hat the sweet savors of holiness may be wafted, that men's faces may be
illumined, that their hearts may be filled with the Divine Spirit and
their souls become heavenly."

No matter how long the period that separates them from ultimate victory;
however arduous the task; however formidable the exertions demanded of
them; however dark the days which mankind, perplexed and sorely-tried,
must, in its hour of travail, traverse; however severe the tests with
which they who are to redeem its fortunes will be confronted; however
afflictive the darts which their present enemies, as well as those whom
Providence, will, through His mysterious dispensations raise up from
within or from without, may rain upon them, however grievous the ordeal of
temporary separation from the heart and nerve-center of their Faith which
future unforeseeable disturbances may impose upon them, I adjure them, by
the precious blood that flowed in such great profusion, by the lives of
the unnumbered saints and heroes who were immolated, by the supreme, the
glorious sacrifice of the Prophet-Herald of our Faith, by the tribulations
which its Founder, Himself, willingly underwent, so that His Cause might
live, His Order might redeem a shattered world and its glory might suffuse
the entire planet--I adjure them, as this solemn hour draws nigh, to
resolve never to flinch, never to hesitate, never to relax, until each and
every objective in the Plans to be proclaimed, at a later date, has been
fully consummated.

Your true brother
--Shoghi

[June 30, 1952]

FULFILMENT OF NATIONAL TEACHING PLANS

Recall with feelings of profound emotion, as mid-August approaches, the
distressing circumstances attending the dastardly act which, one hundred
years ago, precipitated the chain of calamitous events, unparalleled in
scope and severity in the annals of the Faith of Baha'u'llah and
constituting, next to the martyrdom of its Herald, the darkest, bloodiest
and most tragic episode of the Heroic Age of the Baha'i Dispensation.
Invite members of all communities of the Baha'i World, standing at the
threshold of the Holy Year to call to mind the manifold tribulations
afflicting God's infant Faith immediately preceding, accompanying and
following the imprisonment of the Author of the Baha'i Revelation in the
Siyah-_Ch_al in Tihran, the somber scene of the birth of His glorious
mission. Urge them to remember the multitude of barbarous acts in which
king, governmen