Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand Part 7

Yours in His Service, H. Rabbani

[From the Guardian:]

_May the Beloved guide your steps, cheer your heart, deepen your understanding of the distinguis.h.i.+ng features of His Faith and enable you to render the sacred Threshold unique and inestimable services,_

_Your true brother, _ _ Shoghi_

PART III LETTERS TO INDIVIDUALS, MAY 19341957.

The first National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of New Zealand was formed in 1957.

(25) June 13th, 1934

Dear Baha'i Brother,

The Guardian has duly received and deeply enjoyed reading your letters dated November 30th, December 27th, 1933 and February 4th, 1934. He is sorry that unforeseen circ.u.mstances have caused such a long delay in acknowledging their receipt. He hopes, however, that the matters you have submitted for his consideration have not suffered as a result.

Since your last letter to him, he has heard of the gratifying news of the formation of your N.S.A.(3) This historic step in the development of the Administration in Australia and New Zealand is, he feels, bound to react favourably on the further expansion and consolidation of the Faith in these far-off lands. He is fervently supplicating Baha'u'llah that the newly-elected members of the N.S.A.,(4) upon whom has been placed such a tremendous responsibility, be a.s.sisted in the discharge of their sacred obligations and duties to the Faith.

Yours in His Service, H. Rabbani

[From the Guardian:]

_Dear and valued co-worker:_

_The splendid reports you have sent me have been incorporated in the ma.n.u.script and sent to the Baha'i World Committee in America. The formation of the national a.s.sembly of Australia and New Zealand will no doubt furnish you with new and refres.h.i.+ng material for your next report in 1936. I will pray for your success and deeply value the manifold and constant services you are rendering the Cause of G.o.d._

_Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi_

(26) December 22nd, 1934

Dear Baha'i Sister,

The Guardian was profoundly grieved to learn of the pa.s.sing away of your dear mother, and has directed me to convey to you and to the bereaved members of your family, his heartfelt condolences and sympathy for this severe loss which you have sustained.

Mrs Blundell's departure is, indeed, a loss not only to her family, but also to the community of her fellow-believers in New Zealand. For in her they have come to lose one of their oldest and most distinguished co-workers.

The Guardian well remembers her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and has always cherished the hope that she would once more be enabled to visit the shrines. But alas, her departed soul has taken its flight from this world, leaving her friends and relatives in a state of profoundest grief. Their only consolation now is the realization that through her painstaking and sustained labours for the Cause in Auckland Mrs Blundell has left an abiding monument to her memory, and one which will continue for many years to come to inspire and strengthen them all in their collective endeavours for the establishment of the Faith in New Zealand.

Shoghi Effendi is fervently praying for the soul of our departed sister, and is entreating Baha'u'llah to give her her full share of divine blessings in the other world.

May I also a.s.sure you of his ardent supplications for you, and for all the friends in Auckland.

Yours in His Service, H. Rabbani

(27) January 21st, 1935

Dear Baha'i Sister,

Shoghi Effendi has just been in receipt of your kind letter of the fourteenth of December last, and has read its contents with deep interest and gratification. It made him so happy, indeed, to learn that you are pursuing your activities for the Faith with such steadfastness and self-sacrifice, and also that through your beautiful and loving spirit those members of your family who have not yet embraced the Faith are being gradually attracted to it. He is ardently entreating Baha'u'llah that through your inspiration and guidance their interest in the Teachings may wax stronger and lead them to eventually espouse His Cause.

With reference to the suggestion made by Mr Alexander(5) for taking a record of the Guardian's voice, he wishes me to inform you that although he fully appreciates the spirit in which this and similar suggestions are made to him he is, nevertheless, extremely reluctant that the believers should give any prominence to his writings, specially in the meetings which, he is firmly convinced, should be chiefly devoted to the reading and study of the writings of Baha'u'llah and the Master.

In closing will you kindly convey his greetings and appreciation to all the friends in Auckland, and particularly to the members of your family who, he hopes, will be a.s.sisted and sustained in their labours for the spread of the Message.

Yours in His Service, H. Rabbani

[From the Guardian:]

_Dear and valued co-worker:_

_I am deeply grateful for the services you are so devotedly rendering and the efforts you are so diligently exerting for the promotion of our beloved Faith. I will continue to pray for you and your dear co-workers from the depths of my heart._

_Your true brother, _ _ Shoghi_

(28) February 5th, 1935

Dear Baha'i Sister,

The Guardian has just received your kind message of the second of January last, and wishes me to thank you for it.

It comforted him greatly to learn that, despite the severe loss which you have sustained through the pa.s.sing away of your mother, you are still engaged as actively as before in the work which you have set your heart to accomplish for the Cause in Auckland. The agonies of her earthly separation from you, difficult though they may be to bear, will a.s.suredly be trans.m.u.ted through the blessings of Baha'u'llah into a peaceful and abiding joy. In serving a Cause for which your mother sacrificed so much you will no doubt come to find the very purpose of your life, and the true secret of happiness in this, as well as in the next world.

The Guardian is fervently praying for you and for your brother, that you both may be strengthened and guided in your services to the Cause, and in this way continue and enrich still further the n.o.ble heritage which your mother has left for the Faith in New-Zealand.

With loving Baha'i greetings to you and to all the friends in Auckland.