This ancient and glorious festival of the Persian people [Naw-Ruz] has, with the coming of Bahá’u’lláh, found a new splendour and vibrancy, for it has become a symbol of the arrival of the divine springtime and a reminder of the renewal, regeneration, and transformation that is made possible in the human world after the rising of the Sun of Truth…
We hope that by now you have received our recent letter addressed to the Bahá’ís of the world, which describes and analyses events of the first century of the Formative Age and reflects on a hundred years of striving and effort by the community of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh. From the condition of burning grief and painful uncertainty that afflicted the Bahá’í community immediately following the ascension of its loving Master, that same community has reached a stage in which its endeavours now far transcend internal concerns and are centred on society building. In the course of that century, the Faith gradually reached the peoples of the world, and the community of the Greatest Name became a reflection of the beauty of humanity and a symbol of the efficacy of unity in diversity. Wherever people encountered this Faith, they quickly made it their own and strove to draw on the teachings and the spiritual power of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in order to achieve practical advancement in their individual and collective lives. Reflection on this process of transformation and progress reveals the latent power vested in this Faith for the realization of the oneness of the world of humanity and the establishment of universal peace.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated addressed to 'the followers of the Greatest Name and the helpers of the Ancient Beauty in the sacred land of Iran'; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
