Half a century after Bahá’u’lláh summoned the kings and
rulers to be reconciled among themselves and enjoined on them the establishment
of peace on earth, the great powers of that era were plunged into war. It was
the first conflict to be regarded as a “World War”, and it is remembered as a
conflagration of horrific severity; the unprecedented scale and ferocity of the
bloodshed has seared it on to the consciousness of every succeeding generation.
And yet, from out the ruin and suffering, possibilities blossomed for a new order
to bring stability to the world—notably at the Paris Peace Conference, which
opened a hundred years ago on this day. In the years that followed, despite the
repeated crises into which international affairs were thrown, Shoghi Effendi
could discern “the progress, however fitful, of the forces working in harmony
with the spirit of the age”. These forces have continued to move humanity
towards an age of peace—not merely a peace which rules out armed conflict, but
a collective state of being, manifesting unity.
- The Universal House of
Justice (From a message to the Baha’is of the World dated 18 January 2019)
