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USBN #222 August 1949 p1
Dear Baha'i Friends:
Your letter of April 7, with the book you forwarded, was received, and the Guardian was very pleased to see all you have done this past year.
He regrets that much of the work so enthusiastically undertaken, and carefully built up by the various committees, must now be sacrificed for some time to come. But there is no choice, and the friends must, as the Master said, give up the important for the most important of all - which is certainly the Temple's completion and the far-flung teaching work being carried on. Indeed, such is the preoccupation of man-kind with purely material evidences of power that the solid accomplishment of a House of Worship at last ready to fulfill its function, and the constant addition of new countries and assemblies to the family of Baha'i communities, are more likely to attract the attention of the public than meetings or publicity .
Far from awakening from its slumber mankind seems to be plunging deeper into the nightmare of present-day society. We Baha'is see only too clearly where this is leading, but this must not paralyze u s , but rather stir us to new spiritual consciousness and force us to take a firmer grip on the Rope of our Faith, determined not to be pulled into the undertow and to do all we can to pull others out of it.
He urges you all to exert your utmost in helping the believers to mature spiritually., and to unitedly work to consolidate the community in the laws of the Faith and the administration of its institutions.
He will pray for all of you, and he deeply values your devoted services.
With Baha'i love,
- R. RABBANI
(In the Guardian' s own handwriting)
May the Almighty bless your high and meritorious endeavors, enable you in the days to come to extend the range of your activities to which I attach the utmost importance, and aid you to consolidate your past achievements, and win in this new and vast field now stretching before you notable victories for His Faith and its institutions.
Your true and grateful brother,
- SHOGHI
A letter of 7 June 1949 to the Public Relations Committee in response to their letter including - -
" Though it has been grievous to us to forego our advertising schedule and rearrange our work in other fields , the Committee recognizes that a completed Temple holding meetings of public worship will create the most effective form of Baha'i public relations that could be imagined; and that a strong Baha'i community in Latin America, Europe and the United States will be the final and unanswerable proof of the validity of the Faith.
" Therefore our hope is to contribute all we can to the development of an alert, well-informed and vigorous community demonstrating in spirit and in action the supernal truths whose symbol the House of Worship is to be throughout the Americas for ages to come."
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