soul of Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih
_Kh_anum, beloved consort of Shoghi Effendi and the Baha'i world's last
remaining link with the family of 'Abdu'l-Baha, was released from the
limitations of this earthly existence.... Her twenty years of intimate
association with Shoghi Effendi evoked from his pen such accolades as "my
helpmate', 'my shield', 'my tireless collaborator in the arduous tasks I
shoulder'....

As the initial shock of grief began to lift, appreciation of yet another
of the inexhaustible bounties of Baha'u'llah gradually took its place. To
a figure whose long lifetime had spanned most of the century--and whose
indomitable spirit had sustained Baha'i struggles and sacrifices
throughout its latter half--it had been given to live and celebrate the
magnificent victories to which she had so magnificently contributed.

* * * * *

In calling on those who have recognized Him to share the message of the
Day of God with others, Baha'u'llah turns again to the language of
creation itself: "Every body calleth aloud for a soul. Heavenly souls must
needs quicken, with the breath of the Word of God, the dead bodies with a
fresh spirit."(159) The principle is as true of the collective life of
humankind, 'Abdu'l-Baha points out, as it is of the lives of its
individual members: "Material civilization is like the body. No matter how
infinitely graceful, elegant and beautiful it may be, it is dead. Divine
civilization is like the spirit, and the body gets its life from the
spirit...."(160)

In this compelling analogy is summed up the relationship between the two
historical developments that the Will of God propelled forward along
converging tracks during the century of light. Only a person blind to the
intellectual and social capacities latent in the human race, and
insensitive to humanity's desperate needs, could fail to take deep
satisfaction from the advances that society has made during the past
hundred years, and particularly from the processes knitting together the
earth's peoples and nations. How much more are such achievements cherished
by Baha'is, who see in them the very Purpose of God. But this Body of
humanity's material civilization calls aloud, yearns more desperately with
each passing day, for its Soul. As with every great civilization in
history, until it is so animated, and its spiritual faculties awakened, it
will find neither peace, nor justice, nor a unity that rises above the
le