The time has come when all the believers are given the privilege of uniting spiritually to pray and supplicate as one heart, one mind and one soul in behalf of the beloved Guardian of the Cause, in order that new and broader channels may be created through which his unique devotion to the Cause may flow outward ever stronger and more effectively through all parts of the Baha’i world.
Therefore the members of the National Spiritual Assembly request the friends throughout the United States and Canada to set apart the period of nineteen days beginning February 19th as a time consecrated to daily supplication and prayer, individually and collectively invoking Divine guidance and favor that the hopes of the Guardian of the Cause may be fulfilled.
These hopes are that nine Baha’i helpers may be gathered together at Haifa to assist Shoghi Effendi in the details of his work, especially the translation of the Creative Word. After the period of prayer, any believer who feels the call to this Service may lay his or her name and qualifications before Shoghi Effendi for him to consider. The friends will understand that these nine helpers are desired for specific, temporary services, and are not to be regarded in the light of those nine souls who, in the fulness of time, will be permanently associated with the Guardian of the Cause. It is suggested that the friends unite, during the nineteen days, in the use of Shoghi Effendi’s favorite prayer: --
O Lord, my God, my Haven in my distress! My Shield and my Shelter in my woes! My Asylum and Refuge in time of need and in my loneliness my Companion! In my anguish my Solace, and in my solitude a loving Friend. The Remover of the pangs of my sorrows and the Pardoner of my sins!
Wholly to Thee do I turn, fervently imploring Thee with all my heart, my mind and my tongue, to shield me from all that runs counter to Thy will, in this, the cycle of Thy divine unity, and to cleanse me from all defilement that will hinder me from seeking, stainless and unsullied, the shade of the Tree of Thy grace.
Have mercy, O Lord, on the feeble, make whole the sick, and quench the burning thirst.
Gladden the bosom wherein the fire of Thy love doth smolder and set it aglow with the flame of Thy celestial love and spirit.
Robe the Tabernacle of Divine Unity with the vesture of holiness and set on my head the crown of Thy favor.
Illumine my face with the radiance of the orb of Thy bounty, and graciously assist me in ministering at Thy holy threshold.
Make my heart overflow with love for Thy creatures and grant that I may become the sign of Thy mercy, the token of Thy grace, the promoter of concord amongst Thy loved ones, devoted unto Thee, uttering Thy commemoration and forgetful of self but ever mindful of what is Thine.
O God! My God! Stay not from me the gentle gale of Thy pardon and grace, and deprive me not of the well-springs of Thine aid and favor.
Neath the shade of Thy protecting Wings let me nestle, and cast upon me the glance of Thine all-protecting eye.
Loose my tongue to laud Thy name amidst Thy people, that my voice may be raised in great assemblies, and from my lips may stream the flood of Thy Praise.
Thou art, in all truth, the Gracious, the Glorified, the Mighty, the Omnipotent!
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha
(Baha'i News Letter, no. 2, January 1925)
(Baha'i News Letter, no. 2, January 1925)
