Dearly loved friends,
To each and every one of you in this historic Conference we
send our most cordial and loving greetings. The famous island in which you are
now gathered, so strategically placed between the two great continents flanking
the vast oceanic area which surrounds it, to which the Teachings of Christ were
brought a millennium ago, and which, in this Dispensation, was mentioned by the
Centre of the Covenant in His Tablets of the Divine Plan, first heard the Name
of Bahá'u'lláh in 1924 when the Hand of the Cause Amelia Collins stopped
briefly in Reykjavik and made the acquaintance of Holmfridur Arnadottir who
subsequently became the first Bahá'í of Iceland. Eleven years later the beloved
Martha Root spent a month in this land which she loved so well. On that
occasion, with the help of Holmfridur, the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh was widely
proclaimed in the press, on the radio and from the lecture platform.
The great Ocean extending from the equator to the Pole and
from Europe to North America, which has been both the barrier and the link
between the Old and the New Worlds, has played a highly significant part in the
later history of mankind. Long before Columbus arrived in the West Indies the
Vikings, forebears of Icelanders of today, were plying its northern waters. In
later centuries wave upon wave of Europeans sailed from east to west, engaging
in one of the most significant migrations in human history. In the twentieth
century 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself sailed across it and back, a voyage unique in the
religious history of mankind and creating a remarkable parallel with the Light
of the Cause itself, beaming from the East across the great Ocean to the heart
of the North American Continent, being reflected back again, firing new beacon
lights in Europe and in later years diffusing its radiance throughout the
world. The great Republic whose eastern shore forms part of the boundary of
this Ocean has become the Cradle of the Administrative Order and at this
present time the banner of the Most Great Name is being raised in island after
island of this Ocean, two of which -- Iceland and Ireland -- will raise, next
Ridvan, new pillars of the Universal House of Justice.
The Faith of God is flourishing in the lands around the North Atlantic; a new wind is blowing, promoting an upsurge of proclamation and teaching. In Europe the youth are afire with enthusiasm and vigour. In Canada and the United States a ground swell of unknown proportions is carrying Bahá'í communities to heights of unprecedented achievement.
You are gathered in this Conference to consult on ways and
means of winning, in the few fleeting months ahead, the remaining goals of the
Nine Year Plan. In Europe particularly there is much to be done, but we have
full faith that the friends, galvanized by their love for Bahá'u'lláh and
fortified by His promises of Divine assistance, will, with, the enthusiasm
which they already display, commit their resources to the tasks ahead and will
surely attain the victory.
The beloved Master prayed that holy souls would arise from
the Northern Territories of the West and become signs of God's guidance and
standards of the Supreme Concourse. In one of the Tablets of the Divine Plan He
refers to an inhospitable island of that area saying:
Should the fire of the love of God be kindled in Greenland,
all the ice of that country will be melted, and its cold weather become
temperate -- that is, if the hearts be touched with the heat of the love of
God, that territory will become a divine rose garden and a heavenly paradise,
and the souls, even as fruitful trees, will acquire the utmost freshness and beauty.
Effort, the utmost effort is required. ...
As the friends gathered in Reykjavik and Sapporo bring
this world-wide series of Oceanic and Continental Conferences to a triumphant
close our thoughts are with you and our prayers on your behalf rise from the
Sacred Threshold. May untold blessings and confirmations be showered upon you
as you go forth to labour for the advancement of the Cause of God and may your
brows be crowned with victory.
The Universal House of Justice
(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986)
