19 August 1982: To the friends gathered at the Baha'i International Conference at Lagos

Dearly loved friends,

With hearts overflowing with love for the people of Africa, so richly endowed with the gifts of the spirit, so abundantly and repeatedly blessed since the dawn of this Revelation, and so gloriously promising in the unfoldment of their hidden potentialities, we welcome the friends gathered at this Conference held in one of the most important capitals of their emergent continent.

As we review the annals of our Faith we see that since the days of the Blessed Beauty and up to the early 1950s, the activities of the friends in Africa had produced the formation of one National Spiritual Assembly with its seat in Cairo, Egypt, the opening of 12 countries to the light of the Faith, and some 50 localities established throughout its vast lands.  It was at such a time that the beloved Guardian ushered in the first African Teaching Plan, to be followed during the remaining years of his ministry and in subsequent years after his passing, by a series of challenging and bravely executed plans designed to implant the banner of the Faith throughout the length and breadth of that continent and its neighbouring islands.  Today, after the lapse of a little over three decades, we stand in awe as we view with admiration one of the most valiant contingents of the Army of Light, guided by its own Board of Counsellors, led and administered by 37 National Spiritual Assemblies and 4990 Local Spiritual Assemblies, privileged to serve an eager and radiant community of believers drawn from 1152 African tribes residing in 29,000 localities.

6 August 1982: To the followers of Baha'u'llah gathered at the International Conference in Quito, Ecuador

Beloved friends,

We hail with joyous hearts and eager anticipation the soldiers of Baha'u'llah's army of light gathered together in Quito, the capital city of the Republic of Ecuador, to do honour and homage to the blessed memory of Bahiyyih Khanum, the Greatest Holy Leaf, the most outstanding heroine of the Baha'i Dispensation, the fiftieth anniversary of whose ascension was so recently commemorated throughout the world.

Conscious of the beloved Master's plea to promulgate the oneness of mankind to a spiritually impoverished humanity, inspired by the memory of the Hand of the Cause Dr. Rahmatu'llah Muhajir whose mortal remains are interred in the soil of Quito, and deriving spiritual stimulus from the Mother Temple for Latin America, the friends are reminded of the galvanizing words of our beloved Guardian addressed to "the eager, the warm-hearted, the spiritually minded and staunch members of these Latin American Baha'i communities": "Let them ponder the honour which the Author of the Revelation Himself has chosen to confer upon their countries, the obligations which that honour automatically brings in its wake, the opportunities it offers, the power it releases for the removal of all obstacles, however formidable, which may be encountered in their path, and the promise of guidance it implies ..."

Praiseworthy indeed are the achievements thus far made by the communities of South and Central America and the islands of the Caribbean in the first half of the Seven Year Plan. Full advantage should be taken of the current high tide of proclamation engendered by the crisis in Iran to attract to the Cause of Baha'u'llah earnest and seeking souls from every stratum of society, thereby enriching the spiritual and material diversity of our communities. Great effort should be made to utilize more fully the valuable possibilities of radio and television as a means of reaching the vast multitudes whose hearts and minds offer fertile soil for the planting of the seeds of the Faith. All elements of the Baha'i community, particularly the women and youth, should arise as one soul to shoulder the responsibilities laid upon them. All outstanding goals of the Seven Year Plan should be pursued with enthusiasm and assurance of their accomplishment.

2 June 1982: To the friends gathered at the International Conference in Dublin

Dearly loved friends,

"The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. ...  Such shall be its plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly." The shattering blows dealt to the old, divisive system of the planet and the constantly accelerating decline in civilized life since that dire warning was uttered by Baha'u'llah a hundred years ago, have brought mankind to its present appalling condition. Consideration of how the Baha'is of Europe, confronted by this situation, can meet their responsibilities, spiritually and actively, is the main purpose of this Conference.

The holding of this Conference in Dublin calls to mind the historic and heroic services of Ireland in spreading the divine religion throughout pagan Europe.  Europe's response was to develop, through many vicissitudes, the most widespread and effective civilization known. That civilization, together with all other systems in the world, is now being rolled up, and Europe's plight in proportion to her former pre-eminence, is desperate indeed. By the same token her opportunity is correspondingly great. The challenges to her resilience, to her deep-seated spiritual vitality, nourished over the centuries by the Teachings of Christ -- now, alas, neglected and even contemned -- can and must call forth a more magnificent response than was ever made by the divided and contending peoples of olden times. Yours is the task to arouse that response. The power of Baha'u'llah is with you and this Day, as attested by the Bab, is "immensely exalted ... above the days of the Apostles of old."

Ridvan 1982: To the Baha'is of the world

Dearly loved friends,

Triumphs of inestimable portent for the unfoldment of the Cause of God, many of them resulting directly from the steadfast heroism of the beloved Persians in face of the savage persecutions meted out to them, have characterized the year just ending.  The effect of these developments is to offer such golden opportunities for teaching and further proclamation as can only lead, if vigorously and enthusiastically seized, to large-scale conversion and an increasing prestige.

Heart-warming progress in the construction of the Indian and Western Samoan Mashriqu'l-Adhkars, the opening of the second Baha'i radio station of Latin America in Peru, the establishment of the European office of the Baha'i International Community in Geneva, steady advances in the second phase of the Seven Year Plan, encouraging expansion of the systematized Baha'i education of children, sacrifice and generous outpouring of funds from a growing number of friends, all testify to the abundant confirmations with which Baha'u'llah rewards the dedicated efforts of His loved ones throughout the world.  The world-wide attention accorded the Faith in the media, which has opened wide the doors of mass proclamation of the divine Message, and the sympathetic discussion of it in the highest councils of mankind with the resulting actions taken by sovereign governments and international authorities, are unprecedented in Baha'i history.