FAITHFUL PIONEER

FAITHFUL PIONEERShare 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, 1944PASSAGES 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.The marvelous, rapid, sound evolution of the institutions of the Faith in five continents, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, constitutes best monition, most effective counteraction to the detrimental influence of those whose acts proclaim their severance from the Holy Tree and their forfeiture of their sacred birthright.The occasion demands that you direct special attention to passages in “God Passes By” indicating the gravity of the past crises precipitated since the inception of the Faith by kinsmen both of the Manifestation and the Center of His Covenant, demonstrating the pitiful futility of their nefarious activities and the sad fate overtaking defectors and betrayers.The present hour calls for unrelaxing vigilance, continued heroism, redoubled efforts, renewed dedication by rank and file of the community enjoying preponderating share alike in the erection, the defense, and the consolidation of the worldwide Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh since the passing of the Center of His Covenant.I urge the entire Bahá’í community of the Western Hemisphere to focus its attention during the remaining months of the opening year of the second century on the formation of local Assemblies in the remaining Republics of Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia and San Domingo, guard against dissolution of Assemblies already painstakingly established throughout the Americas, exert effort on further multiplication of groups, wider dissemination of literature, greater use of radio, closer contact with masses, more audacious proclamation of the Faith, more effective coordination of local and national activities aiming at fuller demonstration of the rights and claims of the Faith to be regarded as sole refuge of humanity in its hour of bitterest agony.The American believers’ meritorious activities, individual, local, interstate, intercontinental, will be the object of my special prayers during the approaching Anniversary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ascension.Cablegram November 21, 1944THE SUCCEEDING STAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR WORLD MISSION1944, a year memorable for the sharp contrast between the rising tide of spiritual victories culminating in the Centenary celebrations of a world-embracing Faith and the swiftly ebbing fortunes of a war-ravaged, disillusioned and bankrupt society, is drawing to a close. In every continent of the globe; in the Holy Land, the Heart and Center of our Faith and Pivot of its institutions; in the land of its birth; in the adjoining territory of ‘Iráq; throughout the Western Hemisphere; in the British Isles, so severely subjected to the violence of a world tempest; throughout the length and breadth of India; in far-off Australasia and in the Nile Valley—all with the sole exception of the distant Republics of the West subjected in varying degrees to the imminent danger of becoming the theatre of war—the communities laboring for the promotion of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have, throughout five tumultuous years, been providentially spared to hold aloft its banner, to preserve its integrity, to maintain the continuity of its institutions, to enrich its annals, to consolidate its structure, to further disseminate its literature and to befittingly celebrate its Centenary. Preponderant indeed has been the share of that privileged community, which has been invested by the Pen of the Center of the Covenant with a world-wide mission, in the prosecution of a task which, ever since the onset of this world upheaval and despite its mounting horrors, the builders of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have so unflaggingly pursued. Neither the participation of the Great Republic of the West in this fierce contest, nor the sorrows, burdens and restrictions which such direct association with the agonies of a travailing age has entailed, have thus far been capable of dimming the splendor of the exploits that have immortalized the record of the services of this community since the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Indeed, coincident with the period of America’s direct participation in this world struggle and in direct proportion to the turmoil and the tribulations which such a participation has engendered, the members of this community have evinced a heroism and proved themselves capable of a concerted effort that have eclipsed the notable achievements that have heralded the establishment of the Administrative Order of the Faith as well as the first stage in the development of the Seven Year Plan.What the year 1945, on whose threshhold we now stand, has in store for the members of this determined, this valiant, this watchful, this exemplary community only the future can reveal. That the trials and afflictions suffered by their country and its people must wax as this world upheaval moves towards a climax no one can any longer doubt. The challenge that will face this stalwart community will no doubt be severe. To allow the prizes so nobly won, over so vast a field, at so great a cost, at so critical an hour, to fall into jeopardy would be unworthy of a career so auspiciously initiated, so completely dedicated to the Cause of God, so rich in promise and so brilliant in almost every phase of its evolution. Every local Assembly, the ordained pivot of a divinely-ordained System, which has been established in the States and Provinces of the North American continent, as well as in the Republics of Latin America, must, through a supreme effort on the part of pioneers, visiting teachers and Regional Committees, be steadfastly maintained. Simultaneously a no less determined effort should be exerted to enable the admittedly large number of groups scattered throughout the Americas to attain Assembly status. No less urgent is the obligation to proclaim the verities enshrined in the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh by every means which individuals, Assemblies and committees can devise, through the press and radio, through an unprecedented dissemination of literature, through its systematic translation into Spanish and Portuguese and above all through active association with leaders of public thought as well as direct contact with the masses of the people. Through such means as these, and through such means only can the members of the American Bahá’í Community, who have so audaciously and successfully launched the first stage of the Divine Plan, be enabled to pave the way and usher in, soon after the cessation of hostilities, the succeeding stage in the evolution of their world mission. My prayers and loving thoughts surround them continually in their devoted labors.December 24, 1944THE ADMISSION OF PERSIANSI desire to reiterate the warning that no Persian, student or otherwise, must be admitted into the community under any circumstances unless provided with full credentials. Exception and compromise would be detrimental to the vital interests of the Faith at the present juncture. The utmost caution and vigilance is imperative.January 20, 1945STAUNCH PIONEERDeeply grieve passing of indefatigable, staunch pioneer (i.e., Miss Mary Lesch) of the Faith in the Day of the Covenant. The record of her services imperishable, her reward great in the Abhá Kingdom.Cablegram, March 27, 1945THE ONE MESSAGE THAT CAN EXTRICATE HUMANITYThe Divine Plan conceived by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the American Bahá’í community, in the midst of one of the darkest periods in human history and with which the destinies of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the North American continent must for generations to come remain inextricably interwoven, has, during the concluding years of the first Bahá’í Century, triumphantly emerged from the first stage of its evolution. Its initiation, officially and on a vast scale, had, for well nigh twenty years, been held in abeyance, while the processes of a slowly emerging administrative Order, were, under the unerring guidance of Providence, creating and perfecting the agencies for its efficient and systematic prosecution. The next stage in the evolution of the Plan cannot, however, be embarked upon, until the external causes, hampering its further unfoldment in other continents of the globe, are removed through the cessation of hostilities and the signal victories already won through its initial development are sufficiently consolidated throughout the Western Hemisphere. The tasks confronting those who have so valiantly and brilliantly inaugurated the first stage in the execution of the Great Design unfolded by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the promulgation of the Faith of His Father, during this transitional period, are manifold, exacting, urgent, and sacred. The local administrative units, so laboriously constituted throughout the Americas, must needs, as already pointed out and repeatedly stressed, be maintained, reinforced, closely integrated and their number steadily multiplied. The spirit that has inflamed the pioneers who have set the seal of triumph on the Seven Year Plan, must under the vigilant care of the National representatives of the American Bahá’í community be constantly watched, kept alive and nourished. The literature of the Faith, particularly in Spanish and Portuguese, must be widely disseminated in both Central and South America, as a necessary adjunct to the systematic consolidation of the work that has been undertaken. Above all, the healing Message of Bahá’u’lláh must during the opening years of the second Bahá’í Century, and through the instrumentality of an already properly functioning Administrative Order, whose ramifications have been extended to the four corners of the Western Hemisphere, be vividly, systematically brought to the attention of the masses, in their hour of grief, misery and confusion. A more audacious assertion of the challenging verities of the Faith; a more convincing presentation of its distinguishing truths; a fuller exposition of the character, the aims and the achievements of its rising Administrative system as the nucleus and pattern of its future world-embracing order; a more direct and intimate contact and association with the leaders of public thought, whose activities and aims are akin to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, for the purpose of demonstrating the universality, the comprehensiveness, the liberality and the dynamic power of His Divine Message; a closer scrutiny of the ways and means whereby its claims can be vindicated, its defamers and detractors silenced, and its institutions safeguarded; a more determined effort to exploit, to the fullest extent possible, the talents and abilities of the rank and file of the believers for the purpose of achieving these ends—these stand out as the paramount tasks summoning to a challenge, during these years of transition and turmoil, the entire body of the American believers. The facilities which the radio and press furnish must be utilized to a degree unprecedented in American Bahá’í history. The combined resources of the much-envied exemplary American Bahá’í community must be harnessed for the effectual promotion of these meritorious purposes. Blessings undreamt of in their scope and plenteousness, are bound to be vouchsafed to those who will, in these dark yet pregnant times, arise to further these noble ends and to hasten through their acts the hour at which a still more momentous stage in the evolution of a Divine and worldwide Plan can be launched.There is no time to lose. The hour is ripe for the proclamation, without fear, without reserve, and without hesitation, and on a scale never as yet undertaken, of the One Message that can alone extricate humanity from the morass into which it is steadily sinking, and from which they who claim to be the followers of the Most Great Name can and will eventually rescue it. The sooner they who labor for the recognition and triumph of His Faith in the new world arise to carry out these inescapable duties, the sooner will the hopes, the aims and objectives of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as enshrined in His own Plan, be translated from the realm of vision to the plane of actuality and manifest the full force of the potentialities with which they have been endued.March 29, 1945MY HEAVY-LADENED HEARTMy heavy ladened heart, already oppressed by repeated defections of the unworthy kindred of the beloved Master, is relieved by latest signal evidence of the indomitable spirit of the members of divinely chosen American Bahá’í community now unfurling the banner of the Faith and establishing the structural basis of its administrative order in the world’s southernmost city. I hail the staunchness and fidelity distinguishing the winners of such superb victories. I acclaim them true brothers and sisters worthy of the name ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. I urge the Inter-America Committee to devote special attention and undertake prompt measures designed to increase the number of believers, establish local administrative headquarters, and multiply the subsidiary agencies indispensable to the maintenance of a flourishing community in the southern extremity of the western hemisphere. Praying ever increasing successes.Cablegram April 21, 1945NATIONWIDE, INTERCONTINENTAL PLANSAssure newly-elected members of my fervent prayers for divine guidance and strength to accomplish the tasks confronting the American Bahá’í community in the second year of the second Bahá’í century. I appeal to National Teaching, Regional and Inter-America Committees to intensify efforts for multiplication of groups and Assemblies the length and breadth of the western hemisphere. An ever-increasing flow of pioneers is indispensable to meet the urgent requirements of the present hour. Renewed, determined, continued exertions by individuals aimed at an unprecedented increase in the number of enrolled believers is vital to the consolidation of activities undertaken by pioneers. Systematic, well-conceived, carefully coordinated plans, nationwide and intercontinental, devised by elected national representatives of the community, are likewise a necessary preliminary to a seed-sowing unexampled both in range and effectiveness in American Bahá’í history. The attainment of this threefold objective in North, Central and South America will signalize the initiation, in other continents, of the world mission constituting the sacred birthright of the American followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.Cablegram May 8, 1945A SINGLE, ORGANICALLY-UNITED WORLD COMMONWEALTHThe followers of Bahá’u’lláh throughout five continents unanimously rejoice in the partial emergence of a war-torn humanity from the titanic upheaval unerringly predicted seventy years ago by the Pen of the Author of their Faith. The cessation of hostilities in the European continent signalizes yet another chapter in the tragic tale of fiery trials providentially decreed by inscrutable wisdom designed ultimately to weld the mutually antagonistic elements of human society into a single, organically-united, unshatterable world commonwealth. They gratefully acclaim the signal evidence of the interposition of divine Providence which during such perilous years enabled the World Center of our Faith to escape what posterity will recognize as one of the gravest dangers which ever confronted the nerve center of its institutions. They are profoundly aware of the bountiful grace vouchsafed by that same Providence insuring, unlike the previous world conflict, uninterrupted intercourse between the spiritual Center and the vast majority of the communities functioning within the orbit of a far-flung Faith. They are immeasurably thankful for the miraculous preservation of the Indian, Persian, Egyptian, British and Iráqí communities, long threatened by dire perils owing to their proximity to the theatre of military operations. They are deeply conscious that the progress achieved, despite six tempestuous years, in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, through the collective enterprises launched by these communities, outshines the sum total of the accomplishments since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith.The Seven Year Plan inaugurated by the American Bahá’í community under the lowering clouds of the approaching conflict victoriously completed the exterior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West, established the structural basis of the Faith in every State and Province of the North American continent, and hoisted its banner in every Republic of Latin America. The Indian believers’ Six Year Plan, launched on the eve of hostilities, more than quadrupled the centers functioning within the pale of the Administrative Order. The edifices consecrated to the administrative affairs of an ever-advancing Cause, involving the expenditure of over a hundred thousand dollars, were erected, purchased or completed in the Capital Cities of India, ‘Iráq and Egypt as well as Sydney, Australia. The acquisition of numerous properties in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, on Mount Carmel and in the Jordan Valley, as well as the purchase of several important historic sites associated with the Lives of both the Herald and the Author of the Faith, swelled to an unprecedented degree our Bahá’í endowments.Preliminary steps for the completion of the Báb’s Sepulchre and the establishment of the World Administrative Center through the removal of the Remains of the Brother and Mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were undertaken. The termination of the First Century of the Bahá’í Era, synchronizing with the climax of the raging storm, was publicly and befittingly celebrated, despite the multiplication of restrictions. Above all, the unity and integrity of an incorruptible world community was consistently safeguarded in face of the insidious opposition of avowed enemies without and the Covenant-breakers within.Such splendid victories, over so vast a field, amidst such tribulations during so prolonged an ordeal, augur well for the colossal tasks destined to be accomplished during the course of the peaceful years ahead by the builders of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh amidst the wreckage of a disrupted, disillusioned society.Cablegram May 12, 1945A NEW PHASE OF HUMAN EVOLUTIONThe cessation of hostilities on the continent of Europe, the prospect of an early termination of the bloody conflict raging in the Far East, invest the members of the world Bahá’í community, and particularly its standard-bearers in the great Republic of the West, with a great, a unique, and inescapable responsibility. The first stage of the mission laid upon them by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the inauguration of which has been so long retarded while the processes of a slowly emerging administrative order were being set in motion, and which coincided with one of the darkest and most tragic periods in human history, has been brought to a triumphant conclusion, and added a golden page to the annals of the closing years of the first Bahá’í century.As a new phase in the painful evolution of a sorely-tried and wayward humanity opens, a new challenge summons the prosecutors of a Divine Plan to gird up their loins, muster their resources, and prepare themselves for the launching of the second stage of an enterprise which, as it reveals its full potentialities, must stretch to embrace the five continents of the globe. World turmoil, grave dangers, severe restrictions, the lethargy of the public engrossed in its war problems, have failed to dampen the zeal, or to undermine the resolve, or to interfere with the successful discharge of the duty assumed by those who have so determinedly embarked on the opening stage of their world encircling, divinely appointed mission. With the return to more normal conditions, with the improvement of the means of travel and communication, with the lifting of the deadening weight of fear and care and the growing receptivity of the masses schooled in adversity and groping for the means of ultimate salvation, opportunities without number and unprecedented in their significance, present themselves to those whose privilege and obligation it is to pave the way for the launching of the succeeding stage of their historic and ever unfolding task.Not until, however, normal conditions are fully restored and the world situation is stabilized, and, above all, the prizes won through the operation of the Seven Year Plan are adequately safeguarded and the basis of the newly established Administrative Order sufficiently consolidated throughout the Western Hemisphere, can the ambassadors of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, carrying aloft the banner of His Name in the American continent, be called upon to undertake unitedly and systematically, collective responsibility for the diffusion of His Message, and for the erection of the fabric of His Administrative Order, amidst the sorrow-stricken, war-lacerated, sorely bewildered nations and peoples of the European continent.The sooner the home tasks are fully discharged and newly fledged Assemblies in Central and South America enabled to function adequately and vigorously, the sooner will the stalwart members of the American Bahá’í community, who, during so brief a period, and despite the prevailing darkness, achieved such wonders throughout the Americas, extend the healing influence of their Faith, on a scale as yet unprecedented, to the waiting masses of that agitated continent.As already observed, an intensification of effort is imperatively required aiming at a bolder proclamation of the verities of a God-given Faith, at a systematic and continent-wide dissemination of its authentic literature, at a closer contact with the masses as well as the leaders of public thought, at a further consolidation and multiplication of the administrative centers scattered throughout the new world, and constituting the nuclei of its future World Order, and, above all, at a more convincing revelation of Bahá’í love, unity, solidarity and self-sacrifice, which alone can hasten the consummation of the preliminary undertakings required to terminate the period of transition intervening between the first and second stages of the greatest crusade ever launched in the history of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.Time is pressing, the work that still remains to be accomplished in the new world is vast and urgent, the need of the suffering masses the world over, and particularly in Europe, is pitiable, the sustaining grace destined to be vouchsafed from on high to those who will arise to achieve that task and fulfill this need is boundless and assured. Its potency has been already fully experienced, and abundantly demonstrated in the years that have witnessed the most prodigious efforts exerted by the American believers. A still more powerful display of its miraculous force can be confidently anticipated, if those who have felt its impact in the past arise to carry out, in the years that lie immediately ahead, the sublime and twofold task of the redemption of mankind and the establishment of the world sovereignty of Bahá’u’lláh.Cablegram August 10, 1945HEARTS UPLIFTED IN THANKSGIVINGOur hearts are uplifted in thanksgiving for complete cessation of the prolonged, unprecedented world conflict. I hail the prospects of the removal of the restrictions enabling American Bahá’í Community to expedite the preliminary measures required to launch the second stage of the Divine Plan. I appeal focus attention upon the requirements of the all-important Latin American work. The adequate fulfillment of this vital task preludes the assumption of collective responsibility by triumphant community of the spiritual enlightenment and ultimate redemption of sorely-tried, war-ravaged European continent, destined to be associated with exploits which must immortalize the second stage of the World Mission entrusted by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the apostles of His Father’s Faith in the western world. The opportunities of the present hour are infinitely precious, the time is pressing, the call of the distressed, groping peoples of Europe pitiful, insistent. The work still to be accomplished to consummate the mighty enterprise undertaken in Latin America is considerable. The Almighty’s sustaining grace is assured, unfailing. I am praying from the depths of a joyful, thankful heart for the outpouring of blessings no less remarkable than the divine bounties vouchsafed unto the valiant prosecutors of the Plan in the course of the opening phase of their World Mission.Cablegram August 20, 1945THE WORK OF REHABILITATIONThe reports recently received from various sources, regarding the sad conditions prevailing among the members of the sorely-stricken, long-suffering Bahá’í communities in Germany and Burma, are of such a distressing nature as to merit the energetic, the immediate, and collective intervention of their fellow-workers in lands which have providentially been spared the horrors of invasion and all the evils and miseries attendant upon it. Upon the American Bahá’í community, in particular, which throughout this prolonged and bloody conflict, has of all its sister communities in East and West, enjoyed the greatest immunity and been privileged not only to maintain and preserve its institutions, but to prosecute so successfully a Plan of such magnitude and significance, a special responsibility now rests—a responsibility which, despite its manifold and pressing duties in the Western Hemisphere, it can neither afford to neglect nor ignore.Particularly in the heart of the European continent, where the present turmoil, suffering and destitution are mysteriously paving the way for the revival of a Faith which the Beloved Himself has unequivocally prophesied, where a once flourishing community is struggling to fulfil the high hopes entertained for it by Him, and where the prosecutors of the Divine Plan, are to lend their direct and systematic assistance when launching the second stage of their world mission, must the American believers contribute the major share in the work of rehabilitation which the followers of Bahá’u’lláh must arise to perform.Through the extension of whatever financial assistance is feasible, through the provision and distribution of adequate literature, through the initiation of any measures, official or otherwise, which they can undertake for the protection, reinstatement and revival of a greatly-tested, highly promising and much loved community, the American believers have the golden opportunity of adding a fresh chapter to the brilliant record of their past international services to the Cause of God.Nor should the urgency of the task in far-away Burma, where a flourishing community had furnished so shining an example of Bahá’í fellowship and solidarity, be underestimated. The spirit which its remnant has displayed after so many years of persecution, dispersion and danger, merits the widest measure of encouragement and support, both moral and financial. Pressed as the American Bahá’í community must be by the twofold obligation of proclaiming the verities of their Faith to the American public and of consolidating the vast enterprises initiated throughout Latin America, the stalwart and privileged followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in North America cannot allow so great an opportunity to advance the vital international interests of His Cause to slip from their grasp. I feel confident that in the discharge of this additional task they will exhibit those same traits that have distinguished their stewardship for so many years to so glorious a Cause.December 21, 1945THE GERMAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITYThe German Bahá’í community, dearly beloved, highly honored by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and destined to play an outstanding role in the spiritual revival of an oppressed continent, has abundantly demonstrated in the course of ten years of severest tribulations, dire peril and complete suppression, the high character of its indomitable faith. I appeal to the entire community of the greatly blessed, highly privileged American believers, to arise unitedly and contribute generously through dispatch of funds and literature designed to alleviate the distress and rehabilitate the institutions with which the future prosecutors of the second stage of the Divine Plan must be closely associated.Cablegram December 31, 1945EXEMPLARY PIONEERDeeply grieve passing of exemplary pioneer of the Faith, Emogene Hoagg. Her long record of national and international services is unforgettable, her reward in the Abhá Kingdom assured and abundant.Cablegram December 31, 1945LYDIA ZAMENHOFHeartily approve nationwide observance for dauntless Lydia Zamenhof. Her notable services, tenacity, modesty, unwavering devotion fully merit high tribute by American believers. Do not advise, however, that you designate her a martyr.Cablegram January 28, 1946HISTORIC DECISIONSOverjoyed, profoundly thankful for munificent donation made by American Bahá’í community for international relief. Urge establishment of communication with German believers and careful consultation with their representatives to collaborate in publication and expansion of much needed German Bahá’í literature. Delighted at news of consolidation of activities in Central America, the progress of the Public Campaigns and development of youth activities. Advise address special immediate appeal to American believers to insure large, representative attendance at approaching Convention owing to momentous, historic decisions to be disclosed to assembled representatives of ever-victorious, increasingly blessed, spiritually maturing American Bahá’í community.Cablegram February 25, 1946MOMENTOUS RESPONSIBILITIESThe assistance extended by the American Bahá’í Community to the long-suffering German believers is a further evidence of their readiness, so abundantly demonstrated in the past, to champion the interests, and to rehabilitate the institutions of their sister communities throughout the Bahá’í world. This support, so generously extended, so consistently and faithfully offered by the rank and file of the American believers, and particularly by their elected National representatives, is but a subsidiary aspect of the tremendous undertakings which, in both the North and South American continents, the standard bearers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have initiated and developed, for the promotion of its interests, during the concluding decades of the first Bahá’í century.The twofold task which they have so nobly undertaken—the proclamation of the Faith in the North American continent and the consolidation of its nascent institutions in Latin America—must, whatever plan is devised in the coming years for the furtherance of their world-wide mission—be relentlessly prosecuted. That further responsibilities, of a momentous character, will have to be superimposed on the stalwart prosecutors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, as they gird up their loins to carry a stage further their historic labors in obedience to His wishes, no one can for a moment doubt. As the field of their activities, ranging over entire continents, grows in scope and in importance, the aims and purposes associated with the first stage of their glorious mission must, in no wise, be either neglected or forgotten. The steady multiplication of groups and of Spiritual Assemblies throughout the States of the great American Republic, the continual broadcasting of the Divine Message to the leaders of public opinion and the masses, as well as the establishment of the newly fledged local Assemblies throughout Latin America on an unassailable basis, and the dissemination of Bahá’í literature among its people, demand whatever the nature of the supplementary responsibilities that will have to be assumed in the years to come, the closest attention on the part of the entire body of the American believers, and must continue to be regarded as the fundamental issues facing their national representatives. The exploits immortalizing the first stage of the Divine Plan, however glorious their record, have yet to yield their noblest fruits. Efforts unremitting, systematic, and continent-wide in their scope, can alone garner a harvest worthy of the high confidence placed in them by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. May they prove themselves increasingly worthy of so high a privilege, so glorious a task.March 25, 1946INAUGURATION OF SECOND SEVEN YEAR PLANMessage to 1946 ConventionHail with joyous heart the delegates of the American Bahá’í Community assembled beneath the dome of the Mother Temple of the West in momentous Convention of the first year of peace. The souls are uplifted in thanksgiving for the protection vouchsafed by Providence to the preeminent community of the Bahá’í world enabling its members to consummate, despite the tribulations of a world-convulsing conflict, the first stage of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan. The Campaign culminating the Centenary of the inauguration of the Bahá’í Era completed sixteen months ere the appointed time the exterior ornamentation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, laid the basis of the administrative order in every virgin state and province of the North American Continent, almost doubled the Assemblies established since the inception of the Faith, established Assemblies in fourteen republics of Latin America, constituted active groups in remaining republics, swelled to sixty the sovereign states within the pale of the Faith.The two-year respite, well-earned after the expenditure of such a colossal effort, covering such a tremendous range, during so dark a period, is now ended. The prosecutors of the Plan who in the course of six war-ridden years achieved such prodigies of service in the Western Hemisphere from Alaska to Magallanes are now collectively summoned to assume in the course of the peaceful years ahead still weightier responsibilities for the opening decade of the Second Century. The time is ripe, events are pressing. Hosts on high are sounding the signal for inauguration of second Seven Year Plan designed to culminate first Centennial of the year Nine marking the mystic birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic mission in Síyáh-Chál at Ṭihrán.A two-fold responsibility urgently calls the vanguard of the dawn-breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Order, torch-bearers of world civilization, executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mandate, to arise and simultaneously bring to fruition the tasks already undertaken and launch fresh enterprises beyond the borders of the Western Hemisphere.The first objective of the new Plan is consolidation of victories already won throughout the Americas, involving multiplication of Bahá’í centers, bolder proclamation of the Faith to the masses. The second objective is completion of the interior ornamentation of the holiest House of Worship in the Bahá’í world designed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the inception of this historic enterprise. The third objective is the formation of three national Assemblies, pillars of the Universal House of Justice, in the Dominion of Canada, Central and South America. The fourth objective is the initiation of systematic teaching activity in war-torn, spiritually famished European continent, cradle of world-famed civilizations, twice-blest by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visits, whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh specifically and collectively addressed, aiming at establishment of Assemblies in the Iberian Peninsula, the Low Countries, the Scandinavian states, and Italy. No effort is too great for community belonging to the continent whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh addressed in the Most Holy Book, whose members were invested with spiritual primacy by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and named by Him apostles of His Father, whose country was the first western nation to respond to the Divine Message and deemed worthy to be first to build the Tabernacle of the Most Great Peace, whose administrators evolved the pattern of the embryonic world order, consummated the first stage of the Divine Plan, and whose elevation to the throne of everlasting dominion the Center of the Covenant confidently anticipated. As the resistless impulse propelling the Plan accelerates, the American Community must rise to new levels of potency in response to the divine mandate, scale loftier heights of heroism, insure fuller participation of the rank and file of members, and closer collaboration with the agencies designed to insure attainment of the fourfold objectives, and evince greater audacity in tearing down the barriers in its path.Upon the success of the second Seven Year Plan depends the launching, after a brief respite of three brief years, of a yet more momentous third Seven Year Plan which, when consummated through the establishment of the structure of the administrative order in the remaining sovereign states and chief dependencies of the entire globe, must culminate in and be befittingly commemorated through world-wide celebrations marking the Centennial of the formal assumption by Bahá’u’lláh of the Prophetic Office associated with Daniel’s prophecy and the world triumph of the Bahá’í revelation and signalizing the termination of the initial epoch in the evolution of the Plan whose mysterious, resistless processes must continue to shed ever-increasing lustre on successive generations of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.Pledging ten thousand dollars as my initial contribution for the furtherance of the manifold purposes of a glorious crusade surpassing every enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the course of the first Bahá’í century.April 25, 1946SPIRITUAL CONQUEST OF THE OLD WORLDOpening phase of spiritual conquest of the old world under divinely conceived Plan must be speedily and befittingly inaugurated. Feel necessity prompt dispatch of nine competent pioneers to as many countries as feasible charged to initiate systematic teaching work, commence settlement and promote dissemination of literature. Urge establishment of auxiliary office in Geneva as adjunct to International Bureau equipped with facilities to foster development of Assemblies in countries falling within the scope of Plan. Recommend European Teaching Committee undertake without delay measures aiming at close collaboration of British Publishing Trust and Publishing Committee of German National Assembly. Advise include Duchy of Luxembourg in Low Countries and enlarge range of Plan through addition of Switzerland. Owing to considerable sum already accumulated in Ṭihrán I prefer to divert sum for International Relief not yet forwarded to Persia, as well as Assembly’s annual contribution to World Center, to funds earmarked for all-important far-flung European teaching and publication activities. The challenge offered by virgin fields of Europe outweighs momentous character of task already confronting American Bahá’í Community in the Americas. Vast distances sundering the old and new world are visibly, providentially contracting, enabling the ambassadors of Bahá’u’lláh’s New World Order swiftly to discharge their apostolic mission through the continent destined to be stepping-stone to still vaster enterprises associated with future stages of divinely impelled, ever-unfolding, world-encircling Plan.Cablegram June 5, 1946THIRTY NEW ASSEMBLIESAppeal National Teaching Committee unitedly arise play notable part in stupendous exertions now being made by Bahá’í communities throughout Americas in furtherance of second Seven Year Plan. Plead focus attention enable thirty groups having six or more members speedily attain Assembly status. Devoutly praying number of Assemblies functioning in North America will reach one hundred and seventy-five ere expiry of second year of second stage of Divine Plan. Attainment of this immediate objective will challenge and galvanize all other agencies functioning in Latin America and European continent to follow the superb example set for sister committees laboring at the heart of the mother community of the Western hemisphere.Cablegram June 13, 1946

FAITHFUL PIONEERShare 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, 1944PASSAGES 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.The marvelous, rapid, sound evolution of the institutions of the Faith in five continents, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, constitutes best monition, most effective counteraction to the detrimental influence of those whose acts proclaim their severance from the Holy Tree and their forfeiture of their sacred birthright.The occasion demands that you direct special attention to passages in “God Passes By” indicating the gravity of the past crises precipitated since the inception of the Faith by kinsmen both of the Manifestation and the Center of His Covenant, demonstrating the pitiful futility of their nefarious activities and the sad fate overtaking defectors and betrayers.The present hour calls for unrelaxing vigilance, continued heroism, redoubled efforts, renewed dedication by rank and file of the community enjoying preponderating share alike in the erection, the defense, and the consolidation of the worldwide Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh since the passing of the Center of His Covenant.I urge the entire Bahá’í community of the Western Hemisphere to focus its attention during the remaining months of the opening year of the second century on the formation of local Assemblies in the remaining Republics of Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia and San Domingo, guard against dissolution of Assemblies already painstakingly established throughout the Americas, exert effort on further multiplication of groups, wider dissemination of literature, greater use of radio, closer contact with masses, more audacious proclamation of the Faith, more effective coordination of local and national activities aiming at fuller demonstration of the rights and claims of the Faith to be regarded as sole refuge of humanity in its hour of bitterest agony.The American believers’ meritorious activities, individual, local, interstate, intercontinental, will be the object of my special prayers during the approaching Anniversary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ascension.Cablegram November 21, 1944THE SUCCEEDING STAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR WORLD MISSION1944, a year memorable for the sharp contrast between the rising tide of spiritual victories culminating in the Centenary celebrations of a world-embracing Faith and the swiftly ebbing fortunes of a war-ravaged, disillusioned and bankrupt society, is drawing to a close. In every continent of the globe; in the Holy Land, the Heart and Center of our Faith and Pivot of its institutions; in the land of its birth; in the adjoining territory of ‘Iráq; throughout the Western Hemisphere; in the British Isles, so severely subjected to the violence of a world tempest; throughout the length and breadth of India; in far-off Australasia and in the Nile Valley—all with the sole exception of the distant Republics of the West subjected in varying degrees to the imminent danger of becoming the theatre of war—the communities laboring for the promotion of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have, throughout five tumultuous years, been providentially spared to hold aloft its banner, to preserve its integrity, to maintain the continuity of its institutions, to enrich its annals, to consolidate its structure, to further disseminate its literature and to befittingly celebrate its Centenary. Preponderant indeed has been the share of that privileged community, which has been invested by the Pen of the Center of the Covenant with a world-wide mission, in the prosecution of a task which, ever since the onset of this world upheaval and despite its mounting horrors, the builders of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have so unflaggingly pursued. Neither the participation of the Great Republic of the West in this fierce contest, nor the sorrows, burdens and restrictions which such direct association with the agonies of a travailing age has entailed, have thus far been capable of dimming the splendor of the exploits that have immortalized the record of the services of this community since the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Indeed, coincident with the period of America’s direct participation in this world struggle and in direct proportion to the turmoil and the tribulations which such a participation has engendered, the members of this community have evinced a heroism and proved themselves capable of a concerted effort that have eclipsed the notable achievements that have heralded the establishment of the Administrative Order of the Faith as well as the first stage in the development of the Seven Year Plan.What the year 1945, on whose threshhold we now stand, has in store for the members of this determined, this valiant, this watchful, this exemplary community only the future can reveal. That the trials and afflictions suffered by their country and its people must wax as this world upheaval moves towards a climax no one can any longer doubt. The challenge that will face this stalwart community will no doubt be severe. To allow the prizes so nobly won, over so vast a field, at so great a cost, at so critical an hour, to fall into jeopardy would be unworthy of a career so auspiciously initiated, so completely dedicated to the Cause of God, so rich in promise and so brilliant in almost every phase of its evolution. Every local Assembly, the ordained pivot of a divinely-ordained System, which has been established in the States and Provinces of the North American continent, as well as in the Republics of Latin America, must, through a supreme effort on the part of pioneers, visiting teachers and Regional Committees, be steadfastly maintained. Simultaneously a no less determined effort should be exerted to enable the admittedly large number of groups scattered throughout the Americas to attain Assembly status. No less urgent is the obligation to proclaim the verities enshrined in the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh by every means which individuals, Assemblies and committees can devise, through the press and radio, through an unprecedented dissemination of literature, through its systematic translation into Spanish and Portuguese and above all through active association with leaders of public thought as well as direct contact with the masses of the people. Through such means as these, and through such means only can the members of the American Bahá’í Community, who have so audaciously and successfully launched the first stage of the Divine Plan, be enabled to pave the way and usher in, soon after the cessation of hostilities, the succeeding stage in the evolution of their world mission. My prayers and loving thoughts surround them continually in their devoted labors.December 24, 1944THE ADMISSION OF PERSIANSI desire to reiterate the warning that no Persian, student or otherwise, must be admitted into the community under any circumstances unless provided with full credentials. Exception and compromise would be detrimental to the vital interests of the Faith at the present juncture. The utmost caution and vigilance is imperative.January 20, 1945STAUNCH PIONEERDeeply grieve passing of indefatigable, staunch pioneer (i.e., Miss Mary Lesch) of the Faith in the Day of the Covenant. The record of her services imperishable, her reward great in the Abhá Kingdom.Cablegram, March 27, 1945THE ONE MESSAGE THAT CAN EXTRICATE HUMANITYThe Divine Plan conceived by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the American Bahá’í community, in the midst of one of the darkest periods in human history and with which the destinies of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the North American continent must for generations to come remain inextricably interwoven, has, during the concluding years of the first Bahá’í Century, triumphantly emerged from the first stage of its evolution. Its initiation, officially and on a vast scale, had, for well nigh twenty years, been held in abeyance, while the processes of a slowly emerging administrative Order, were, under the unerring guidance of Providence, creating and perfecting the agencies for its efficient and systematic prosecution. The next stage in the evolution of the Plan cannot, however, be embarked upon, until the external causes, hampering its further unfoldment in other continents of the globe, are removed through the cessation of hostilities and the signal victories already won through its initial development are sufficiently consolidated throughout the Western Hemisphere. The tasks confronting those who have so valiantly and brilliantly inaugurated the first stage in the execution of the Great Design unfolded by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the promulgation of the Faith of His Father, during this transitional period, are manifold, exacting, urgent, and sacred. The local administrative units, so laboriously constituted throughout the Americas, must needs, as already pointed out and repeatedly stressed, be maintained, reinforced, closely integrated and their number steadily multiplied. The spirit that has inflamed the pioneers who have set the seal of triumph on the Seven Year Plan, must under the vigilant care of the National representatives of the American Bahá’í community be constantly watched, kept alive and nourished. The literature of the Faith, particularly in Spanish and Portuguese, must be widely disseminated in both Central and South America, as a necessary adjunct to the systematic consolidation of the work that has been undertaken. Above all, the healing Message of Bahá’u’lláh must during the opening years of the second Bahá’í Century, and through the instrumentality of an already properly functioning Administrative Order, whose ramifications have been extended to the four corners of the Western Hemisphere, be vividly, systematically brought to the attention of the masses, in their hour of grief, misery and confusion. A more audacious assertion of the challenging verities of the Faith; a more convincing presentation of its distinguishing truths; a fuller exposition of the character, the aims and the achievements of its rising Administrative system as the nucleus and pattern of its future world-embracing order; a more direct and intimate contact and association with the leaders of public thought, whose activities and aims are akin to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, for the purpose of demonstrating the universality, the comprehensiveness, the liberality and the dynamic power of His Divine Message; a closer scrutiny of the ways and means whereby its claims can be vindicated, its defamers and detractors silenced, and its institutions safeguarded; a more determined effort to exploit, to the fullest extent possible, the talents and abilities of the rank and file of the believers for the purpose of achieving these ends—these stand out as the paramount tasks summoning to a challenge, during these years of transition and turmoil, the entire body of the American believers. The facilities which the radio and press furnish must be utilized to a degree unprecedented in American Bahá’í history. The combined resources of the much-envied exemplary American Bahá’í community must be harnessed for the effectual promotion of these meritorious purposes. Blessings undreamt of in their scope and plenteousness, are bound to be vouchsafed to those who will, in these dark yet pregnant times, arise to further these noble ends and to hasten through their acts the hour at which a still more momentous stage in the evolution of a Divine and worldwide Plan can be launched.There is no time to lose. The hour is ripe for the proclamation, without fear, without reserve, and without hesitation, and on a scale never as yet undertaken, of the One Message that can alone extricate humanity from the morass into which it is steadily sinking, and from which they who claim to be the followers of the Most Great Name can and will eventually rescue it. The sooner they who labor for the recognition and triumph of His Faith in the new world arise to carry out these inescapable duties, the sooner will the hopes, the aims and objectives of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as enshrined in His own Plan, be translated from the realm of vision to the plane of actuality and manifest the full force of the potentialities with which they have been endued.March 29, 1945MY HEAVY-LADENED HEARTMy heavy ladened heart, already oppressed by repeated defections of the unworthy kindred of the beloved Master, is relieved by latest signal evidence of the indomitable spirit of the members of divinely chosen American Bahá’í community now unfurling the banner of the Faith and establishing the structural basis of its administrative order in the world’s southernmost city. I hail the staunchness and fidelity distinguishing the winners of such superb victories. I acclaim them true brothers and sisters worthy of the name ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. I urge the Inter-America Committee to devote special attention and undertake prompt measures designed to increase the number of believers, establish local administrative headquarters, and multiply the subsidiary agencies indispensable to the maintenance of a flourishing community in the southern extremity of the western hemisphere. Praying ever increasing successes.Cablegram April 21, 1945NATIONWIDE, INTERCONTINENTAL PLANSAssure newly-elected members of my fervent prayers for divine guidance and strength to accomplish the tasks confronting the American Bahá’í community in the second year of the second Bahá’í century. I appeal to National Teaching, Regional and Inter-America Committees to intensify efforts for multiplication of groups and Assemblies the length and breadth of the western hemisphere. An ever-increasing flow of pioneers is indispensable to meet the urgent requirements of the present hour. Renewed, determined, continued exertions by individuals aimed at an unprecedented increase in the number of enrolled believers is vital to the consolidation of activities undertaken by pioneers. Systematic, well-conceived, carefully coordinated plans, nationwide and intercontinental, devised by elected national representatives of the community, are likewise a necessary preliminary to a seed-sowing unexampled both in range and effectiveness in American Bahá’í history. The attainment of this threefold objective in North, Central and South America will signalize the initiation, in other continents, of the world mission constituting the sacred birthright of the American followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.Cablegram May 8, 1945A SINGLE, ORGANICALLY-UNITED WORLD COMMONWEALTHThe followers of Bahá’u’lláh throughout five continents unanimously rejoice in the partial emergence of a war-torn humanity from the titanic upheaval unerringly predicted seventy years ago by the Pen of the Author of their Faith. The cessation of hostilities in the European continent signalizes yet another chapter in the tragic tale of fiery trials providentially decreed by inscrutable wisdom designed ultimately to weld the mutually antagonistic elements of human society into a single, organically-united, unshatterable world commonwealth. They gratefully acclaim the signal evidence of the interposition of divine Providence which during such perilous years enabled the World Center of our Faith to escape what posterity will recognize as one of the gravest dangers which ever confronted the nerve center of its institutions. They are profoundly aware of the bountiful grace vouchsafed by that same Providence insuring, unlike the previous world conflict, uninterrupted intercourse between the spiritual Center and the vast majority of the communities functioning within the orbit of a far-flung Faith. They are immeasurably thankful for the miraculous preservation of the Indian, Persian, Egyptian, British and Iráqí communities, long threatened by dire perils owing to their proximity to the theatre of military operations. They are deeply conscious that the progress achieved, despite six tempestuous years, in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, through the collective enterprises launched by these communities, outshines the sum total of the accomplishments since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith.The Seven Year Plan inaugurated by the American Bahá’í community under the lowering clouds of the approaching conflict victoriously completed the exterior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West, established the structural basis of the Faith in every State and Province of the North American continent, and hoisted its banner in every Republic of Latin America. The Indian believers’ Six Year Plan, launched on the eve of hostilities, more than quadrupled the centers functioning within the pale of the Administrative Order. The edifices consecrated to the administrative affairs of an ever-advancing Cause, involving the expenditure of over a hundred thousand dollars, were erected, purchased or completed in the Capital Cities of India, ‘Iráq and Egypt as well as Sydney, Australia. The acquisition of numerous properties in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, on Mount Carmel and in the Jordan Valley, as well as the purchase of several important historic sites associated with the Lives of both the Herald and the Author of the Faith, swelled to an unprecedented degree our Bahá’í endowments.Preliminary steps for the completion of the Báb’s Sepulchre and the establishment of the World Administrative Center through the removal of the Remains of the Brother and Mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were undertaken. The termination of the First Century of the Bahá’í Era, synchronizing with the climax of the raging storm, was publicly and befittingly celebrated, despite the multiplication of restrictions. Above all, the unity and integrity of an incorruptible world community was consistently safeguarded in face of the insidious opposition of avowed enemies without and the Covenant-breakers within.Such splendid victories, over so vast a field, amidst such tribulations during so prolonged an ordeal, augur well for the colossal tasks destined to be accomplished during the course of the peaceful years ahead by the builders of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh amidst the wreckage of a disrupted, disillusioned society.Cablegram May 12, 1945A NEW PHASE OF HUMAN EVOLUTIONThe cessation of hostilities on the continent of Europe, the prospect of an early termination of the bloody conflict raging in the Far East, invest the members of the world Bahá’í community, and particularly its standard-bearers in the great Republic of the West, with a great, a unique, and inescapable responsibility. The first stage of the mission laid upon them by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the inauguration of which has been so long retarded while the processes of a slowly emerging administrative order were being set in motion, and which coincided with one of the darkest and most tragic periods in human history, has been brought to a triumphant conclusion, and added a golden page to the annals of the closing years of the first Bahá’í century.As a new phase in the painful evolution of a sorely-tried and wayward humanity opens, a new challenge summons the prosecutors of a Divine Plan to gird up their loins, muster their resources, and prepare themselves for the launching of the second stage of an enterprise which, as it reveals its full potentialities, must stretch to embrace the five continents of the globe. World turmoil, grave dangers, severe restrictions, the lethargy of the public engrossed in its war problems, have failed to dampen the zeal, or to undermine the resolve, or to interfere with the successful discharge of the duty assumed by those who have so determinedly embarked on the opening stage of their world encircling, divinely appointed mission. With the return to more normal conditions, with the improvement of the means of travel and communication, with the lifting of the deadening weight of fear and care and the growing receptivity of the masses schooled in adversity and groping for the means of ultimate salvation, opportunities without number and unprecedented in their significance, present themselves to those whose privilege and obligation it is to pave the way for the launching of the succeeding stage of their historic and ever unfolding task.Not until, however, normal conditions are fully restored and the world situation is stabilized, and, above all, the prizes won through the operation of the Seven Year Plan are adequately safeguarded and the basis of the newly established Administrative Order sufficiently consolidated throughout the Western Hemisphere, can the ambassadors of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, carrying aloft the banner of His Name in the American continent, be called upon to undertake unitedly and systematically, collective responsibility for the diffusion of His Message, and for the erection of the fabric of His Administrative Order, amidst the sorrow-stricken, war-lacerated, sorely bewildered nations and peoples of the European continent.The sooner the home tasks are fully discharged and newly fledged Assemblies in Central and South America enabled to function adequately and vigorously, the sooner will the stalwart members of the American Bahá’í community, who, during so brief a period, and despite the prevailing darkness, achieved such wonders throughout the Americas, extend the healing influence of their Faith, on a scale as yet unprecedented, to the waiting masses of that agitated continent.As already observed, an intensification of effort is imperatively required aiming at a bolder proclamation of the verities of a God-given Faith, at a systematic and continent-wide dissemination of its authentic literature, at a closer contact with the masses as well as the leaders of public thought, at a further consolidation and multiplication of the administrative centers scattered throughout the new world, and constituting the nuclei of its future World Order, and, above all, at a more convincing revelation of Bahá’í love, unity, solidarity and self-sacrifice, which alone can hasten the consummation of the preliminary undertakings required to terminate the period of transition intervening between the first and second stages of the greatest crusade ever launched in the history of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.Time is pressing, the work that still remains to be accomplished in the new world is vast and urgent, the need of the suffering masses the world over, and particularly in Europe, is pitiable, the sustaining grace destined to be vouchsafed from on high to those who will arise to achieve that task and fulfill this need is boundless and assured. Its potency has been already fully experienced, and abundantly demonstrated in the years that have witnessed the most prodigious efforts exerted by the American believers. A still more powerful display of its miraculous force can be confidently anticipated, if those who have felt its impact in the past arise to carry out, in the years that lie immediately ahead, the sublime and twofold task of the redemption of mankind and the establishment of the world sovereignty of Bahá’u’lláh.Cablegram August 10, 1945HEARTS UPLIFTED IN THANKSGIVINGOur hearts are uplifted in thanksgiving for complete cessation of the prolonged, unprecedented world conflict. I hail the prospects of the removal of the restrictions enabling American Bahá’í Community to expedite the preliminary measures required to launch the second stage of the Divine Plan. I appeal focus attention upon the requirements of the all-important Latin American work. The adequate fulfillment of this vital task preludes the assumption of collective responsibility by triumphant community of the spiritual enlightenment and ultimate redemption of sorely-tried, war-ravaged European continent, destined to be associated with exploits which must immortalize the second stage of the World Mission entrusted by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the apostles of His Father’s Faith in the western world. The opportunities of the present hour are infinitely precious, the time is pressing, the call of the distressed, groping peoples of Europe pitiful, insistent. The work still to be accomplished to consummate the mighty enterprise undertaken in Latin America is considerable. The Almighty’s sustaining grace is assured, unfailing. I am praying from the depths of a joyful, thankful heart for the outpouring of blessings no less remarkable than the divine bounties vouchsafed unto the valiant prosecutors of the Plan in the course of the opening phase of their World Mission.Cablegram August 20, 1945THE WORK OF REHABILITATIONThe reports recently received from various sources, regarding the sad conditions prevailing among the members of the sorely-stricken, long-suffering Bahá’í communities in Germany and Burma, are of such a distressing nature as to merit the energetic, the immediate, and collective intervention of their fellow-workers in lands which have providentially been spared the horrors of invasion and all the evils and miseries attendant upon it. Upon the American Bahá’í community, in particular, which throughout this prolonged and bloody conflict, has of all its sister communities in East and West, enjoyed the greatest immunity and been privileged not only to maintain and preserve its institutions, but to prosecute so successfully a Plan of such magnitude and significance, a special responsibility now rests—a responsibility which, despite its manifold and pressing duties in the Western Hemisphere, it can neither afford to neglect nor ignore.Particularly in the heart of the European continent, where the present turmoil, suffering and destitution are mysteriously paving the way for the revival of a Faith which the Beloved Himself has unequivocally prophesied, where a once flourishing community is struggling to fulfil the high hopes entertained for it by Him, and where the prosecutors of the Divine Plan, are to lend their direct and systematic assistance when launching the second stage of their world mission, must the American believers contribute the major share in the work of rehabilitation which the followers of Bahá’u’lláh must arise to perform.Through the extension of whatever financial assistance is feasible, through the provision and distribution of adequate literature, through the initiation of any measures, official or otherwise, which they can undertake for the protection, reinstatement and revival of a greatly-tested, highly promising and much loved community, the American believers have the golden opportunity of adding a fresh chapter to the brilliant record of their past international services to the Cause of God.Nor should the urgency of the task in far-away Burma, where a flourishing community had furnished so shining an example of Bahá’í fellowship and solidarity, be underestimated. The spirit which its remnant has displayed after so many years of persecution, dispersion and danger, merits the widest measure of encouragement and support, both moral and financial. Pressed as the American Bahá’í community must be by the twofold obligation of proclaiming the verities of their Faith to the American public and of consolidating the vast enterprises initiated throughout Latin America, the stalwart and privileged followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in North America cannot allow so great an opportunity to advance the vital international interests of His Cause to slip from their grasp. I feel confident that in the discharge of this additional task they will exhibit those same traits that have distinguished their stewardship for so many years to so glorious a Cause.December 21, 1945THE GERMAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITYThe German Bahá’í community, dearly beloved, highly honored by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and destined to play an outstanding role in the spiritual revival of an oppressed continent, has abundantly demonstrated in the course of ten years of severest tribulations, dire peril and complete suppression, the high character of its indomitable faith. I appeal to the entire community of the greatly blessed, highly privileged American believers, to arise unitedly and contribute generously through dispatch of funds and literature designed to alleviate the distress and rehabilitate the institutions with which the future prosecutors of the second stage of the Divine Plan must be closely associated.Cablegram December 31, 1945EXEMPLARY PIONEERDeeply grieve passing of exemplary pioneer of the Faith, Emogene Hoagg. Her long record of national and international services is unforgettable, her reward in the Abhá Kingdom assured and abundant.Cablegram December 31, 1945LYDIA ZAMENHOFHeartily approve nationwide observance for dauntless Lydia Zamenhof. Her notable services, tenacity, modesty, unwavering devotion fully merit high tribute by American believers. Do not advise, however, that you designate her a martyr.Cablegram January 28, 1946HISTORIC DECISIONSOverjoyed, profoundly thankful for munificent donation made by American Bahá’í community for international relief. Urge establishment of communication with German believers and careful consultation with their representatives to collaborate in publication and expansion of much needed German Bahá’í literature. Delighted at news of consolidation of activities in Central America, the progress of the Public Campaigns and development of youth activities. Advise address special immediate appeal to American believers to insure large, representative attendance at approaching Convention owing to momentous, historic decisions to be disclosed to assembled representatives of ever-victorious, increasingly blessed, spiritually maturing American Bahá’í community.Cablegram February 25, 1946MOMENTOUS RESPONSIBILITIESThe assistance extended by the American Bahá’í Community to the long-suffering German believers is a further evidence of their readiness, so abundantly demonstrated in the past, to champion the interests, and to rehabilitate the institutions of their sister communities throughout the Bahá’í world. This support, so generously extended, so consistently and faithfully offered by the rank and file of the American believers, and particularly by their elected National representatives, is but a subsidiary aspect of the tremendous undertakings which, in both the North and South American continents, the standard bearers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have initiated and developed, for the promotion of its interests, during the concluding decades of the first Bahá’í century.The twofold task which they have so nobly undertaken—the proclamation of the Faith in the North American continent and the consolidation of its nascent institutions in Latin America—must, whatever plan is devised in the coming years for the furtherance of their world-wide mission—be relentlessly prosecuted. That further responsibilities, of a momentous character, will have to be superimposed on the stalwart prosecutors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, as they gird up their loins to carry a stage further their historic labors in obedience to His wishes, no one can for a moment doubt. As the field of their activities, ranging over entire continents, grows in scope and in importance, the aims and purposes associated with the first stage of their glorious mission must, in no wise, be either neglected or forgotten. The steady multiplication of groups and of Spiritual Assemblies throughout the States of the great American Republic, the continual broadcasting of the Divine Message to the leaders of public opinion and the masses, as well as the establishment of the newly fledged local Assemblies throughout Latin America on an unassailable basis, and the dissemination of Bahá’í literature among its people, demand whatever the nature of the supplementary responsibilities that will have to be assumed in the years to come, the closest attention on the part of the entire body of the American believers, and must continue to be regarded as the fundamental issues facing their national representatives. The exploits immortalizing the first stage of the Divine Plan, however glorious their record, have yet to yield their noblest fruits. Efforts unremitting, systematic, and continent-wide in their scope, can alone garner a harvest worthy of the high confidence placed in them by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. May they prove themselves increasingly worthy of so high a privilege, so glorious a task.March 25, 1946INAUGURATION OF SECOND SEVEN YEAR PLANMessage to 1946 ConventionHail with joyous heart the delegates of the American Bahá’í Community assembled beneath the dome of the Mother Temple of the West in momentous Convention of the first year of peace. The souls are uplifted in thanksgiving for the protection vouchsafed by Providence to the preeminent community of the Bahá’í world enabling its members to consummate, despite the tribulations of a world-convulsing conflict, the first stage of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan. The Campaign culminating the Centenary of the inauguration of the Bahá’í Era completed sixteen months ere the appointed time the exterior ornamentation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, laid the basis of the administrative order in every virgin state and province of the North American Continent, almost doubled the Assemblies established since the inception of the Faith, established Assemblies in fourteen republics of Latin America, constituted active groups in remaining republics, swelled to sixty the sovereign states within the pale of the Faith.The two-year respite, well-earned after the expenditure of such a colossal effort, covering such a tremendous range, during so dark a period, is now ended. The prosecutors of the Plan who in the course of six war-ridden years achieved such prodigies of service in the Western Hemisphere from Alaska to Magallanes are now collectively summoned to assume in the course of the peaceful years ahead still weightier responsibilities for the opening decade of the Second Century. The time is ripe, events are pressing. Hosts on high are sounding the signal for inauguration of second Seven Year Plan designed to culminate first Centennial of the year Nine marking the mystic birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic mission in Síyáh-Chál at Ṭihrán.A two-fold responsibility urgently calls the vanguard of the dawn-breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Order, torch-bearers of world civilization, executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mandate, to arise and simultaneously bring to fruition the tasks already undertaken and launch fresh enterprises beyond the borders of the Western Hemisphere.The first objective of the new Plan is consolidation of victories already won throughout the Americas, involving multiplication of Bahá’í centers, bolder proclamation of the Faith to the masses. The second objective is completion of the interior ornamentation of the holiest House of Worship in the Bahá’í world designed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the inception of this historic enterprise. The third objective is the formation of three national Assemblies, pillars of the Universal House of Justice, in the Dominion of Canada, Central and South America. The fourth objective is the initiation of systematic teaching activity in war-torn, spiritually famished European continent, cradle of world-famed civilizations, twice-blest by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visits, whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh specifically and collectively addressed, aiming at establishment of Assemblies in the Iberian Peninsula, the Low Countries, the Scandinavian states, and Italy. No effort is too great for community belonging to the continent whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh addressed in the Most Holy Book, whose members were invested with spiritual primacy by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and named by Him apostles of His Father, whose country was the first western nation to respond to the Divine Message and deemed worthy to be first to build the Tabernacle of the Most Great Peace, whose administrators evolved the pattern of the embryonic world order, consummated the first stage of the Divine Plan, and whose elevation to the throne of everlasting dominion the Center of the Covenant confidently anticipated. As the resistless impulse propelling the Plan accelerates, the American Community must rise to new levels of potency in response to the divine mandate, scale loftier heights of heroism, insure fuller participation of the rank and file of members, and closer collaboration with the agencies designed to insure attainment of the fourfold objectives, and evince greater audacity in tearing down the barriers in its path.Upon the success of the second Seven Year Plan depends the launching, after a brief respite of three brief years, of a yet more momentous third Seven Year Plan which, when consummated through the establishment of the structure of the administrative order in the remaining sovereign states and chief dependencies of the entire globe, must culminate in and be befittingly commemorated through world-wide celebrations marking the Centennial of the formal assumption by Bahá’u’lláh of the Prophetic Office associated with Daniel’s prophecy and the world triumph of the Bahá’í revelation and signalizing the termination of the initial epoch in the evolution of the Plan whose mysterious, resistless processes must continue to shed ever-increasing lustre on successive generations of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.Pledging ten thousand dollars as my initial contribution for the furtherance of the manifold purposes of a glorious crusade surpassing every enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the course of the first Bahá’í century.April 25, 1946SPIRITUAL CONQUEST OF THE OLD WORLDOpening phase of spiritual conquest of the old world under divinely conceived Plan must be speedily and befittingly inaugurated. Feel necessity prompt dispatch of nine competent pioneers to as many countries as feasible charged to initiate systematic teaching work, commence settlement and promote dissemination of literature. Urge establishment of auxiliary office in Geneva as adjunct to International Bureau equipped with facilities to foster development of Assemblies in countries falling within the scope of Plan. Recommend European Teaching Committee undertake without delay measures aiming at close collaboration of British Publishing Trust and Publishing Committee of German National Assembly. Advise include Duchy of Luxembourg in Low Countries and enlarge range of Plan through addition of Switzerland. Owing to considerable sum already accumulated in Ṭihrán I prefer to divert sum for International Relief not yet forwarded to Persia, as well as Assembly’s annual contribution to World Center, to funds earmarked for all-important far-flung European teaching and publication activities. The challenge offered by virgin fields of Europe outweighs momentous character of task already confronting American Bahá’í Community in the Americas. Vast distances sundering the old and new world are visibly, providentially contracting, enabling the ambassadors of Bahá’u’lláh’s New World Order swiftly to discharge their apostolic mission through the continent destined to be stepping-stone to still vaster enterprises associated with future stages of divinely impelled, ever-unfolding, world-encircling Plan.Cablegram June 5, 1946THIRTY NEW ASSEMBLIESAppeal National Teaching Committee unitedly arise play notable part in stupendous exertions now being made by Bahá’í communities throughout Americas in furtherance of second Seven Year Plan. Plead focus attention enable thirty groups having six or more members speedily attain Assembly status. Devoutly praying number of Assemblies functioning in North America will reach one hundred and seventy-five ere expiry of second year of second stage of Divine Plan. Attainment of this immediate objective will challenge and galvanize all other agencies functioning in Latin America and European continent to follow the superb example set for sister committees laboring at the heart of the mother community of the Western hemisphere.Cablegram June 13, 1946

FAITHFUL PIONEERShare 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

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.The marvelous, rapid, sound evolution of the institutions of the Faith in five continents, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, constitutes best monition, most effective counteraction to the detrimental influence of those whose acts proclaim their severance from the Holy Tree and their forfeiture of their sacred birthright.The occasion demands that you direct special attention to passages in “God Passes By” indicating the gravity of the past crises precipitated since the inception of the Faith by kinsmen both of the Manifestation and the Center of His Covenant, demonstrating the pitiful futility of their nefarious activities and the sad fate overtaking defectors and betrayers.The present hour calls for unrelaxing vigilance, continued heroism, redoubled efforts, renewed dedication by rank and file of the community enjoying preponderating share alike in the erection, the defense, and the consolidation of the worldwide Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh since the passing of the Center of His Covenant.I urge the entire Bahá’í community of the Western Hemisphere to focus its attention during the remaining months of the opening year of the second century on the formation of local Assemblies in the remaining Republics of Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia and San Domingo, guard against dissolution of Assemblies already painstakingly established throughout the Americas, exert effort on further multiplication of groups, wider dissemination of literature, greater use of radio, closer contact with masses, more audacious proclamation of the Faith, more effective coordination of local and national activities aiming at fuller demonstration of the rights and claims of the Faith to be regarded as sole refuge of humanity in its hour of bitterest agony.The American believers’ meritorious activities, individual, local, interstate, intercontinental, will be the object of my special prayers during the approaching Anniversary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ascension.Cablegram November 21, 1944

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.

The marvelous, rapid, sound evolution of the institutions of the Faith in five continents, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, constitutes best monition, most effective counteraction to the detrimental influence of those whose acts proclaim their severance from the Holy Tree and their forfeiture of their sacred birthright.

The occasion demands that you direct special attention to passages in “God Passes By” indicating the gravity of the past crises precipitated since the inception of the Faith by kinsmen both of the Manifestation and the Center of His Covenant, demonstrating the pitiful futility of their nefarious activities and the sad fate overtaking defectors and betrayers.

The present hour calls for unrelaxing vigilance, continued heroism, redoubled efforts, renewed dedication by rank and file of the community enjoying preponderating share alike in the erection, the defense, and the consolidation of the worldwide Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh since the passing of the Center of His Covenant.

I urge the entire Bahá’í community of the Western Hemisphere to focus its attention during the remaining months of the opening year of the second century on the formation of local Assemblies in the remaining Republics of Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia and San Domingo, guard against dissolution of Assemblies already painstakingly established throughout the Americas, exert effort on further multiplication of groups, wider dissemination of literature, greater use of radio, closer contact with masses, more audacious proclamation of the Faith, more effective coordination of local and national activities aiming at fuller demonstration of the rights and claims of the Faith to be regarded as sole refuge of humanity in its hour of bitterest agony.

The American believers’ meritorious activities, individual, local, interstate, intercontinental, will be the object of my special prayers during the approaching Anniversary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ascension.

Cablegram November 21, 1944

THE SUCCEEDING STAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR WORLD MISSION1944, a year memorable for the sharp contrast between the rising tide of spiritual victories culminating in the Centenary celebrations of a world-embracing Faith and the swiftly ebbing fortunes of a war-ravaged, disillusioned and bankrupt society, is drawing to a close. In every continent of the globe; in the Holy Land, the Heart and Center of our Faith and Pivot of its institutions; in the land of its birth; in the adjoining territory of ‘Iráq; throughout the Western Hemisphere; in the British Isles, so severely subjected to the violence of a world tempest; throughout the length and breadth of India; in far-off Australasia and in the Nile Valley—all with the sole exception of the distant Republics of the West subjected in varying degrees to the imminent danger of becoming the theatre of war—the communities laboring for the promotion of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have, throughout five tumultuous years, been providentially spared to hold aloft its banner, to preserve its integrity, to maintain the continuity of its institutions, to enrich its annals, to consolidate its structure, to further disseminate its literature and to befittingly celebrate its Centenary. Preponderant indeed has been the share of that privileged community, which has been invested by the Pen of the Center of the Covenant with a world-wide mission, in the prosecution of a task which, ever since the onset of this world upheaval and despite its mounting horrors, the builders of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have so unflaggingly pursued. Neither the participation of the Great Republic of the West in this fierce contest, nor the sorrows, burdens and restrictions which such direct association with the agonies of a travailing age has entailed, have thus far been capable of dimming the splendor of the exploits that have immortalized the record of the services of this community since the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Indeed, coincident with the period of America’s direct participation in this world struggle and in direct proportion to the turmoil and the tribulations which such a participation has engendered, the members of this community have evinced a heroism and proved themselves capable of a concerted effort that have eclipsed the notable achievements that have heralded the establishment of the Administrative Order of the Faith as well as the first stage in the development of the Seven Year Plan.What the year 1945, on whose threshhold we now stand, has in store for the members of this determined, this valiant, this watchful, this exemplary community only the future can reveal. That the trials and afflictions suffered by their country and its people must wax as this world upheaval moves towards a climax no one can any longer doubt. The challenge that will face this stalwart community will no doubt be severe. To allow the prizes so nobly won, over so vast a field, at so great a cost, at so critical an hour, to fall into jeopardy would be unworthy of a career so auspiciously initiated, so completely dedicated to the Cause of God, so rich in promise and so brilliant in almost every phase of its evolution. Every local Assembly, the ordained pivot of a divinely-ordained System, which has been established in the States and Provinces of the North American continent, as well as in the Republics of Latin America, must, through a supreme effort on the part of pioneers, visiting teachers and Regional Committees, be steadfastly maintained. Simultaneously a no less determined effort should be exerted to enable the admittedly large number of groups scattered throughout the Americas to attain Assembly status. No less urgent is the obligation to proclaim the verities enshrined in the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh by every means which individuals, Assemblies and committees can devise, through the press and radio, through an unprecedented dissemination of literature, through its systematic translation into Spanish and Portuguese and above all through active association with leaders of public thought as well as direct contact with the masses of the people. Through such means as these, and through such means only can the members of the American Bahá’í Community, who have so audaciously and successfully launched the first stage of the Divine Plan, be enabled to pave the way and usher in, soon after the cessation of hostilities, the succeeding stage in the evolution of their world mission. My prayers and loving thoughts surround them continually in their devoted labors.December 24, 1944

1944, a year memorable for the sharp contrast between the rising tide of spiritual victories culminating in the Centenary celebrations of a world-embracing Faith and the swiftly ebbing fortunes of a war-ravaged, disillusioned and bankrupt society, is drawing to a close. In every continent of the globe; in the Holy Land, the Heart and Center of our Faith and Pivot of its institutions; in the land of its birth; in the adjoining territory of ‘Iráq; throughout the Western Hemisphere; in the British Isles, so severely subjected to the violence of a world tempest; throughout the length and breadth of India; in far-off Australasia and in the Nile Valley—all with the sole exception of the distant Republics of the West subjected in varying degrees to the imminent danger of becoming the theatre of war—the communities laboring for the promotion of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have, throughout five tumultuous years, been providentially spared to hold aloft its banner, to preserve its integrity, to maintain the continuity of its institutions, to enrich its annals, to consolidate its structure, to further disseminate its literature and to befittingly celebrate its Centenary. Preponderant indeed has been the share of that privileged community, which has been invested by the Pen of the Center of the Covenant with a world-wide mission, in the prosecution of a task which, ever since the onset of this world upheaval and despite its mounting horrors, the builders of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have so unflaggingly pursued. Neither the participation of the Great Republic of the West in this fierce contest, nor the sorrows, burdens and restrictions which such direct association with the agonies of a travailing age has entailed, have thus far been capable of dimming the splendor of the exploits that have immortalized the record of the services of this community since the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Indeed, coincident with the period of America’s direct participation in this world struggle and in direct proportion to the turmoil and the tribulations which such a participation has engendered, the members of this community have evinced a heroism and proved themselves capable of a concerted effort that have eclipsed the notable achievements that have heralded the establishment of the Administrative Order of the Faith as well as the first stage in the development of the Seven Year Plan.

What the year 1945, on whose threshhold we now stand, has in store for the members of this determined, this valiant, this watchful, this exemplary community only the future can reveal. That the trials and afflictions suffered by their country and its people must wax as this world upheaval moves towards a climax no one can any longer doubt. The challenge that will face this stalwart community will no doubt be severe. To allow the prizes so nobly won, over so vast a field, at so great a cost, at so critical an hour, to fall into jeopardy would be unworthy of a career so auspiciously initiated, so completely dedicated to the Cause of God, so rich in promise and so brilliant in almost every phase of its evolution. Every local Assembly, the ordained pivot of a divinely-ordained System, which has been established in the States and Provinces of the North American continent, as well as in the Republics of Latin America, must, through a supreme effort on the part of pioneers, visiting teachers and Regional Committees, be steadfastly maintained. Simultaneously a no less determined effort should be exerted to enable the admittedly large number of groups scattered throughout the Americas to attain Assembly status. No less urgent is the obligation to proclaim the verities enshrined in the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh by every means which individuals, Assemblies and committees can devise, through the press and radio, through an unprecedented dissemination of literature, through its systematic translation into Spanish and Portuguese and above all through active association with leaders of public thought as well as direct contact with the masses of the people. Through such means as these, and through such means only can the members of the American Bahá’í Community, who have so audaciously and successfully launched the first stage of the Divine Plan, be enabled to pave the way and usher in, soon after the cessation of hostilities, the succeeding stage in the evolution of their world mission. My prayers and loving thoughts surround them continually in their devoted labors.

December 24, 1944

THE ADMISSION OF PERSIANSI desire to reiterate the warning that no Persian, student or otherwise, must be admitted into the community under any circumstances unless provided with full credentials. Exception and compromise would be detrimental to the vital interests of the Faith at the present juncture. The utmost caution and vigilance is imperative.January 20, 1945

I desire to reiterate the warning that no Persian, student or otherwise, must be admitted into the community under any circumstances unless provided with full credentials. Exception and compromise would be detrimental to the vital interests of the Faith at the present juncture. The utmost caution and vigilance is imperative.

January 20, 1945

STAUNCH PIONEERDeeply grieve passing of indefatigable, staunch pioneer (i.e., Miss Mary Lesch) of the Faith in the Day of the Covenant. The record of her services imperishable, her reward great in the Abhá Kingdom.Cablegram, March 27, 1945

Deeply grieve passing of indefatigable, staunch pioneer (i.e., Miss Mary Lesch) of the Faith in the Day of the Covenant. The record of her services imperishable, her reward great in the Abhá Kingdom.

Cablegram, March 27, 1945

THE ONE MESSAGE THAT CAN EXTRICATE HUMANITYThe Divine Plan conceived by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the American Bahá’í community, in the midst of one of the darkest periods in human history and with which the destinies of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the North American continent must for generations to come remain inextricably interwoven, has, during the concluding years of the first Bahá’í Century, triumphantly emerged from the first stage of its evolution. Its initiation, officially and on a vast scale, had, for well nigh twenty years, been held in abeyance, while the processes of a slowly emerging administrative Order, were, under the unerring guidance of Providence, creating and perfecting the agencies for its efficient and systematic prosecution. The next stage in the evolution of the Plan cannot, however, be embarked upon, until the external causes, hampering its further unfoldment in other continents of the globe, are removed through the cessation of hostilities and the signal victories already won through its initial development are sufficiently consolidated throughout the Western Hemisphere. The tasks confronting those who have so valiantly and brilliantly inaugurated the first stage in the execution of the Great Design unfolded by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the promulgation of the Faith of His Father, during this transitional period, are manifold, exacting, urgent, and sacred. The local administrative units, so laboriously constituted throughout the Americas, must needs, as already pointed out and repeatedly stressed, be maintained, reinforced, closely integrated and their number steadily multiplied. The spirit that has inflamed the pioneers who have set the seal of triumph on the Seven Year Plan, must under the vigilant care of the National representatives of the American Bahá’í community be constantly watched, kept alive and nourished. The literature of the Faith, particularly in Spanish and Portuguese, must be widely disseminated in both Central and South America, as a necessary adjunct to the systematic consolidation of the work that has been undertaken. Above all, the healing Message of Bahá’u’lláh must during the opening years of the second Bahá’í Century, and through the instrumentality of an already properly functioning Administrative Order, whose ramifications have been extended to the four corners of the Western Hemisphere, be vividly, systematically brought to the attention of the masses, in their hour of grief, misery and confusion. A more audacious assertion of the challenging verities of the Faith; a more convincing presentation of its distinguishing truths; a fuller exposition of the character, the aims and the achievements of its rising Administrative system as the nucleus and pattern of its future world-embracing order; a more direct and intimate contact and association with the leaders of public thought, whose activities and aims are akin to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, for the purpose of demonstrating the universality, the comprehensiveness, the liberality and the dynamic power of His Divine Message; a closer scrutiny of the ways and means whereby its claims can be vindicated, its defamers and detractors silenced, and its institutions safeguarded; a more determined effort to exploit, to the fullest extent possible, the talents and abilities of the rank and file of the believers for the purpose of achieving these ends—these stand out as the paramount tasks summoning to a challenge, during these years of transition and turmoil, the entire body of the American believers. The facilities which the radio and press furnish must be utilized to a degree unprecedented in American Bahá’í history. The combined resources of the much-envied exemplary American Bahá’í community must be harnessed for the effectual promotion of these meritorious purposes. Blessings undreamt of in their scope and plenteousness, are bound to be vouchsafed to those who will, in these dark yet pregnant times, arise to further these noble ends and to hasten through their acts the hour at which a still more momentous stage in the evolution of a Divine and worldwide Plan can be launched.There is no time to lose. The hour is ripe for the proclamation, without fear, without reserve, and without hesitation, and on a scale never as yet undertaken, of the One Message that can alone extricate humanity from the morass into which it is steadily sinking, and from which they who claim to be the followers of the Most Great Name can and will eventually rescue it. The sooner they who labor for the recognition and triumph of His Faith in the new world arise to carry out these inescapable duties, the sooner will the hopes, the aims and objectives of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as enshrined in His own Plan, be translated from the realm of vision to the plane of actuality and manifest the full force of the potentialities with which they have been endued.March 29, 1945

The Divine Plan conceived by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the American Bahá’í community, in the midst of one of the darkest periods in human history and with which the destinies of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the North American continent must for generations to come remain inextricably interwoven, has, during the concluding years of the first Bahá’í Century, triumphantly emerged from the first stage of its evolution. Its initiation, officially and on a vast scale, had, for well nigh twenty years, been held in abeyance, while the processes of a slowly emerging administrative Order, were, under the unerring guidance of Providence, creating and perfecting the agencies for its efficient and systematic prosecution. The next stage in the evolution of the Plan cannot, however, be embarked upon, until the external causes, hampering its further unfoldment in other continents of the globe, are removed through the cessation of hostilities and the signal victories already won through its initial development are sufficiently consolidated throughout the Western Hemisphere. The tasks confronting those who have so valiantly and brilliantly inaugurated the first stage in the execution of the Great Design unfolded by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the promulgation of the Faith of His Father, during this transitional period, are manifold, exacting, urgent, and sacred. The local administrative units, so laboriously constituted throughout the Americas, must needs, as already pointed out and repeatedly stressed, be maintained, reinforced, closely integrated and their number steadily multiplied. The spirit that has inflamed the pioneers who have set the seal of triumph on the Seven Year Plan, must under the vigilant care of the National representatives of the American Bahá’í community be constantly watched, kept alive and nourished. The literature of the Faith, particularly in Spanish and Portuguese, must be widely disseminated in both Central and South America, as a necessary adjunct to the systematic consolidation of the work that has been undertaken. Above all, the healing Message of Bahá’u’lláh must during the opening years of the second Bahá’í Century, and through the instrumentality of an already properly functioning Administrative Order, whose ramifications have been extended to the four corners of the Western Hemisphere, be vividly, systematically brought to the attention of the masses, in their hour of grief, misery and confusion. A more audacious assertion of the challenging verities of the Faith; a more convincing presentation of its distinguishing truths; a fuller exposition of the character, the aims and the achievements of its rising Administrative system as the nucleus and pattern of its future world-embracing order; a more direct and intimate contact and association with the leaders of public thought, whose activities and aims are akin to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, for the purpose of demonstrating the universality, the comprehensiveness, the liberality and the dynamic power of His Divine Message; a closer scrutiny of the ways and means whereby its claims can be vindicated, its defamers and detractors silenced, and its institutions safeguarded; a more determined effort to exploit, to the fullest extent possible, the talents and abilities of the rank and file of the believers for the purpose of achieving these ends—these stand out as the paramount tasks summoning to a challenge, during these years of transition and turmoil, the entire body of the American believers. The facilities which the radio and press furnish must be utilized to a degree unprecedented in American Bahá’í history. The combined resources of the much-envied exemplary American Bahá’í community must be harnessed for the effectual promotion of these meritorious purposes. Blessings undreamt of in their scope and plenteousness, are bound to be vouchsafed to those who will, in these dark yet pregnant times, arise to further these noble ends and to hasten through their acts the hour at which a still more momentous stage in the evolution of a Divine and worldwide Plan can be launched.

There is no time to lose. The hour is ripe for the proclamation, without fear, without reserve, and without hesitation, and on a scale never as yet undertaken, of the One Message that can alone extricate humanity from the morass into which it is steadily sinking, and from which they who claim to be the followers of the Most Great Name can and will eventually rescue it. The sooner they who labor for the recognition and triumph of His Faith in the new world arise to carry out these inescapable duties, the sooner will the hopes, the aims and objectives of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as enshrined in His own Plan, be translated from the realm of vision to the plane of actuality and manifest the full force of the potentialities with which they have been endued.

March 29, 1945

MY HEAVY-LADENED HEARTMy heavy ladened heart, already oppressed by repeated defections of the unworthy kindred of the beloved Master, is relieved by latest signal evidence of the indomitable spirit of the members of divinely chosen American Bahá’í community now unfurling the banner of the Faith and establishing the structural basis of its administrative order in the world’s southernmost city. I hail the staunchness and fidelity distinguishing the winners of such superb victories. I acclaim them true brothers and sisters worthy of the name ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. I urge the Inter-America Committee to devote special attention and undertake prompt measures designed to increase the number of believers, establish local administrative headquarters, and multiply the subsidiary agencies indispensable to the maintenance of a flourishing community in the southern extremity of the western hemisphere. Praying ever increasing successes.Cablegram April 21, 1945

My heavy ladened heart, already oppressed by repeated defections of the unworthy kindred of the beloved Master, is relieved by latest signal evidence of the indomitable spirit of the members of divinely chosen American Bahá’í community now unfurling the banner of the Faith and establishing the structural basis of its administrative order in the world’s southernmost city. I hail the staunchness and fidelity distinguishing the winners of such superb victories. I acclaim them true brothers and sisters worthy of the name ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. I urge the Inter-America Committee to devote special attention and undertake prompt measures designed to increase the number of believers, establish local administrative headquarters, and multiply the subsidiary agencies indispensable to the maintenance of a flourishing community in the southern extremity of the western hemisphere. Praying ever increasing successes.

Cablegram April 21, 1945

NATIONWIDE, INTERCONTINENTAL PLANSAssure newly-elected members of my fervent prayers for divine guidance and strength to accomplish the tasks confronting the American Bahá’í community in the second year of the second Bahá’í century. I appeal to National Teaching, Regional and Inter-America Committees to intensify efforts for multiplication of groups and Assemblies the length and breadth of the western hemisphere. An ever-increasing flow of pioneers is indispensable to meet the urgent requirements of the present hour. Renewed, determined, continued exertions by individuals aimed at an unprecedented increase in the number of enrolled believers is vital to the consolidation of activities undertaken by pioneers. Systematic, well-conceived, carefully coordinated plans, nationwide and intercontinental, devised by elected national representatives of the community, are likewise a necessary preliminary to a seed-sowing unexampled both in range and effectiveness in American Bahá’í history. The attainment of this threefold objective in North, Central and South America will signalize the initiation, in other continents, of the world mission constituting the sacred birthright of the American followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.Cablegram May 8, 1945

Assure newly-elected members of my fervent prayers for divine guidance and strength to accomplish the tasks confronting the American Bahá’í community in the second year of the second Bahá’í century. I appeal to National Teaching, Regional and Inter-America Committees to intensify efforts for multiplication of groups and Assemblies the length and breadth of the western hemisphere. An ever-increasing flow of pioneers is indispensable to meet the urgent requirements of the present hour. Renewed, determined, continued exertions by individuals aimed at an unprecedented increase in the number of enrolled believers is vital to the consolidation of activities undertaken by pioneers. Systematic, well-conceived, carefully coordinated plans, nationwide and intercontinental, devised by elected national representatives of the community, are likewise a necessary preliminary to a seed-sowing unexampled both in range and effectiveness in American Bahá’í history. The attainment of this threefold objective in North, Central and South America will signalize the initiation, in other continents, of the world mission constituting the sacred birthright of the American followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

Cablegram May 8, 1945

A SINGLE, ORGANICALLY-UNITED WORLD COMMONWEALTHThe followers of Bahá’u’lláh throughout five continents unanimously rejoice in the partial emergence of a war-torn humanity from the titanic upheaval unerringly predicted seventy years ago by the Pen of the Author of their Faith. The cessation of hostilities in the European continent signalizes yet another chapter in the tragic tale of fiery trials providentially decreed by inscrutable wisdom designed ultimately to weld the mutually antagonistic elements of human society into a single, organically-united, unshatterable world commonwealth. They gratefully acclaim the signal evidence of the interposition of divine Providence which during such perilous years enabled the World Center of our Faith to escape what posterity will recognize as one of the gravest dangers which ever confronted the nerve center of its institutions. They are profoundly aware of the bountiful grace vouchsafed by that same Providence insuring, unlike the previous world conflict, uninterrupted intercourse between the spiritual Center and the vast majority of the communities functioning within the orbit of a far-flung Faith. They are immeasurably thankful for the miraculous preservation of the Indian, Persian, Egyptian, British and Iráqí communities, long threatened by dire perils owing to their proximity to the theatre of military operations. They are deeply conscious that the progress achieved, despite six tempestuous years, in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, through the collective enterprises launched by these communities, outshines the sum total of the accomplishments since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith.The Seven Year Plan inaugurated by the American Bahá’í community under the lowering clouds of the approaching conflict victoriously completed the exterior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West, established the structural basis of the Faith in every State and Province of the North American continent, and hoisted its banner in every Republic of Latin America. The Indian believers’ Six Year Plan, launched on the eve of hostilities, more than quadrupled the centers functioning within the pale of the Administrative Order. The edifices consecrated to the administrative affairs of an ever-advancing Cause, involving the expenditure of over a hundred thousand dollars, were erected, purchased or completed in the Capital Cities of India, ‘Iráq and Egypt as well as Sydney, Australia. The acquisition of numerous properties in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, on Mount Carmel and in the Jordan Valley, as well as the purchase of several important historic sites associated with the Lives of both the Herald and the Author of the Faith, swelled to an unprecedented degree our Bahá’í endowments.Preliminary steps for the completion of the Báb’s Sepulchre and the establishment of the World Administrative Center through the removal of the Remains of the Brother and Mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were undertaken. The termination of the First Century of the Bahá’í Era, synchronizing with the climax of the raging storm, was publicly and befittingly celebrated, despite the multiplication of restrictions. Above all, the unity and integrity of an incorruptible world community was consistently safeguarded in face of the insidious opposition of avowed enemies without and the Covenant-breakers within.Such splendid victories, over so vast a field, amidst such tribulations during so prolonged an ordeal, augur well for the colossal tasks destined to be accomplished during the course of the peaceful years ahead by the builders of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh amidst the wreckage of a disrupted, disillusioned society.Cablegram May 12, 1945

The followers of Bahá’u’lláh throughout five continents unanimously rejoice in the partial emergence of a war-torn humanity from the titanic upheaval unerringly predicted seventy years ago by the Pen of the Author of their Faith. The cessation of hostilities in the European continent signalizes yet another chapter in the tragic tale of fiery trials providentially decreed by inscrutable wisdom designed ultimately to weld the mutually antagonistic elements of human society into a single, organically-united, unshatterable world commonwealth. They gratefully acclaim the signal evidence of the interposition of divine Providence which during such perilous years enabled the World Center of our Faith to escape what posterity will recognize as one of the gravest dangers which ever confronted the nerve center of its institutions. They are profoundly aware of the bountiful grace vouchsafed by that same Providence insuring, unlike the previous world conflict, uninterrupted intercourse between the spiritual Center and the vast majority of the communities functioning within the orbit of a far-flung Faith. They are immeasurably thankful for the miraculous preservation of the Indian, Persian, Egyptian, British and Iráqí communities, long threatened by dire perils owing to their proximity to the theatre of military operations. They are deeply conscious that the progress achieved, despite six tempestuous years, in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, through the collective enterprises launched by these communities, outshines the sum total of the accomplishments since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith.

The Seven Year Plan inaugurated by the American Bahá’í community under the lowering clouds of the approaching conflict victoriously completed the exterior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West, established the structural basis of the Faith in every State and Province of the North American continent, and hoisted its banner in every Republic of Latin America. The Indian believers’ Six Year Plan, launched on the eve of hostilities, more than quadrupled the centers functioning within the pale of the Administrative Order. The edifices consecrated to the administrative affairs of an ever-advancing Cause, involving the expenditure of over a hundred thousand dollars, were erected, purchased or completed in the Capital Cities of India, ‘Iráq and Egypt as well as Sydney, Australia. The acquisition of numerous properties in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, on Mount Carmel and in the Jordan Valley, as well as the purchase of several important historic sites associated with the Lives of both the Herald and the Author of the Faith, swelled to an unprecedented degree our Bahá’í endowments.

Preliminary steps for the completion of the Báb’s Sepulchre and the establishment of the World Administrative Center through the removal of the Remains of the Brother and Mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were undertaken. The termination of the First Century of the Bahá’í Era, synchronizing with the climax of the raging storm, was publicly and befittingly celebrated, despite the multiplication of restrictions. Above all, the unity and integrity of an incorruptible world community was consistently safeguarded in face of the insidious opposition of avowed enemies without and the Covenant-breakers within.

Such splendid victories, over so vast a field, amidst such tribulations during so prolonged an ordeal, augur well for the colossal tasks destined to be accomplished during the course of the peaceful years ahead by the builders of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh amidst the wreckage of a disrupted, disillusioned society.

Cablegram May 12, 1945

A NEW PHASE OF HUMAN EVOLUTIONThe cessation of hostilities on the continent of Europe, the prospect of an early termination of the bloody conflict raging in the Far East, invest the members of the world Bahá’í community, and particularly its standard-bearers in the great Republic of the West, with a great, a unique, and inescapable responsibility. The first stage of the mission laid upon them by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the inauguration of which has been so long retarded while the processes of a slowly emerging administrative order were being set in motion, and which coincided with one of the darkest and most tragic periods in human history, has been brought to a triumphant conclusion, and added a golden page to the annals of the closing years of the first Bahá’í century.As a new phase in the painful evolution of a sorely-tried and wayward humanity opens, a new challenge summons the prosecutors of a Divine Plan to gird up their loins, muster their resources, and prepare themselves for the launching of the second stage of an enterprise which, as it reveals its full potentialities, must stretch to embrace the five continents of the globe. World turmoil, grave dangers, severe restrictions, the lethargy of the public engrossed in its war problems, have failed to dampen the zeal, or to undermine the resolve, or to interfere with the successful discharge of the duty assumed by those who have so determinedly embarked on the opening stage of their world encircling, divinely appointed mission. With the return to more normal conditions, with the improvement of the means of travel and communication, with the lifting of the deadening weight of fear and care and the growing receptivity of the masses schooled in adversity and groping for the means of ultimate salvation, opportunities without number and unprecedented in their significance, present themselves to those whose privilege and obligation it is to pave the way for the launching of the succeeding stage of their historic and ever unfolding task.Not until, however, normal conditions are fully restored and the world situation is stabilized, and, above all, the prizes won through the operation of the Seven Year Plan are adequately safeguarded and the basis of the newly established Administrative Order sufficiently consolidated throughout the Western Hemisphere, can the ambassadors of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, carrying aloft the banner of His Name in the American continent, be called upon to undertake unitedly and systematically, collective responsibility for the diffusion of His Message, and for the erection of the fabric of His Administrative Order, amidst the sorrow-stricken, war-lacerated, sorely bewildered nations and peoples of the European continent.The sooner the home tasks are fully discharged and newly fledged Assemblies in Central and South America enabled to function adequately and vigorously, the sooner will the stalwart members of the American Bahá’í community, who, during so brief a period, and despite the prevailing darkness, achieved such wonders throughout the Americas, extend the healing influence of their Faith, on a scale as yet unprecedented, to the waiting masses of that agitated continent.As already observed, an intensification of effort is imperatively required aiming at a bolder proclamation of the verities of a God-given Faith, at a systematic and continent-wide dissemination of its authentic literature, at a closer contact with the masses as well as the leaders of public thought, at a further consolidation and multiplication of the administrative centers scattered throughout the new world, and constituting the nuclei of its future World Order, and, above all, at a more convincing revelation of Bahá’í love, unity, solidarity and self-sacrifice, which alone can hasten the consummation of the preliminary undertakings required to terminate the period of transition intervening between the first and second stages of the greatest crusade ever launched in the history of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.Time is pressing, the work that still remains to be accomplished in the new world is vast and urgent, the need of the suffering masses the world over, and particularly in Europe, is pitiable, the sustaining grace destined to be vouchsafed from on high to those who will arise to achieve that task and fulfill this need is boundless and assured. Its potency has been already fully experienced, and abundantly demonstrated in the years that have witnessed the most prodigious efforts exerted by the American believers. A still more powerful display of its miraculous force can be confidently anticipated, if those who have felt its impact in the past arise to carry out, in the years that lie immediately ahead, the sublime and twofold task of the redemption of mankind and the establishment of the world sovereignty of Bahá’u’lláh.Cablegram August 10, 1945

The cessation of hostilities on the continent of Europe, the prospect of an early termination of the bloody conflict raging in the Far East, invest the members of the world Bahá’í community, and particularly its standard-bearers in the great Republic of the West, with a great, a unique, and inescapable responsibility. The first stage of the mission laid upon them by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the inauguration of which has been so long retarded while the processes of a slowly emerging administrative order were being set in motion, and which coincided with one of the darkest and most tragic periods in human history, has been brought to a triumphant conclusion, and added a golden page to the annals of the closing years of the first Bahá’í century.

As a new phase in the painful evolution of a sorely-tried and wayward humanity opens, a new challenge summons the prosecutors of a Divine Plan to gird up their loins, muster their resources, and prepare themselves for the launching of the second stage of an enterprise which, as it reveals its full potentialities, must stretch to embrace the five continents of the globe. World turmoil, grave dangers, severe restrictions, the lethargy of the public engrossed in its war problems, have failed to dampen the zeal, or to undermine the resolve, or to interfere with the successful discharge of the duty assumed by those who have so determinedly embarked on the opening stage of their world encircling, divinely appointed mission. With the return to more normal conditions, with the improvement of the means of travel and communication, with the lifting of the deadening weight of fear and care and the growing receptivity of the masses schooled in adversity and groping for the means of ultimate salvation, opportunities without number and unprecedented in their significance, present themselves to those whose privilege and obligation it is to pave the way for the launching of the succeeding stage of their historic and ever unfolding task.

Not until, however, normal conditions are fully restored and the world situation is stabilized, and, above all, the prizes won through the operation of the Seven Year Plan are adequately safeguarded and the basis of the newly established Administrative Order sufficiently consolidated throughout the Western Hemisphere, can the ambassadors of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, carrying aloft the banner of His Name in the American continent, be called upon to undertake unitedly and systematically, collective responsibility for the diffusion of His Message, and for the erection of the fabric of His Administrative Order, amidst the sorrow-stricken, war-lacerated, sorely bewildered nations and peoples of the European continent.

The sooner the home tasks are fully discharged and newly fledged Assemblies in Central and South America enabled to function adequately and vigorously, the sooner will the stalwart members of the American Bahá’í community, who, during so brief a period, and despite the prevailing darkness, achieved such wonders throughout the Americas, extend the healing influence of their Faith, on a scale as yet unprecedented, to the waiting masses of that agitated continent.

As already observed, an intensification of effort is imperatively required aiming at a bolder proclamation of the verities of a God-given Faith, at a systematic and continent-wide dissemination of its authentic literature, at a closer contact with the masses as well as the leaders of public thought, at a further consolidation and multiplication of the administrative centers scattered throughout the new world, and constituting the nuclei of its future World Order, and, above all, at a more convincing revelation of Bahá’í love, unity, solidarity and self-sacrifice, which alone can hasten the consummation of the preliminary undertakings required to terminate the period of transition intervening between the first and second stages of the greatest crusade ever launched in the history of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

Time is pressing, the work that still remains to be accomplished in the new world is vast and urgent, the need of the suffering masses the world over, and particularly in Europe, is pitiable, the sustaining grace destined to be vouchsafed from on high to those who will arise to achieve that task and fulfill this need is boundless and assured. Its potency has been already fully experienced, and abundantly demonstrated in the years that have witnessed the most prodigious efforts exerted by the American believers. A still more powerful display of its miraculous force can be confidently anticipated, if those who have felt its impact in the past arise to carry out, in the years that lie immediately ahead, the sublime and twofold task of the redemption of mankind and the establishment of the world sovereignty of Bahá’u’lláh.

Cablegram August 10, 1945

HEARTS UPLIFTED IN THANKSGIVINGOur hearts are uplifted in thanksgiving for complete cessation of the prolonged, unprecedented world conflict. I hail the prospects of the removal of the restrictions enabling American Bahá’í Community to expedite the preliminary measures required to launch the second stage of the Divine Plan. I appeal focus attention upon the requirements of the all-important Latin American work. The adequate fulfillment of this vital task preludes the assumption of collective responsibility by triumphant community of the spiritual enlightenment and ultimate redemption of sorely-tried, war-ravaged European continent, destined to be associated with exploits which must immortalize the second stage of the World Mission entrusted by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the apostles of His Father’s Faith in the western world. The opportunities of the present hour are infinitely precious, the time is pressing, the call of the distressed, groping peoples of Europe pitiful, insistent. The work still to be accomplished to consummate the mighty enterprise undertaken in Latin America is considerable. The Almighty’s sustaining grace is assured, unfailing. I am praying from the depths of a joyful, thankful heart for the outpouring of blessings no less remarkable than the divine bounties vouchsafed unto the valiant prosecutors of the Plan in the course of the opening phase of their World Mission.Cablegram August 20, 1945

Our hearts are uplifted in thanksgiving for complete cessation of the prolonged, unprecedented world conflict. I hail the prospects of the removal of the restrictions enabling American Bahá’í Community to expedite the preliminary measures required to launch the second stage of the Divine Plan. I appeal focus attention upon the requirements of the all-important Latin American work. The adequate fulfillment of this vital task preludes the assumption of collective responsibility by triumphant community of the spiritual enlightenment and ultimate redemption of sorely-tried, war-ravaged European continent, destined to be associated with exploits which must immortalize the second stage of the World Mission entrusted by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the apostles of His Father’s Faith in the western world. The opportunities of the present hour are infinitely precious, the time is pressing, the call of the distressed, groping peoples of Europe pitiful, insistent. The work still to be accomplished to consummate the mighty enterprise undertaken in Latin America is considerable. The Almighty’s sustaining grace is assured, unfailing. I am praying from the depths of a joyful, thankful heart for the outpouring of blessings no less remarkable than the divine bounties vouchsafed unto the valiant prosecutors of the Plan in the course of the opening phase of their World Mission.

Cablegram August 20, 1945

THE WORK OF REHABILITATIONThe reports recently received from various sources, regarding the sad conditions prevailing among the members of the sorely-stricken, long-suffering Bahá’í communities in Germany and Burma, are of such a distressing nature as to merit the energetic, the immediate, and collective intervention of their fellow-workers in lands which have providentially been spared the horrors of invasion and all the evils and miseries attendant upon it. Upon the American Bahá’í community, in particular, which throughout this prolonged and bloody conflict, has of all its sister communities in East and West, enjoyed the greatest immunity and been privileged not only to maintain and preserve its institutions, but to prosecute so successfully a Plan of such magnitude and significance, a special responsibility now rests—a responsibility which, despite its manifold and pressing duties in the Western Hemisphere, it can neither afford to neglect nor ignore.Particularly in the heart of the European continent, where the present turmoil, suffering and destitution are mysteriously paving the way for the revival of a Faith which the Beloved Himself has unequivocally prophesied, where a once flourishing community is struggling to fulfil the high hopes entertained for it by Him, and where the prosecutors of the Divine Plan, are to lend their direct and systematic assistance when launching the second stage of their world mission, must the American believers contribute the major share in the work of rehabilitation which the followers of Bahá’u’lláh must arise to perform.Through the extension of whatever financial assistance is feasible, through the provision and distribution of adequate literature, through the initiation of any measures, official or otherwise, which they can undertake for the protection, reinstatement and revival of a greatly-tested, highly promising and much loved community, the American believers have the golden opportunity of adding a fresh chapter to the brilliant record of their past international services to the Cause of God.Nor should the urgency of the task in far-away Burma, where a flourishing community had furnished so shining an example of Bahá’í fellowship and solidarity, be underestimated. The spirit which its remnant has displayed after so many years of persecution, dispersion and danger, merits the widest measure of encouragement and support, both moral and financial. Pressed as the American Bahá’í community must be by the twofold obligation of proclaiming the verities of their Faith to the American public and of consolidating the vast enterprises initiated throughout Latin America, the stalwart and privileged followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in North America cannot allow so great an opportunity to advance the vital international interests of His Cause to slip from their grasp. I feel confident that in the discharge of this additional task they will exhibit those same traits that have distinguished their stewardship for so many years to so glorious a Cause.December 21, 1945

The reports recently received from various sources, regarding the sad conditions prevailing among the members of the sorely-stricken, long-suffering Bahá’í communities in Germany and Burma, are of such a distressing nature as to merit the energetic, the immediate, and collective intervention of their fellow-workers in lands which have providentially been spared the horrors of invasion and all the evils and miseries attendant upon it. Upon the American Bahá’í community, in particular, which throughout this prolonged and bloody conflict, has of all its sister communities in East and West, enjoyed the greatest immunity and been privileged not only to maintain and preserve its institutions, but to prosecute so successfully a Plan of such magnitude and significance, a special responsibility now rests—a responsibility which, despite its manifold and pressing duties in the Western Hemisphere, it can neither afford to neglect nor ignore.

Particularly in the heart of the European continent, where the present turmoil, suffering and destitution are mysteriously paving the way for the revival of a Faith which the Beloved Himself has unequivocally prophesied, where a once flourishing community is struggling to fulfil the high hopes entertained for it by Him, and where the prosecutors of the Divine Plan, are to lend their direct and systematic assistance when launching the second stage of their world mission, must the American believers contribute the major share in the work of rehabilitation which the followers of Bahá’u’lláh must arise to perform.

Through the extension of whatever financial assistance is feasible, through the provision and distribution of adequate literature, through the initiation of any measures, official or otherwise, which they can undertake for the protection, reinstatement and revival of a greatly-tested, highly promising and much loved community, the American believers have the golden opportunity of adding a fresh chapter to the brilliant record of their past international services to the Cause of God.

Nor should the urgency of the task in far-away Burma, where a flourishing community had furnished so shining an example of Bahá’í fellowship and solidarity, be underestimated. The spirit which its remnant has displayed after so many years of persecution, dispersion and danger, merits the widest measure of encouragement and support, both moral and financial. Pressed as the American Bahá’í community must be by the twofold obligation of proclaiming the verities of their Faith to the American public and of consolidating the vast enterprises initiated throughout Latin America, the stalwart and privileged followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in North America cannot allow so great an opportunity to advance the vital international interests of His Cause to slip from their grasp. I feel confident that in the discharge of this additional task they will exhibit those same traits that have distinguished their stewardship for so many years to so glorious a Cause.

December 21, 1945

THE GERMAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITYThe German Bahá’í community, dearly beloved, highly honored by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and destined to play an outstanding role in the spiritual revival of an oppressed continent, has abundantly demonstrated in the course of ten years of severest tribulations, dire peril and complete suppression, the high character of its indomitable faith. I appeal to the entire community of the greatly blessed, highly privileged American believers, to arise unitedly and contribute generously through dispatch of funds and literature designed to alleviate the distress and rehabilitate the institutions with which the future prosecutors of the second stage of the Divine Plan must be closely associated.Cablegram December 31, 1945

The German Bahá’í community, dearly beloved, highly honored by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and destined to play an outstanding role in the spiritual revival of an oppressed continent, has abundantly demonstrated in the course of ten years of severest tribulations, dire peril and complete suppression, the high character of its indomitable faith. I appeal to the entire community of the greatly blessed, highly privileged American believers, to arise unitedly and contribute generously through dispatch of funds and literature designed to alleviate the distress and rehabilitate the institutions with which the future prosecutors of the second stage of the Divine Plan must be closely associated.

Cablegram December 31, 1945

EXEMPLARY PIONEERDeeply grieve passing of exemplary pioneer of the Faith, Emogene Hoagg. Her long record of national and international services is unforgettable, her reward in the Abhá Kingdom assured and abundant.Cablegram December 31, 1945

Deeply grieve passing of exemplary pioneer of the Faith, Emogene Hoagg. Her long record of national and international services is unforgettable, her reward in the Abhá Kingdom assured and abundant.

Cablegram December 31, 1945

LYDIA ZAMENHOFHeartily approve nationwide observance for dauntless Lydia Zamenhof. Her notable services, tenacity, modesty, unwavering devotion fully merit high tribute by American believers. Do not advise, however, that you designate her a martyr.Cablegram January 28, 1946

Heartily approve nationwide observance for dauntless Lydia Zamenhof. Her notable services, tenacity, modesty, unwavering devotion fully merit high tribute by American believers. Do not advise, however, that you designate her a martyr.

Cablegram January 28, 1946

HISTORIC DECISIONSOverjoyed, profoundly thankful for munificent donation made by American Bahá’í community for international relief. Urge establishment of communication with German believers and careful consultation with their representatives to collaborate in publication and expansion of much needed German Bahá’í literature. Delighted at news of consolidation of activities in Central America, the progress of the Public Campaigns and development of youth activities. Advise address special immediate appeal to American believers to insure large, representative attendance at approaching Convention owing to momentous, historic decisions to be disclosed to assembled representatives of ever-victorious, increasingly blessed, spiritually maturing American Bahá’í community.Cablegram February 25, 1946

Overjoyed, profoundly thankful for munificent donation made by American Bahá’í community for international relief. Urge establishment of communication with German believers and careful consultation with their representatives to collaborate in publication and expansion of much needed German Bahá’í literature. Delighted at news of consolidation of activities in Central America, the progress of the Public Campaigns and development of youth activities. Advise address special immediate appeal to American believers to insure large, representative attendance at approaching Convention owing to momentous, historic decisions to be disclosed to assembled representatives of ever-victorious, increasingly blessed, spiritually maturing American Bahá’í community.

Cablegram February 25, 1946

MOMENTOUS RESPONSIBILITIESThe assistance extended by the American Bahá’í Community to the long-suffering German believers is a further evidence of their readiness, so abundantly demonstrated in the past, to champion the interests, and to rehabilitate the institutions of their sister communities throughout the Bahá’í world. This support, so generously extended, so consistently and faithfully offered by the rank and file of the American believers, and particularly by their elected National representatives, is but a subsidiary aspect of the tremendous undertakings which, in both the North and South American continents, the standard bearers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have initiated and developed, for the promotion of its interests, during the concluding decades of the first Bahá’í century.The twofold task which they have so nobly undertaken—the proclamation of the Faith in the North American continent and the consolidation of its nascent institutions in Latin America—must, whatever plan is devised in the coming years for the furtherance of their world-wide mission—be relentlessly prosecuted. That further responsibilities, of a momentous character, will have to be superimposed on the stalwart prosecutors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, as they gird up their loins to carry a stage further their historic labors in obedience to His wishes, no one can for a moment doubt. As the field of their activities, ranging over entire continents, grows in scope and in importance, the aims and purposes associated with the first stage of their glorious mission must, in no wise, be either neglected or forgotten. The steady multiplication of groups and of Spiritual Assemblies throughout the States of the great American Republic, the continual broadcasting of the Divine Message to the leaders of public opinion and the masses, as well as the establishment of the newly fledged local Assemblies throughout Latin America on an unassailable basis, and the dissemination of Bahá’í literature among its people, demand whatever the nature of the supplementary responsibilities that will have to be assumed in the years to come, the closest attention on the part of the entire body of the American believers, and must continue to be regarded as the fundamental issues facing their national representatives. The exploits immortalizing the first stage of the Divine Plan, however glorious their record, have yet to yield their noblest fruits. Efforts unremitting, systematic, and continent-wide in their scope, can alone garner a harvest worthy of the high confidence placed in them by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. May they prove themselves increasingly worthy of so high a privilege, so glorious a task.March 25, 1946

The assistance extended by the American Bahá’í Community to the long-suffering German believers is a further evidence of their readiness, so abundantly demonstrated in the past, to champion the interests, and to rehabilitate the institutions of their sister communities throughout the Bahá’í world. This support, so generously extended, so consistently and faithfully offered by the rank and file of the American believers, and particularly by their elected National representatives, is but a subsidiary aspect of the tremendous undertakings which, in both the North and South American continents, the standard bearers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have initiated and developed, for the promotion of its interests, during the concluding decades of the first Bahá’í century.

The twofold task which they have so nobly undertaken—the proclamation of the Faith in the North American continent and the consolidation of its nascent institutions in Latin America—must, whatever plan is devised in the coming years for the furtherance of their world-wide mission—be relentlessly prosecuted. That further responsibilities, of a momentous character, will have to be superimposed on the stalwart prosecutors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, as they gird up their loins to carry a stage further their historic labors in obedience to His wishes, no one can for a moment doubt. As the field of their activities, ranging over entire continents, grows in scope and in importance, the aims and purposes associated with the first stage of their glorious mission must, in no wise, be either neglected or forgotten. The steady multiplication of groups and of Spiritual Assemblies throughout the States of the great American Republic, the continual broadcasting of the Divine Message to the leaders of public opinion and the masses, as well as the establishment of the newly fledged local Assemblies throughout Latin America on an unassailable basis, and the dissemination of Bahá’í literature among its people, demand whatever the nature of the supplementary responsibilities that will have to be assumed in the years to come, the closest attention on the part of the entire body of the American believers, and must continue to be regarded as the fundamental issues facing their national representatives. The exploits immortalizing the first stage of the Divine Plan, however glorious their record, have yet to yield their noblest fruits. Efforts unremitting, systematic, and continent-wide in their scope, can alone garner a harvest worthy of the high confidence placed in them by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. May they prove themselves increasingly worthy of so high a privilege, so glorious a task.

March 25, 1946

INAUGURATION OF SECOND SEVEN YEAR PLANMessage to 1946 ConventionHail with joyous heart the delegates of the American Bahá’í Community assembled beneath the dome of the Mother Temple of the West in momentous Convention of the first year of peace. The souls are uplifted in thanksgiving for the protection vouchsafed by Providence to the preeminent community of the Bahá’í world enabling its members to consummate, despite the tribulations of a world-convulsing conflict, the first stage of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan. The Campaign culminating the Centenary of the inauguration of the Bahá’í Era completed sixteen months ere the appointed time the exterior ornamentation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, laid the basis of the administrative order in every virgin state and province of the North American Continent, almost doubled the Assemblies established since the inception of the Faith, established Assemblies in fourteen republics of Latin America, constituted active groups in remaining republics, swelled to sixty the sovereign states within the pale of the Faith.The two-year respite, well-earned after the expenditure of such a colossal effort, covering such a tremendous range, during so dark a period, is now ended. The prosecutors of the Plan who in the course of six war-ridden years achieved such prodigies of service in the Western Hemisphere from Alaska to Magallanes are now collectively summoned to assume in the course of the peaceful years ahead still weightier responsibilities for the opening decade of the Second Century. The time is ripe, events are pressing. Hosts on high are sounding the signal for inauguration of second Seven Year Plan designed to culminate first Centennial of the year Nine marking the mystic birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic mission in Síyáh-Chál at Ṭihrán.A two-fold responsibility urgently calls the vanguard of the dawn-breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Order, torch-bearers of world civilization, executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mandate, to arise and simultaneously bring to fruition the tasks already undertaken and launch fresh enterprises beyond the borders of the Western Hemisphere.The first objective of the new Plan is consolidation of victories already won throughout the Americas, involving multiplication of Bahá’í centers, bolder proclamation of the Faith to the masses. The second objective is completion of the interior ornamentation of the holiest House of Worship in the Bahá’í world designed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the inception of this historic enterprise. The third objective is the formation of three national Assemblies, pillars of the Universal House of Justice, in the Dominion of Canada, Central and South America. The fourth objective is the initiation of systematic teaching activity in war-torn, spiritually famished European continent, cradle of world-famed civilizations, twice-blest by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visits, whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh specifically and collectively addressed, aiming at establishment of Assemblies in the Iberian Peninsula, the Low Countries, the Scandinavian states, and Italy. No effort is too great for community belonging to the continent whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh addressed in the Most Holy Book, whose members were invested with spiritual primacy by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and named by Him apostles of His Father, whose country was the first western nation to respond to the Divine Message and deemed worthy to be first to build the Tabernacle of the Most Great Peace, whose administrators evolved the pattern of the embryonic world order, consummated the first stage of the Divine Plan, and whose elevation to the throne of everlasting dominion the Center of the Covenant confidently anticipated. As the resistless impulse propelling the Plan accelerates, the American Community must rise to new levels of potency in response to the divine mandate, scale loftier heights of heroism, insure fuller participation of the rank and file of members, and closer collaboration with the agencies designed to insure attainment of the fourfold objectives, and evince greater audacity in tearing down the barriers in its path.Upon the success of the second Seven Year Plan depends the launching, after a brief respite of three brief years, of a yet more momentous third Seven Year Plan which, when consummated through the establishment of the structure of the administrative order in the remaining sovereign states and chief dependencies of the entire globe, must culminate in and be befittingly commemorated through world-wide celebrations marking the Centennial of the formal assumption by Bahá’u’lláh of the Prophetic Office associated with Daniel’s prophecy and the world triumph of the Bahá’í revelation and signalizing the termination of the initial epoch in the evolution of the Plan whose mysterious, resistless processes must continue to shed ever-increasing lustre on successive generations of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.Pledging ten thousand dollars as my initial contribution for the furtherance of the manifold purposes of a glorious crusade surpassing every enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the course of the first Bahá’í century.April 25, 1946

Message to 1946 Convention

Hail with joyous heart the delegates of the American Bahá’í Community assembled beneath the dome of the Mother Temple of the West in momentous Convention of the first year of peace. The souls are uplifted in thanksgiving for the protection vouchsafed by Providence to the preeminent community of the Bahá’í world enabling its members to consummate, despite the tribulations of a world-convulsing conflict, the first stage of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan. The Campaign culminating the Centenary of the inauguration of the Bahá’í Era completed sixteen months ere the appointed time the exterior ornamentation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, laid the basis of the administrative order in every virgin state and province of the North American Continent, almost doubled the Assemblies established since the inception of the Faith, established Assemblies in fourteen republics of Latin America, constituted active groups in remaining republics, swelled to sixty the sovereign states within the pale of the Faith.

The two-year respite, well-earned after the expenditure of such a colossal effort, covering such a tremendous range, during so dark a period, is now ended. The prosecutors of the Plan who in the course of six war-ridden years achieved such prodigies of service in the Western Hemisphere from Alaska to Magallanes are now collectively summoned to assume in the course of the peaceful years ahead still weightier responsibilities for the opening decade of the Second Century. The time is ripe, events are pressing. Hosts on high are sounding the signal for inauguration of second Seven Year Plan designed to culminate first Centennial of the year Nine marking the mystic birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic mission in Síyáh-Chál at Ṭihrán.

A two-fold responsibility urgently calls the vanguard of the dawn-breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Order, torch-bearers of world civilization, executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mandate, to arise and simultaneously bring to fruition the tasks already undertaken and launch fresh enterprises beyond the borders of the Western Hemisphere.

The first objective of the new Plan is consolidation of victories already won throughout the Americas, involving multiplication of Bahá’í centers, bolder proclamation of the Faith to the masses. The second objective is completion of the interior ornamentation of the holiest House of Worship in the Bahá’í world designed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the inception of this historic enterprise. The third objective is the formation of three national Assemblies, pillars of the Universal House of Justice, in the Dominion of Canada, Central and South America. The fourth objective is the initiation of systematic teaching activity in war-torn, spiritually famished European continent, cradle of world-famed civilizations, twice-blest by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visits, whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh specifically and collectively addressed, aiming at establishment of Assemblies in the Iberian Peninsula, the Low Countries, the Scandinavian states, and Italy. No effort is too great for community belonging to the continent whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh addressed in the Most Holy Book, whose members were invested with spiritual primacy by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and named by Him apostles of His Father, whose country was the first western nation to respond to the Divine Message and deemed worthy to be first to build the Tabernacle of the Most Great Peace, whose administrators evolved the pattern of the embryonic world order, consummated the first stage of the Divine Plan, and whose elevation to the throne of everlasting dominion the Center of the Covenant confidently anticipated. As the resistless impulse propelling the Plan accelerates, the American Community must rise to new levels of potency in response to the divine mandate, scale loftier heights of heroism, insure fuller participation of the rank and file of members, and closer collaboration with the agencies designed to insure attainment of the fourfold objectives, and evince greater audacity in tearing down the barriers in its path.

Upon the success of the second Seven Year Plan depends the launching, after a brief respite of three brief years, of a yet more momentous third Seven Year Plan which, when consummated through the establishment of the structure of the administrative order in the remaining sovereign states and chief dependencies of the entire globe, must culminate in and be befittingly commemorated through world-wide celebrations marking the Centennial of the formal assumption by Bahá’u’lláh of the Prophetic Office associated with Daniel’s prophecy and the world triumph of the Bahá’í revelation and signalizing the termination of the initial epoch in the evolution of the Plan whose mysterious, resistless processes must continue to shed ever-increasing lustre on successive generations of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

Pledging ten thousand dollars as my initial contribution for the furtherance of the manifold purposes of a glorious crusade surpassing every enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the course of the first Bahá’í century.

April 25, 1946

SPIRITUAL CONQUEST OF THE OLD WORLDOpening phase of spiritual conquest of the old world under divinely conceived Plan must be speedily and befittingly inaugurated. Feel necessity prompt dispatch of nine competent pioneers to as many countries as feasible charged to initiate systematic teaching work, commence settlement and promote dissemination of literature. Urge establishment of auxiliary office in Geneva as adjunct to International Bureau equipped with facilities to foster development of Assemblies in countries falling within the scope of Plan. Recommend European Teaching Committee undertake without delay measures aiming at close collaboration of British Publishing Trust and Publishing Committee of German National Assembly. Advise include Duchy of Luxembourg in Low Countries and enlarge range of Plan through addition of Switzerland. Owing to considerable sum already accumulated in Ṭihrán I prefer to divert sum for International Relief not yet forwarded to Persia, as well as Assembly’s annual contribution to World Center, to funds earmarked for all-important far-flung European teaching and publication activities. The challenge offered by virgin fields of Europe outweighs momentous character of task already confronting American Bahá’í Community in the Americas. Vast distances sundering the old and new world are visibly, providentially contracting, enabling the ambassadors of Bahá’u’lláh’s New World Order swiftly to discharge their apostolic mission through the continent destined to be stepping-stone to still vaster enterprises associated with future stages of divinely impelled, ever-unfolding, world-encircling Plan.Cablegram June 5, 1946

Opening phase of spiritual conquest of the old world under divinely conceived Plan must be speedily and befittingly inaugurated. Feel necessity prompt dispatch of nine competent pioneers to as many countries as feasible charged to initiate systematic teaching work, commence settlement and promote dissemination of literature. Urge establishment of auxiliary office in Geneva as adjunct to International Bureau equipped with facilities to foster development of Assemblies in countries falling within the scope of Plan. Recommend European Teaching Committee undertake without delay measures aiming at close collaboration of British Publishing Trust and Publishing Committee of German National Assembly. Advise include Duchy of Luxembourg in Low Countries and enlarge range of Plan through addition of Switzerland. Owing to considerable sum already accumulated in Ṭihrán I prefer to divert sum for International Relief not yet forwarded to Persia, as well as Assembly’s annual contribution to World Center, to funds earmarked for all-important far-flung European teaching and publication activities. The challenge offered by virgin fields of Europe outweighs momentous character of task already confronting American Bahá’í Community in the Americas. Vast distances sundering the old and new world are visibly, providentially contracting, enabling the ambassadors of Bahá’u’lláh’s New World Order swiftly to discharge their apostolic mission through the continent destined to be stepping-stone to still vaster enterprises associated with future stages of divinely impelled, ever-unfolding, world-encircling Plan.

Cablegram June 5, 1946

THIRTY NEW ASSEMBLIESAppeal National Teaching Committee unitedly arise play notable part in stupendous exertions now being made by Bahá’í communities throughout Americas in furtherance of second Seven Year Plan. Plead focus attention enable thirty groups having six or more members speedily attain Assembly status. Devoutly praying number of Assemblies functioning in North America will reach one hundred and seventy-five ere expiry of second year of second stage of Divine Plan. Attainment of this immediate objective will challenge and galvanize all other agencies functioning in Latin America and European continent to follow the superb example set for sister committees laboring at the heart of the mother community of the Western hemisphere.Cablegram June 13, 1946

Appeal National Teaching Committee unitedly arise play notable part in stupendous exertions now being made by Bahá’í communities throughout Americas in furtherance of second Seven Year Plan. Plead focus attention enable thirty groups having six or more members speedily attain Assembly status. Devoutly praying number of Assemblies functioning in North America will reach one hundred and seventy-five ere expiry of second year of second stage of Divine Plan. Attainment of this immediate objective will challenge and galvanize all other agencies functioning in Latin America and European continent to follow the superb example set for sister committees laboring at the heart of the mother community of the Western hemisphere.

Cablegram June 13, 1946

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