gthen their loins in Thy firm Testament, by Thy bounty and promised
grace, O Gracious and Merciful One! Thou art, verily, the Gracious, the
All-Bountiful.

--'Abdu'l-Baha

"O Thou Provider! Thou hast breathed over..."

O Thou Provider! Thou hast breathed over the friends in the West the sweet
fragrance of the Holy Spirit, and with the light of divine guidance Thou
hast lit up the western sky. Thou hast made those who were once remote to
draw near unto Thyself; Thou hast turned strangers into loving friends;
Thou hast awakened those who slept; Thou hast made the heedless mindful.

O Thou Provider! Assist Thou these noble friends to win Thy good pleasure,
and make them well wishers of stranger and friend alike. Bring them into
the world that abideth forever; grant them a portion of heavenly grace;
cause them to be true Baha'is, sincerely of God; save them from outward
semblances, and establish them firmly in the truth. Make them signs and
tokens of the Kingdom, luminous stars above the horizons of this nether
life. Make them to be a comfort and a solace to humankind and servants to
the peace of the world. Exhilarate them with the wine of Thy counsel, and
grant that all of them may tread the path of Thy commandments.

O Thou Provider! The dearest wish of this servant of Thy Threshold is to
behold the friends of East and West in close embrace; to see all the
members of human society gathered with love in a single great assemblage,
even as individual drops of water collected in one mighty sea; to behold
them all as birds in one garden of roses, as pearls of one ocean, as
leaves of one tree, as rays of one sun.

Thou art the Mighty, the Powerful, and Thou art the God of strength, the
Omnipotent, the All-Seeing.

--'Abdu'l-Baha

STEADFASTNESS

"Glorified be Thy name, O Lord my God! I beseech..."

Glorified be Thy name, O Lord my God! I beseech Thee by Thy power that
hath encompassed all created things, and by Thy Sovereignty that hath
transcended the entire creation, and by Thy Word which was hidden in Thy
wisdom and whereby Thou didst create Thy heaven and Thy earth, both to
enable us to be steadfast in our love for Thee and in our obedience to Thy
pleasure, and to fix our gaze upon Thy face, and celebrate Thy glory.
Empower us, then, O my God, to spread abroad Thy signs among Thy
creatures, and to guard Thy Faith in Thy realm. Thou hast ever existed
independently of the mention of any of Thy crea