February 24

History has amply demonstrated that religion can serve either as a powerful instrument for cooperation to propel the advancement of civilization, or as a source of conflict that yields incalculable harm. The unifying and civilizing power of religion begins to decline as the followers come to disagree on the meaning and application of the divine teachings, and the community of the faithful eventually becomes divided into contending sects and denominations. The purpose of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation is to establish the oneness of humanity and unite all peoples, and this last and highest stage in the evolution of society cannot be achieved if the Bahá’í Faith succumbs to the malady of sectarianism and the dilution of the divine Message witnessed in the past. If Bahá’ís “cannot unite around one point”, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá observes, “how will they be able to bring about the unity of mankind?” And He affirms: “Today the dynamic power of the world of existence is the power of the Covenant which like unto an artery pulsateth in the body of the contingent world and protecteth Bahá’í unity.” 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated 28 November 2023 to the Bahá’ís of the World; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

February 22

That mystic, all-pervasive, yet indefinable change, which we associate with the stage of maturity inevitable in the life of the individual and the development of the fruit must, if we would correctly apprehend the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh, have its counterpart in the evolution of the organization of human society. A similar stage must sooner or later be attained in the collective life of mankind, producing an even more striking phenomenon in world relations, and endowing the whole human race with such potentialities of well-being as shall provide, throughout the succeeding ages, the chief incentive required for the eventual fulfillment of its high destiny. Such a stage of maturity in the process of human government must, for all time, if we would faithfully recognize the tremendous claim advanced by Bahá’u’lláh, remain identified with the Revelation of which He was the Bearer. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Unfoldment of World Civilization’, included in ‘The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh)

February 20

We have been gratified to see that particular attention is being paid to learning how to enhance the quality of the educational experience offered by the institute. When the institute process takes root in a community, its effects are dramatic. Witness, for instance, those centres of intense activity where the inhabitants have come to regard the training institute as a powerful instrument that is theirs: an instrument for whose sound development they have assumed principal responsibility. Knowing well that the doors of the Faith always stand wide open, the believers are learning how to give encouragement to those who are poised to enter. To walk with such souls, and to help them cross the threshold, is a privilege and a special joy; in each cultural context, there is much to be learned about the dynamics of this resonant moment of recognition and belonging. And that is not all. While in many clusters efforts to contribute to social transformation are at their earliest stages, National Spiritual Assemblies, ably supported as ever by the Counsellors, are actively seeking to learn more about how these efforts emerge from the community-building process. Discussions about the social and material well-being of a people are being cultivated within groups of families and in communities, while the friends are also finding ways to participate in meaningful discourses that are unfolding in their immediate surroundings. 

- The Universal House of Justice (Ridván 2023 Message; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

February 18

…it is not easy to follow the narrative [‘The Dawn-Breakers’] in its details, or to appreciate how stupendous was the task undertaken by Bahá’u’lláh and His Forerunner, without some knowledge of the condition of church and state in Persia and of the customs and mental outlook of the people and their masters Nabíl took this knowledge for granted. He had himself travelled little if at all beyond the boundary of the empires of the Sháh and the Sulṭán, and it did not occur to him to institute comparisons between his own and foreign civilisations. He was not addressing the Western reader. Though he was conscious that the material he had collected was of more than national or Islámic importance and that it would before long spread both eastward and westward until it encircled the globe, yet he was an Oriental writing in an Oriental language for those who used it, and the unique work which he so faithfully accomplished was in itself a great and laborious task. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘Introduction to ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)

February 16

The Universal House of Justice ... has instructed us to say that it knows of nothing in the writings of the Faith to indicate that the establishment of the Lesser Peace depends on the completion of the Arc on Mount Carmel.

The passage which may have given rise to this conception may well be the statement made by the beloved Guardian which is published on pages 74-75 of Messages to the Baha’i World.... You will note that in this passage the Guardian describes three things which will synchronize. It is important to note that he is describing, not events, but processes or developments and, although he says they will synchronize—a statement which in itself provides important guidance for the institutions of the Cause—he does not state that they are dependent one upon the other. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 14 December 1987, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; included in a memorandum from the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice dated 19 April 2001; US Baha’i National Administrative website)

February 14

Clearly, the emergence of the Lesser Peace will be a gradual process and its various stages will no doubt witness tests and setbacks, as well as great advances. It will certainly include, however, a development of historic importance: that point at which the majority of the world's nation-states formally commit themselves to a global order comprising institutions and laws, and equipped with the means by which collective decisions can be enforced. While we cannot at present foresee the precise form that this development will take, much less the point at which it will occur, we recognize that it is a feature of the process of the Lesser Peace. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 29 July 1996 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; included in a memorandum from the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice dated 19 April 2001; US Baha’i National Administrative website)

February 12

Of these spiritual prerequisites of success, which constitute the bedrock on which the security of all teaching plans, Temple projects, and financial schemes, must ultimately rest, the following stand out as preeminent and vital, which the members of the American Bahá’í community will do well to ponder. Upon the extent to which these basic requirements are met, and the manner in which the American believers fulfill them in their individual lives, administrative activities, and social relationships, must depend the measure of the manifold blessings which the All-Bountiful Possessor can vouchsafe to them all. These requirements are none other than a high sense of moral rectitude in their social and administrative activities, absolute chastity in their individual lives, and complete freedom from prejudice in their dealings with peoples of a different race, class, creed, or color. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

February 10

At the heart of the divisions in society today is a crisis of identity. The way people think about who they are and how they see their place in the world determine how they relate to others and what they regard as their individual and collective purpose. For Bahá’ís, it is the Manifestation of God, the Voice of God to the world, who defines human nature and purpose. Bahá’u’lláh describes the purpose of human life as essentially spiritual in nature. An individual’s true self is to be found in the powers of the soul, which has the capacity to know God and to reflect His attributes. The soul has no gender, no ethnicity, no race. God sees no differences among human beings except in relation to the conscious effort of each individual to purify his or her soul and to express its full powers. In God’s sight, all human beings are as one and have the common duty of knowing and worshiping Him and contributing to advancing civilization. This truth is directly related to another—that humanity is one family. A loving Lord has “created all humanity from the same stock”. He has “decreed that all shall belong to the same household”. “Since We have created you all from one same substance”, Bahá’u’lláh has stated, “it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest.” 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated 1 November 2022 to the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

February 8

The emergence of a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a world civilization and culture—all of which must synchronize with the initial stages in the unfoldment of the Golden Age of the Bahá’í Era—should, by their very nature, be regarded, as far as this planetary life is concerned, as the furthermost limits in the organization of human society, though man, as an individual, will, nay must indeed as a result of such a consummation, continue indefinitely to progress and develop. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Unfoldment of World Civilization’, included in ‘The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh)

February 6

The aim of any Spiritual Assembly should be to develop a warm and loving relationship with the believers in its community, so that it can most effectively nurture and encourage them in the acquisition of a deeper understanding of the teachings, and can assist them to follow the Bahá'í principles in their personal conduct. The Assembly should aspire to being regarded by the members of the community as a loving parent, wise in its understanding of the varying degrees of maturity of those entrusted to its care, compassionate in dealing with the problems which arise as a result of any shortcomings, ever prepared to guide them to the correct path, and very patient as they strive to effect the necessary changes in their behavior. Such an approach is far removed from the harshly judgmental and punitive approach which so often characterizes the administration of law in the wider society. The Bahá'í application of justice, firmly rooted in spiritual principle and animated by the desire to foster the spiritual development of the members of the community, will increasingly be seen as a distinctive and highly attractive feature of the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 9 December 1991, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the NSA of Australia ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001’)

February 4

The willing tools who prostituted their high office for the accomplishment of the enemy’s designs were no less than the sovereigns of the Qájár dynasty, first, the bigoted, the sickly, the vacillating Muhammad Sháh, who at the last moment cancelled the Báb’s imminent visit to the capital, and, second, the youthful and inexperienced Násiri’d-Dín Sháh, who gave his ready assent to the sentence of his Captive’s death. The arch villains who joined hands with the prime movers of so wicked a conspiracy were the two grand vizirs, Hájí Mírzá Áqásí, the idolized tutor of Muhammad Sháh, a vulgar, false-hearted and fickle-minded schemer, and the arbitrary, bloodthirsty, reckless Amír-Niẓám, Mírzá Taqí Khán, the first of whom exiled the Báb to the mountain fastnesses of Ádhirbáyján, and the latter decreed His death in Tabríz. Their accomplice in these and other heinous crimes was a government bolstered up by a flock of idle, parasitical princelings and governors, corrupt, incompetent, tenaciously holding to their ill-gotten privileges, and utterly subservient to a notoriously degraded clerical order. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

February 2

If a Bahá’i were to insist on his right to support a certain political party, he could not deny the same degree of freedom to other believers. This would mean that within the ranks of the Faith, whose primary mission is to unite all men as one great family under God, there would be Bahá’is opposed to each other. Where, then, would be the example of unity and harmony which the world is seeking? 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 8 February 1970 written by the Universal House of Justice to National Spiritual Assemblies in Africa; US Baha’i National Administrative website)

January 31

The Faith is moving at a tremendous rate, and with tremendous force at the present time. Certainly if it is suppressed in one place, the power of the Cause is such that it must rise with greater strength in another place; and thus the persecutions of the Persian Bahá’ís have caused the Faith to surge ahead in Africa. This certainly must be a solace to the suffering of the Bahá’ís of Persia. 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 26 September 1955 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; compilation: Crisis and Victory prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, October 1987; Baha’i Reference Library)

January 29

In studying the Bible Bahá'ís must bear two principles in mind. The first is that many passages in Scared Scripture are intended to be taken metaphorically, not literally, and some of the paradoxes and apparent contradictions which appear are intended to indicate this. The second is the fact that the text of the early Scriptures, such as the Bible, is not wholly authentic... 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 28 May 1984, quoted by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice in a Memorandum dated 14 September 1987; Baha’i Library Online)

January 27

Concerning the Resurrection of Christ you quote the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, where the account stresses the reality of the appearance of Jesus to His disciples who, the Gospel states, at first took Him to be a ghost. From a Bahá'í point of view the belief that the Resurrection was the return to life of a body of flesh and blood, which later rose from the earth into the sky is not reasonable, nor is it necessary to the essential truth of the disciples' experience, which is that Jesus did not cease to exist when He was crucified (as would have been the belief of many Jews of that period), but that His Spirit, released from the body, ascended to the presence of God and continued to inspire and guide His followers and preside over the destinies of His dispensation. 

- The Universal House of Justice (Quoted in a Memorandum by the Research Department of the Baha’i World Center dated September 14, 1987; Baha’i Library Online)

January 25

You express concern that societal forces appear to be driving people apart and ask how you may accurately read your immediate reality, so that you can not only identify these negative influences but also apply the teachings of the Faith to advance the process of integration. This is not an easy task; yet, it is what the House of Justice has been encouraging the believers to do through a process of learning characterized by action, reflection, consultation, and study. This study involves constant reference to the Bahá’í writings and the guidance of the House of Justice as well as the reading of literature and other materials available in the wider community and weighing the insights gleaned from them in the light of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 3 December 2020, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; US Baha’i National Administrative website)

January 23

The arch-enemy who repudiated His [the Báb’s] claim, challenged His authority, persecuted His Cause, succeeded in almost quenching His light, and who eventually became disintegrated under the impact of His Revelation was the Shí‘ah priesthood. Fiercely fanatic, unspeakably corrupt, enjoying unlimited ascendancy over the masses, jealous of their position, and irreconcilably opposed to all liberal ideas, the members of this caste had for one thousand years invoked the name of the Hidden Imám, their breasts had glowed with the expectation of His advent, their pulpits had rung with the praises of His world-embracing dominion, their lips were still devoutly and perpetually murmuring prayers for the hastening of His coming. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

January 21

He would not advise you to in any way force the teachings on your husband, but rather through prayer, love and example attract his heart to what he will be forced to see has not only made you a happier person but a better wife and mother than ever before. It is often most difficult to teach those nearest to us, but the Guardian will earnestly pray that your husband and children will join you in serving this wonderful Cause. 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; ‘High Endeavors: Letters to Alaska’)

January 19

The more one observes the conditions of the world and the terrible problems confronting humanity, the more deeply one realizes that the only remedy is that which Bahá'u'lláh has brought, and yet, alas, the masses of the people seem to not yet be aware that the way out of our problems can only be a divine way, given by something far greater than human understanding! However, many souls are seriously thinking and seeking, and the Bahá'ís must try to bring the knowledge of the teachings to all, so that those prepared to accept may not be denied the Message. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; ‘High Endeavors: Letters to Alaska’)