ft, this great bounty.

Following that disaster of His passing, that dire ordeal, Shoghi Effendi,
the Guardian of the Cause, was overwhelmed by such never-ending grief and
by his now heavy burden and supreme responsibility, that his sensitive
heart could bear it no more. And so, after making the necessary
arrangements, he sent out a letter expressing his wish to be alone for a
time, in a quiet and secluded place, away from the noise and turmoil of
everyday life--there to pray and supplicate and urgently beg for help from
the realm of the All-Glorious.

With this in mind, he has gone on a journey, leaving us to loneliness and
grief. Our hope is that very soon, the good results of this journey will
become apparent, and that the friends will rejoice to see the important
benefits that it will yield; that he will soon come home, and that once
again correspondence with him can be resumed, and the doors of access will
be opened wide.

42: All praise to the omnipotent Lord, that in ...

(165) All praise to the omnipotent Lord, that in this auspicious day He
Who is the Sun of bounty has shone out so fair and bright as to light up
the world of the hearts. He has burned away the veils of waywardness and
ignorance. He has struck off the fetters of baseless myths and ignoble
concepts that chained the people hand and foot. He has cleansed and
burnished the mirrors of men's souls, sullied by the dust and rust of this
dark world. He has opened wide the door to that Celestial Tavern of
matchless wine, and He is freely pouring out the immortal draught of
knowledge and perception and love. He has hoisted the banner of oneness,
and destroyed the foundations of estrangement. Under the sway of His
unity, the many-coloured races and diverse religions have tasted the
rose-red wine of His love, and are aliens no more. Those pure in spirit
who have set eyes upon Him, and approached the place He dwells in,
reflecting Him have shone out like mirrors, and cleaving to Him alone,
they have detached their hearts from all else but Him. They have heard,
with their inner ears, His words, and they have noted His ways, and
forgotten all else. They are ever soaring upward, out of the lower world
to the world above, and they are fit to be told the mysteries, and they
understand them.

Such a day, then, is a day for praise and thanks, a time of benedictions
and blessings, a time to wash away the stains of earth's defilement.

Let us turn our hea