MUHJ63-86/98/Message to the South Pacific Oceanic Conference-May 1971
| ←97 | Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986 Message to the South Pacific Oceanic Conference—May 1971 |
99→ |
| May 1971 |
To the Friends of God assembled in the Conference of the South Pacific Ocean
Dearly loved Friends,
98.1 We send our warmest greetings and deepest love on the occasion of the first Conference in the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Praise be to God that you have gathered to consult on the vital needs of the hour!
98.2 Recalling the promise of Bahá’u’lláh “Should they attempt to conceal His light on the continent, He will assuredly rear His head in the midmost heart [Page 201]of the ocean and, raising His voice, proclaim: ‘I am the lifegiver of the world!’”[1] witness its fulfillment in the vast area of the Pacific Ocean, in island after island mentioned by the Master in the Tablets of the Divine Plan.[2] How great is the potential for the Faith in localities blessed by these references!
98.3 At the inception of the Formative Age,[3] was little known here. Agnes Alexander had brought the Teachings to the Hawaiian Islands. Father and Mother Dunn had only recently arrived in Australia. Later the name of Martha Root was to be emblazoned across the Pacific.[4], at the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade, a vanguard of twenty-one Knights of Bahá’u’lláh raised His call as they settled in the islands of this great Ocean. The names of these valiant souls, together with the names of the army of pioneers and teachers who followed, will be forever enshrined in the annals of the Faith.
98.4 Their mighty endeavors brought about the enrollment of thousands of the peoples of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia under the banner of the Most Great Name, the opening in Australasia of more than 800 centers and the establishment of ten pillars of the Universal House of Justice.[5] We can but marvel at such triumphs attained despite great difficulties imposed by the vast expanse of ocean separating the island communities, especially when it is recalled that in many of these islands even the Christian Gospel was unknown as late as the 1830s.
98.5 [Page 202]How great is the responsibility to continue spreading the Word of God throughout the Pacific. It was in the Tablets of the Divine Plan that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called for teachers “speaking their languages, severed, holy, sanctified and filled with the love of God,” to “turn their faces to and travel through the three great Island groups of the Pacific Ocean—Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia . . . With hearts overflowing with the love of God, with tongues commemorating the mention of God” to “deliver the Glad Tidings of the manifestation of the Lord of Hosts to all the people.”[6]
98.6 The Nine Year Plan, the current phase of the unfoldment of the Divine Plan, is now approaching its final stages. It is incumbent on the friends to assess what has been accomplished and to anticipate and plan for such rapid acceleration of the teaching and consolidation work as is necessary to win all goals by 1973. Time is short; the needs critical. No effort must be spared; no opportunity overlooked.
98.7 Our prayers ascend at the Holy Threshold that every session of this historic meeting will attract Divine blessings, and that the friends will go forth, armed with the love of God and enthusiasm born of the Spirit, fully prepared to scale the heights of victory!
- With loving Bahá’í greetings,
- THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
Notes
- ↑ WOB, p. 108.
- ↑ TDP 6.13.
- ↑ The second Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, also called the Age of Transition or the Iron Age, the Formative Age began in 1921. For details, see the entry on Ages in the glossary.
- ↑ Agnes Alexander became a Bahá’í in Rome in 1900 and on 26 December 1901 returned to her home in the Hawaiian Islands. After receiving a Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá encouraging her to travel to Japan to teach the Faith, she went there in 1914 and remained for twenty-three years. John Henry Hyde Dunn and his wife, Clara Dunn, also arose spontaneously after reading ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s statement in Tablets of the Divine Plan (7.8), “O that I could travel, even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these regions, and, raising the call of ‘Ya Bahá’u’l-Abhá’ in cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the Divine teachings! This, alas, I cannot do. How intensely I deplore it! Please God, ye may achieve it.” Mr. Dunn resigned his position, and the Dunns left their home in San Francisco for Australia, arriving on 18 April 1920. Mr. Dunn was sixty-two; Mrs. Dunn was fifty. They remained in Australia until their deaths in 1941 and 1960, respectively. Martha Root arose in 1919 in response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s call and embarked upon the first of many journeys to which she dedicated herself throughout the remaining twenty years of her life. All four were elevated to the rank of Hand of the Cause of God, Miss Root being called by Shoghi Effendi the “foremost Hand which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s will has raised up first Bahá’í century.” For accounts of their lives and services, see: Agnes Alexander—BW 15:423–30; Hyde Dunn—BW 9:593–97; Clara Dunn—BW 13:859–62; and Martha Root—BW 13:643–48, and Mabel Garis, Martha Root. See also O. Z. Whitehead, “Father and Mother Dunn,” in Some Bahá’ís to Remember, pp. 153–75. For the Universal House of Justice’s message about Miss Alexander’s passing, see no. 90.
- ↑ The “ten pillars” referred to are the National Spiritual Assemblies of Australia, Fiji Islands, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Hawaiian Islands, New Zealand, North West Pacific Ocean, Samoa, Solomon Islands, South West Pacific Ocean, and Tonga and the Cook Islands.
- ↑ TDP 7.5.
