Friday, May 7, 2021

"The dawn of the Abhá Kingdom hath broken, and the stars of the celestial Concourse glow with light."

 
God is the All-Glorious.


O ye true friends and loved ones of God! The Candle shineth resplendent, and the century of the Abhá Beauty is even as a flowering rose-garden. The dawn of the Abhá Kingdom hath broken, and the stars of the celestial Concourse glow with light. Gentle breezes blow from the meads of the Lord, and sweet savours waft from the gardens of holiness. Heavenly strains from the Kingdom of glory are raised on every side, and the summons of the Company on high reacheth the ears of every lowly one. The Day-Star of divine bounty hath risen in all its splendour, and the Orb of God’s grace sheddeth its radiance upon all regions. The manifold bounties of the Most Great Name—may my life be offered up for His loved ones—are all-embracing, and the banquet table of the Lord is spread throughout the earth. These blessings indeed compass you on every side.


Behold, then, what a diadem of bounty adorneth your heads and what a kingly mantle attireth your beings. Consider what eyes of bounty watch over you and what glances of mercy are cast upon you. Wherefore, be not saddened by the cruelty of the peoples of the world or grieved by relentless trials. For all these befall you in the path of the Ancient Beauty; all these ye suffer for the sake of the Most Great Name. These tribulations are bountiful gifts, and these afflictions naught but manifold bestowals. This captivity is kingship, and this prison a lofty palace. This blame and condemnation is praise and commendation, and this chain a necklace of world-embracing sovereignty. These stocks and fetters are the adornment of the feet of every fortunate one, these bonds and shackles are the highest hope of the people of glory, and these blades and swords the ultimate desire of the lovers of the resplendent Beauty. ..."


(Light of the World: Selected Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, #3 excerpt
)

www.bahai.org/r/089032557

Thursday, May 6, 2021

"O thou seeker after truth! Behold the power and greatness of Bahá’u’lláh!"

 


"He is God.


O thou seeker after truth! Behold the power and greatness of Bahá’u’lláh! Within a short span of time, He hath stirred up the East and the West, and raised aloft, in the midmost heart of the world, the banner of love and harmony, of unity and peace, of fellowship and conciliation, of truthfulness and rectitude. He hath freed from enmity and strife a great multitude of souls belonging to divers and opposing nations, to disparate and contending religions, and hath brought them under the sheltering canopy of fellowship, love, and unity.


2 What power this is, and what strength! What greater proof couldst thou desire? He hath brought East and West into close embrace. Singly and alone, He hath withstood the world and uplifted His mighty Cause in the Most Great Prison. Though subjected to utter abasement, He hath crowned His loved ones with the diadem of everlasting glory. Were one to gaze with the eye of justice, this would be sufficient proof.


Thou hast written concerning the cost of postage. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá hath offered up his life for thee, how much more his earthly possessions! Upon thee be greetings and praise."


(Light of the World: Selected Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, #2)
www.bahai.org/r/851179112

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

"O friends! How blessed, how favoured, how fortunate are ye to have been born in such a cycle and dispensation and to live in such an age ..."

 

1. "He is the All-Glorious.


O friends! How blessed, how favoured, how fortunate are ye to have been born in such a cycle and dispensation and to live in such an age and century, to have come upon such a wellspring and bowed down before such a threshold, to have taken shelter beneath the shade of such a tree and partaken of such a fruit.
 The cycle is the Cycle of the Ancient Beauty, and the century that of the Greatest Name. The wellspring is the stream of the Law of God, and the threshold that of the Abhá Beauty. The tree is the Tree of Life, and the fruit that of the Divine Lote-Tree. Blessed are they that attain thereunto! Fortunate are they that enter therein! Gladdened are they that draw nigh unto it! And happy are they that abide under its shade! All praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds. Convey my warmest Abhá greetings to all the friends…."


- Light of the World: Selected Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá




Tuesday, May 4, 2021

"And this, O my God, is from naught but Thy hidden bounties."

 
"Pure and sanctified art Thou, O my God! How can the pen move and the ink flow after the breezes of loving-kindness have ceased, and the signs of bounty have vanished, when the sun of abasement hath risen, and the swords of calamity are drawn, when the heavens of sorrow have been upraised, and the darts of affliction and the lances of vengeance have rained from the clouds of power — in such wise that the signs of joy have departed from all hearts, and the tokens of gladness have been erased from every horizon, the gates of hope have been shut, the mercy of the supernal breeze hath ceased to waft over the rose-garden of faithfulness, and the whirlwind of extinction hath struck the tree of existence. The pen is groaning, and the ink bewaileth its plight, and the tablet is awestruck at this cry. The mind is in turmoil from the taste of this pain and sorrow, and the divine Nightingale calleth: “Alas! Alas! for all that hath been made to appear.” And this, O my God, is from naught but Thy hidden bounties."


—Bahá’u’lláh


(Additional Prayers Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh)
www.bahai.org/r/473007638

Monday, May 3, 2021

"O God, I call on Thee with a tongue that hath spoken no word of disobedience against Thee ..."

 
"O Thou Who holdest within Thy grasp the Kingdom of names and the Empire of all things, Thou seest how I have become a stranger from my land on account of my love for Thee. I beg of Thee, by the beauty of Thy countenance, to make my remoteness from home a means whereby Thy servants may be drawn nigh unto the Fountain-head of Thy Cause and the Dayspring of Thy Revelation. O God, I call on Thee with a tongue that hath spoken no word of disobedience against Thee, imploring Thee, by Thy sovereignty and might, to keep me safe in the shelter of Thy mercy and to grant me strength to serve Thee and to serve my father and mother. Thou, verily, art the Almighty, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting."


—Bahá’u’lláh


(Additional Prayers Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh)
www.bahai.org/r/588776834

Sunday, May 2, 2021

"Thou, verily, art the Educator of the world and the Lord of the nations ..."

 
"In the Name of our Lord, the Most Holy, the Most Great, the Exalted, the Most Glorious!


O God, my God! Thou seest how Thy servant hath set his face towards Thee and desired to be honoured by performing that whereunto he hath been bidden in Thy Book. Do Thou ordain for him through Thy Most Exalted Pen that which shall draw him nigh unto the Most Sublime Summit. Thou, verily, art the Educator of the world and the Lord of the nations, and Thou, verily, art the Potent, the All-Subduing, the Almighty."


—Bahá’u’lláh


(Additional Prayers Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh)
www.bahai.org/r/853045685

Saturday, May 1, 2021

“Earth and heaven, glory and dominion are God’s, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful!”

 
"O God, my God! Glory be to Thee for having guided me unto the horizon of Thy Revelation, illumined me with the splendours of the light of Thy grace and mercy, caused me to speak forth Thy praise, and given me to behold that which hath been revealed by Thy Pen. 


I beseech Thee, O Thou the Lord of the kingdom of names and Fashioner of earth and heaven, by the rustling of the Divine Lote-Tree and by Thy most sweet utterance which hath enraptured the realities of all created things, to raise me up in Thy Name amidst Thy servants. I am he who hath sought in the daytime and in the night season to stand before the door of Thy bounty and to present himself before the throne of Thy justice. O Lord! Cast not away him who hath clung to the cord of Thy nearness, and deprive not him who hath directed his steps towards Thy most sublime station, the summit of glory, and the supreme objective—that station wherein every atom crieth out in the most eloquent tongue, saying: “Earth and heaven, glory and dominion are God’s, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful!”


—Bahá’u’lláh


(Additional Prayers Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh)
www.bahai.org/r/301701477