The objectives of the Second Seven Year Plan, the concluding phase of
which has synchronized with this period of nation-wide austerity, have, it
must be recognized, been in the main, attained. The pillars which must
needs add their strength in supporting the future House of Justice have,
according to the schedule laid down, been successively erected in the
Dominion of Canada and in Latin America. The European Teaching
Campaign--the second outstanding enterprise launched, beyond the confines
of the North American continent, in pursuance of the Mandate, issued by
'Abdu'l-Baha to Baha'u'llah's valiant "Apostles"--has not only achieved its
original aims, but exceeded all expectations through the formation of a
local spiritual assembly in the capital city of each of the ten goal
countries included within its scope. The interior ornamentation of the
Mother Temple of the West has, before its appointed time, been completed.
Other tasks, no less vital, still remain to be carried, in the course of a
fast shrinking period, to a successful conclusion. The landscaping of the
area surrounding a structure whose foundations and exterior and interior
ornamentation have demanded, for so many years, so much effort and such
constant sacrifice, must, under no circumstances, and while there is yet
time, be neglected, lest failure to achieve this final task mar the beauty
of the approaches of a national shrine which provide so suitable a setting
for an edifice at once so sacred and noble. The responsibilities solemnly
undertaken to consolidate and multiply the administrative institutions
throughout all the states of the Union--a task that has of late been
allowed to fall into abeyance, and has been eclipsed by the spectacular
success attending the shining exploits of the American Baha'i Community in
foreign fields--must be speedily and seriously reconsidered, for upon the
constant broadening and the steady reinforcement of this internal
administrative structure, which provides the essential base for future
operations in all the continents of the globe, must depend the vigor, the
rapidity and the soundness of the future crusades which must needs be
launched in the service, and for the glory of the Faith of Baha'u'llah,
and in obedience to the stirring summons issued by the Center of His
Covenant in some of His most weighty Tablets. Above all, the accumulating
deficit which has lately again thrown its somber shadow on an otherwise
resplendent record of service, must, through a renewed display of
self-abnegation, which, though not commensurate with the sacrifice of so
many souls immolated on the altar of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, may at
least faintly reflect its poignant heroism, be obliterated, once and for
all, from the record of a splendid stewardship to His Faith.
There can be no doubt--and I am the first to proudly acknowledge it--that,
ever since the launching of the Second Seven Year Plan, and in consequence
of unexpected developments both in the Holy Land and elsewhere, the
American Baha'i Community, ever ready to bear the brunt of responsibility,
under the stress of unforeseen circumstances, has considerably widened the
scope of its original undertakings and augmented the weight shouldered by
its stalwart members. At the World Center of the Faith, in response to the
urgent call for action, necessitated by the imperative needs of the rising
Sepulcher of the Bab, the formation of the Baha'i International Council,
and the establishment of the State of Israel, as well as in the continent
of Africa, where the appointed, the chief trustees of a divinely
conceived, world-encompassing Plan could not well remain unmoved by the
sight of the first attempts being made to introduce systematically the
Faith of Baha'u'llah and to implant its banner amongst its tribes and
races, the American Baha'i Community have assumed responsibilities well
exceeding the original duties they had undertaken to discharge. This
twofold opportunity that providentially presented itself to them, to
contribute to the rise and consolidation of the World Center of their
Faith, and to the spiritual re-awakening of a long-neglected continent,
must, however, be exploited to the fullest extent, if the early completion
of the most sacred edifice, next to the Qiblih of the Baha'i world, is to
be assured, and if the executors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Plan are to retain
untarnished the primacy conferred upon them by its Author.
That primacy will be demonstrated and re-emphasized as the representatives
of this privileged community take their place, and assume their functions,
at each of the four Intercontinental Baha'i Teaching Conferences which are
to be convened in the course of, and which must signalize, the world-wide
celebrations of the Centenary of the Year Nine. Playing a preponderating
role, as the custodians of a Divine Plan, in the global crusade which all
the Baha'i national spiritual assemblies, without exception, must, in
various degrees and combinations, launch on the morrow of the forthcoming
Centenary, and during the entire course of the ten-year interval
separating them from the Most Great Jubilee, they must, upon the
consummation of their present Plan, deliberate, together with their ally
the Canadian National Assembly, and their associates, the newly formed
National Spiritual Assemblies of Central and South America, on the
occasion of the convocation of the approaching All-American Teaching
Conference, on ways and means whereby they can best contribute to the
establishment of the Faith, not only throughout the Americas and their
neighboring islands, but in the chief sovereign states and dependencies of
the remaining continents of the globe.