Viewed in the perspective of Bahá’í history, the Seven Year Plan, associated with the closing years of the First Bahá’í 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 Bahá’u’lláh to the Chief Magistrates of the American continent. It was prompted by the contact established by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá 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 multitude 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 passing days place it irretrievably beyond their reach.
HEART AGLOW PRIDE GRATITUDE FORMATION TEN ASSEMBLIES LATIN AMERICA ESTABLISHMENT FOURTEEN ADDITIONAL ASSEMBLIES UNITED STATES CANADA. HOWEVER MUCH ELATED REFUSE BELIEVE STOUTHEARTED FAR-SIGHTED STERNLY RESOLVED AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY WILL BE WILLING REST AT SO CRITICAL JUNCTURE LAURELS TOILSOMELY DESERVEDLY WON. SPURRED NEWLY ACHIEVED VICTORIES ROUSED SIGHT PROGRESSIVE RESTRICTION TEACHING FIELD EASTERN HEMISPHERE GALVANIZED CEASELESS ASSAULTS DELUDED ADVERSARIES DAUNTLESS DEFENDERS BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ’S INDESTRUCTIBLE COVENANT NEW WORLD MUST, WILL ARISE ENSURE FURTHER DEPLOYMENT FORCES PIONEER FRONT EXTENDING LENGTH BREADTH AMERICAS. IMMEDIATE UNPRECEDENTED MULTIPLICATION PIONEERS IMPERATIVE. EXTENSION FACILITIES CONSTANT ENCOURAGEMENT BY ALL ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES URGENTLY REQUIRED. NOTHING SHORT PROMPT WIDE SYSTEMATIC SUSTAINED DISPERSION CAN PROPERLY SAFEGUARD FRUITS PAST LABORS SACRIFICES CAN COMPENSATE DISABILITIES AFFLICTING INCAPACITATED COMMUNITIES OTHER CONTINENTS CAN ADEQUATELY FULFILL PURPOSE FOR WHICH ENTIRE ADMINISTRATIVE MACHINERY PAINSTAKINGLY FASHIONED CAN CONCLUSIVELY CONFOUND MACHINATIONS CONTEMPTIBLE ENEMIES CAN SUBSTANTIALLY REINFORCE IMPETUS ALREADY IMPARTED PIONEER ACTIVITIES ORIENTAL BELIEVERS CAN SUFFICIENTLY EMPOWER AMERICAN BAHÁ’ÍS DISCHARGE PARAMOUNT OBLIGATION CONTRIBUTE FULFILLMENT AMERICA’S SPIRITUAL DESTINY OR CAN PRECIPITATE FLOW SPIRITUAL ENERGIES ENABLING SOUL COMMUNITY AND INDIVIDUALS COMPRISING IT DRAW NIGH IMBIBE SPIRIT BAHÁ’U’LLÁH PROVE WORTHY UNTOLD BLESSINGS ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ HAND DOWN UNIMPAIRED FUTURE GENERATIONS TORCH TRANSMITTED THEM HEROIC SPIRITUAL PREDECESSORS PERSIA. EAGERLY PRAYERFULLY AWAITING STILL MORE COMPELLING MANIFESTATIONS INVINCIBLE VALOR EXECUTORS DIVINE MANDATE NOW APPROACHING FATEFUL MILESTONE BAHÁ’Í HISTORY.
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 Bahá’í agencies, local, regional, as well as national, should be directed to the attainment of this supreme, this shining goal. The increase in the number of pioneers, of every class, race, age and outlook, is the vital need of the present hour. May the Beloved bless richly and continually this mighty and glorious endeavor.
‘ABDU’L-JALÍL BEY SA‘D ABU’L-FAḌL’S MOST RENOWNED DISCIPLE FOREMOST CHAMPION FAITH EGYPT, OUTSTANDING BAHÁ’Í ADMINISTRATOR BRILLIANT AUTHOR, INDEFATIGABLE TEACHER ASCENDED ABHÁ KINGDOM LOSS IRREPARABLE HEARTS GRIEF-STRICKEN. ADVISE HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL GATHERING TEMPLE TO ASSOCIATE AMERICAN BELIEVERS UNIVERSAL MOURNING DISTINGUISHED HAND CAUSE BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.59
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 Bahá’í history, provide a befitting climax to the century-old record of magnificent accomplishments associated with the rise and progress of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. 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 Bahá’í 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 Bahá’í 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 Assemblies 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 passing 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 Bahá’í communities now laboring so assiduously in the Western Hemisphere. May the cumulative effect of their concentrated and sustained labors shed further luster on the concluding years of this, the first century of the Bahá’í Era.
FATE SEVEN YEAR PLAN PERILOUSLY HANGING BALANCE. PIVOTAL YEAR, BORN AMIDST HIGH HOPES UNPRECEDENTED UPSURGE UNBREAKABLE SPIRIT AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY, ALREADY HALF SPENT. OBSTACLES, ENGENDERED BY STEADILY DEEPENING, WORLD-CONVULSING CONFLICT, HOURLY INCREASING. MOVED PLEAD AFRESH IMMEDIATE MULTIPLICATION PIONEERS IN TEACHING FIELD, NORTH, SOUTH, SCALE FAR SURPASSING ANYTHING HITHERTO CONTEMPLATED. PRESENT TEMPO TEACHING ACTIVITIES CLEARLY INSUFFICIENT ENSURE DEFINITIVE, ALL-EMBRACING VICTORY. IMPELLED BY EXTREME GRAVITY SWIFTLY PASSING HOUR ADDRESS APPEAL INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, ASSEMBLIES, EMBRACE IRREVOCABLE RESOLUTION, GIRD THEMSELVES SUPERHUMAN EFFORT, AND DEPUTIZE PIONEERS, WHATEVER COST, HOWEVER INADEQUATE QUALIFICATIONS, FOR IMMEDIATE SETTLEMENT AREAS NEEDING ASSISTANCE. STRICTEST ECONOMY ALL ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS HENCEFORTH IMPERATIVE. STILL MORE ABUNDANT FLOW RESOURCES NATIONAL FUND, INVOLVING STILL NOBLER SELF-SACRIFICE, DEMANDED. DEFINITE REMOVAL EVERY RESTRICTION, EXTENSION EVERY FACILITY, ENCOURAGEMENT PROSPECTIVE SETTLERS URGED. ADVERSARIES FAITH JEALOUSLY VIGILANT. SISTER COMMUNITIES WATCHING ANXIOUS SUSPENSE BEHOLD BEFITTING CONSUMMATION AMERICA’S EPOCH-MAKING ACHIEVEMENTS. SWIFT ACTION, BOLDLY CONCEIVED, UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORTED, SYSTEMATICALLY CONDUCTED, CAN ALONE RETRIEVE PRESENT SITUATION. TIME TOO SHORT, CONDITIONS TOO CRITICAL, NEED TOO GREAT, OPPORTUNITY TOO PRECIOUS, ISSUES AT STAKE TOO MOMENTOUS TO JUSTIFY SLIGHTEST COMPLACENCY, ALLOW LEAST RELAXATION STUPENDOUS EXERTIONS REQUIRED SEAL TRIUMPH GREATEST COLLECTIVE ENTERPRISE LAUNCHED DURING FIFTY YEARS AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í HISTORY. PRAYERFULLY, LONGINGLY AWAITING DECISIVE ANSWER, AT THIS LATE HOUR, SUPREMELY URGENT CALL.
ACCLAIM WITH GRATEFUL HEART ON TWENTY-FIRST ANNIVERSARY ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ’S ASCENSION GLORIOUS EMERGENCE FIRMLY WELDED INCORRUPTIBLE AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY FROM SEVEREST CRISIS SINCE HIS PASSING WHICH BLINDNESS BREAKERS BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S AND ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ’S COVENANTS HAS AMIDST HIS KINDRED AND IN CITY COVENANT60 RECENTLY TRAGICALLY PRECIPITATED. POSTERITY WILL UNHESITATINGLY RECOGNIZE SO SPONTANEOUS SHINING STIRRING DEMONSTRATION FIDELITY ALIKE TO LORD OF COVENANT AND ITS CENTER AS VICTORY MORE CONSPICUOUS MORE ENDURING MORE MOMENTOUS THAN ANY TRIUMPHS HOWEVER NOTABLE WHICH STANDARD-BEARERS ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER CHAMPION-BUILDERS TEMPLE STALWART EXECUTORS DIVINE PLAN HAVE ACHIEVED OR MAY YET ACHIEVE CLOSING YEARS EXPIRING FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY. NURSED SINCE BIRTH LOVE UNFAILING SOLICITUDE CENTER COVENANT TORCHBEARER DIVINE ORDER RECOGNIZED AS CHILD THAT COVENANT VANGUARD HOST DESTINED DIFFUSE LIGHT THAT SAME COVENANT OVER FACE ENTIRE GLOBE AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY NOW ASSUMING RIGHTFUL PLACE FOREFRONT WORLDWIDE LOYAL UNBREACHABLE SPIRITUAL ARMY BAHÁ’U’LLÁH PREPARING BOTH EAST WEST LAUNCH STILL GREATER CAMPAIGNS SCALE LOFTIER HEIGHTS DAWNING SECOND BAHÁ’Í CENTURY.
IMMORTAL LUA61 MOTHER TEACHER AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY HERALD OF DAWN DAY COVENANT CEREMONIOUSLY REVERENTLY TRANSFERRED BY EGYPTIAN BRETHREN REPRESENTING LOCAL BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITIES IMMEDIATE VICINITY GRAVE FAR-FAMED ABU’L-FAḌL IN NEWLY ESTABLISHED BAHÁ’Í CEMETERY CAIRO. ISMÁ‘ÍLÍYYIH BELIEVERS TOGETHER ASSEMBLY DELEGATES EGYPT HELD INAUGURAL CEREMONY SECOND BAHÁ’Í CEMETERY ALLOCATED BY EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIES. SACRED RIGHTS PERSECUTED EXPELLED COMMUNITY REPEATEDLY DENIED LEGITIMATE BURIAL NOW VINDICATED. PROGRESSIVE EMANCIPATION FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH TRADITIONAL SHACKLES RELIGIOUS ORTHODOXY INCREASINGLY EVIDENT HUMBLY GRATEFULLY RECOGNIZED BY FOLLOWERS FAITH WORLD OVER.
JUST INFORMED BY MAIL MAGNIFICENT RESPONSE AMERICAN BELIEVERS MY RECENT TEACHING APPEAL. CONVEY PIONEERS NEWLY LAUNCHED SACRIFICIAL CAMPAIGN ASSURANCE INEXPRESSIBLE GRATITUDE. AREA UNFINISHED TASKS VISIBLY DIMINISHING AS BAHÁ’Í CENTURY SPEEDS TO CLOSE. URGE EVERY HESITANT BELIEVER HOWEVER UNPREPARED INEXPERIENCED AUDACIOUSLY ARISE DETERMINEDLY PRESS FORWARD NOBLY PERSEVERE REINFORCE RANKS TRAILBREAKERS FORMATIVE AGE FAITH NOW UNITEDLY ARISEN SEAL TRIUMPH INITIAL UNDERTAKING MARKING OPENING PHASE ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ’S DIVINE PLAN.
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 Bahá’í century. The unfinished tasks, however much they have been reduced, are still formidable. The Temple is as yet unfinished. The initiation of a nationwide publicity campaign, intelligently directed and energetically pursued, utilizing to the full the advantages gained in recent years in so many fields of Bahá’í 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 institutions 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 Bahá’í world, whose advantages are unique, whose capacities are incomparable, whose vision, courage, tenacity, resolution and loyalty are exemplary, and which has amply demonstrated its worthiness to be the recipient of the countless favors showered upon it by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, 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 Bahá’u’lláh 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 Bahá’í century, their indisputable right to be designated by so exalted a title, and vindicate their ability to execute the mission with which that title has invested them.
HEART AGLOW PRIDE LOVE GRATITUDE SUPERB ACHIEVEMENT COMPLETION EXTERIOR HOUSE WORSHIP MOTHER TEMPLE WEST. BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S HIGH BEHEST ENSHRINED HIS MOST HOLY BOOK BRILLIANTLY EXECUTED. THIRTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD ENTERPRISE INITIATED SAME DAY BÁB’S SACRED REMAINS TRANSLATED MOUNT CARMEL TRIUMPHANTLY CONSUMMATED. UNIQUE EDIFICE SINGLED OUT CONSECRATION HANDS ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ NOBLY REARED. GREATEST HOLY LEAF’S LAST ARDENT WISH BEFITTINGLY FULFILLED. CONCOURSE ON HIGH JUBILANT. MYSELF BOW HEAD JOYOUS REVERENT RECOGNITION PRODIGIOUS ACCOMPLISHMENT DESERVES RANK AMONG OUTSTANDING ENTERPRISES LAUNCHED HEROIC AGE AND MOST SIGNAL VICTORY WON SINCE INCEPTION FORMATIVE PERIOD BAHÁ’Í DISPENSATION.
ASSURE RELATIVES MATHEW KASZAB HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES PROFOUND SYMPATHY LOSS HEROIC PIONEER. HIS SERVICES UNFORGETTABLE ABUNDANTLY REWARDED. LOVING PRAYERS.
HIGHLY APPROVE MEMORANDUM REGARDING SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY PUBLICATION.62 ADVISE YOUR ASSEMBLY UNDERTAKE PREPARATION IMMEDIATELY. PRAYING DIVINE GUIDANCE HISTORIC TASK. CENTENARY CELEBRATION SHOULD BE HELD CONJUNCTION ANNUAL CONVENTION MAY 1944.
OVERJOYED MULTIPLYING EVIDENCES EXTRAORDINARY PROGRESS MANIFOLD ACTIVITIES CONSECRATED AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY. PLEAD AFRESH EVE LAST REMAINING YEAR FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY STRAIN EVERY NERVE CONCENTRATE ALL RESOURCES ENSURE FURTHER IMMEDIATE INCREASE NUMBER PIONEERS SETTLERS VIRGIN AREAS. CALL URGENT, HOUR CRUCIAL, GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES SLIPPING AWAY. NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT ACHIEVE CONSUMMATION HOPES EMBODIED SEVEN YEAR PLAN. DIRECT SPECIAL APPEAL LARGE FLOURISHING COMMUNITIES PROMPTLY EFFECTUALLY CAST WEIGHT SCALES STIMULATE DISPERSION VITALLY REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE FINAL VICTORY. PRAYING WATCHFUL MASTER SPEED VALIANT STEWARDS COVENANT PATH LEADING SHINING GOAL.
The completion of the exterior ornamentation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Wilmette, the most hallowed Temple ever to be erected by the followers of Bahá’u’lláh and the crowning glory of the first Bahá’í century, is an event of unique and transcendental significance. Neither the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the Bahá’í world, reared in the City of ‘Ishqábád, nor any House of Worship to be raised in succeeding centuries, can claim to possess the vast, the immeasurable potentialities with which this Mother Temple of the West, established in the very heart of so enviable a continent, and whose foundation stone has been laid by the hand of the Center of the Covenant Himself, has been endowed. Conceived forty years ago by that little band of far-sighted and resolute disciples of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, members of the first Bahá’í community established in the Western Hemisphere; blessed and fostered by a vigilant Master Who directed its course from the hour of its inception to the last days of His life; supported by the spontaneous contributions of Bahá’ís poured in from the five continents of the globe; this noble, this mighty, this magnificent enterprise deserves to rank among the immortal epics that have adorned the annals of the Apostolic Age of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.
The debt of gratitude owed by the entire Bahá’í world to its champion builders is indeed immeasurable. The admiration which this brilliant exploit has evoked in the breasts of countless followers of the Faith in East and West knows no bounds. The creative energies its completion must unleash are incalculable. The role it is destined to play in hastening the emergence of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, now stirring in the womb of this travailing age, cannot as yet be fathomed. We stand too close to so majestic, so lofty, so radiant, so symbolic a monument raised so heroically to the glory of the Most Great Name, at so critical a stage in human history, and at so significant a spot in a continent so richly endowed, to be able to visualize the future glories which the consummation of this institution, this Harbinger of an as yet unborn civilization, must in the fullness of time disclose to the eyes of all mankind.
That so laborious, so meritorious, an undertaking has been completed a year before its appointed time is a further cause for rejoicing and gratitude and an added testimony to the vision, the resourcefulness, and enterprising spirit of the American believers.
No need, however, to dwell at length on their past achievements, remarkable and exemplary though they have been, nor is this the time to expatiate on the superb spirit that has characterized their stewardship in the service of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Tasks, of extreme urgency, of great magnitude, of the utmost significance, await them in this concluding year of the first Bahá’í century, and at this hour of great peril, of stress and trial for all mankind. The sacred, the pressing, the inescapable teaching responsibilities, assumed under the Seven Year Plan, must be resolutely faced as befits those whose record has shed so brilliant a light on the annals of the first Bahá’í century. The consolidation of each and every nucleus, formed so painstakingly in every Republic of Central and South America, the formation of a Bahá’í Assembly in every virgin state and province in the North American continent, call for undivided attention, for further heroism, for a concerted, a persistent, and herculean effort on the part of the stalwart builders of that beauteous Edifice which posterity will recognize as the greatest shrine in the Western world.
Nor must the elaborate preparations in connection with the forthcoming celebration of the centenary of our glorious Faith be overlooked or neglected, if we would befittingly consummate this first, this most fecund, century of the Bahá’í Era. An unprecedented, a carefully conceived, efficiently coordinated, nationwide campaign, aiming at the proclamation of the message of Bahá’u’lláh, through speeches, articles in the press, and radio broadcasts, should be promptly initiated and vigorously prosecuted. The universality of the Faith, its aims and purposes, episodes in its dramatic history, testimonials to its transforming power, and the character and distinguishing features of its World Order should be emphasized and explained to the general public, and particularly to eminent friends and leaders sympathetic to its cause, who should be approached and invited to participate in the celebrations. Lectures, conferences, banquets, special publications should, to whatever extent is practicable and according to the resources at the disposal of the believers, proclaim the character of this joyous Festival. An All-America Convention, at which representatives of Bahá’í centers in every republic in Central and South America will be invited to participate and, to which, for the first time, all isolated believers, all groups, and all communities already possessing Local Spiritual Assemblies, will have the right to appoint delegates and to share in the election of the National Spiritual Assembly, will moreover have to be held to commemorate this epoch-making event. A dedication ceremony, in consonance with the solemnity of the occasion, and held beneath the dome of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár on the very day and at the very hour of the Báb’s historic Declaration, followed by a public session, consecrated to the memory of both the Báb and ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, should constitute the leading features of this historic Convention.
For it should be borne in mind that in the year 1944 we celebrate not only the termination of the first century of the Bahá’í Era, but also the centenary of the birth of the Bábí Dispensation, of the inception of the Bahá’í cycle, and of the birth of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá and commemorate as well the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in the western world.63
No effort nor any sacrifice can be deemed too great to ensure the decisive, the brilliant success of the celebrations which this historic year, of such manifold significance, must witness. He Who in the past has, in divers ways and on so many occasions, graciously and unfailingly guided, blessed, and sustained the members of this privileged community will, no doubt, continue to aid and inspire them to carry to a victorious conclusion the unfinished tasks which still confront them, and will enable them to crown their labors in a manner that will befit their high destiny.
DESIRE ANNOUNCE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES VALIANT BLESSED TRIUMPHANT AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY ASSEMBLED BENEATH DOME RECENTLY COMPLETED MOTHER TEMPLE WEST ON OCCASION CONVENTION INAUGURATING HUNDREDTH YEAR FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY MOMENTOUS DECISION CONVENE MAY 1944 ALL-AMERICA CENTENNIAL CONVENTION COMPRISING DELEGATES TO BE SEPARATELY ELECTED BY EACH STATE PROVINCE IN NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT AND TO WHICH EVERY REPUBLIC LATIN AMERICA MAY SEND ONE REPRESENTATIVE. ALL GROUPS ALL ISOLATED BELIEVERS AS WELL AS ALL LOCAL COMMUNITIES ALREADY POSSESSING ASSEMBLIES WILL HENCEFORTH SHARE IN ELECTION CONVENTION DELEGATES. MULTIPLICATION BAHÁ’Í CENTERS AND REMARKABLE INCREASE NUMBERS GROUPS ISOLATED BELIEVERS PROMPT MY DECISION. HISTORIC OCCASION NEXT YEAR’S FESTIVITIES COMMEMORATING ALIKE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY BIRTH FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY ITS ESTABLISHMENT WESTERN HEMISPHERE AND CELEBRATING COMPLETION EXTERIOR ORNAMENTATION FIRST HOUSE WORSHIP WESTERN WORLD IMPERATIVELY DEMAND IT. DETAILS PROJECT ALREADY MAILED. CONGRATULATE BEST BELOVED AMERICAN BELIEVERS SHARE THEIR JOY WISH THEM GODSPEED CONFIDENT STILL GREATER VICTORIES AS THEY FORGE AHEAD COURSE SECOND BAHÁ’Í CENTURY ALONG PATH LEADING THEM HIGH DESTINY. HOPE FORWARD IN TIME FOR SOLEMN THANKSGIVING SERVICE TO BE HELD IN AUDITORIUM TEMPLE EVENING MAY TWENTY-SECOND HOUR EPOCH-MAKING DECLARATION SACRED PORTRAIT BÁB ONLY COPY EVER SENT OUT FROM HOLY LAND TO BE UNVEILED DEDICATION CEREMONY AND REPOSE FOR ALL TIME TOGETHER WITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S BLESSED HAIR BENEATH DOME HOLY EDIFICE WITHIN HEART NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT.64
ELEVENTH HOUR SEVEN YEAR PLAN HAS STRUCK. LAST TWELVEMONTH FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY OPENING. EXTERIOR ORNAMENTATION MIGHTIEST STRUCTURE REARED GLORY FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH CONSUMMATED A YEAR AHEAD SCHEDULE. REPUBLICS CENTRAL SOUTH AMERICA ORIGINALLY EXPECTED EACH ESTABLISH NO MORE THAN A SINGLE NUCLEUS RESIDENT BELIEVERS ALREADY BOAST FORMATION TEN SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES. HOPES CENTERING MAJOR TASKS PLAN AMPLY FULFILLED NAY EXCEEDED. NEITHER CONVULSIONS WORLD CATASTROPHIC CONFLICT FROM WITHOUT NOR SEVERITY TESTS ENGENDERED COVENANT-BREAKERS FROM WITHIN PROVED ABLE DIVERT AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY CHOSEN COURSE OR DIM RADIANT FAITH OR DEFLECT HIGH PURPOSE. ONE REMAINING TASK CONFRONTING IT IN VIRGIN AREAS NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT DEMANDS ONE LAST SUPREME EFFORT HARNESS AVAILABLE RESOURCES ACHIEVE TOTAL VICTORY. HOUR REQUIRES ALL RANKS FAITHFUL UNITEDLY ARISE WIDELY DISPERSE SPEEDILY SETTLE TIRELESSLY PERSEVERE UNSTINTINGLY SACRIFICE DESERVEDLY WIN IMMORTAL PRIZE SEAL TRIUMPH INITIAL STAGE PLAN BEQUEATHED AMERICAN BELIEVERS BY ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ QUARTER CENTURY AGO.
DELIGHTED COMPLETION DEDICATION MAXWELL MEMORIAL65 SYMBOLIC ACT NOBLY CONSUMMATED CONVEY BUENOS AIRES ASSEMBLY CONGRATULATIONS GRATITUDE ASSURANCE LOVING PRAYERS SPIRITUAL PARTICIPATION HISTORIC CEREMONY. APPRECIATE PHOTOGRAPHS DEDICATION GATHERING.
SUCCESSIVE REPORTS PROCLAIMING AMERICAN BELIEVERS’ BRILLIANT FEAT COMPLETION EXTERIOR ORNAMENTATION TEMPLE HISTORIC EXPLOITS SPIRITUAL CONQUEST EVERY REPUBLIC LATIN AMERICA AS WELL AS THEIR IMPENDING VICTORY THROUGH ESTABLISHMENT STRUCTURAL BASIS BAHÁ’Í ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER VIRGIN STATES PROVINCES NORTH AMERICA THRILLING EASTERN COMMUNITIES BAHÁ’Í WORLD DELIGHT ADMIRATION WONDER. NINETY-FIVE PERSIAN FAMILIES EMULATING EXAMPLE AMERICAN TRAILBLAZERS FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH HAVE RECENTLY FORSAKEN HOMES FOLLOWED FOOTSTEPS PIONEERS ALREADY DEPARTED FROM PERSIA YEAR AGO HOIST ITS BANNER ADJOINING TERRITORIES AFGHANISTAN BALUCHISTAN SULAYMÁNÍYYIH ḤIJÁZ BAHRAIN ISLAND. LOCAL ASSEMBLIES FOUNDED KASHMIR VALLEY EXTREME NORTH MADRAS PRESIDENCY EXTREME SOUTH AS WELL AS HYDERABAD LEADING STRONGHOLD MUSLIM ORTHODOXY INDIA. NATIONAL BAHÁ’Í ADMINISTRATIVE HEADQUARTERS EGYPTIAN BELIEVERS NEARING COMPLETION. SIMILAR INSTITUTION PROCESS ESTABLISHMENT INDIA’S CAPITAL CITY DELHI. GUEST-HOUSE ADJUNCT NEWLY BUILT ADMINISTRATIVE HEADQUARTERS BAHÁ’ÍS IRAQ CONSTRUCTED. BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITIES EAST WEST ARISING FOURTH YEAR DEVASTATING CONFLICT FULL STRENGTH THEIR UNDISRUPTIBLE SOLIDARITY RESOLVED WRITE THROUGH IMMORTAL DEEDS FURTHER GLORIOUS PAGES LAST CHAPTER FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY. APPEAL STANDARD-BEARERS BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S EVER-ADVANCING ARMY SAFEGUARD SPIRITUAL PRIZES ALREADY WON MAINTAIN EVERY OUTPOST FAITH ESTABLISHED SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. ENTREAT EXERT STILL MORE MAGNIFICENT EFFORTS DISCHARGE BEFITTINGLY ONE REMAINING RESPONSIBILITY NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT.66 PRAYING ACHIEVEMENT RESOUNDING TOTAL VICTORY ALL AMERICAS THEREBY SEALING TRIUMPH FIRST STAGE DIVINE PLAN FOR WHOSE EXECUTION ENTIRE MACHINERY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER WAS FOR NO LESS THAN SIXTEEN YEARS PATIENTLY LABORIOUSLY ERECTED.
PROFOUNDLY DEPLORE LOSS SELF-SACRIFICING DISTINGUISHED TEACHER FAITH MABEL IVES. HER MANIFOLD CONTRIBUTIONS TEACHING ACTIVITIES BEFORE AND SINCE INCEPTION SEVEN YEAR PLAN OUTSTANDING MEMORABLE HIGHLY MERITORIOUS. ASSURE DAUGHTER DEEPEST LOVING SYMPATHY PRAYERS. ABIDING FELICITY CROWNING NOBLE LABORS.
INFORM BELIEVERS LOCAL ASSEMBLIES MAY BE FORMED AS SOON AS NINE OR MORE BELIEVERS AVAILABLE WITHOUT POSTPONING ELECTION UNTIL APRIL IN ORDER SPEED STIMULATE TEACHING WORK LAST YEAR FIRST CENTURY.
GREATLY REJOICE VIGOROUS MANIFOLD MEASURES UNDERTAKEN ENSURE SUCCESS FORTHCOMING CELEBRATION. THOUGH PHYSICALLY ABSENT WILL PARTICIPATE IN SPIRIT REJOICING THANKSGIVING SIGNAL VICTORIES AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY CROWNING FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY.
AMERICAN BELIEVERS’ SEVEN-YEAR ENTERPRISE CONSECRATED SERVICE FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH DERIVING DIRECT INSPIRATION FROM ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá’S DIVINE PLAN LAUNCHED EVE WORLD CATASTROPHIC CONFLICT RECOGNIZED GREATEST COLLECTIVE UNDERTAKING IN ANNALS FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY RAPIDLY CULMINATING. SISTER COMMUNITIES PERSIA BRITISH ISLES EGYPT IRAQ INDIA SYRIA AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND MARVEL SCALE PRODIGIOUS LABORS AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY GRATEFULLY REJOICE ACCUMULATING EVIDENCES ITS INCOMPARABLE VICTORIES GALVANIZED INTO ACTION INSPIRED EMULATE ITS EXAMPLE. MULTIPLICATION BAHÁ’Í CENTERS RECENT YEARS BOTH EAST WEST ERECTION ADMINISTRATIVE HEADQUARTERS PURCHASE HISTORIC SITES SETTLEMENT VIRGIN AREAS MIGRATION NEIGHBORING TERRITORIES ALL DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTABLE POTENT IMPULSE COMMUNICATED THROUGH SUPERB ACTION INITIATED EXECUTED BY AMERICAN ADHERENTS FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH. INITIAL STAGES MOMENTOUS PLAN BRILLIANTLY EXECUTED. MOST FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES IMPEDING ITS PROGRESS COURAGEOUSLY FACED PROGRESSIVELY SWEPT AWAY. ITS FIRST FRUITS EXEMPLIFIED BY COMPLETION EXTERIOR ORNAMENTATION TEMPLE AND FORMATION NUCLEUS FAITH EVERY REPUBLIC LATIN AMERICA TRIUMPHANTLY GATHERED. PIVOTAL YEAR MARKING TURNING-POINT ITS FORTUNES IMMORTALIZED BY UNPARALLELED EXPLOIT FORMATION TWENTY-EIGHT ASSEMBLIES IN STATES PROVINCES NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT. RANGE UNFINISHED TASKS SWIFTLY DIMINISHING. TOTAL VICTORY WITHIN SIGHT SIX REMAINING VIRGIN AREAS ALASKA SASKATCHEWAN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND SOUTH CAROLINA NORTH SOUTH DAKOTA AS WELL AS INADEQUATELY REINFORCED REPUBLICS NICARAGUA SAN DOMINGO PARAGUAY BOLIVIA VENEZUELA PERU STILL DEMAND CONCENTRATED SUSTAINED ATTENTION NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY SPEEDY ASSISTANCE NATIONAL TEACHING INTER-AMERICA COMMITTEES SYSTEMATIC SUPPORT ALL SUBSIDIARY AGENCIES BOTH REGIONAL LOCAL. GOAL CITIES AND FAR-OFF REPUBLICS CALLING FOR FRESH RECRUITS COMPLETE PIONEER ROLL OF HONOR. VETERAN BELIEVERS HOWEVER BRILLIANT THEIR RECORD NEOPHYTES HOWEVER LIMITED THEIR EXPERIENCE ALIKE SUMMONED AS FINAL HOUR APPROACHES RUSH FORTH LAST SUPREME EFFORTS BRIDGE REMAINING GAPS IN SPIRITUAL FRONT EXTENDING ENTIRE LENGTH WESTERN HEMISPHERE. ARDENTLY SUPPLICATING FRESH OUTPOURINGS SUSTAINING GRACE LORD HOSTS ENABLE STALWART WARRIORS BEFITTINGLY CONSUMMATE CROWNING CRUSADE FIRST CENTURY BAHÁ’Í ERA.
The latest evidences of the magnificent success that has marked the activities of the members of the American Bahá’í community have been such as to excite the brightest hopes for the victorious consummation of the collective undertaking they have so courageously launched and have so vigorously prosecuted in recent years. As the first Bahá’í Century approaches its end, the magnitude and quality of their achievements acquire added significance and shed increasing luster on its annals. The proceedings of the recently held annual Convention; the formation of twenty-eight Assemblies in the course of the year that has just elapsed; the splendid progress achieved in the inter-American field of Bahá’í activity; the superb spirit evinced by the pioneers holding their lonely posts in widely scattered areas throughout the Americas; the exemplary attitude shown by the entire body of the faithful towards the machinations of those who have so sedulously striven to disrupt the Faith and pervert its purpose—these have, to a marked degree, intensified the admiration of the Bahá’í communities for those who are contributing so outstanding a share to the enlargement of the limits, and the enhancement of the prestige of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. The preparations which the American believers are undertaking for the celebration of the Centenary of the Faith must be such as to crown with immortal glory the fifty-year-long record of their stewardship in the service of that Faith. Such a celebration must, in its scope and magnificence, fully compensate for the disabilities which hinder so many Bahá’í communities in Europe and elsewhere, and even in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, from paying a befitting tribute to their beloved Faith at so glorious an hour in its history. The few remaining months of this century must witness a concentration of effort, a scale of achievement, a spirit of heroism that will outshine even the most daring exploits that have already immortalized the Seven Year Plan and covered with glory its valiant prosecutors. The plea I address to them, at this late hour, will, I am sure, meet with a response no less remarkable than their past reactions to the appeals I have felt impelled to make to them ever since the inception of the Plan. He Who at every stage of their collective enterprise has so abundantly blessed them will, no doubt, continue to vouchsafe His blessings until the seal of unqualified victory is set upon their epoch-making task.
HEART OVERFLOWING JOYOUS GRATITUDE MAGNIFICENT ADVANCE NUMEROUS SPHERES BAHÁ’Í ACTIVITY. FORMATION ASSEMBLIES FEW REMAINING AREAS NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT, CONSOLIDATION FOUNDATIONS NEWLY ESTABLISHED ASSEMBLIES AND PRESERVATION STATUS BAHÁ’Í CENTERS ALL REPUBLICS LATIN AMERICA IMPERATIVELY DEMAND VIGILANT CARE, CONCENTRATED ATTENTION, FURTHER SELF-SACRIFICE VANGUARD VALIANT ARMY BAHÁ’U’LLÁH. BELOVED FAITH SURGING FORWARD ALL FRONTS. ITS UNDEFEATABLE, STALWART SUPPORTERS, BOTH TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS, STEELING THEMSELVES NOBLE TASKS, BRAVING ACUTE DANGERS, SWEEPING AWAY FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES, CAPTURING NEW HEIGHTS, FOUNDING MIGHTY INSTITUTIONS, WINNING FRESH RECRUITS, CONFOUNDING SCHEMES INSIDIOUS ENEMIES. AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY MUST, WILL, AT WHATEVER COST, DESPITE PRESSURE EVENTS DESOLATING WAR, MAINTAIN AMONG SISTER COMMUNITIES EXALTED STANDARD OF STEWARDSHIP INCONTESTABLY SET DURING CONCLUDING YEARS FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY. CONFIDENT SPIRIT UNFALTERING RESOLUTION ANIMATING ITS MEMBERS, THEIR TENACIOUS VALOR, ELEVATED LOYALTY, NOBLENESS OF SPIRIT, MIGHTY PROWESS, WILL, ERE EXPIRY CENTURY, CROWN WITH COMPLETE VICTORY MONUMENTAL ENTERPRISES SUCCESSIVELY UNDERTAKEN COURSE FIFTY-YEAR EXISTENCE.
The vigorous action promptly taken by your Assembly to ensure the success of the forthcoming Centenary celebrations is highly commendable, and provides a fresh demonstration of the magnificent response made by the American believers to every call demanding renewed exertion on their part in the service of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. The progress recently achieved in building up Spiritual Assemblies in the virgin areas of the North American continent has been truly remarkable. To consummate so vast an enterprise, however, a still more compelling display of the vitality of the spirit animating the American Bahá’í community is required, a still greater concentration of effort is needed, an even more stirring evidence of the daring boldness of its members is imperative. Whoever will arise, in these concluding, fast-fleeting months of the last year of the first Bahá’í Century, to fill the remaining posts, and thereby set the seal of total victory on a Plan so pregnant with promise, will earn the lasting gratitude of the present generation of believers in both the East and the West, will merit the acclaim of posterity, will be vouchsafed the special benediction of the Concourse on High, and be made the recipient of the imperishable bounties of Him Who is the Divine Author of the Plan itself. Whoever will rush forth, at this eleventh hour, and cast his weight into the scales, and contribute his decisive share to so gigantic, so sacred and historic an undertaking, will have not only helped to seal the triumph of the Plan itself but will also have notably participated in the fulfillment of what may be regarded as the crowning act of an entire century. The opportunity that presents itself at this crucial hour is precious beyond expression. The blessings destined to flow from a victory so near at hand are rich beyond example. One final surge of that indomitable spirit that has carried the American Bahá’í community to such heights is all that is required, as the first Bahá’í Century speeds to a close, to release the flow of those blessings that must signalize the termination of the first, and usher in the dawn of the second, Bahá’í Century.
EXTREMELY DELIGHTED NEWS PROGRESS TEACHING CAMPAIGN PIONEER ACTIVITIES. GRATEFULLY FERVENTLY PRAYING CONSUMMATION HOPES CHERISHED BY WORLDWIDE BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY FOR BEFITTING CONCLUSION FIRST STAGE DIVINE PLAN PROVIDENTIALLY ASSOCIATED CLOSING YEARS FIRST CENTURY BAHÁ’Í ERA.
AUSPICIOUS YEAR DESTINED WITNESS CENTENARY BIRTH FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH BRILLIANTLY OPENING. LAST YEAR FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY MORE THAN HALF SPENT. TEMPO ORGANIZED CONCERTED ACTIVITIES MEMBERS WORLDWIDE BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY CORRESPONDINGLY ACCELERATING. TEACHING CAMPAIGNS ENTERPRISES OF INSTITUTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE PUBLICITY MEASURES PUBLICATION PROJECTS CELEBRATION PLANS RAPIDLY MULTIPLYING. INTER-COMMUNITY COMPETITION STEADILY MOUNTING. WORLD-DESOLATING CONFLICT NOW FIFTH YEAR POWERLESS CLOUD SPLENDID PROSPECT TRIUMPHANT TERMINATION FIRST MOST SHINING CENTURY BAHÁ’Í ERA. TIHRÁN REPORTS THIRTY-FOUR BAHÁ’Í ASSEMBLIES CONSTITUTED FIFTY-FOUR GROUPS REINFORCED FIFTY-EIGHT NEW CENTERS ESTABLISHED. MESSAGES FROM DELHI INDICATE BAHÁ’ÍS ESTABLISHED RESIDENCE OVER SIXTY LOCALITIES IN INDIA AND EIGHTEEN ASSEMBLIES ALREADY FUNCTIONING. TO NATIONAL BAHÁ’Í HEADQUARTERS PREVIOUSLY FOUNDED IN TIHRÁN WILMETTE AND BAGHDÁD ARE NOW ADDED SIMILAR CENTERS IN CAIRO DELHI AND SYDNEY OFFICIALLY REGISTERED NAMES RESPECTIVE NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES AND REPRESENTING ADDITION TO BAHÁ’Í NATIONAL ENDOWMENTS AMOUNTING APPROXIMATELY EIGHTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS. BAHÁ’Í INTERNATIONAL ENDOWMENTS FURTHER ENRICHED RECENT ACQUISITION ON MOUNT CARMEL VICINITY BÁB’S SHRINE TRANSFERRED NAME PALESTINE BRANCH AMERICAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. TWENTY-FIVE ACRES LAND SITUATED JORDAN VALLEY JUST DEDICATED TOMB BAHÁ’U’LLÁH. RECENT ACQUISITION LAND ADJACENT SITE PROJECTED TIHRÁN TEMPLE RAISES HOLDING TO OVER THREE AND HALF MILLION SQUARE METERS. SEVEN YEAR PLAN PROVIDING CHIEF IMPULSE EXTRAORDINARY EXPANSION THESE MAGNIFICENT ACTIVITIES MUST DURING REMAINING FIVE MONTHS AS BEFITTING THANKSGIVING ACT FOR CONTINUED OUTPOURINGS GOD’S UNFAILING GRACE SURGE AHEAD TO DAZZLING VICTORY SURPASSING HIGHEST EXPECTATIONS. PROSECUTION PLAN WHOSE SCOPE TRANSCENDS EVERY OTHER ENTERPRISE LAUNCHED BY BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT WHOLE CENTURY MUST ERE HUNDRED YEARS RUN OUT CULMINATE IN ONE LAST SUPREME EFFORT WHOSE REPERCUSSIONS WILL RESOUND THROUGHOUT BAHÁ’Í WORLD.
SINCE TRANSMISSION RECENT MESSAGE CONVEYING NEWS MAGNIFICENT PROGRESS ACHIEVED CRUSADE, BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITIES SUBSTANTIAL ADDITION ENDOWMENTS DEDICATED SHRINES RAISES HOLDINGS JORDAN VALLEY TO OVER 500 ACRES. EXTENSION TEACHING ENTERPRISES EAST WEST MULTIPLICATION BAHÁ’Í ENDOWMENTS NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATION ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS ABOVE ALL SUPERB EVIDENCES INCORRUPTIBLE LOYALTY TO ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ AND HIS WILL EQUALLY PROCLAIM UNYIELDING DETERMINATION WORLD COMMUNITY SEAL TRIUMPH FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY.
PARTICIPATION LATIN AMERICAN BELIEVERS BAHÁ’Í CENTENNIAL CONVENTION VITAL FUTURE DEVELOPMENT FAITH AMERICAS. URGE INDIVIDUALS AS WELL AS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY EXTEND ASSISTANCE FINANCIAL AND OTHERWISE ENABLE AS MANY REPRESENTATIVES AS POSSIBLE JOIN NORTH AMERICAN BELIEVERS PROCEEDINGS GATHERING SUCH MOMENTOUS IMPORTANCE HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE EVOLUTION FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH WESTERN HEMISPHERE.
BRILLIANT ACHIEVEMENTS HEROIC PIONEERS ITINERANT TEACHERS INDEFATIGABLE ADMINISTRATORS BAHÁ’Í TEACHING ACTIVITIES WHETHER LOCAL REGIONAL OR NATIONAL SET SEAL TOTAL VICTORY SEVEN YEAR PLAN BEFITTINGLY CONSUMMATE FIFTY-YEAR-LONG ENTERPRISES UNDERTAKEN BY AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY ADORN CONCLUDING CHAPTER HISTORY FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY. HEART THRILLED JOY LOVE PRIDE GRATITUDE CONTEMPLATION STUPENDOUS SHINING DEEDS IMMORTALIZING VALIANT PROSECUTORS GREATEST COLLECTIVE ENTERPRISE EVER LAUNCHED COURSE HISTORY FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.
The one remaining, and indeed the most challenging, task confronting the American Bahá’í Community has at long last been brilliantly accomplished. The structural basis of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh has, through this superb victory, and on the very eve of the worldwide celebrations of the Centenary of His Faith, been firmly laid by the champion-builders of His World Order in every state of the Great Republic of the West and in every province of the Dominion of Canada. In each of the republics of Central and South America, moreover, the banner of His undefeatable Faith has been implanted by the members of that same community, while in no less than thirteen republics of Latin America, as well as in two dependencies in the West Indies, Spiritual Assemblies have been established and are already functioning—a feat that has outstripped the goal originally fixed for the valiant members of that community in their intercontinental sphere of Bahá’í activity. The exterior ornamentation of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the West—the culmination of a forty-year-old enterprise repeatedly blessed and continually nurtured by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá—has, furthermore, through a remarkable manifestation of the spirit of Bahá’í solidarity and self-sacrifice so powerfully animating the members of that stalwart community, been successfully completed, more than a year in advance of the time set for its termination.
The triple task undertaken with such courage, confidence, zeal and determination—a task which ever since the inception of the Seven Year Plan has challenged and galvanized into action the entire body of the American believers and for the efficient prosecution of which the processes of a divinely appointed Administrative Order had, during no less than sixteen years, been steadily evolving—is now finally accomplished and crowned with total victory.
The greatest collective enterprise ever launched by the Western followers of Bahá’u’lláh, and indeed ever undertaken by any Bahá’í community in the course of an entire century, has been gloriously consummated. A victory of undying fame has marked the culmination of the fifty-year-long labors of the American Bahá’í Community in the service of Bahá’u’lláh and has shed imperishable luster on the immortal records of His Faith during the first hundred years of its existence. The exploits that have marked the progress of this prodigious, this threefold enterprise, covering a field stretching from Alaska in the North to the extremity of Chile in the South, affecting the destinies of so great a variety of peoples and nations, involving such a tremendous expenditure of treasure and effort, calling forth so remarkable a spirit of heroism and self-sacrifice, and undertaken notwithstanding the vicious assaults and incessant machinations of the breakers of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá’s Covenant, and despite the perils, the trials and restrictions of a desolating war of unexampled severity, augur well for the successful prosecution, and indeed assure the ultimate victory, of the remaining stages of the Plan conceived a quarter of a century ago by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá for the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the North American continent.
To the band of pioneers, whether settlers or itinerant teachers, who have forsaken their homes, who have scattered far and wide, who have willingly sacrificed their comfort, their health and even their lives for the prosecution of this Plan; to the several committees and their auxiliary agencies that have been entrusted with special and direct responsibility for its efficient and orderly development and who have discharged their high responsibilities with exemplary vigor, courage and fidelity; to the national representatives of the community itself, who have vigilantly and tirelessly supervised, directed and coordinated the unfolding processes of this vast undertaking ever since its inception; to all those who, though not in the forefront of battle, have, through their financial assistance and through the instrumentality of their deputies, contributed to the expansion and consolidation of the Plan, I myself, as well as the entire Bahá’í world, owe a debt of gratitude that no one can measure or describe. To the sacrifices they have made, to the courage they have so consistently shown, to the fidelity they have so remarkably displayed, to the resourcefulness, the discipline, the constancy and devotion they have so abundantly demonstrated future generations, viewing the magnitude of their labors in their proper perspective, will no doubt pay adequate tribute—a tribute no less ardent and well-deserved than the recognition extended by the present-day builders of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh to the Dawn-Breakers, whose shining deeds have signalized the birth of the Heroic Age of His Faith.
To the elected representatives of all the Bahá’í communities of the New World, assembled beneath the Dome of the Mother Temple of the West, on the occasion of the historic, first All-America Bahá’í Convention—a convention at which every state and province in the North American continent is represented, in which the representatives of every republic of Latin America have been invited to participate, whose delegates have been elected, for the first time in American Bahá’í history, by all local communities already possessing Assemblies, by all groups and isolated believers throughout the United States and Canada, and whose proceedings will be for ever associated with the celebration of the Centenary of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Bahá’í Faith in the Western Hemisphere, and of the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the First Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the West—to all the privileged attendants of such an epoch-making Convention, I, on my own behalf, as well as in the name of all Bahá’í communities sharing with them, at this great turning-point in the history of our Faith, the joys and triumphs of this solemn hour, feel moved to convey the expression of our loving admiration, our joy and our gratitude for the brilliant conclusion of what posterity will no doubt acclaim as one of the most stirring episodes in the history of the Formative Age of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, as well as one of the most momentous enterprises undertaken during the entire course of the first century of the Bahá’í Era.
ADVISE SHARE FOLLOWING FACTS WITH BELIEVERS AT CONVENTION CELEBRATING HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH. BAHÁ’ÍS ESTABLISHED RESIDENCE SEVENTY-EIGHT COUNTRIES FIFTY-SIX OF WHICH ARE SOVEREIGN STATES. BAHÁ’Í LITERATURE TRANSLATED PUBLISHED FORTY-ONE LANGUAGES. TRANSLATIONS UNDERTAKEN TWELVE ADDITIONAL LANGUAGES. THIRTY-ONE RACES REPRESENTED BAHÁ’Í WORLD COMMUNITY. FIVE NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES AND SIXTY-ONE LOCAL ASSEMBLIES BELONGING TEN COUNTRIES INCORPORATED EMPOWERED HOLD PROPERTY. BAHÁ’Í INTERNATIONAL ENDOWMENTS HOLY LAND ESTIMATED HALF MILLION POUNDS. NATIONAL BAHÁ’Í ENDOWMENTS UNITED STATES ESTIMATED ONE MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. AREA LAND JORDAN VALLEY DEDICATED BAHÁ’Í SHRINES OVER FIVE HUNDRED FIFTY ACRES. SITE PURCHASED FUTURE BAHÁ’Í TEMPLE PERSIA COMPRISES THREE AND HALF MILLION SQUARE METERS. COST STRUCTURE FIRST BAHÁ’Í TEMPLE WEST ONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. IN EVERY STATE PROVINCE NORTH AMERICA BAHÁ’Í ASSEMBLIES FUNCTIONING. IN THIRTEEN HUNDRED LOCALITIES UNITED STATES CANADA BAHÁ’ÍS RESIDING. BAHÁ’Í CENTERS ESTABLISHED EVERY REPUBLIC LATIN AMERICA FIFTEEN OF WHICH POSSESS SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES. FAITH WESTERN HEMISPHERE NOW STRETCHES FROM ANCHORAGE ALASKA TO MAGALLANES WORLD’S SOUTHERNMOST CITY. SIXTY-TWO CENTERS ESTABLISHED INDIA TWENTY-SEVEN WITH SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES. AMONG HISTORIC SITES PURCHASED PERSIA TIHRÁN HOME BAHÁ’U’LLÁH BÁB’S SHOP BÚSHIHR BURIAL-PLACE QUDDÚS PART VILLAGE CHIHRÍQ THREE GARDENS BADASHT PLACE CONFINEMENT TÁHIRIH. BAHÁ’Í NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE HEADQUARTERS FOUNDED TIHRÁN DELHI CAIRO BAGHDÁD WILMETTE SYDNEY. BAHÁ’Í ENDOWMENTS HOLY LAND AND UNITED STATES EXEMPTED TAXES BY CIVIL AUTHORITIES. CIVIL RECOGNITION EXTENDED BAHÁ’Í ASSEMBLIES IN FIVE STATES UNITED STATES SOLEMNIZE BAHÁ’Í MARRIAGES. SUGGEST UTILIZE ABOVE INFORMATION PUBLICITY PURPOSES WHEREVER ADVISABLE.
HAIL WITH GLAD GRATEFUL HEART HISTORIC ASSEMBLY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES FOLLOWERS FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH THROUGHOUT WESTERN HEMISPHERE PARTICIPATING FIRST ALL-AMERICA CONVENTION GATHERED VICINITY FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTER WESTERN WORLD BENEATH DOME FIRST MASHRIQU’L-ADHKÁR WEST TO COMMEMORATE ALIKE THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY FOUNDING FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AND BIRTH ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY ITS ESTABLISHMENT IN OCCIDENT AND CELEBRATE COMPLETION EXTERIOR ORNAMENTATION MOST HALLOWED HOUSE WORSHIP ENTIRE BAHÁ’Í WORLD. RECALL WITH PROFOUND EMOTION ON THIS SOLEMN AUSPICIOUS OCCASION MILESTONES PATH PROGRESS COMMUNITY WHOSE RISE ESTABLISHMENT CONSTITUTE ONE OF NOBLEST EPISODES HISTORY FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY. CALLED INTO BEING THROUGH OPERATION WILL CENTER BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S COVENANT ENERGIZED AT HOUR BIRTH BY DYNAMIC SPIRIT COMMUNICATED TO IT BY BAND FIRST RETURNING PILGRIMS PURGED IN ITS INFANCY FIERY TESTS INVOLVING DEFECTION ITS ACKNOWLEDGED FOUNDER67 NURSED THROUGH DESPATCH UNNUMBERED TABLETS BY VIGILANT MASTER AS WELL AS SUCCESSIVE MESSENGERS DESIGNED SUPPORT ITS INFANT STRENGTH LAUNCHED ITS RAPID CAREER THROUGH SERIES INSTITUTIONAL ACTS AND MISSIONARY JOURNEYS SIGNALIZING FIRST STIRRINGS ITS COMMUNITY LIFE INFINITELY ENRICHED BY PRICELESS BENEFITS CONFERRED ITS MEMBERS COURSE ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ’S SOJOURN THEIR MIDST INVESTED UNIQUE MISSION THROUGH REVELATION TABLETS DIVINE PLAN FIRMLY KNIT THROUGH PROCESSES PROCLAIMING EMERGENCE DIVINELY APPOINTED ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER IMMORTALIZED THROUGH SIGNAL ACTS ITS ILLUSTRIOUS MEMBER WHO SUCCEEDED WINNING ALLEGIANCE ROYALTY ITS CAUSE CONSUMMATING ITS FIFTY-YEAR RECORD ACHIEVEMENTS THROUGH TOTAL VICTORY SEVEN YEAR PLAN THEREBY SEALING TRIUMPH FIRST STAGE MISSION BESTOWED ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ THIS REPEATEDLY BLESSED MUCH ENVIED COMMUNITY DESERVES BE ACCLAIMED TORCHBEARER CIVILIZATION FOUNDATIONS OF WHICH FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH IS DESTINED UNASSAILABLY ESTABLISH COURSE SECOND BAHÁ’Í CENTURY. AM MOVED PAY WELL DESERVED TRIBUTE AT THIS GREAT TURNING-POINT CAREER SO PRIVILEGED COMMUNITY TO GALLANT BAND ITS APOSTOLIC FOUNDERS WHOSE DEEDS HERALDED DAWN DAY COVENANT WEST TO ITS INTREPID PIONEERS WHO LABORED ENLARGE BOUNDS FAITH FIVE CONTINENTS TO ITS INDEFATIGABLE ADMINISTRATORS WHOSE HANDS REARED FABRIC ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER TO ITS HEROIC MARTYRS WHO FOLLOWED FOOTSTEPS DAWN-BREAKERS HEROIC AGE TO ITS ITINERANT TEACHERS WHO BROADCAST ITS MESSAGE TO ITS VALIANT DEFENDERS WHO WITH WRITTEN SPOKEN WORD PLEADED ITS CAUSE AND REPULSED ATTACKS ITS ADVERSARIES TO ITS MUNIFICENT SUPPORTERS WHOSE LIBERALITY ACCELERATED EXPANSION ITS MANIFOLD ACTIVITIES AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST TO MASS ITS STOUTHEARTED SELF-DENYING MEMBERS WHOSE STRENUOUS CEASELESS CONCERTED EFFORTS SO DECISIVELY CONTRIBUTED CONSOLIDATION AND BROADENING ITS FOUNDATIONS. DESIRE DIRECT PARTICULAR APPEAL LATIN AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVES PARTICIPATING CENTENNIAL CONVENTION DELIBERATE MEASURES REINFORCE TIES BINDING THEM SISTER COMMUNITY UNITEDLY DEVISE MEANS INAUGURATION TEACHING CAMPAIGNS RESPECTIVE REPUBLICS DISSEMINATION BAHÁ’Í LITERATURE MULTIPLICATION BAHÁ’Í ADMINISTRATIVE CENTERS AS PRELIMINARY STEPS FORMATION BAHÁ’Í NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES AND LEND INCREASING IMPETUS TO PROSECUTION ANY ENTERPRISE LAUNCHED CARRY STILL FURTHER PLAN CONCEIVED BY ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ FOR AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY.
OVERJOYED AUSPICIOUS OPENING CENTENNIAL CONVENTION. DEARLY BELOVED AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY REMEMBERED HISTORIC NIGHT GLORIOUS DECLARATION BÁB’S HOLY SHRINE. ANNOUNCE FRIENDS JOYFUL TIDING HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY DECLARATION MARTYRED HERALD FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH SIGNALIZED BY HISTORIC DECISION COMPLETE STRUCTURE HIS SEPULCHER ERECTED BY ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ ON SITE CHOSEN BY BAHÁ’U’LLÁH. RECENTLY DESIGNED MODEL UNVEILED PRESENCE ASSEMBLED BELIEVERS.68 PRAYING EARLY REMOVAL OBSTACLES CONSUMMATION STUPENDOUS PLAN CONCEIVED BY FOUNDER FAITH AND HOPES CHERISHED BY CENTER HIS COVENANT.
MAGNIFICENT VICTORIES ACHIEVED TEACHING FIELD AND SPHERE ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITY BY AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY CROWNED WITH GLORY HISTORIC SERVICES RENDERED BY FOLLOWERS BAHÁ’U’LLÁH THROUGHOUT WEST LAST FIFTY YEARS FIRST BAHÁ’Í CENTURY. REJOICE BRILLIANT CELEBRATIONS BEFITTINGLY CONSUMMATING RECORD SPLENDID ACHIEVEMENTS. IMMEDIATE ATTENTION SHOULD BE FOCUSED COURSE OPENING YEAR SECOND CENTURY CONSOLIDATION NOBLY WON VICTORIES THROUGH REINFORCEMENT NEWLY FORMED ASSEMBLIES MULTIPLICATION GROUPS INCREASE NUMBER ASSEMBLIES AS WELL AS CORRESPONDING EFFORT THROUGHOUT LATIN AMERICA. PRAYING CONTINUOUS FLOW DIVINE OUTPOURINGS.
REJOICE SUCCESS VITALLY NEEDED TIMELY CONFERENCE LATIN AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVES.69 GREATLY WELCOME DECISIONS REACHED PLANS FORMULATED. FIRST YEAR SECOND BAHÁ’Í CENTURY SHOULD WITNESS ESTABLISHMENT SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY EVERY REMAINING REPUBLIC AND BE SIGNALIZED STEADY INCREASE PIONEERS BOTH LATINS NORTH AMERICANS FURTHER MULTIPLICATION GROUPS WIDER DISSEMINATION BAHÁ’Í LITERATURE BOTH SPANISH PORTUGUESE CLOSER RELATIONSHIPS CONSOLIDATING COMMUNITIES MORE EFFECTIVE CONTACT THESE COMMUNITIES WITH MASSES POPULATION ALL RACES CLASSES. ARDENTLY PRAYING MIGHTY VICTORIES EVERY FIELD AS ESSENTIAL PRELIMINARY EMERGENCE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES AND INDISPENSABLE PRELUDE LAUNCHING IN OTHER CONTINENTS SOON AFTER TERMINATION WORLD CONFLICT SECOND STAGE MOMENTOUS WORLD PLAN SO INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED BY ‘ABDU’L‑BAHÁ WITH FUTURE DESTINIES ILLUSTRIOUS AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY.
The splendid and unique success that has attended the centenary celebrations so admirably conducted by the American Bahá’í community has befittingly crowned not only the fifty-year record of services rendered by its valiant members, but the labors associated with the entire body of their fellow workers in East and West in the course of an entire century. The consummation of the Seven Year Plan, immortalizing the fame of this richly blessed community, set the seal of complete spiritual triumph on these historic celebrations. A memorable chapter in the history of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the West has been closed. A new chapter is now opening, a chapter which, ere its termination, must eclipse the most shining victories won so heroically by those who have so fearlessly launched the first stage of the Great Plan conceived by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá for the American believers. The prizes won so painstakingly in both the North and South American continents must be preserved at all costs. A mighty impetus should, at however great a sacrifice, be lent to the multiplication of Bahá’í centers in Latin America, to the expansion of Bahá’í literature, to the translation of the Bahá’í sacred writings, to the proclamation of the verities of the Faith to the masses, to the strengthening of the bonds binding the newly fledged communities to each other, and to the deepening of the spiritual life of their members.
The task so marvelously initiated in the Latin republics must be further consolidated ere the prosecutors of the world Plan bequeathed by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá can embark on further stages, of still greater significance, in their world teaching Mission. The cessation of hostilities will open before them fields of service of tremendous fertility and undreamed of magnitude. The advantages and opportunities these fields will offer them cannot be exploited unless and until the work to which they have already set their hands in the Western Hemisphere is sufficiently advanced and consolidated. Time is pressing. The new tasks are already beginning to loom on the horizon. The work that still remains to be accomplished ere the next stage is ushered in is still considerable and exacting. I feel confident that the American Bahá’í community will, as it has in the past, rise to the occasion and discharge its high duties as befits the unique position it occupies.