Dearly loved friends,
On 28 November 1971 the
Bahá'í World will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Passing of
'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Centre of the Covenant, the Ensign of the Oneness of Mankind,
the Mystery of God, an event which signalized at once the end of the Heroic Age
of our Faith, the opening of the Formative Age and the birth of the
Administrative Order, the nucleus and pattern of the World Order of
Bahá'u'lláh. As we contemplate the fruits of the Master's Ministry harvested
during the first fifty years of the Formative Age, a period dominated by the
dynamic and beloved figure of Shoghi Effendi, whose life was dedicated to the
systematic implementation of the provisions of the Will and Testament of
'Abdu'l-Bahá and of the Tablets of the Divine Plan -- the two charters provided
by the Master for the administration and the teaching of the Cause of God - we
may well experience a sense of awe at the prospect of the next fifty years.
That first half-century of the Formative Age has seen the Bahá'í Community grow
from a few hundred centres in 35 countries in 1921, to over 46,000 centres in
135 independent states and 182 significant territories and islands at the
present day, has been marked by the raising throughout the world of the
framework of the Administrative Order, which in its turn has brought
recognition of the Faith by many governments and civil authorities and
accreditation in consultative status to the Economic and Social Council of the
United Nations, and has witnessed the spread to many parts of the world of that
"entry by troops" promised by the Master and so long and so eagerly anticipated
by the friends.
A new horizon, bright
with intimations of thrilling developments in the unfolding life of the Cause
of God, is now discernible. The approach to it is complete victory in the Nine
Year Plan. For we should never forget that the beloved Guardian's Ten Year
Crusade, the current Nine Year Plan, other plans to follow throughout successive
epochs of the Formative Age of the Faith, are all phases in the implementation
of the Divine Plan of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, set out in fourteen of His Tablets to North
America.
