13 July 1972: To all National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Baha'i friends,

The blessings of the Ancient Beauty are being showered upon the followers of the Greatest Name. Our efforts to serve Him and humanity are being crowned with victories throughout the world. As we give thanks for these splendid achievements, as the Cause of God spreads in every land, as our institutions become more perfected, as the number of believers increases over the face of the planet, our individual lives must increasingly mirror forth each day the teachings of Baha'u'llah and we must so live our lives that all will see in us a different people. The acts we perform, the attitudes we manifest, the very words we speak should be an attraction, a magnet, drawing the sincere to the Divine Teachings.

Baha'u'llah tells us that prejudice in its various forms destroys the edifice of humanity. We are adjured by the Divine Messenger to eliminate all forms of prejudice from our lives. Our outer lives must show forth our beliefs. The world must see that, regardless of each passing whim or current fashion of the generality of mankind, the Baha'i lives his life according to the tenets of his Faith. We must not allow the fear of rejection by our friends and neighbours to deter us from our goal: to live the Baha'i life. Let us strive to blot out from our lives every last trace of prejudice -- racial, religious, political, economic, national, tribal, class, cultural, and that which is based on differences of education or age. We shall be distinguished from our non-Baha'i associates if our lives are adorned with this principle.

30 June 1972: To all National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Baha'i friends,

At Ridvan 1973 we shall, God willing, witness the successful conclusion of the nine-year-long, world-encircling enterprise which inaugurated the second epoch of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan. The victorious culmination of this initial stage of the tenth part of the majestic process set in motion over six thousand years ago will prepare the way for the next stage in the series of crusades destined to achieve the penetration of the Light of God's Faith into the remaining territories of the planet and the erection of the entire machinery of Baha'u'llah's Administrative Order throughout the world.

On the Twelfth Day of Ridvan, the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies gathered in the Holy Land for the Third International Convention will participate in the commemoration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Revelation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. To enable all believers throughout the world to share in the observance of this highly significant centenary, national and local celebrations for Baha'is only should be held on that day.

We call upon each community to undertake, during the period between the First Day of the Most Great Festival and the commemoration of the Declaration of the Blessed Bab, a widespread proclamation campaign which would include publicity on the completion of the Nine Year Plan and the holding of the third International Convention at the Baha'i World Centre in the Holy Land.

With loving Baha'i greetings,

The Universal House of Justice

(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986’)