14 January 2001
To the Conference Marking the Inauguration of the
International Teaching Center Building
Dearly loved Friends,
We are filled with a sense of triumph as we reflect on the
significance of the occupation by the International Teaching Center of its
permanent seat on the Mountain of the Lord. This occasion marks the beginning
of what future generations will regard as a splendid chapter in the annals of
our Faith.
What joy that the Hands of the Cause of God ‘Alí-Akbar
Furútan and ‘Alí-Muḥammad Varqá are able to participate in these proceedings!
We acknowledge the great debt of gratitude owed to them and to the departed
ones of their exalted rank for so much of what we have come to celebrate.
And how fitting it is that the Continental Counselors and
their deputies from the five continents are here to witness such an auspicious
beginning! The attendance of the Auxiliary Board members is so unusual a feature
of the gathering that we are impelled to address our remarks particularly to
them. Indeed, on no occasion in the past have the major constituents of the
institution of the Counselors ever assembled in the Holy Land.
With joyous hearts, we extend to every member of the
Auxiliary Boards a special and loving welcome. We hail this opportunity to
greet and thank these officers of an institution the crucial importance of
whose vital role in the progress of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is increasingly
demonstrated as the Divine Plan unfolds. May we not at such a moment invoke,
above all, the memory of him in whose divinely inspired mind the conception of
Auxiliary Boards took shape? Up until the time of his passing in 1957, Shoghi
Effendi had called for the appointment of seventy-two such officers, who were
evenly divided between the two Boards on each of the five continents; with the
institutional evolution that has taken place since then, the number has
increased to nearly one thousand.
With the International Teaching Center having settled into
its position at the heart of a ramified, global institution, we can readily
recognize the fruition of the system set to extend into the future the
specialized functions of propagation and protection originally assigned to the
Hands of the Cause―a system that has derived impetus from the guidance and
example of these irreplaceable appointees of Shoghi Effendi. This achievement
is in itself a thrilling indication of how well the Cause is faring.
In you, the Auxiliary Board members here assembled, is
reflected the whole world of humanity. You hail from far-flung geographic
regions and cultural backgrounds that make you truly representative of a
cross-section of the human family. Your coming here both reaffirms the
existence of a dynamic, global community and signalizes the possibilities for
an advance in the process of entry by troops far beyond any record yet
established. In this latter regard, the value of your immediate future services
cannot be overestimated.
The world's crying need for the divine prescriptions is made
plain by the ills afflicting society at every level in all parts of the planet.
We must be swift in ministering to this need. Doing so largely depends upon the
revolutionary vision, the creative drive and systematic effort of Auxiliary
Board members and their assistants, who prompt and encourage individuals,
institutions and communities to act with dispatch, constancy and enthusiasm.
Their operation at the grassroots, at the very wellspring, of individual and
collective activity, makes manageable the fulfillment of this pressing need.
In contemplating the sublime purpose that has brought us
together on this day, we find ourselves without words to describe adequately
our wonderment at the evidences of Bahá’u’lláh's handiwork. We stand too close
to the moment to comprehend the magnitude of what has been so amazingly
accomplished. But to ponder the circumstances attending seminal happenings of
the past is to awaken in us all some sense of appreciation for their wonderful
consequences in our time. The revelation of the Tablet of Carmel, the interment
of the remains of Bahá’u’lláh's martyred Forerunner in the mausoleum
constructed by the beloved Master, the creation by our dear Guardian of the Arc
on the Hill of God―reflections on just such historic landmarks illumine our
understanding and evoke gratitude in our hearts.
The journeys that brought you to these sacred precincts have
launched you on spiritual adventures that will be celebrated in times to come
as having imparted a new impetus to the advancement of the Cause. This is the
hope and expectation we cherish. For as you drink deep of the rarefied spirit
of the Holy Shrines and imbibe the guidance that will flow from the consultations
in which you will participate, there can be no doubt that you will find
yourselves endowed with a new confidence, a new power. With so rich an
endowment, how can your endeavors fail? Most surely, you will bring a
rejuvenated fervor and a reconsecrated effort to the compelling civilizing
tasks you have accepted to perform at this potent juncture in the evolution of
our glorious Faith.
Our supplications are intermingled with yours that the
Blessed Beauty may abundantly confirm you in His service.
The Universal House of Justice
(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)
