Preparations for the Holy Year 1992, when the 100th
Anniversary of the Ascension of the Blessed Beauty and the inception of the
Covenant will be commemorated, have already begun. It is fitting, then, that
the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, which links the past and the future with the
progressive stages towards the fulfillment of God’s ancient Promise, should be
the major theme of the Six Year Plan. Concentration on this theme will enable
us all to obtain a deeper appreciation of the meaning and purpose of His Revelation—“A
Revelation,” in the words of the Guardian, “hailed as the promise and crowning
glory of past ages and centuries, as the consummation of all the Dispensations within the Adamic
Cycle, inaugurating an era of at least a thousand years’ duration, and a cycle
destined to last no less than five thousand centuries, signalizing the end of
the Prophetic Era and the beginning of
the Era of Fulfillment, unsurpassed alike in the duration of its Author’s ministry and the fecundity
and splendor of His mission. . . .” The
questions that such concentrated study should answer will undoubtedly include
the meaning of the Bahá’í Covenant, its origin and what should be our attitude
towards it.
Ever present in our contemplation of these profound
questions is the magnetic figure of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of the Covenant,
the Mystery of God, the perfect Exemplar, Whose unerring interpretation of the
Holy Texts and luminous examples of their application to personal conduct shed
light on a way of life we must strive diligently to follow.
- The Universal
House of Justice (Ridvan 1987 message; ‘Messages from the Universal House of
Justice, 1963-1986’)
