ssing, the dramatic circumstances marking
simultaneously the termination of the Heroic Age, and the commencement of
the Formative Period, of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.

I acclaim with thankfulness, joy and pride the American Baha'i community's
manifold, incomparable services rendered the Faith at home and across the
seas in the course of this quarter century.

I hail with particular satisfaction the consummation of the twin major
tasks spontaneously undertaken and brilliantly discharged by the same
community in both the administrative and missionary fields, constituting
the greatest contribution ever made to the progress of the Faith by any
corporate body at any time, in any continent, since the inception of the
administrative order.

Nursed during its infancy by 'Abdu'l-Baha's special care and unfailing
solicitude; invested at a later stage with spiritual primacy through the
symbolic acts associated with His historic visit to the North American
continent; summoned subsequently to the challenge through the revelation
of the epoch-making Tablets of the Divine Plan; launched on its career
according to the directives of and through the propelling force generated
by these same Tablets; utilizing with skill, resourcefulness and tenacity,
for the purpose of executing its mission, the manifold agencies evolving
within the administrative order, in the erection of whose fabric it has
assumed so preponderating a share; emerging triumphantly from the arduous
twofold campaign undertaken simultaneously in the homeland and in Latin
America; this community now finds itself launched in both hemispheres on a
second, incomparably more glorious stage, of the systematic crusade
designed to culminate, in the course of successive epochs, in the
spiritual conquest of the entire planet.

The task of this stern hour is challenging, its scale of operation
continually widening, the races and nations to be contacted highly
diversified, the forces of resistance more firmly entrenched, yet the
prizes destined for the valiant conquerors are inestimably precious and
the sustaining Grace of the Lord of Hosts promised to the executors of His
mandate is indescribably potent.

The present European project heralding the spiritual regeneration of the
entire continent is the pivot on which hinges the success of the second
Seven Year Plan. I appeal to the National representatives of the
community, in conjunction with the European Teaching Committee, to foc