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Citadel of Faith
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Pages 83-85
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A Worthy, Five-Fold Offering
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The first half of the two-year austerity period, inaugurated at so
anxious an hour in the fortunes of the Second Seven Year Plan, has
been successfully traversed, and deserves to be regarded as a memorable
episode in the history of the Faith and the unfoldment of the Plan in
the North American continent. An effort, prodigious, nation-wide,
sustained, and reminiscent in its heroism and consecration of the
immortal exploits of the dawn-breakers of the Apostolic Age of the
Bahá'í Dispensation, has been exerted by their spiritual descendants, in
circumstances which, though totally different in character, are yet no
less challenging and for a cause as meritorious--an effort that has
indeed outshone the high endeavors that have distinguished for so long
the record of service associated with the American Bahá'í Community.
All of its members who have participated in this collective undertaking
should be heartily congratulated, particularly those who, by their acts of
self-abnegation, have emulated the example of the heroes of our Faith
at the early dawn of its history. The entire Bahá'í world is stirred when
contemplating the range of such an effort, the depth of consecration
reached by those who have participated in it, the results it has achieved,
the noble purpose it has served. My heart overflows with gratitude for
the repeated evidences of worthiness demonstrated by this generous-hearted,
valiant and dedicated community which has, no matter how
onerous the task, how challenging the issue, how distracting the
external circumstances with which it has been surrounded, never
shirked its duty or hesitated for a moment.
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The high watermark of so gigantic an exertion, however, still
remains to be reached. The year now entered, ushered in and consecrated
by the Centenary of the tragic execution of the Martyr-Prophet
of our Faith, and packed with poignant memories of the persecutions of
Zanján which stained its history a hundred years ago and carried its
fortunes to almost its lowest ebb, and were a prelude to the most ghastly
holocaust ever experienced by its followers, must witness as it rolls
forward to its close, a still more striking demonstration of the tenacity of
the members of this community, a still nobler display of acts of
self-sacrifice, a still more inspiring manifestation of solidarity, and
evidences of a grimmer determination, of a greater courage and perseverance
in response to the triple call of this present hour.
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The vital needs of the most holy House of Worship reared in the
service and for the glory of the Most Great Name, though virtually
met, still require the last exertions to ensure its completion as the hour
of its Jubilee approaches. The Latin-American enterprise, initiated
thirteen years ago, and marking the initial collective undertaking
launched by the American Bahá'í Community beyond the confines of
the great republic of the West, and under the mandate of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
Divine Plan, still in a state of emergency and rapidly advancing
towards its initial fruition, demands unrelaxing vigilance, and calls for
still more strenuous exertions and self-sacrifice on the part of those who
have so enthusiastically embarked upon it, who have so conscientiously
and painstakingly shepherded it along its destined course and throughout
the early stages of its unfoldment, and who are now, as a result of
their ceaseless exertions, witnessing the first efflorescence of their
mammoth pioneer labors. The construction of the superstructure of the
Holy Sepulcher of the Blessed Báb, now, at this anxious and urgent
hour, superimposed on the manifold responsibilities shouldered by
members of the American Bahá'í Community, affording them the first
historic opportunity of directly sustaining, through their contributions,
the most sacred enterprise ever undertaken in the history of the Faith,
the first and most holy edifice reared at its World Center, and the initial
international institution heralding the establishment of the supreme
legislative body at the World Administrative Center, requires the
immediate and sustained attention of the members of a community
whose destiny has been linked, ever since its inception, with the various
stages marking the rise and consolidation of this divinely appointed,
unspeakably holy enterprise.
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