"O Thou Whose tests are a healing medicine to such as are nigh unto Thee ..."

"O Thou Whose tests are a healing medicine to such as are nigh unto Thee, Whose sword is the ardent desire of all them that love Thee, Whose dart is the dearest wish of those hearts that yearn after Thee, Whose decree is the sole hope of them that have recognized Thy truth! I implore Thee, by Thy divine sweetness and by the splendors of the glory of Thy face, to send down upon us from Thy retreats on high that which will enable us to draw nigh unto Thee. Set, then, our feet firm, O my God, in Thy Cause, and enlighten our hearts with the effulgence of Thy knowledge, and illumine our breasts with the brightness of Thy names."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, CXXXIII, pp. 220-221


Dedicated to those lost at Newtown, CT and their families and friends



Stoman

"Question.—What is the condition of children who die before attaining the age of discretion or before the appointed time of birth? "

"O DWELLERS OF MY PARADISE! With the hands of loving-kindness I have planted in the holy garden of paradise the young tree of your love and friendship, and have watered it with the goodly showers of My tender grace; now that the hour of its fruiting is come, strive that it may be protected, and be not consumed with the flame of desire and passion."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, No. 34 Persian "

Question.—What is the condition of children who die before attaining the age of discretion or before the appointed time of birth?

Answer.—These infants are under the shadow of the favor of God; and as they have not committed any sin and are not soiled with the impurities of the world of nature, they are the centers of the manifestation of bounty, and the Eye of Compassion will be turned upon them."

 `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 240

 "Be not grieved at the death of that infant child, for it is placed in trust for thee before thy Lord in His great Kingdom. Verily God will bestow upon thee that whereby thy heart shall be rejoiced and thy breast shall be dilated. Verily thy Lord is compassionate and merciful!"

`Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, pp. 194-195


Dedicated to those lost at Newtown, CT and their families and friends

Cannon Beach © 2012 Chuck Egerton

" ... recite the verses of the All-Merciful in the most melodious of tones ..."

"They who recite the verses of the All-Merciful in the most melodious of tones will perceive in them that with which the sovereignty of earth and heaven can never be compared. From them they will inhale the divine fragrance of My worlds—worlds which today none can discern save those who have been endowed with vision through this sublime, this beauteous Revelation. Say: These verses draw hearts that are pure unto those spiritual worlds that can neither be expressed in words nor intimated by allusion. Blessed be those who hearken."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p.61

Takahika

“No change canst thou find in God’s mode of dealing”

"Hast thou not heard: “No change is there in God’s creation”? 1 Hast thou not read: “No change canst thou find in God’s mode of dealing”? 2 Hast thou not borne witness to the truth: “No difference wilt thou see in the creation of the God of Mercy”? 3 Yea, by My Lord! They that dwell within this Ocean, they that ride upon this Ark, witness no change in the creation of God and behold no differences upon His earth. And if God’s creation be not prone to change and alteration, how then could they who are the Manifestations of His own Being be subject to it? Immeasurably exalted is God above all that we may conceive of the Revealers of His Cause, and immensely glorified is He beyond all that they may mention in His regard!"

-Bahá'u'lláh, Gems of Divine Mysteries (Javáhiru’l-Asrár), p. 32 


Bontempi



1. Qur’án 30:30.   
2. Qur’án 48:23.   
3. Qur’án 67:3.

"Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch"

"The Great Being saith: O well-beloved ones!
The tabernacle of unity hath been raised;
regard ye not one another as strangers.
Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 218

 Ravi Shankar 
1920-2012

(his music)

Bahá'í House of Worship, New Delhi, India

.

"O Divine Providence! Though wicked, sinful, and intemperate, we still seek from Thee a ‘seat of truth,’ and long to behold the countenance of the Omnipotent King."

“My God, the Object of my adoration, the Goal of my desire, the All-Bountiful, the Most Compassionate! All life is of Thee, and all power lieth within the grasp of Thine omnipotence. Whosoever Thou exaltest is raised above the angels, and attaineth the station: ‘Verily, We uplifted him to a place on high!’; and whosoever Thou dost abase is made lower than dust, nay, less than nothing. O Divine Providence! Though wicked, sinful, and intemperate, we still seek from Thee a ‘seat of truth,’ and long to behold the countenance of the Omnipotent King. It is Thine to command, and all sovereignty belongeth to Thee, and the realm of might boweth before Thy behest. Everything Thou doest is pure justice, nay, the very essence of grace. One gleam from the splendors of Thy Name, the All-Merciful, sufficeth to banish and blot out every trace of sinfulness from the world, and a single breath from the breezes of the Day of Thy Revelation is enough to adorn all mankind with a fresh attire. Vouchsafe Thy strength, O Almighty One, unto Thy weak creatures, and quicken them who are as dead, that haply they may find Thee, and may be led unto the ocean of Thy guidance, and may remain steadfast in Thy Cause. Should the fragrance of Thy praise be shed abroad by any of the divers tongues of the world, out of the East or out of the West, it would, verily, be prized and greatly cherished. If such tongues, however, be deprived of that fragrance, they assuredly would be unworthy of any mention, in word or yet in thought. We beg of Thee, O Providence, to show Thy way unto all men, and to guide them aright. Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the Most Powerful, the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing.”

- Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 9-10

Rich

" ... grant that I may be graciously aided to serve Thy Cause ..."

"Magnified be Thy Name, O Lord my God! I am the one who hath turned his face towards Thee and hath placed his whole reliance in Thee. I implore Thee by Thy Name whereby the ocean of Thine utterance hath surged and the breezes of Thy knowledge have stirred, to grant that I may be graciously aided to serve Thy Cause and be inspired to remember Thee and praise Thee. Send down then upon me from the heaven of Thy generosity that which will preserve me from anyone but Thee and will profit me in all Thy worlds.

Verily, Thou art the Powerful, the Inaccessible, the Supreme, the Knowing, the Wise."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, pp. 268-269