Morning
O kings of Christendom! Heard ye not the saying of Jesus, the Spirit of God, “I go away, and come again unto you”? Wherefore, then, did ye fail, when He did come again unto you in the clouds of heaven, to draw nigh unto Him, that ye might behold His face, and be of them that attained His Presence? In another passage He saith: “When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” And yet behold how, when He did bring the truth, ye refused to turn your faces towards Him, and persisted in disporting yourselves with your pastimes and fancies. Ye welcomed Him not, neither did ye seek His Presence, that ye might hear the verses of God from His own mouth, and partake of the manifold wisdom of the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the All-Wise. Ye have, by reason of your failure, hindered the breath of God from being wafted over you, and have withheld from your souls the sweetness of its fragrance. Ye continue roving with delight in the valley of your corrupt desires. By God! Ye, and all ye possess, shall pass away. Ye shall, most certainly, return to God, and shall be called to account for your doings in the presence of Him Who shall gather together the entire creation.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Suriy-i-Mulk [Tablet to the
Kings]; ‘Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
Evening
All praise unto the Almighty the Sanctified--glorified be
His power--Who hath ordained that the tyranny of the unjust and the violence of
the oppressors should become the means whereby the true lovers draw nigh unto
the glorious habitation of the Best Beloved and the sincere among His servants
attain the Paradise of communion with Him Who is the Desire of all men, and
that sufferings and tribulations should serve as the instrument whereby His
Word of command is spread abroad and the standards of His praise are unfurled
in all regions.
How great is His transcendent power, how immensely exalted His all-embracing Will, inasmuch as He produceth light from fire and joy from sorrow.
- Baha’u’llah (From a Tablet, compilation: ‘Fire and Light’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice; The Baha’i World 1979-1983)
