How can ever find words to bring you what is in my heart
about our beloved Guardian! I feel we must each so fill ourselves at this time
with his spirit and his wishes that it will carry us through the next five
years of the glorious Crusade he initiated and enable us to consummate his
every hope and wish. This, the fulfillment of his own Plan, is the living
memorial we must build in his memory.
When I first heard of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha, I was a
very young believer and after the provisions of His will became known, my whole
heart and soul turned to that youthful Branch, appointed by Him to watch over
and guide the Faith of Baha'u'llah. How I prayed that God would help me to make
him happy!
In 1923 I first met our beloved Guardian in Haifa. He was
just a young man then, full of determination to carry forward the great work
entrusted to his care. He was so spontaneous, so trusting and loving and outgoing
in the buoyancy of his beautiful heart. Through the years we all watched with
wonder and ever-deepening devotion to him and appreciation of his God-given
gifts, the unfoldment of Baha'u'llah's Divine Order which he built up so
patiently and wisely all over the world. But, oh friends, at what great cost to
himself!
In 1951, when the beloved Guardian called some of the
friends to serve in Haifa, I began to learn of what he had passed through. His
face was sad, one could see his very spirit had been heavily oppressed by the
agony he went through for years during the period when the family pursued their
own desires and finally abandoned the work of the Faith and their Guardian to
go their own way. I can truthfully say that for a number of years we who served
him at the World Center seldom saw him smile, and very often he poured out to
us his woes and confided some of the things he had passed through. I do not
know in any great detail the day to day afflictions of Baha'u'llah and
'Abdu'l-Baha, but sometimes I wonder if they could have been any more
heartbreaking than those of our beloved Shoghi Effendi.
