1 We
acclaim with grateful hearts the eager response on all continents to the Four
Year Plan launched last Ridván.
2 Consultations
of the Continental Counsellors and National Spiritual Assemblies started an
extensive planning process, also involving Auxiliary Board members and Local
Spiritual Assemblies. Through such a process the national and regional
character of the derivative plans took shape. But this world-encompassing
exercise did more than yield distinctive schemes for the different countries;
it also boosted the collaborative relationship of the two arms of the
Administrative Order, a most welcome portent of the victories yet to come.
3 A
sign of the immediate impact of the Plan was the speed with which steps were
taken to establish nearly two hundred training institutes during the last
twelve months. Many of these have gone far beyond the point of designing their
organization; they are actually in operation and have offered their first
courses. Moreover, in the movement of homefront and international pioneers and
travelling teachers; in the increased attention given by individuals to
deputizing teachers; in the preparations made to ensure the formation of Local
Spiritual Assemblies only on the first day of Ridván; in the increasing
endeavours to hold regular devotional meetings; in the widening efforts to make
use of the arts in the teaching work and community activities — in all these
respects could be discerned the friends' keen awareness of the importance of
concentrating on the requirements of the major aim of the Plan, which is to
effect a significant advance in the process of entry by troops.
4 Nor
can we neglect to recognize other developments during the past year which
confirmed the high merit of the manifold efforts being exerted by our world
community and the results being achieved. Among these, to mention a few, were:
the acquisition of the apartment at 4 Avenue de Camoíns in Paris where the
beloved Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, resided during His historic visit to the city;
the special session on 14 August of the Federal Chamber of Deputies in Brazil
to mark the 75th anniversary of the introduction of the Bahá'í Faith into that
country — a unique, official occasion at which Amatu'l-Baha Rúhíyyih Khánum was
present as the honoured guest; the launching last July of the Bahá'í
International Community's site on the World Wide Web, entitled "The Bahá'í
World", which to date has received from more than 90 countries and
territories over 50,000 visits, averaging some 200 per day.
5 Hardly
outpaced by such accomplishments, the construction projects onMount Carmel
maintained a dazzling momentum highlighted by the completion of the marble
colonade of the Centre for the Study of the Texts, by the rise of the
International Teaching Centre building towards its seventh level, and by the
ongoing emergence of the far-stretching features of the Terraces of the Shrine
of the Bab. In this connection must be mentioned the partial lowering of the
section of the public road over which the line of terraces will pass, and the
acquisition and subsequent demolition of the building at the foot of the
mountain which stood as the last obstruction that had to be overcome to make
possible the completion of the lower terraces through which the glorious
pathway rises up towards the sacred Edifice and beyond it to the crest of the
Hill of God.
6 Also
of acute relevance to the progress thus described was the maintenance of a
level of contributions to the Arc Projects Fund which fulfilled the goal for
the last year. Clearly, the financial demands in this regard are being met with
incessant heroism by rich and poor alike, and must be sustained over the remaining
years. At the same time, however, a parallel effort, equally strenuous and
sustained, should be simultaneously exerted by the Assemblies and friends
throughout the world to fill the critical needs of the Bahá'í International
Fund.
7 Such
an auspicious beginning to the Four Year Plan as has been experienced cannot
but inspire confidence in the hearts of the members of our worldwide community
that they are fully equipped to execute its requirements as outlined in the
messages that launched it, and as elaborated in the plans adopted by their
respective Assemblies. A further and especially appreciated encouragement as we
enter this second year is that circumstances have made it feasible for the
re-establishment this Ridván of the National Spiritual Assembly of Rwanda. This
victory over crisis will bring to 175 the number of National Spiritual
Assemblies that will be eligible to participate in the Eighth International
Bahá'í Convention to be held next Ridván at the Bahá'í World Centre. How dearly
we hope that by then, at the very midpoint of the Plan, the Bahá'í world will
have made a major leap forward in the multiplication of its human resources,
the maturation of its Spiritual Assemblies, and the evolution of its local
communities!
8 The
opportunity offered by the brief span of time before the century ends is
precious beyond all telling. Only a united and sustained effort by the friends
everywhere to advance the process of entry by troops can befit such a historic
moment. Responsibilities urgent and inescapable press upon every institution,
every member of a community striving towards its God-promised destiny. As there
is only a short period in which to achieve a great deal, no time must be
spared, no opportunity lost. Rest assured, dear friends, that the hosts of the
Abhá Kingdom stand ready to rush to the support of anyone who will arise to
offer his or her acts of service to the unfolding, spiritual drama of these
momentous days.
The Universal House of Justice