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The Light of Divine Guidance (Volume 1)

  • Author:
  • Shoghi Effendi

  • Source:
  • Bahá’í Publishing Trust of Germany (Bahá’í-Verlag), 1982 edition
  • Pages:
  • 311
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Pages 102-104

Letter of Dec. 30th, 1945

Dec. 30th, 1945
Dear Bahá’í Friends:
It was with great joy that the beloved Guardian received your letter of Aug. 1st, and he has instructed me to answer it on his behalf.
During these long, sad, years of separation his thoughts have constantly been with the well-loved German Bahá’ís, and his ardent prayers have been offered in the Holy Shrines for their protection and the protection of the Faith there.
Now that the friends are once again free to profess their beliefs, hold their meetings, teach the Cause, and uphold its institutions, he hopes they will exert their utmost to reestablish, as speedily as possible, the Bahá’í Communities of Germany. The Faith in that land had, before it was 103 suppressed and banned, just began to enjoy the fruits of many long years of labour to promulgate it, and create its administrative bodies; he hopes that all the German Bahá’ís will unite to bring it to the former level of prosperity it enjoyed.
He wishes to assure you all, and through you, all your Bahá’í brothers and sisters in Germany, that he will do all in his power to assist you in your labours, and that your fellow-Bahá’ís the world over will likewise aid you as much as they can.
The beloved Master cherished very bright hopes for the future of the German Bahá’ís. His promises and prophecies will surely be fulfilled, and the Holy Faith not only be reestablished in Germany but grow and expand as never before.
The Guardian has urged the American N.S.A. to supply the German Bahá’ís with literature as soon as possible; this will enable you to bring the teachings to your sore-stricken countrymen, and enlist them under the banner of Bahá’u’lláh.
You may be sure the Guardian’s loving prayers surround you all and sustain you in your labours for the Cause….
[From the Guardian:]
Dearly-beloved Friends:
Your joint and most welcome letter brought indescribable joy to my heart. I am thrilled by this latest and indeed most significant evidence of the unfailing protection of the Almighty, and of His manifold blessings vouchsafed to His dearly-beloved and worthy servants labouring so heroically for His Faith in that land. Though I am greatly saddened by the fate that has overtaken a few of them during this prolonged ordeal they have experienced, I rejoice and am filled with gratitude, pride and happiness to realize that the 104 Faith itself has survived this fiery test, and has demonstrated its resilience, its vitality and incorruptibility after so crucial a period of stress, of suffering and danger. The duty facing the triumphant community in your land is to reconstruct, with the utmost speed and vigour its administrative institutions, and above all, its national assembly. I will appeal to our brethren in East and West to offer every assistance in their power for the rehabilitation of a community which is destined to play, in accordance with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s prophecy, so vital a role in the future orientation and expansion of the world-wide Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. I will do everything I possibly can to help it in its task and assist it in the achievement of its high destiny. I will pray and supplicate on its behalf the abundant blessings of the Almighty, that its influence may revive, its number increase, its activities multiply, its resource develop, and its mission be fulfilled.
Your true and grateful brother,
Shoghi