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Messages to Canada

  • Author:

  • Shoghi Effendi

  • Source:
  • Bahá’í Canada Publications
  • Pages:
  • 276
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Pages 10-12

Letter of 1 February 1924

1 February 1924

To an individual believer

My dear Bahá’í Sister,
Your spiritually beautiful letter of December 16th sent through our beloved brother, Mr. F. Schopflocher1 to our dear Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, has been received. He was deeply impressed with the spirit of your devotion and attachment to the Holy Cause of God and lofty aspirations to serve humanity which is the fundamental aim of the Bahá’í Movement.
He has instructed me to answer your letter and convey to you his loving greeting. He assures you that he remembers you in his ardent prayers at the Holy Shrine of our Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, so that you may day by day grow stronger and stronger in your understanding the realities of the heavenly teachings.
Shoghi Effendi approves of your consideration for your husband. He hopes that through your wise conduct and loving-kindness to him, he will also gradually understand the significance of the Holy Cause. People are not naturally against the Truth. There are obstacles between them and the Truth. These obstacles must be wisely removed and then they surely will be attracted to the Cause. The magnet for this attraction is real love and tolerance towards the ideas and customs of the people. We must follow our Lord, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who taught us to be well-wishers of mankind disregarding religious and racial differences. Our love must be so spacious as to engulf the whole of the people of the world. With love and only with unlimited love we have been and will be able to conquer the hearts of the people and direct the current of their sentiments along the channel of the happiness of mankind and thus usher in the era of the regeneration of man. It is unlimited love which is the Elixir that turns the common metals of the human being into pure gold.
Dear sister, the Jewish nation are a religious people. They are strong in their faith. When they become Bahá’ís, they are apt to become strong in the Cause too. We have thousands of Jewish Bahá’ís in Persia, who have broken the barriers of exclusiveness from other people and are most active in the service of the Cause. Shoghi Effendi’s desire is that you ought still to be more considerate and kind to your husband and relatives. This is Bahá’í spirit.
For several days we have had the pleasure of having our dear brother, Mr. Schopflocher,2 with us. We are impressed deeply with his love, devotion and sincerity or in other words, with his Bahá’í spirit. We are sure that when he returns to Canada, through the inspiration he has received from his personal touch with our beloved Guardian and from the Holy Shrine of our Master, he will be able to reach the hearts of the people with a greater power than ever before.
Be assured dear sister, that I will not also forget you in my humble prayers and I am cherishing the hope that you will succeed in bringing up your dear children to become good Bahá’ís and servants of the world of humanity.

With Bahá’í love and greeting, I remain,

Your humble brother in His love and service,

Azízu’lláh S. Bahadur

[From the Guardian:]

My dear Bahá’í sister:

It is true that you are labouring for our beloved Cause under difficult and trying conditions, yet you realize, I am sure, that by so doing you are treading the Path our Beloved has pursued throughout His heroic life, that your fortitude, your perseverance, your services, your loyalty to Him will be abundantly rewarded in the world to come in His Divine Presence. Be then, cheerful, radiant and resolute and persevere to the very end and be assured of my constant and ardent prayers for your happiness, prosperity and spiritual advancement. My beloved Fred, that living torch, lit by the spirit of our departed Master, joins me in praying for you at His Shrine.

Shoghi
1.Siegfried Schopflocher—known as the “Temple Builder” because of his great contributions to the completion of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the West, appointed a Hand of the Cause of God in 1952, died in Montreal in 1953. For a review of his “numerous, magnificent services” see The Bahá’í World Vol. XII, 664–666, In Memoriam.  [ Back To Reference]
2.Siegfried Schopflocher—known as the “Temple Builder” because of his great contributions to the completion of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the West, appointed a Hand of the Cause of God in 1952, died in Montreal in 1953. For a review of his “numerous, magnificent services” see The Bahá’í World Vol. XII, 664–666, In Memoriam.  [ Back To Reference]