Barely a third of the twentieth century had elapsed when the Guardian
summoned the followers of Bahá’u’lláh to a far deeper understanding of the
Cause itself than anything they had yet appreciated. The Faith had reached
the point, he said, when it was “ceasing to designate itself a movement, a
fellowship and the like”, designations which, although perhaps appropriate
at a time when the message was first being introduced to the West, now
“did grave injustice to its ever-unfolding system”. Rejecting as adequate
even the term “religion” in its familiar sense, he pointed out that the
Faith was already:
...visibly succeeding in demonstrating its claim and title to be regarded
as a World Religion, destined to attain, in the fullness of time, the
status of a world-embracing Commonwealth, which would be at once the
instrument and the guardian of the Most Great Peace announced by its
Author.(154)
As the century advanced, the same creative Force that was awakening the
generality of humankind to its oneness was progressively releasing the
powers inherent in the Cause and opening a new role for it in human
affairs. Over the first two decades of the century, through the loving
care of the Master, the spiritual and administrative foundations necessary
to Bahá’u’lláh’s purpose were established. On the base thus made
available—during the thirty-six years of his own ministry, and the
subsequent six years during which his Ten Year Crusade guided the
community’s efforts—Shoghi Effendi devoted himself to refining the
administrative instruments needed to carry forward the Divine Plan. With
the successful establishment in 1963 of the Universal House of Justice,
the Bahá’ís of the world set out on the first stage of a mission of long
duration: the spiritual empowerment of the whole body of humankind as the
protagonists of their own advancement. By the time the century ended, this
immense effort had brought into existence a community representative of
the diversity of the entire human race, unified in its beliefs and
allegiance, and committed to building a global society that will reflect
on earth the spiritual and moral vision of its Founder.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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