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Messages to Canada

  • Author:

  • Shoghi Effendi

  • Source:
  • Bahá’í Canada Publications
  • Pages:
  • 276
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Pages 70-71

Letter of 19 October 1941

19 October 1941

To Rosemary Sala1

Dear Bahá’í Sister:
Your letter of September 14th has been just received, and the Guardian has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.
He has been very pleased over recent news of the progress of the teaching work in Canada, and is happy to note that you and your dear husband are again active in spreading the Cause there. He feels sure that your devotion and the added experience gained through your pioneer work in Venezuela will enable you both to contribute richly to the progress of the work in Canada.
Canada must not be allowed to lag behind in the all-important work of the Seven Year Plan. She is a vast and promising country, and is entitled to her full share of spiritual enlightenment, and the Guardian hopes that you will give as much of your time as possible to virgin territories there—aiding in opening them up and establishing nuclei of future Spiritual Assemblies.
He most deeply appreciated your self-sacrificing labours in South America, and trusts that you will win ever greater victories in service to the Faith you love so dearly and have so wholeheartedly dedicated yourself to.
Rest assured that the selfless persistence with which you are serving our beloved Faith is deeply appreciated by Shoghi Effendi, and indeed helps to lighten his burden of cares and responsibility.
He will supplicate the blessings of Bahá’u’lláh for your work, and you will both be remembered in his loving prayers.

With Bahá’í love,

Yours in His service,

R. Rabbani

[From the Guardian:]

Dear and valued co-worker:

I wish to assure you of my deepfelt and abiding appreciation of the noble and exemplary efforts which you and your dear husband have exerted in recent years, and of the sacrifices you have made in the path of service to our beloved Faith.

Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, taken shortly before his passing in 1957

May and William Sutherland Maxwell

Bahá’í Shrine (home of May and William Sutherland Maxwell), Montreal, Quebec

National Convention of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, Montreal, 1927

Montreal Young People’s Group, c. 1929 Front row: Henry Bergson, Mary Maxwell, Glen Wade, unknown Middle row: Ruth Lee, Rosemary Sala, Alberta Simms, Else Lohse, Bahíyyih Lindstrom, Dorothy Wade Back row: Eddie Elliot, Walter Lohse, Emeric Sala, Norman MacGregor, Thomas Lee, Edward Lindstrom

Louis Bourgeois, the architect of the mother temple of the West

Siegfried (Fred) Schopflocher, c. 1941

Bahá’í House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois

Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum, 1958

I will specially pray that you may continue your work in the pioneer field in Canada, where the field is so vast and the opportunities are manifold. You are often in my thoughts and I trust that your highest hopes may be fully realized.

Your true and grateful brother,

Shoghi
1.Emeric and Rosemary Sala—members of the National Spiritual Assembly 1948–53. During the first and second Seven Year Plans, they pioneered to Venezuela (1940–41) and travelled throughout Latin America. In 1953 they pioneered to South Africa, and returned to Canada in 1968. In 1971 they pioneered to Mexico, where Rosemary died in 1980. Emeric passed away in 1990. See The Bahá’í World Vol. XVIII, 713–715, and Vol. XX, In Memoriam.  [ Back To Reference]