The Light of Divine Guidance (Volume 1)

Your letters dated May 31, August 14, and two of September 16, have been received, as well as other material sent the Guardian by you under separate cover, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.

Please note that on behalf of the beloved Guardian I have written direct to … assuring her of his prayers and his sympathy for her sufferings. Cancer is a most terrible affliction, and has taken its toll of some very fine Bahá’ís, alas!

The Guardian was particularly pleased to hear so many of the German friends could be present at the E.T. Conference in Holland. This association of the friends is a great stimulus to the work, and he hopes will increase in scale as the situation in Europe improves.

He was also very glad to know your Assembly met with … and … as Berlin and Vienna are important centers, and the work needs to be stimulated and fostered in both places, especially Vienna. 177

The Guardian feels that the financing of the Hazírá—so that debts may not pile up too much—and the teaching work are very important.

To concentrate on achieving the goals of your Plan you should, if necessary, make economies in other directions. In America, for years, the publication of “World Order Magazine” was given up, as it was not essential, and the money in the Fund was more urgently needed elsewhere. He feels that, if necessary, “Sonne der Wahrheit” and the Youth Bulletin can be given up. The Youth can have a place in your regular “Bahá’í News” for themselves. However, these are matters for your assembly to weigh and decide upon.

The most important thing of all, now that greater unity has been established in the German Community, is to make the friends pioneerconscious; they must learn to venture forth, putting their trust in God, and go to new cities and towns to establish the Cause. This will mark an entirely new phase in the history of the Cause in Germany, and will give the Bahá’ís a sense of victory and importance they have never had before. When they see how, after years of persecution, of war, occupation, financial chaos and instability, they have built their Hazírá, and moved their National Headquarters to it, they must feel both astonished at their victory and immensely proud. Did they ever believe such a thing could happen? Let them, then, with the same faith and determination, arise and build up new assemblies and groups. They will find that they succeed as they succeeded with their Hazírá.

The Guardian remembers you all in his prayers, and is very pleased with the progress so far made by the German friends. But he hopes they will now accomplish still greater feats!… 178

[From the Guardian:]

The Plan now being prosecuted with such diligence, fidelity, unity and enthusiasm by the long oppressed, greathearted, indefatigable, much admired German Bahá’í community, despite the exhaustion following a prolonged ordeal, is entering upon its concluding phase. This first collective enterprise, embarked upon by a community which, by virtue of its size, its experience, its past achievements, occupies a preeminent position in the European continent, and is destined, in view of its capacity, its fortitude, its resilience and tenacity of purpose, to play an outstanding role in both contemporary and future Bahá’í history, must, through a concerted and supreme effort on the part of its members, be brought to a triumphant conclusion.

Its successful termination will be but a signal for a series of enterprises, each more glorious than the one preceding it, which will carry the fame of this community, already tested in the crucible of afflictive trials, and richly endowed by the tender favours of its Founder, Who blessed with His Presence its leading center, to regions far beyond the confines of its homeland and as far as the Eastern fringes of the Asiatic continent.

In such a glorious venture, and in the course of so vast, so momentous and sacred an enterprise, it will, if it discharges manfully its present task, be seconded in its noble exertions by the concerted efforts of all the budding communities in the European continent, and will play a notable role, in collaboration with the trustees of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan labouring throughout the American continents, and with its sister communities toiling in Africa, South East Asia, and Australasia, in achieving the spiritual conquest of the entire planet. 179

Much depends, however, on the manner in which it discharges the responsibilities of the present hour. The administrative base from which it must spread out into Eastern and Southern Europe, and beyond these spheres into the heart of Northern Asia, as far as the China Sea, must first be thoroughly consolidated. The valiant battalions that are to carry the banner of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh to distant climes, amidst alien races, and throughout the length and breadth of immense territories and in inhospitable surroundings, must, to begin with, increase in number, acquire added experience, and deepen in their faith and understanding. The literature with which the bearers of God’s redeeming Message must be equipped when launching out beyond the frontiers of their native land must, preparatory to their arduous crusade, be multiplied and adapted to the mentality of those diversified peoples and races inhabiting so vast a section of the globe.

The Bahá’í Administrative headquarters now being completed in the heart and center of this community’s homeland must be speedily consolidated and further extended. The assemblies and groups which, as a result of the operation of the present Plan, must be brought into being, must be safeguarded and strengthened. The spiritual life of its participating members must, while this process of administrative consolidation is being accelerated, be continually enriched, their vision broadened, their understanding deepened, their unity reinforced, their enthusiasm enkindled through the institutions of summer-schools, conventions, regional conferences, youth rallies and study classes. The unity and solidarity of the members of this community must be vigilantly safeguarded and constantly reinforced. The ties binding it to its neighbouring sister-community in Austria must be greatly strengthened, 180 and the administrative agencies operating in both communities must be closely correlated and the cooperation between them continually fostered.

Then and only then, will this community be empowered to launch befittingly its first campaign across the borders of its native land, and manifest, as it projects itself beyond its national frontiers and diffuses over regions, both far and near, the illuminating radiance of Bahá’u’lláh’s redemptive Revelation, the potencies with which its Divine Founder, the Center of the Covenant, endowed it in the course of the last decade of His Ministry.

As the centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission approaches, as the Plan formulated by this Community draws to a close, a supreme effort, unprecedented in its scope and intensity, must be exerted collectively by its members, young and old, an effort that will arouse the admiration of the entire world, that will proclaim its worthiness and capacity to shoulder so immense a task in the future, and which will carry to a triumphant conclusion this initial undertaking, embarked upon by the German and Austrian followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the heart of the European continent.