabíl’s soul-stirring Narrative as essential adjunct to reconstructed Teaching program, as unchallengeable textbook in their Summer Schools, as source of inspiration in all literary and artistic pursuits, as an invaluable companion in times of leisure, as indispensable preliminary to future pilgrimage to Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, and as unfailing instrument to allay distress and resist attacks of critical, disillusioned humanity.
[Cablegram] Shoghi
(Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America, p. 1)
March 21, 1932: To Baha’is of North America
Would to God that by the end of the spring of the year 1933 the multitudes who, from the remote corners of the globe, will throng the grounds of the Great Fair to be held in the neighborhood of that hallowed shrine [Chicago Temple] may, as the result of your sustained spirit of self-sacrifice, be privileged to gaze on the arrayed splendor of its dome – a dome that shall stand as a flaming beacon and a symbol of hope amidst the gloom of a despairing world.
Shoghi
March 21, 1932.
(Baha’i News, April 1933)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)