ined
attention of the National representatives of the American Baha'i
community, the speedy assistance of the National Teaching and
Inter-America Committees, and the systematic support of all subsidiary
agencies both regional and local. The goal cities and the far-off
Republics are calling for fresh recruits to complete the pioneer roll of
honor. Veteran believers, however brilliant their record, neophytes,
however limited their experience, are alike summoned as the final hour
approaches to rush forth in a last supreme effort to bridge the remaining
gaps in the spiritual front extending the entire length of the Western
Hemisphere. I am ardently supplicating fresh outpourings of the sustaining
grace of the Lord of Hosts to enable His stalwart warriors befittingly to
consummate the crowning crusade of the first century of the Baha'i Era.

August 2, 1943

PREPARATIONS FOR THE CENTENARY

The latest evidences of the magnificent success that has marked the
activities of the members of the American Baha'i community have been such
as to excite the brightest hopes for the victorious consummation of the
collective undertaking they have so courageously launched and have so
vigorously prosecuted in recent years. As the first Baha'i Century
approaches its end, the magnitude and quality of their achievements
acquire added significance and shed increasing luster on its annals. The
proceedings of the recently held annual Convention; the formation of
twenty-eight Assemblies in the course of the year that has just elapsed;
the splendid progress achieved in the Latin-American field of Baha'i
activity; the superb spirit evinced by the pioneers holding their lonely
posts in widely scattered areas throughout the Americas; the exemplary
attitude shown by the entire body of the faithful towards the machinations
of those who have so sedulously striven to disrupt the Faith and pervert
its purpose--these have, to a marked degree, intensified the admiration of
the Baha'i communities for those who are contributing so outstanding a
share to the enlargement of the limits, and the enhancement of the
prestige, of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. The preparations which the American
believers are undertaking for the celebration of the Centenary of the
Faith must be such as to crown with immortal glory the fifty-year long
record of their stewardship in the service of that Faith. Such a
celebration must, in its scope and magnificence, fully compensate