I am greatly pleased to see you. Your hearts are illumined by the lights
of Baha. This meeting is in reality a divine, celestial assembly under the
favor of God, for we have no other purpose than praising and meeting God.
The prayer you have just offered is a prayer of thankfulness.
Thankfulness is of various kinds. There is a verbal thanksgiving which is
confined to a mere utterance of gratitude. This is of no importance
because perchance the tongue may give thanks while the heart is unaware of
it. Many who offer thanks to God are of this type, their spirits and
hearts unconscious of thanksgiving. This is mere usage, just as when we
meet, receive a gift and say thank you, speaking the words without
significance. One may say thank you a thousand times while the heart
remains thankless, ungrateful. Therefore, mere verbal thanksgiving is
without effect. But real thankfulness is a cordial giving of thanks from
the heart. When man in response to the favors of God manifests
susceptibilities of conscience, the heart is happy, the spirit is
exhilarated. These spiritual susceptibilities are ideal thanksgiving.
There is a cordial thanksgiving, too, which expresses itself in the deeds
and actions of man when his heart is filled with gratitude. For example,
God has conferred upon man the gift of guidance, and in thankfulness for
this great gift certain deeds must emanate from him. To express his
gratitude for the favors of God man must show forth praiseworthy actions.
In response to these bestowals he must render good deeds, be
self-sacrificing, loving the servants of God, forfeiting even life for
them, showing kindness to all the creatures. He must be severed from the
world, attracted to the Kingdom of Abha, the face radiant, the tongue
eloquent, the ear attentive, striving day and night to attain the good
pleasure of God. Whatsoever he wishes to do must be in harmony with the
good pleasure of God. He must observe and see what is the will of God and
act accordingly. There can be no doubt that such commendable deeds are
thankfulness for the favors of God.
Consider how grateful anyone becomes when healed from sickness, when
treated kindly by another or when a service is rendered by another, even
though it may be of the least consequence. If we forget such favors, it is
an evidence of ingratitude. Then it will be said a loving-kindness has
been done, but we are thankless, not appreciating this love and favor.
Physically and spiritually we are submerged in the sea of God's favor. He
has provided our foods, drink and other requirements; His favors encompass
us from all directions. The sustenances provided for man are blessings.
Sight, hearing and all his faculties are wonderful gifts. These blessings
are innumerable; no matter how many are mentioned, they are still endless.
Spiritual blessings are likewise endless--spirit, consciousness, thought,
memory, perception, ideation and other endowments. By these He has guided
us, and we enter His Kingdom. He has opened the doors of all good before
our faces. He has vouchsafed eternal glory. He has summoned us to the
Kingdom of heaven. He has enriched us by the bestowals of God. Every day
he has proclaimed new glad tidings. Every hour fresh bounties descend.
Consider how all the people are asleep, and ye are awake. They are dead,
and ye are alive through the breaths of the Holy Spirit. They are blind
while ye are endowed with perceptive sight. They are deprived of the love
of God, but in your hearts it exists and is glowing. Consider these
bestowals and favors.
Therefore, in thanksgiving for them ye must act in accordance with the
teachings of Baha'u'llah. Ye must read the Tablets--the Hidden Words,
I_sh_raqat, Glad Tidings--all the holy utterances, and act according to
them. This is real thanksgiving, to live in accord with these utterances.
This is true thankfulness and the divine bestowal. This is thanksgiving
and glorification of God.
I hope you all may attain thereto, be mindful of these favors of God and
be attentive. It is my hope that I may go away from New York with a happy
heart, and my heart is happy when the friends of God love each other, when
they manifest the mercy of God to all people. If I see this, I shall go
away happy.
Salutations!