O phoenix of that immortal flame kindled in the sacred Tree!
Bahá'u'lláh -- may my life, my soul, my spirit be offered up as a sacrifice
unto His lowly servants -- hath, during His last days on earth, given the most
emphatic promise that, through the outpourings of the grace of God and the aid
and assistance vouchsafed from His Kingdom on high, souls will arise and holy
beings appear who, as stars, would adorn the firmament of divine guidance;
illumine the dayspring of loving-kindness and bounty; manifest the signs of the
unity of God; shine with the light of sanctity and purity; receive their full
measure of divine inspiration; raise high the sacred torch of faith; stand firm
as the rock and immoveable as the mountain; and grow to become luminaries in
the heavens of His Revelation, mighty channels of His grace, means for the
bestowal of God's bountiful care, heralds calling forth the name of the One
true God, and establishers of the world's supreme foundation.
(‘Abdu'l-Baha,
Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Baha)
