all and will continue to be deeply felt for many, many long
years. Her presence among us was such a source of blessings and
inspiration! She was to every one of us not only a friend but a real
mother, through whose maternal care and love we had learned to feel and
experience that consuming love which is born of God and which alone can
galvanize the souls of men.

Her departure from our midst, though cruel and heart-rending in its
immediate results cannot but ultimately serve the very best interests of
the Cause. For this invincible Faith of God has, ever since its inception
in darkest Persia, grown and flourished amidst all sorts of tribulations
and sufferings and has welcomed all these as providential forces destined
to ensure its unity, promote its interests and consolidate its work.

Let us, therefore, not remain disconsolate and hopeless and withstand in a
heroic way the shock occasioned by the passing of our beloved _Kh_anum.
Her ascension is a challenge to us all, a challenge to our faith, to our
sincerity and to our love.

May her memory continue to strengthen and deepen our spiritual insight and
enable us to render the Faith as many services as we can.

4: His grief is too immense and his loss too ...

(78) His grief is too immense and his loss too heavy to be adequately
expressed in words. But the many letters of condolence he has already
received, and especially your message that indicated your profound
attachment to our departed _Kh_anum, greatly comforted his sorrow-stricken
heart and gave him the assurance that in this calamitous event the friends
are amply sharing his grief.

However irreparable and heart-rending our loss may be, we cannot but thank
God for having released our beloved Holy Leaf from the oppression and
bondage of this world. For more than eighty years this Exalted Leaf bore
with a fortitude that bewildered every one who had the privilege of
knowing her, sufferings and tribulations that few of our present-day
believers did experience. And yet, what a joy and what a saintlike
attitude she manifested all through her life. Her angelic face was so
calm, so serene in the very midst of sufferings and pains. Not that she
lacked tenderness of heart and sympathy. But she could overcome her
feelings and this because she had put all her trust in God.

And now that she has gone for ever we should rejoice at the thought that
she is still living in our hearts and is animating our soul with