Thee, to enter the
precincts of Thy court, but they allowed the veils of the imaginations of
Thy creatures and the wrongs inflicted by the oppressors among Thy people
to come in between them and Thee.

This is the hour, O my Lord, which Thou hast caused to excel every other
hour, and hast related to the choicest among Thy creatures. I beseech
Thee, O my God, by Thy Self and by them, to ordain in the course of this
year what shall exalt Thy loved ones. Do Thou, moreover, decree within
this year what will enable the Daystar of Thy power to shine brightly
above the horizon of Thy glory, and to illuminate by Thy sovereign might,
the whole world.

Render Thy Cause victorious, O my Lord, and abase Thou Thine enemies.
Write down, then, for us the good of this life and of the life to come.
Thou art the Truth, Who knoweth the secret things. No God is there but
Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the All-Bountiful.

--Baha'u'llah

"GLORY BE TO THEE, O LORD MY GOD! THESE ARE..."

Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! These are the days whereon Thou hast
bidden all men to observe the fast, that through it they may purify their
souls and rid themselves of all attachment to anyone but Thee, and that
out of their hearts may ascend that which will be worthy of the court of
Thy majesty and may well beseem the seat of the revelation of Thy oneness.
Grant, O my Lord, that this fast may become a river of life-giving waters
and may yield the virtue wherewith Thou hast endowed it. Cleanse Thou by
its means the hearts of Thy servants whom the evils of the world have
failed to hinder from turning towards Thine all-glorious Name, and who
have remained unmoved by the noise and tumult of such as have repudiated
Thy most resplendent signs which have accompanied the advent of Thy
Manifestation Whom Thou hast invested with Thy sovereignty, Thy power, Thy
majesty and glory. These are the servants who, as soon as Thy call reached
them, hastened in the direction of Thy mercy and were not kept back from
Thee by the changes and chances of this world or by any human limitations.

I am he, O my God, who testifieth to Thy unity, who acknowledgeth Thy
oneness, who boweth humbly before the revelations of Thy majesty, and who
recognizeth with downcast countenance the splendors of the light of Thy
transcendent glory. I have believed in Thee after Thou didst enable me to
know Thy Self, Whom Thou hast revealed to men's eyes through the power of
Thy sovereignty