Part 9

The vigorous action promptly taken by your assembly to insure 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 Baha'u'llah. 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 Baha'i 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 Baha'i 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 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 Baha'i community to such heights is all that is required, as the first Baha'i 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, Baha'i Century.

November 16, 1943

THE AUSPICIOUS YEAR

The auspicious year destined to witness the Centenary of the Birth of the Faith of Baha'u'llah is brilliantly opening. The last year of the first Baha'i Century is more than half spent. The tempo of organized, concerted activities of the members of the worldwide Baha'i community is correspondingly accelerating. Teaching campaigns, enterprises of institutional significance, publicity measures, publication projects, and celebration plans are rapidly multiplying. Inter-community competition is steadily mounting. The world-desolating conflict, now in its fifth year, is powerless to cloud the splendid prospect of the triumphant termination of the first, most shining century of the Baha'i Era. Tihran reports thirty-four Assemblies constituted, fifty-four groups reinforced, fifty-eight new centers established. Messages from Delhi indicate that Baha'is have established residence in over sixty localities in India and eighteen Assemblies are already functioning. To the National Baha'i Headquarters previously founded in Tihran, Wilmette and Ba_gh_dad, are now added similar centers in Cairo, Delhi and Sydney, officially registered in the names of their respective National Assemblies, and representing an addition to Baha'i national endowments amounting to approximately eighteen thousand pounds. The Baha'i international endowments have been further enriched by a recent acquisition on Mount Carmel in the vicinity of the Bab's Shrine transferred to the name of the Palestine Branch of the American National Assembly. Twenty-five acres of land situated in the Jordan Valley have just been dedicated to the Tomb of Baha'u'llah. The recent acquisition of land adjacent to the site of the projected Tihran Temple raises the holding to over three and a half million square meters. The Seven Year Plan, providing the chief impulse to the extraordinary expansion of these magnificent activities, must, during the remaining five months, as befitting thanksgiving act for continued outpouring of God's unfailing grace, surge ahead to dazzling victory surpassing our highest expectations. The prosecution of the Plan, whose scope transcends every other enterprise launched by Baha'i communities throughout the whole century, must, ere the hundred years run out, culminate in one last, supreme effort whose repercussions will resound throughout the Baha'i world.

January 4, 1944

ADDITION TO ENDOWMENTS

Since the transmission of my recent message conveying news of the magnificent progress achieved by Baha'i communities, a substantial addition to the endowments dedicated to the Shrines raises the holdings in the Jordan Valley to over five hundred acres. The extension of teaching enterprises East and West, the multiplication of Baha'i endowments, national and international, the consolidation of administrative institutions, above all the superb evidences of incorruptible loyalty to 'Abdu'l-Baha and His Will, equally proclaim the unyielding determination of the world community to seal with triumph the first Baha'i Century.

January 16, 1944

PARTICIPATION OF LATIN AMERICAN BELIEVERS

The participation of Latin American believers in the Baha'i Centennial Convention is vital to the future development of the Faith in the Americas. I urge individuals as well as the National Assembly to extend assistance, financial and otherwise, to enable as many representatives as possible to join the North American believers in the proceedings of a gathering of such momentous importance and historic significance in the evolution of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in the western hemisphere.

January 29, 1944

BEFITTINGLY CONSUMMATE THE ENTERPRISES

The brilliant achievements of the heroic pioneers, the itinerant teachers, the indefatigable administrators of Baha'i teaching activities whether local, regional or national, set the seal of total victory on the Seven Year Plan, befittingly consummate the fifty year long enterprises undertaken by the American Baha'i Century. My heart is filled with joy, love, pride and gratitude at the contemplation of the stupendous shining deeds immortalizing the valiant prosecutors of the greatest collective enterprise ever launched in the course of the history of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.

April 2, 1944

TURNING POINT IN BAHA'I HISTORY

The one remaining and indeed the most challenging task confronting the American Baha'i Community has at long last been brilliantly accomplished. The structural basis of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah has, through this superb victory, and on the very eve of the world-wide 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 inter-continental sphere of Baha'i activity. The exterior ornamentation of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West--the culmination of a forty year old enterprise repeatedly blessed and continually nurtured by 'Abdu'l-Baha has, furthermore, through a remarkable manifestation of the spirit of Baha'i 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 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 Baha'u'llah and indeed ever undertaken by any Baha'i 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 Baha'i community in the service of Baha'u'llah and has shed imperishable lustre 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 three-fold 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-Baha'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-Baha for the followers of Baha'u'llah 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 Baha'i 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 Baha'u'llah 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 Baha'i communities of the New World, assembled beneath the Dome of the Mother Temple of the West, on the occasion of the historic, first All-American Baha'i 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 Baha'i 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 Baha'u'llah, of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of 'Abdu'l-Baha, of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Baha'i Faith in the Western Hemisphere, and of the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the First Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar 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 Baha'i 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 Baha'u'llah, as well as one of the most momentous enterprises undertaken during the entire course of the first Century of the Baha'i Era.

April 15, 1944

INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

Baha'is have established residence in seventy-eight countries, fifty-six of which are sovereign states. Baha'i literature has been translated and published in forty-one languages. Translations have been undertaken in twelve additional languages. Thirty-one races are represented in the Baha'i world community. Five National Assemblies and sixty-one local Assemblies belonging to ten countries are incorporated and legally empowered to hold property. The Baha'i international endowments held in the Holy Land are estimated at a half million pounds sterling. National Baha'i endowments in the United States are estimated at one million, seven hundred thousand dollars.

The area of land in the Jordan Valley dedicated to the Baha'i Shrines is over five hundred acres. The site purchased for future Baha'i Temple of Persia comprises three and a half million square meters. The cost of the structure of the first Baha'i Temple in the West has been one million, three hundred thousand dollars.

In every state and province of North America Baha'i Assemblies are functioning. In thirteen hundred localities of the United States and Canada Baha'is reside. Baha'i Centers have been established in every republic of Latin America, fifteen of which possess Spiritual Assemblies. The Faith in the Western Hemisphere now stretches from Anchorage, Alaska, to Magallanes, the world's southernmost city. Sixty-two Centers have been established in India, twenty-seven with Spiritual Assemblies.

Among the historic sites purchased in Persia are the Tihran home of Baha'u'llah, the Bab's shop in Bushire, the burial place of Quddus, part of the village _Ch_ihriq, three gardens in Badasht, and the place where Tahirih was confined.

Baha'i administrative headquarters have been founded in Tihran, Delhi, Cairo, Ba_gh_dad, Wilmette and Sydney. Baha'i endowments in the Holy Land and the United States have been exempted from taxes by the civil authorities. Civil recognition has been extended to Baha'i Assemblies in five states of the United States to solemnize Baha'i marriages.

May 9, 1944

MESSAGE TO CENTENARY CONVENTION

Hail with glad, grateful heart the historic Assembly of the elected representatives of the followers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah throughout the Western Hemisphere participating in the first All-America Convention gathered in the vicinity of the first Baha'i Center of the Western World beneath the dome of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West to commemorate alike the Anniversary of the founding of the Faith of Baha'u'llah and the Birth of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Anniversary of its establishment in the Occident and to celebrate the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the most hallowed House of Worship in the entire Baha'i world. I recall with profound emotion on this solemn, auspicious occasion the milestones in the progress of the community whose rise constitutes one of the noblest episodes in the history of the First Baha'i Century. Called into being through the operation of the will of the Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, energized at the hour of its birth by dynamic spirit communicated to it by the band of first returning pilgrims, purged in its infancy by fiery tests involving the defection of its acknowledged founder, nursed through the dispatch of unnumbered Tablets by the vigilant Master, as well as by the successive messengers designed to support its infant strength, launched upon its rapid career through series of institutional acts and missionary journeys signalizing the first stirrings of its community life, infinitely enriched by priceless benefits conferred upon its members in the course of 'Abdu'l-Baha's sojourn in their midst, invested with a unique mission through the revelation of the Tablets of the Divine Plan, firmly knit through processes proclaiming the emergence of the Divinely appointed Administrative Order, immortalized through the signal acts of its illustrious member who succeeded in winning the allegiance of royalty to its cause, consummating its record of achievements through total victory of the Seven Year Plan thereby sealing the triumph of the first stage in the Mission bestowed by 'Abdu'l-Baha, this repeatedly blessed, much envied community deserves to be acclaimed the Torchbearer of the civilization, the foundations of which the Faith of Baha'u'llah is destined unassailably to establish in the course of the Second Baha'i Century. I am moved to pay a well deserved tribute at this great turning point in the career of so privileged a community to the gallant band of its apostolic founders whose deeds heralded the dawn of the Day of the Covenant in the West, to its intrepid pioneers who labored to enlarge the bounds of the Faith in the five continents, to its indefatigable administrators whose hands reared the fabric of the Administrative Order, to its heroic martyrs who followed in the footsteps of the Dawn-Breakers of the heroic age, to its itinerant teachers who with written and spoken word pleaded its cause and repulsed the attacks of its adversaries, to its munificent supporters whose liberality accelerated the expansion of its manifold activities, and last but not least to the mass of its stout-hearted, self-denying members whose strenuous, ceaseless, concerted efforts so decisively contributed to the consolidation and broadening of its foundations. I desire to direct a particular appeal to the Latin American representatives participating in the Centennial Convention to deliberate on measures to reinforce the ties binding them to their Sister Community, unitedly devise means for the inauguration of teaching campaigns in their respective Republics, the dissemination of Baha'i literature, the multiplication of Baha'i administrative centers as preliminary steps in the formation of Baha'i National Assemblies, and lend impetus to the prosecution of any enterprise launched to carry still further the Plan conceived by 'Abdu'l-Baha for the American Baha'i Community.

May 15, 1944

CONSOLIDATION OF NOBLY-WON VICTORIES

The magnificent victories achieved in the teaching field and the sphere of administrative activity by the American Baha'i community crowned with glory the historic services rendered by the followers of Baha'u'llah throughout the West during the last fifty years of the first Baha'i Century. I rejoice in the brilliant celebrations befittingly consummating the record of splendid achievements. Immediate attention should be focused in the course of the opening year of the Second Century on consolidation of the nobly-won victories through reinforcement of newly formed Assemblies, multiplication of groups and increase in number of Assemblies as well as corresponding effort through Latin America. Praying for continuous flow of Divine outpourings.

Cablegram May 27, 1944

A SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY IN EVERY REMAINING REPUBLIC

I rejoice in the success of the vitally needed, timely conference with Latin American representatives; greatly welcome the decisions reached and the plans formulated. The first year of the second Baha'i century should witness the establishment of a Spiritual Assembly in every remaining Republic and be signalized by a steady increase in the number of pioneers for both Latin and North America; by a further multiplication of groups, a wider dissemination of Baha'i literature in both Spanish and Portuguese, closer relationships consolidating the communities and more effective contact by these communities with the masses of the population and all races and classes. I am ardently praying for mighty victories in every field as essential preliminary to the emergence of independent National Spiritual Assemblies and as indispensable prelude to launching in other continents, soon after the termination of the world conflict, the second stage of the momentous World Plan so intimately associated by 'Abdu'l-Baha with the future destinies of the illustrious American Baha'i Community.

July 17, 1944

THE SEAL OF SPIRITUAL TRIUMPH

The splendid and unique success that has attended the Centenary celebrations so admirably conducted by the American Baha'i 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 Baha'u'llah 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-Baha 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 Baha'i centers in Latin America, to the expansion of Baha'i literature, to the translation of the Baha'i 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-Baha 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 hand 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 Baha'i community will, as it has in the past, rise to the occasion and discharge its high duties as befits the unique position it occupies.

August 18, 1944

FAITHFUL PIONEER

Share grief at passing of devoted, faithful pioneer (John Stearns). His services have been unforgettable and highly meritorious. Advise the construction of a memorial. Assure friends in Lima (Peru) my deepest, loving sympathy.

Cablegram November 19, 1944

PASSAGES IN "GOD PASSES BY"

Comforted, strengthened by assurance of sympathy and loyalty of American believers in the deplorable, delicate situation created by dishonorable alliances made by members of my family, first with Covenant-breakers and now with external enemies of the Faith.