Messages To Canada Part 5

FIRST opening following virgin territories eleven North America: Anticosti Island, Baranof Island, Cape Breton Island, Franklin, Grand Manan Island, Keewatin, Labrador, Magdalen Islands, Miquelon Island and St. Pierre Island, Queen Charlotte Islands, Yukon; Two Asias-Marquesas Islands, Samoa Islands.

SECOND consolidation Faith Iceland, Greenland, Mackenzie, Newfoundland.

THIRD purchase land Toronto antic.i.p.ation construction first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar Canada.

FOURTH establishment national Baha'i endowments.

FIFTH doubling number Local Spiritual a.s.semblies.

SIXTH raising number incorporated a.s.semblies nineteen.

SEVENTH formation Israel Branch Canadian National Spiritual a.s.sembly.

EIGHTH establishment American Asian teaching committees entrusted task stimulate coordinate teaching activities initiated Plan. Appeal members entire community worthy allies chief executors 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan dedicate themselves immediate requirements steadily unfolding mission discharge n.o.bly sacred strenuous tasks ahead contribute memorable share prosecution decade long World Spiritual Crusade pay befitting tribute through future accomplishments memory Founder Faith occasion most great Jubilee commemorating centenary declaration His Mission city Ba_gh_dad.

SHOGHI.

Letter of May 1, 1953

May 1, 1953.

Deeply touched message fervently supplicating signal victories loving remembrance shrines.

SHOGHI.

Letter of June 20, 1953

Haifa, Israel, June 20, 1953.

National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha'is of Canada.

Your letters ... have been received by the beloved Guardian, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.

He regrets very much the delay in answering your letters. Unfortunately he has had to delay in replying to all national bodies during the last year, because of the pressure of work here, which has steadily increased during this Holy Year.

ACQUISITION OF NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS AND SHRINE

The purchase of your national headquarters, he feels, was an important milestone in the history of the Faith in Canada, and he hopes that it will be put to good use, during the coming years, by your a.s.sembly. To this inst.i.tution you will soon be adding the Maxwell Home(29) in Montreal, which should be viewed in the nature of a national shrine, because of its a.s.sociation with the beloved Master, during His visit to Montreal. He sees no objection to having one room in the house being used as a little museum a.s.sociated with Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell.

He was most happy to hear that all of your goals were achieved. This augurs well for the future of your activities, especially during the Ten Year Plan just launched. He wishes through your body to thank all the pioneers, teachers and Baha'is who helped achieve this great victory. They have every reason to feel proud of themselves, and grateful to Baha'u'llah. Undoubtedly His divine a.s.sistance, combined with their determination and faith, enabled them to fulfill their objectives.

He was very happy to know that Charlottetown not only achieved a.s.sembly status, but that the believers there are mostly self-supporting, as this is a sound basis for the expansion of the work in any place, especially in such a difficult one.

The Baha'i Exhibit held at the Canadian National Exhibition was an excellent means of obtaining publicity. He hopes that advantage will be taken of similar opportunities in the future.

He urges your a.s.sembly to press for recognition of the Baha'i marriage in Ontario, and, gradually, where the Cause is strong enough, in other Provinces.

Regarding the question you asked him about one of the believers who seems to be flagrantly a h.o.m.os.e.xual-although to a certain extent we must be forbearing in the matter of people's moral conduct because of the terrible deterioration in society in general, this does not mean that we can put up indefinitely with conduct which is disgracing the Cause. This person should have it brought to his attention that such acts are condemned by Baha'u'llah, and that he must mend his ways, if necessary consult doctors, and make efforts to overcome this affliction, which is corruptive for him and bad for the Cause. If after a period of probation you do not see an improvement, he should have his voting rights taken away. The Guardian does not think, however, that a Baha'i body should take it upon itself to denounce him to the Authorities unless his conduct borders on insanity.

The Guardian attaches the greatest importance, during this opening year of the Ten Year Campaign, to settling the virgin areas with pioneers. He has informed, or is informing, the other National a.s.semblies that there is no reason why believers from one country should not fill the goals in other countries. In other words, Canada should receive foreign pioneers for her goals, who would operate under her jurisdiction; likewise, Canadians could go forth and pioneer in other countries' goal territories if the way opened for them to do so. Naturally, they must feel their first responsibility should be toward the Canadian part of the Plan, as they are Canadians, but sometimes health, business openings or family connections might take people into other goal countries.

He realizes that the objectives in the far north are perhaps the hardest.

On the other hand, the harder the task, the more glorious the victory.

You may be sure that he is praying for your success, and, what is more, he is confident that this young, virile Canadian Community can and will succeed in carrying out its share of the World Spiritual Crusade, so vast and challenging, upon which we are now launched.

With warmest Baha'i love, R. RABBANI.

INITIAL STAGE OF GLORIOUS MISSION

Dear and Valued Co-workers:

The brilliant success achieved by the Canadian Baha'i Community, marking the triumphant conclusion of the Plan formulated on the morrow of the emergence of the community as an independent member of the International Baha'i Family, is to be regarded as a milestone of far-reaching importance in the evolution of the Faith not only in the Dominion of Canada but throughout the entire Western Hemisphere. The vitality displayed so strikingly by this youthful community, the exemplary fidelity demonstrated by its members to the spiritual as well as administrative principles of the Faith in the conduct of their manifold activities; the splendid cooperation with their national and local elected representatives which they have invariably shown, at every stage in the development of the Plan; the sacrifices they have repeatedly made; the vigilance and care which they have exercised while discharging their sacred and weighty responsibilities; the soundness of judgement, the enthusiasm and perseverance that have distinguished them in the pursuance of their tasks-all these have, in recent years, contributed, in no small measure, to the raising of the prestige of this community in the eyes of its sister communities in both the East and West, and in evoking feelings of profound admiration in the hearts of the followers of the Faith in every continent of the globe.

I myself am deeply touched, and feel a profound grat.i.tude for the superb contribution made by this community, still in the early years of its development, to the world-wide progress of the Faith achieved since the inception of the successive Plans undertaken by various National a.s.semblies for the systematic propagation of the Faith throughout the world.

The great strides which this virile and highly promising community has made in so short a period, over so vast a continent, despite such formidable obstacles, and in the service of so glorious a Cause, fill my heart with confidence that the tasks it has now a.s.sumed, on the morrow of the successful termination of the first collective enterprise undertaken in Canadian Baha'i history, will be consummated in a manner that will redound to the glory of the Faith to which its members are so wholly dedicated.

The Ten Year Plan which your a.s.sembly has now launched, in its capacity as the elected representatives of the Canadian Baha'i Community-the recognized allies of the chief executors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan-and which const.i.tutes so important a phase of the global Spiritual Crusade on which the followers of the Faith have embarked, marks the inauguration of the initial stage in the unfoldment of the glorious Mission of this community, a Mission which will enable it to implant, in collaboration with its sister community in the Great Republic of the West, and with the support of the Latin American Baha'i communities a.s.sociated in the execution of the Divine Plan, the standard of the Faith in all continents of the Globe.

TWO PARAMOUNT OBJECTIVES

Of all the objectives of this momentous Ten Year Plan, with which the immediate destinies of this firmly-grounded, fully consecrated, high-minded, spiritually quickened community are so closely linked, the purchase of the site of the Mother Temple of the Dominion of Canada and the settlement of pioneers in the thirteen virgin territories and islands, eleven of which are situated in North America and two in the South Pacific Ocean, may be regarded as the most important.

Prompt and effective measures must, no matter how great the sacrifice involved, be taken to ensure that, ere the termination of the first two years of the Plan, these two paramount objectives, which const.i.tute the opening phase of the Plan, will have been fully attained. The entire community must arise, as it has never risen before, to meet the challenge of the present hour. The time fixed for the achievement of the initial victories of the Plan is admittedly brief. The prizes to be won in distant fields, under the most trying circ.u.mstances, by the members of a community so youthful, so circ.u.mscribed in number and resources, are so precious that none of them can as yet even dimly imagine their transcendent glory.

On the homefront, as well as in the far-off islands of the Pacific Ocean, in both the teaching and administrative fields, the Canadian Baha'i Community must labour incessantly in antic.i.p.ation of the fulfilment of the inspiring prophecies made by the Centre of the Covenant Who, repeatedly and in unmistakable language, promised to this community a glorious future, and predicted both the material and spiritual advancement of the nation of which it forms a part.

FUTURE ROLE CONTINGENT ON ACHIEVEMENTS IN THIS PLAN

On the success of this initial stage in the unfoldment of its Mission in foreign fields-a stage which will witness the departure of the Canadian pioneers from their homeland, in the northern regions of the Western Hemisphere, to the South Sea Islands-must depend the degree to which they will be active in days to come in other continents of the globe and their neighbouring islands. As the chosen allies of the chief executors of the Master's Divine Plan, they shoulder a responsibility which is at once staggering, sacred and inescapable. The greater their exertions, the more abundant will be the outpouring of celestial grace vouchsafed to them by the Author of the Plan Himself, Who in His immortal Tablets has more than once a.s.sured of His unfailing aid all who arise to serve His Father's Cause.

Now is the hour to demonstrate to the entire Baha'i World those qualities which the heroes of G.o.d, unfurling in the Western Hemisphere the banners of a world Crusade destined to be carried over the entire surface of the globe, must possess in order to accomplish their exalted Mission. The Canadian Baha'i Community must stand in the vanguard of this conquering army of Baha'u'llah. They must prove themselves increasingly worthy of their high calling as this momentous Crusade steadily unfolds. They must put their entire trust in Him Who guides its destinies from His Station on high. They must dedicate themselves heart and soul to the fulfilment of all its objectives without delay, without any exception.

That they may acquit themselves of their task, as befits their high station in this great spiritual adventure, that they may enrich their heritage, and noise abroad the fame of the Cause of Baha'u'llah through a whole-hearted and valiant partic.i.p.ation in this world-girdling Spiritual Crusade, is the object of my constant prayer and one of my most cherished hopes.

SHOGHI.