The forthcoming convocation of no less than five intercontinental
conferences, marking the passing of half of the time allotted for the
prosecution of a World Crusade, and to be held, in five continents of the
globe, for the purpose of paying homage to the Author of the Baha'i
Revelation for His protection, guidance and blessings, of focusing
attention on the achievements of the immediate past and the pressing
requirements of the immediate future, will, it is my ardent hope and
prayer, provide a fresh stimulus for the adequate discharge of these two
afore-mentioned responsibilities, which constitute the distinguishing
features of the fourth phase of a rapidly unfolding Plan.
At four of these five conferences, in the proceedings of which four, the
members of the American Baha'i Community--the principal executors of
'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan and the keepers and defenders of the stronghold
of the Baha'i Administrative Order--will participate, through their
official representatives, the voice of the champion-builders of
Baha'u'llah's embryonic World Order, who can well claim to have had a
decisive share in the great strides made by this Crusade, should be raised
in a spirit and manner that will galvanize these conferences into action,
and produce such results as will reverberate round the world.
A golden opportunity, a glorious challenge, an inescapable duty, a
staggering responsibility, confront them, at this fresh turning point in
the fortunes of a Crusade, for which they have so unremittingly labored,
whose Cause they have so notably advanced, in the further unfoldment of
which they must continue to play a leading part, and in whose closing
stages, they will, I feel confident, rise to heights never before attained
in the course of six decades of American Baha'i history.
Once again--and this time more fervently than ever before--I direct my plea
to every single member of this strenuously laboring, clear-visioned,
stout-hearted, spiritually endowed community, every man and woman, on
whose individual efforts, resolution, self-sacrifice and perseverance the
immediate destinies of the Faith of God, now traversing so crucial a stage
in its rise and establishment, primarily depends, not to allow, through
apathy, timidity or complacency, this one remaining opportunity to be
irretrievably lost. I would rather entreat each and every one of them to
immortalize this approaching, fateful hour in the evolution of a World
Spiritual Crusade, by a fresh consecration to their God-given mission,
coupled with an instantaneous plan of action, at once so dynamic and
decisive, as to wipe out, on the one hand, with one stroke, the
deficiencies which have, to no small extent, bogged down the operations of
the Crusade on the home front, and tremendously accelerate, on the other,
the progress of the triple task, launched, in three continents, and
constituting one of its preeminent objectives.