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.[18 January 2019] 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.
Notwithstanding, it remains a long journey, and it proceeds in fits and starts.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated 18 January 2019)
