Guidance that strengthens faith and courage
With dramatic events regularly reminding us of the uncertainties the world is confronting, it is important to increase our ability to meet these uncertainties with resilience and calm. A great resource for stimulating reflections on resilience was issued by the International Teaching Centre last year, in the form of a compilation on the themes of “the world’s current state of disorder and confusion” and the “disposition of the Bahá’ís”. It was promoted on this newsletter site under the heading ‘Standing Strong in a Disordered World.’ It is worth revisiting this compilation, which reminds us that our resilience as a community is based on our faith and sense of purpose.
A few example quotations are presented below, from the section headed “Disposition of the Bahá’ís”, and the whole compilation can be downloaded here: Compilation September 2020 booklet.
A few extracts from the compilation
And now, if you act in accordance with the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, you may rest assured that you will be aided and confirmed. You will be rendered victorious in all that you undertake, and all the inhabitants of the earth will be unable to withstand you. You are conquerors, because the power of the Holy Spirit assisteth you. Above and beyond all physical and phenomenal forces, the Holy Spirit itself shall aid you.
— ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in Star of the West, vol. 8, no. 8 (1 August 1917)
In such a process of purgation, when all humanity is in the throes of dire suffering, the Bahá’ís should not hope to remain unaffected. Should we consider the beam that is in our own eye, we would immediately find that these sufferings are also meant for ourselves, who claimed to have attained. Such world crisis is necessary to awaken us to the importance of our duty and the carrying on of our task. Suffering will increase our energy in setting before humanity the road to salvation; it will move us from our repose for we are far from doing our best in teaching the Cause and conveying the Message with which we have been entrusted.
— From a letter dated 14 October 1931 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer
The Hosts of the Supreme Concourse are in martial array, poised between earth and heaven ready to rush to the assistance of those who arise to teach the Faith. If one seeks the confirmations of the Holy Spirit, one can find them in rich abundance in the teaching field. The world is seeking as never before, and if the friends will arise with new determination, fully consecrated to the noble task ahead of them, victory after victory will be won for the glorious Faith of God.
— From a letter dated 2 February 1956 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer
The obligations that must be met by the company of the faithful are made the more pressing by the confusion, distrust, and cloudiness in the world. Indeed, the friends should use every opportunity to shine a light that can illuminate the way and offer assurance to the anxious, hope to the despairing.
— The Universal House of Justice, Riḍván 2017 message to the Bahá’ís of the World
However long and arduous the road that must be travelled, we are supremely confident in your fortitude and your determination to see the journey through. You draw from stores of hope, faith, and magnanimity, putting the needs of others before your own, enabling those who are deprived to be spiritually nourished, those who increasingly thirst for answers to be satisfied, and those who long to work for the betterment of the world to be offered the means. From the devoted followers of the Blessed Perfection, how could we expect less?
— The Universal House of Justice, Riḍván 2020 message to the Bahá’ís of the World
