The vigorous action promptly taken by your assembly to insure the
success of the forthcoming Centenary Celebrations is highly commendable,
and provides a fresh demonstration of the magnificent response made by the
American believers to every call demanding renewed exertion on their part
in the service of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh. The progress recently achieved in
building up Spiritual Assemblies in the virgin areas of the North American
continent has been truly remarkable. To consummate so vast an enterprise,
however, a still more compelling display of the vitality of the spirit
animating the American Bahá'í community is required, a still greater
concentration of effort is needed, an even more stirring evidence of the daring
boldness of its members is imperative. Whoever will arise, in these
concluding, fast-fleeting months of the last year of the first Bahá'í Century,
to fill the remaining posts, and thereby set the seal of total victory on a
Plan so pregnant with promise, will earn the lasting gratitude of the present
generation of believers in both the East and the West, will merit the acclaim
of posterity, will be vouchsafed the special benediction of the Concourse on
High, and be made the recipient of the imperishable bounties of Him Who is the
Divine Author of the Plan itself. Whoever will rush forth, at this eleventh
hour, and cast his weight into the scales, and contribute his decisive share
to so gigantic, so sacred and historic an undertaking, will have not only
helped seal the triumph of the Plan itself but will also have notably
participated in the fulfillment of what may be regarded as the crowning act of
an entire century. The opportunity that presents itself at this crucial hour
is precious beyond expression. The blessings destined to flow from a victory
so near at hand are rich beyond example. One final surge of that indomitable
spirit that has carried the American Bahá'í community to such heights is all
that is required, as the first Bahá'í century speeds to a close, to release
the flow of those blessings that must signalize the termination of the first,
and usher in the dawn of the second, Bahá'í Century.
November 16, 1943