This judgment of God, [World War II] as viewed by those who
have recognized Bahá’u’lláh as His Mouthpiece and His greatest Messenger on
earth, is both a retributory calamity and an act of holy and supreme
discipline. It is at once a visitation from God and a cleansing process for all
mankind. Its fires punish the perversity of the human race, and weld its
component parts into one organic, indivisible, world-embracing community.
Mankind, in these fateful years, which at once signalize the passing of the
first century of the Bahá’í Era and proclaim the opening of a new one, is, as
ordained by Him Who is both the Judge and the Redeemer of the human race, being
simultaneously called upon to give account of its past actions, and is being
purged and prepared for its future mission. It can neither escape the
responsibilities of the past, nor shirk those of the future.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated March 28, 1941; ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)
