To the beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful
throughout America, Great Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Japan
and Australasia.
Fellow-workers in the Vineyard of God!
Over a year has elapsed since that calamitous Hour, when the
glorious Person of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was veiled from mortal eyes and His Spirit
ascended to the Kingdom of Glory; and I feel that the time is now ripe to take
those fresh and momentous decisions which will enable us to fulfill, speedily
and faithfully, the last wishes of our departed Master.
The year has been to the outside world a year of fear and
suffering, of disillusion and turmoil. To us, however, the bereaved followers
of a gracious and loving Master, it has been, despite the passing cares which
His sudden departure must necessarily entail, a period of hope, of wholesome
activity, marked throughout with a spirit of undiminished confidence in His
power and of fidelity to His Cause.
From the East and from the West, from the North and from the
South, the unnumbered servants of Bahá’u’lláh, disdainful of the evil
machinations of the enemies of His Cause, the breakers of His behests, have
rallied to His Standard, and risen with one accord to carry on the great Work
He has entrusted to their charge. All-hail to that undying spirit of fidelity
which burns and shall burn unceasingly, in the breasts of His loved ones! Great
shall be their reward, and blissful the hour, when after a toilsome life of
service, they are gathered to the glory of Bahá, and partake in their Beloved’s
Presence, of the joy of eternal Reunion.