… a nation that has achieved undisputed ascendancy in the
entire Western Hemisphere, whose rulers have been uniquely honored by being
collectively addressed by the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation in His
Kitáb-i-Aqdas; which has been acclaimed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the “home of the
righteous and the gathering-place of the free,” where the “splendors of His
light shall be revealed, where the mysteries of His Faith shall be unveiled”
and belonging to a continent which, as recorded by that same pen, “giveth signs
and evidences of very great advancement,” whose “future is even more
promising,” whose “influence and illumination are far-reaching,” and which
“will lead all nations spiritually.” Moreover, it is to this great republic of
the West that the Center of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh has referred as the
nation that has “developed powers and capacities greater and more wonderful
than other nations,” and which “is equipped and empowered to accomplish that
which will adorn the pages of history, to become the envy of the world, and be
blest in both the East and the West for the triumph of its people.” It is for
this same American democracy that He expressed His fervent hope that it might
be “the first nation to establish the foundation of international agreement,”
“to proclaim the unity of mankind,” and “to unfurl the Standard of the Most
Great Peace,” that it might become “the distributing center of spiritual
enlightenment, and all the world receive this heavenly blessing,” and that its
inhabitants might “rise from their present material attainments to such a
height that heavenly illumination may stream from this center to all the
peoples of the world.” It is in connection with its people that He has affirmed
that they are “indeed worthy of being the first to build the Tabernacle of the
Great Peace and proclaim the oneness of mankind.”
(Shoghi Effendi, from a
letter dated June 5, 1947;
‘Citadel of Faith’)
