Messages to America Part 9

THE CRUCIBLE OF WORLD CONFLAGRATION

The most great convulsion envisaged by the Prophets from Isaiah to Baha'u'llah, cataclysmic in violence, planetary in range, is a.s.sailing, at long last, the predominating nations of the Asiatic and American continents. The leading Power of the Western Hemisphere which, together with sister republics, Baha'u'llah's ringing call significantly summoned in His Most Holy Book, the object of 'Abdu'l-Baha's tender solicitude and ardent prayers, the center of His hopes, the recipient of His promises and the beneficiary of His blessings, has been suddenly though not unexpectedly plunged into the crucible of world conflagration. Purged, tested, galvanized, coalescing with its sorely-tried sister nations the world over, the great Republic of the New World, the enviable parent of System heralding the World Order of Baha'u'llah, must a.s.sume through adversity its preponderating share of responsibility to lay down, once for all, broad, worldwide, una.s.sailable foundations of that discredited yet immortal System. Though the immediate future be dark, critical and fraught with anguish, I feel it my bounden duty to appeal in this hour as never before to the Trustees of Baha'u'llah's priceless Revelation whether teachers or administrators, individuals or a.s.semblies, North or South, white or colored, young or old, to refuse at all costs to surrender their solemn spiritual responsibilities, refrain from relaxing their teaching efforts, determine never to slacken their sacred task of building the inst.i.tutions whose progress destiny has indissolubly linked with the fortunes of the most disastrous, most challenging, most pregnant period of human history.

Cablegram December 13, 1941

A TRULY WORLD-EMBRACING CRISIS

Dear and valued co-workers: The entry of the United States of America into the war invest it with the character of a truly world-embracing crisis, designed to release world-shaking, world-shaping forces, which, as they operate, and mount in intensity, will throw down the barriers that hinder the emergence of that world community which the World Religion of Baha'u'llah has antic.i.p.ated and can alone permanently establish. It marks a milestone on the road which must lead the peoples of the North American continent to the glorious destiny that awaits them. It confronts the American Baha'i community, already so well advanced in the prosecution of their Seven Year Plan, with a challenge at once severe and inescapable.

The exterior ornamentation of their consecrated Edifice has been providentially expedited to a point where its completion is now a.s.sured.

The intercontinental and national teaching campaigns, that const.i.tute the second and even more vital aspect of that plan, though progressing magnificently in the States, in Canada and throughout Latin America, are still far from having attained their consummation. The obstacles which the extension of the war to the Western Hemisphere has raised are, I am well aware, manifold and formidable. The heroic self-sacrifice exhibited by the North American Baha'i community will, I am confident, surmount them. The Hand of Omnipotence, which has led so mighty a member of the human race to plunge into the turmoil of world disaster, that has provided thereby the means for the effective and decisive partic.i.p.ation of so promising a nation in the immediate trials and the future reconstruction of human society, will not and cannot allow those who are directly, consciously and worthily promoting the highest interests of their nation and of the world, to fall short of the accomplishment of their G.o.d-given task. He will, more than ever before in their history, pour out His blessings upon them, if they refuse to allow the present circ.u.mstances, grievous though they are, to interfere with the full and uninterrupted execution of this initial undertaking in pursuance of their world mission. The coming two years must witness, fraught as they may well be with the greatest ordeal afflicting their countrymen, a manifestation of spiritual vitality and an output of heroic action, commensurate with the gravity and afflictions of the present hour, and worthy of the concluding years of the first Baha'i century.

January 15, 1942

IMPELLED TO DEPUTIZE FIVE MEMBERS

Message to 1942 Convention

Last phase of Seven Year Plan so auspiciously begun, so vigorously prosecuted, is opening. The first Baha'i Century is fast running out. The agonies of a travailing age are culminating. The Bab's stirring, unique injunction, directing the peoples of the West to leave their cities to insure the triumph of the Divine Cause was recorded a century ago in the Qayyumu'l-Asma. Baha'u'llah's significant summons calling upon all the Presidents of the Republics of the western hemisphere to champion the Cause of Justice was issued seventy years ago in His Most Holy Book. The broad outlines of 'Abdu'l-Baha's matchless design, conceived twenty-five years ago for the benefit of the North American believers, was transmitted to posterity in the Tablets of the Divine Plan. The Seven Year Enterprise, regarded as the initial stage in the execution of a World Mission, has been already launched. The gigantic Temple undertaking, const.i.tuting the major obligation of this enterprise, has been virtually consummated. The vast Intercontinental Teaching Campaign is visibly yielding first fruits in every Republic of Latin America. Upon the crucial year ahead hinge the fortunes of this historic crusade. From Alaska to Chile, the Americas are astir with the leavening influences of the rising Order of the newborn Revelation. The great Republic of the West is inescapably swept into the swelling tide of the world tribulations, presaging the a.s.sumption of a preponderating share in the establishment of the antic.i.p.ated Lesser Peace.

Invisible hosts are marshalled, eager to rush forth and crown every effort, however humble, however belated, exerted to speed the unfinished tasks. Again I renew plea for closer communion with the Spirit of Baha'u'llah, for more pa.s.sionate resolve, for more abundant flow of material resources, and for wider dispersion, intenser concentration, by a still greater number of pioneers, settlers and itinerant teachers to insure for the Plan a termination commensurate with and wondrous as the exploits marking the opening decade of first Baha'i Century. Myself deprived of personal partic.i.p.ation in the task allotted to the prosecutors of the epoch-making Plan, I am impelled to deputize five members of the American Baha'i community to help fulfill in my behalf whatsoever pioneer field is most vital to its urgent requirements. Pledging five thousand dollars for accomplishment of this purpose.

Cablegram April 26, 1942

THE SEVEN YEAR PLAN

Viewed in the perspective of Baha'i history, the Seven Year Plan, a.s.sociated with the closing years of the First Baha'i Century, will come to be regarded as the mightiest instrument yet forged, designed to enable the trustees of a firmly established, steadily evolving Administrative Order to complete the initial stage in the prosecution of the world mission confidently entrusted by the Center of the Covenant to His chosen disciples. The Divine Plan, thus set in operation, may be said to have derived its inspiration from, and been dimly foreshadowed in, the injunction so significantly addressed by Baha'u'llah to the Chief Magistrates of the American continent. It was prompted by the contact established by 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself, in the course of His historic journey, with the entire body of His followers throughout the United States and Canada. It was conceived, soon after that contact was established, in the midst of what was then held to be one of the most devastating crises in human history. It underwent a period of incubation, after His ascension, while the machinery of a divinely appointed Administrative Order was being laboriously devised and its processes set in motion. Its initial operations were providentially made to synchronize with the final years of a century that witnessed the birth and rise of a Faith of which it is the direct consequence. The opening stage in its execution has been faced by, and will survive, the severe challenge of a crisis of still greater magnitude than that which baptized its birth. The conclusion of the first phase of its tremendous and irresistible unfoldment is now approaching. The hopes and aspirations of a mult.i.tude of believers, in both the East and the West, young and old, whether free or suppressed, hang on its triumphant consummation. The Temple itself, that fair incarnation of the soul of an unconquerable Faith, and the first fruit of the Plan now set in motion, stands in its silent beauty, ready to reinforce the strenuous endeavors of its prosecutors. Towering in grandeur and resplendent in its majesty it calls aloud incessantly for a greater, a far greater number of pioneers who, both at home and in foreign fields, will scatter to sow the Divine seeds and gather the harvest into its gates. The Author of the Plan Himself, looking down from His retreats above, and surveying the prodigious labors of His defeatless disciples, voices, with even greater insistence, the same call. The time in which to respond to it is relentlessly shortening. Let men of action seize their chance ere the swiftly pa.s.sing days place it irretrievably beyond their reach.

May 26, 1942

CONSECRATED TO TEACHING TASKS

The completion of the Temple should, and I feel confident will, release tremendous and unprecedented forces of spiritual energy destined to be wholly consecrated to the teaching tasks now confronting the American believers. The concentrated, the sustained, and undivided attention of the individual believers and all Baha'i agencies, local, regional, as well as national, should be directed to the attainment of this supreme, this s.h.i.+ning goal. The increase in the number of pioneers, of every cla.s.s, race, age and outlook is the vital need of the present hour. May the Beloved bless richly and continually this mighty and glorious endeavor.

June 17, 1942

A BEFITTING CLIMAX

I am thrilled with admiration as I contemplate, at this advanced stage in the unfoldment of the Seven Year Plan, the vastness of the field already covered by the pioneer activities of its stalwart and valiant prosecutors.

The heights of heroic self-sacrifice to which they have attained, the depths of faith and devotion they have plumbed in the course of their ceaseless exertions are no less noteworthy than the immensity of the task they have already performed. An effort so prodigious, a mission so sublime, a solidarity so truly remarkable, an achievement, which in its scope and quality, stands unparalleled in American Baha'i history, provide a befitting climax to the century old record of magnificent accomplishments a.s.sociated with the rise and progress of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Such a glorious century, so unique in the annals of mankind's spiritual history, is, however, not yet completed. The gigantic enterprises which the American believers are pledged to consummate are as yet but partially concluded. The remaining two years must witness an intensification of Baha'i activity, throughout the entire Western Hemisphere on such a scale as to eclipse the splendor of all past achievements, and worthily crown this initial phase in the progressive evolution of the Divine Plan. An unprecedented multiplication in the number of pioneer teachers and settlers; an unexampled flow of material resources for their maintenance and the extension of their labors; a still wider dissemination of Baha'i literature, to aid and support them in their presentation of the Faith to Latin American peoples; an immediate increase in the number of groups and a.s.semblies in the States and Provinces of North America; an increased awareness on the part of all believers, whether in the North or in the South, whether newly enrolled or of old standing in the Faith, that every one of them shares, vitally and directly and without any exception, in the responsibility for the successful prosecution of the Plan; a still firmer resolution not to allow a world-convulsing conflict, with its attendant miseries, perils, dislocations, and anxieties, to deflect them from their course or distract their attention; these are the crying needs of this critical, this challenging, this swiftly pa.s.sing hour; to exploit its possibilities, to meet its challenge, to grasp its implications, is the manifest, the inescapable and urgent duty of every member of the Baha'i communities now laboring so a.s.siduously in the Western Hemisphere. May the c.u.mulative effect of their concentrated and sustained labors shed further l.u.s.tre on the concluding years of this, the first century of the Baha'i Era.

August 15, 1942

ACCLAIM WITH GRATEFUL HEART

Acclaim with grateful heart, on twenty-first Anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Ascension, the glorious emergence of the firmly-welded, incorruptible American Baha'i community from severest crisis since His pa.s.sing which the blindness of the breakers of Baha'u'llah's and 'Abdu'l-Baha's Covenants has, amidst His kindred, and in the City of the Covenant, recently tragically precipitated. Posterity will unhesitatingly recognize so spontaneous, s.h.i.+ning, stirring demonstration of fidelity rendered alike to the Lord of the Covenant and to its Center as a victory more enduring, more momentous, than any triumphs, however notable, which the standard-bearers of the Administrative Order, the champion builders of the Temple, the stalwart executors of the Divine Plan have achieved or may yet achieve in the closing years of the expiring First Baha'i Century. Nursed since birth in the lap of the unfailing solicitude of the Center of the Covenant, torch-bearer of the Divine Order recognized as child of that Covenant, vanguard of that host destined to diffuse the Light of that same Covenant over the face of the entire globe, American Baha'i community is now a.s.suming rightful place at the forefront of the world-wide, loyal, unbreachable spiritual army of Baha'u'llah preparing, both in the East and West, to launch still greater campaigns, scale loftier heights, at the dawning of the Second Baha'i Century.

November 30, 1942

THE IMMORTAL LUA

The immortal Lua, mother-teacher of the American Baha'i Community, herald of the dawn of the Day of the Covenant, has been ceremoniously and reverently transferred by Egyptian brethren representing the local Baha'i communities to the immediate vicinity of the grave of far-famed Abu'l-Fadl in the newly established Baha'i cemetery in Cairo. The Isma'iliyyih believers together with a.s.sembly delegates of Egypt have held an inaugural ceremony at the second Baha'i cemetery allocated by the Egyptian authorities. The sacred rights of the persecuted, expelled community, repeatedly denied legitimate burial, are now vindicated. The progressive emanc.i.p.ation of the Faith of Baha'u'llah from the traditional shackles of religious orthodoxy is increasingly evident and humbly, gratefully recognized by followers of the Faith the world over.

Cablegram January 7, 1943

THE UNFINISHED TASKS

The recent response of the American friends to my appeal for pioneers to go forth and settle in virgin territories and places where the need is greatest has raised a load from my heart, and mightily reinforced the hopes and expectations which their past achievements have aroused within me. We stand at the threshold of the last year of the first Baha'i century. The unfinished tasks, however much they have been reduced, are still formidable. The Temple is as yet unfinished. The initiation of a nation-wide publicity campaign, intelligently directed and energetically pursued, utilizing to the full the advantages gained in recent years in so many fields of Baha'i activity still remains to be undertaken. Measures for a befitting celebration of the Centennial anniversary of the Faith must be carefully considered and duly executed. The aims and purposes of our beloved Cause, the achievements of its heroes, martyrs, teachers, pioneers and administrators, the unity of its followers, the character of the inst.i.tutions they have reared, should, one and all, be ably presented, widely broadcast, carefully explained in publications, through the radio and the press. There is no time to lose. A great responsibility rests on the elected representatives of the most envied community in the Baha'i world, whose advantages are unique, whose capacities are incomparable, whose vision, courage, tenacity, resolution and loyalty are exemplary; which has amply demonstrated its worthiness to be the recipient of the countless favors showered upon it by 'Abdu'l-Baha and of the specific bounty conferred upon the rulers and presidents of the continent of which it is a part by no one less than Baha'u'llah Himself, in His Most Holy Book. To His "Apostles," as testified by the Center of His Covenant, I direct my fervent plea that they establish, beyond the shadow of a doubt, in these concluding months of the first Baha'i century, their indisputable right to be designated by so exalted a t.i.tle, and vindicate their ability to execute the mission with which that t.i.tle has invested them.