The effects of a “shining” Spiritual Assembly

O ye shining Assembly![1] The meeting that you organized hath attracted the divine gaze and the subject of your conversation was the divine commemoration. A ray from the Kingdom of Abha fell upon that assemblage and that meeting was adorned, and a number of souls, supplicants to God, were gathered in that meeting. If this assembly continues as it is befitting and behooving, great results will thereby appear and conduce to the illumination of those parts, spiritual progress will ensue, the lights of the Sun of Truth will shine, hearts will be illumined, eyes will become seeing, ears become hearing, the lukewarm (or withdrawn ones) become aflame, the inanimate (or numbed ones) will be enkindled in soul and an ecstasy will come to all by which those present will be astonished. 

('Abdu'l-Baha, 'Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha Abbas, vol, 2')

[1] Cleveland, Ohio

circa 1930: Baha'is of Montreal, Quebec, Canada

A scribe of the Báb describes Baha’u’llah’s striking appearance

[On October 5, 1851 A.D.] …while I was passing by the gate of the inner courtyard of the shrine of the Imám Husayn, [in Karbilá] my eyes, for the first time, fell upon Bahá’u’lláh. What shall I recount regarding the countenance which I beheld! The beauty of that face, those exquisite features which no pen or brush dare describe, His penetrating glance, His kindly face, the majesty of His bearing, the sweetness of His smile, the luxuriance of His jet-black flowing locks, left an indelible impression upon my soul. 

- Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí  (Quoted by Nabil in Chapter 2 of ‘The Dawn-Breakers’, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

The Guardian highlights contributions made by some very distinguished Canadian believers: Louis Bourgeois, Marion Jack, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum Rabbani (Mary Maxwell), May Ellis Maxwell, and William Sutherland Maxwell

It was a Canadian, [1] of French extraction, who through his vision and skill was instrumental in conceiving the design, and delineating the features, of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the West, marking the first attempt, however rudimentary, to express the beauty which Bahá’í art will, in its plenitude, unfold to the eyes of the world. It was a Canadian woman, [2] one of the noblest in the ranks of Bahá’í pioneers, who alone and single-handed, forsook her home, settled among an alien people, braved with a leonine spirit the risks and dangers of the world conflict that raged around her, and who now, at an advanced age and suffering from infirmities, is still holding the Fort and is setting an example, worthy of emulation by all her fellow pioneers of both the East and the West. It was a member [3] of that same community who won the immortal distinction of being called upon to be my helpmate, my shield in warding off the darts of Covenant-breakers and my tireless collaborator in the arduous tasks I shoulder. It was a Canadian subject, [4] the spiritual mother of that same community, who, though fully aware of the risks of the voyage she was undertaking, journeyed as far as the capital of Argentina to serve a Cause that had honoured her so uniquely, and there laid down her life and won the everlasting crown of martyrdom. It was, moreover, a Canadian [5] who more recently achieved the immortal renown of designing the exquisite shell destined to envelop, preserve and embellish the holy and priceless structure enshrining the dust of the Beloved Founder of our Faith. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 1 March 1951 to the Canadian National Spiritual; ‘Messages to Canada’)

The “last and highest stage in the stupendous evolution of man's collective life on this planet”

The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, whose supreme mission is none other but the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole body of nations, should, if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded as signalizing through its advent the coming of age of the entire human race. It should be viewed not merely as yet another spiritual revival in the ever-changing fortunes of mankind, not only as a further stage in a chain of progressive Revelations, nor even as the culmination of one of a series of recurrent prophetic cycles, but rather as marking the last and highest stage in the stupendous evolution of man's collective life on this planet. The emergence of a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a world civilization and culture – all of which must synchronize with the initial stages in the unfoldment of the Golden Age of the Bahá'í Era – should, by their very nature, be regarded, as far as this planetary life is concerned, as the furthermost limits in the organization of human society, though man, as an individual, will, nay must indeed as a result of such a consummation, continue indefinitely to progress and develop. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 11 March 1936, in The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. III, Cultural Diversity in the Age of Maturity)

The amazing outcome of the sacrifices and imprisonments endured by Baha’u’llah

Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! I implore Thee by Thine Ancient Beauty and Most Great Name, Whom Thou hast sacrificed that all the dwellers of Thine earth and heaven may be born anew, and Whom Thou hast cast into prison that mankind may, as a token of Thy bounty and of Thy sovereign might, be released from the bondage of evil passions and corrupt desires… 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u’llah’)