This is the Day in which God’s most excellent favors have
been poured out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been infused
into all created things.
- Baha’u’llah (quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Advent
of Divine Justice’)
May 5
Praise, immeasurable praise be to Thee! I swear by Thy
glory! My inner and outer tongue, openly and secretly, testify that Thou hast
been exalted above the reach and ken of Thy creatures, above the utterance of
Thy servants, above the testimonies of Thy dear ones and Thy chosen ones, and
the apprehension of Thy Prophets and of Thy Messengers.
- Baha'u'llah, (‘Prayers and
Meditations by Baha'u'llah’)
May 4
Behold how the people, as a result of the verdict pronounced
by the divines of His age, have cast Abraham, the Friend of God, into fire; how
Moses, He Who held converse with the Almighty, was denounced as liar and
slanderer. Reflect how Jesus, the Spirit of God, was, notwithstanding His
extreme meekness and perfect tender-heartedness, treated by His enemies. So
fierce was the opposition which He, the Essence of Being and Lord of the visible
and invisible, had to face, that He had nowhere to lay His head. He wandered
continually from place to place, deprived of a permanent abode. Ponder that
which befell Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, may the life of all else be a
sacrifice unto Him. How severe the afflictions which the leaders of the Jewish
people and of the idol-worshipers caused to rain upon Him, Who is the sovereign
Lord of all, in consequence of His proclamation of the unity of God and of the
truth of His Message! By the righteousness of My Cause! My Pen groaneth, and
all created things weep with a great weeping, as a result of the woes He
suffered at the hands of them that have broken the Covenant of God, violated
His Testament, rejected His proofs, and disputed His signs. Thus recount We
unto thee the tale of that which happened in days past, haply thou mayest
comprehend.
- Baha'u'llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah’)
May 3
Lift up the veils and coverings that obscure your vision,
and consider the testimonies of the Prophets and Messengers, that haply ye may
recognize the Cause of God in these days when the Promised One hath come
invested with a mighty sovereignty. Fear
God, and debar yourselves not from Him Who is the Dayspring of His signs. This shall, in truth, but profit your own
selves; as to your Lord, He, verily, can afford to dispense with all creatures. From everlasting was He alone; there was none
else besides Him. He it is in Whose name
the standard of Divine Unity hath been planted upon the Sinai of the visible
and invisible worlds, proclaiming that there is none other God but Me, the
Peerless, the Glorious, the Incomparable.
- Baha'u'llah (‘Suriy-i-Haykal, ‘The Summons
of the Lord of Hosts’)
May 2
These Tabernacles of holiness, these primal Mirrors which
reflect the light of unfading glory, are but expressions of Him Who is the
Invisible of the Invisibles. By the revelation of these gems of divine virtue
all the names and attributes of God, such as knowledge and power, sovereignty
and dominion, mercy and wisdom, glory, bounty and grace, are made manifest.
These attributes of God are not and have never been
vouchsafed specially unto certain Prophets, and withheld from others. Nay, all
the Prophets of God, His well-favoured, His holy, and chosen Messengers, are,
without exception, the bearers of His names, and the embodiments of His
attributes. They only differ in the intensity of their revelation, and the
comparative potency of their light.
-Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
May 1
The purpose underlying all creation is the revelation of
this most sublime, this most holy Day, the Day known as the Day of God, in His
Books and Scriptures—the Day which all the Prophets, and the Chosen Ones, and
the holy ones, have wished to witness.
- Baha’u’llah (quoted by Shoghi Effendi
in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)
April 30
I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Thy Name which Thou hast made
to be the Day-Spring of Thy Revelation and the Dawning-Place of Thine
inspiration, to ordain for this wronged One and for them that are dear to Thee
what becometh Thy loftiness.
- Baha'u'llah (‘Prayers and
Meditations by Baha'u'llah’)
April 29
O lion-hearted one amongst men! Regard the afflictions
endured in the path of God as comfort itself. Every affliction suffered for His
sake is a potent remedy, every bitterness is naught but sweetness and every
abasement an exaltation. Were men to apprehend and acknowledge this truth, they
would readily lay down their lives for such affliction. For it is the key to
inestimable treasures, and no matter how outwardly abhorrent, it hath ever been
and will continue to be inwardly prized.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Tabernacle of Unity’)
April 28
Likewise, hath the eternal King spoken: “No thing have I
perceived, except that I perceived God within it, God before it, or God after
it.” Also in the tradition of Kumayl it is written: “Behold, a light hath shone
forth out of the Morn of eternity, and lo! its waves have penetrated the inmost
reality of all men.” Man, the noblest and most perfect
of all created things, excelleth them all in the intensity of this revelation,
and is a fuller expression of its glory. And of all men, the most accomplished,
the most distinguished and the most excellent are the Manifestations of the Sun
of Truth. Nay, all else besides these Manifestations, live by the operation of
their Will, and move and have their being through the outpourings of their
grace. “But for Thee, I would have not created the heavens.” Nay, all in their
holy presence fade into utter nothingness, and are a thing forgotten. Human
tongue can never befittingly sing their praise, and human speech can never
unfold their mystery.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
April 27
By Thy life, O Thou the Possessor of all names! The minds of
the profoundest thinkers are sore perplexed as they contemplate the ocean of
Thy knowledge, and the heaven of Thy wisdom, and the Luminary of Thy grace. How
can he who is but a creation of Thy will claim to know what is with Thee, or to
conceive Thy nature?
(Baha'u'llah, ‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah’)
April 26
…all things, in their inmost reality, testify to the
revelation of the names and attributes of God within them. Each according to
its capacity, indicateth, and is expressive of, the knowledge of God. So potent
and universal is this revelation, that it hath encompassed all things, visible
and invisible…
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
April 25
O Thou Who dealest equitably with all who are in heaven and
on earth, and rulest over the kingdom of Thy creation and of Thy Revelation!
(Baha'u'llah,
‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah’)
April 24
Say: O people! We have commanded you in Our Tablets to
strive, at the time of the promised Revelation, to sanctify your souls from all
names, and to purify them from all that hath been created in the heavens or on
the earth, that therein may appear the splendours of the Sun of Truth which
shineth forth above the horizon of the Will of your Lord, the Almighty, the
Most Great. We have, moreover, commanded
you to cleanse your hearts from every trace of the love or hate of the peoples
of the world, lest aught should divert you from one course or impel you towards
another. This, verily, is among the
weightiest counsels I have vouchsafed unto you in the perspicuous Book, for
whoso attacheth himself to either of these shall be prevented from attaining a
proper understanding of Our Cause. To
this beareth witness every just and discerning soul.
(Baha'u'llah,
‘Suriy-i-Haykal, ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
April 23
O Son of Glory! Be swift in the path of holiness, and enter
the heaven of communion with Me. Cleanse thy heart with the burnish of the
spirit, and hasten to the court of the Most High.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Hidden
Words of Baha’u’llah’)
April 22
The Faith of God hath in this day been made manifest. He Who
is the Lord of the world is come and hath shown the way. His faith is the faith
of benevolence and His religion is the religion of forbearance. This faith
bestoweth eternal life and this religion enableth mankind to dispense with all
else. It verily embraceth all faiths and all religions. Take hold thereof and
guard it well.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Tabernacle of Unity’)
April 21
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| House of Baha'u'llah in Baghdad |
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The
Kitab-i-Iqan’)
April 20
O lion-hearted one! We beseech God that thou mayest become a
champion in this arena, arise with heavenly power and say: “O high priests!
Ears have been given you that they may hearken unto the mystery of Him Who is
the Self-Dependent, and eyes that they may behold Him. Wherefore flee ye? The
Incomparable Friend is manifest. He speaketh that wherein lieth salvation. Were
ye, O high priests, to discover the perfume of the rose garden of
understanding, ye would seek none other but Him, and would recognize, in His
new vesture, the All-Wise and Peerless One, and would turn your eyes from the
world and all who seek it, and would arise to help Him.”
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Tabernacle
of Unity’)
April 19
O people of God! Great is the Day and
mighty the Call! In one of Our Tablets We have revealed these exalted words:
‘Were the world of the spirit to be wholly converted into the sense of hearing,
it could then claim to be worthy to hearken unto the Voice that calleth from
the Supreme Horizon; for otherwise, these ears that are defiled with lying
tales have never been, nor are they now, fit to hear it.’ Well is it with them
that hearken; and woe betide the wayward.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed
after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
April 18
Know thou that in the Bayán purification is regarded as the
most acceptable means for attaining nearness unto God and as the most
meritorious of all deeds. Thus purge thou thine ear that thou mayest hear no
mention besides God, and purge thine eye that it behold naught except God, and
thy conscience that it perceive naught other than God, and thy tongue that it
proclaim nothing but God, and thy hand to write naught but the words of God,
and thy knowledge that it comprehend naught except God, and thy heart that it
entertain no wish save God, and in like manner purge all thine acts and thy
pursuits that thou mayest be nurtured in the paradise of pure love, and
perchance mayest attain the presence of Him Whom God shall make manifest,
adorned with a purity which He highly cherisheth, and be sanctified from
whosoever hath turned away from Him and doth not support Him. Thus shalt thou
manifest a purity that shall profit thee.
(The Báb, excerpt from Persian Bayan;
‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
April 17
Consider the former generations. Witness how every time the
Day Star of Divine bounty hath shed the light of His Revelation upon the world,
the people of His Day have arisen against Him, and repudiated His truth. They
who were regarded as the leaders of men have invariably striven to hinder their
followers from turning unto Him Who is the Ocean of God’s limitless bounty.
(Baha'u'llah, ‘Gleanings from the
Writings of Baha'u'llah’)
April 16
Quaff then, O My brother, from the living waters that We
have caused to flow in the oceans of these words. Methinks the seas of grandeur
are surging within them, and the gems of divine virtue are shining within and
upon them. Divest then thyself of that which debarreth thee from this
fathomless crimson sea, and to the cry of “In the name of God and by His
grace!” immerse thyself therein. Let the fear of no one dismay thee. Trust in
the Lord, thy God, for He is sufficient unto whosoever trusteth in Him. He, verily,
shall protect thee, and in Him shalt thou abide in safety.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘Gems
of Divine Mysteries’)
April 15
In every instance they [the Manifestations of God] have
voiced an utterance that would conform to the requirements of the occasion, and
have ascribed all these declarations to Themselves, declarations ranging from
the realm of Divine Revelation to the realm of creation, and from the domain of
Divinity even unto the domain of earthly existence. Thus it is that whatsoever
be their utterance, whether it pertain to the realm of Divinity, Lordship,
Prophethood, Messengership, Guardianship, Apostleship, or Servitude, all is
true, beyond the shadow of a doubt.
(Baha'u'llah, ‘Gleanings from the
Writings of Baha'u'llah’)
April 14
O Son of Man! Be thou content with Me and seek no other
helper. For none but Me can ever suffice thee.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Hidden Words
of Baha’u’llah’)
April 13
The beginning of all utterance is the worship of God, and
this followeth upon His recognition. Sanctified must be the eye if it is to
truly recognize Him, and sanctified must be the tongue if it is to befittingly
utter His praise. In this day the faces of the people of insight and
understanding are turned in His direction; nay every direction inclineth itself
towards Him.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Tabernacle of Unity’)
April 12
…as He hath said: “Man is My mystery, and I am his mystery.”
Manifold are the verses that have been repeatedly revealed in all the heavenly
Books and the holy Scriptures, expressive of this most subtle and lofty theme.
Even as He hath revealed: “We will surely show them Our signs in the world and
within themselves.” [Qur’án 41:53] Again He saith: “And also in your own
selves: will ye not then behold the signs of God?” [Qur’án 51:21] And yet again
He revealeth: “And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath
therefore caused to forget their own selves.” [Qur’án 59:19] In this
connection, He Who is the eternal King—may the souls of all that dwell within
the mystic Tabernacle be a sacrifice unto Him—hath spoken: “He hath known God
who hath known himself.”
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
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