Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind,
the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of
imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation. 
O ye believers of God! This day is the day of your
attraction! This day is the day in which you must diffuse the Fragrances of
God! This day is the day that you must unfurl the Banner of the Kingdom of
Abha! This day is the day of Peace and Concord! This day is the day of the
proclamation of the oneness of the world of humanity! This
day is the day of forgiveness and leniency! This day is the day of Truth
and righteousness! This day is the day of conciliation and beatitude! This day
is the day of awakening and enkindlement!
The beginning of religion is love for God and for His Chosen
Ones, and its end is to manifest that love to His servants.
Verily in this Day all that dwell on earth are the servants
of God. As to those who truly believe in God and are well assured in the signs
revealed by Him, perchance He will graciously forgive them the things their
hands have committed, and will grant them admission into the precincts of His
mercy. He, in truth, is the Ever-Forgiving, the Compassionate. But the verdict
of divine chastisement is pronounced against those who have turned away
disdainfully from Me and have repudiated the conclusive proofs and the unerring
Book with which God hath invested Me, and on the Day of Severing they shall
find no protector or helper.
…when man does not open his mind and heart to the blessing
of the spirit, but turns his soul towards the material side, towards the bodily
part of his nature, then is he fallen from his high place and he becomes
inferior to the inhabitants of the lower animal kingdom. In this case the man
is in a sorry plight! For if the spiritual qualities of the soul, open to the
breath of the Divine Spirit, are never used, they become atrophied, enfeebled,
and at last incapable; whilst the soul’s material qualities alone being
exercised, they become terribly powerful—and the unhappy, misguided man,
becomes more savage, more unjust, more vile, more cruel, more malevolent than
the lower animals themselves. All his aspirations and desires being
strengthened by the lower side of the soul’s nature, he becomes more and more
brutal, until his whole being is in no way superior to that of the beasts that
perish. Men such as this, plan to work evil, to hurt and to destroy; they are
entirely without the spirit of Divine compassion, for the celestial quality of
the soul has been dominated by that of the material.
If one friend feels love for another, he will wish to say
so. Though he knows that the friend is aware that he loves him, he will still
wish to say so.... God knows the wishes of all hearts. But the impulse to
prayer is a natural one, springing from man's love to God.
O children of men! If ye believe in the one True God, follow
Me, this Most Great Remembrance of God sent forth by your Lord, that He may
graciously forgive you your sins. Verily He is forgiving and compassionate
toward the concourse of the faithful. We, of a truth, choose the Messengers
through the potency of Our Word, and We exalt Their offspring, some over
others, through the Great Remembrance of God as decreed in the Book and
concealed therein...
O ye loved ones of the Lord! This is the hour when ye must
associate with all the earth's peoples in extreme kindliness and love, and be
to them the signs and tokens of God's great mercy. Ye must become the very soul
of the world, the living spirit in the body of the children of men.
O My brother! When a true seeker determineth to take the
step of search in the path leading unto the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he
must … so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger
therein, lest that love blindly incline him to error, or that hate repel him
away from the truth. Even as thou dost witness in this Day how most of the
people, because of such love and hate, are bereft of the immortal Face, have
strayed far from the Embodiments of the Divine mysteries, and, shepherdless,
are roaming through the wilderness of oblivion and error.
Bahá’u’lláh teaches that the Mercy of God exceeds His
Justice. Ultimately there is hope for every soul of progress and forgiveness.
But at the same time to turn aside from this Cause, once we have really
contacted its spirit, is a grave error and one not to be minimized. But
although we Bahá’ís know this, we cannot thrust such a statement on
non-Bahá’ís. We must always teach constructively, and be very sure that none of
us, through disagreement among ourselves or indiscretion, cool off the souls of
the seekers.
If the heart turns away from the blessings God offers how
can it hope for happiness? If it does not put its hope and trust in God’s
Mercy, where can it find rest? Oh, trust in God! for His Bounty is everlasting,
and in His Blessings, for they are superb. Oh! put your faith in the Almighty,
for He faileth not and His goodness endureth forever! His Sun giveth Light
continually, and the Clouds of His Mercy are full of the Waters of Compassion
with which He waters the hearts of all who trust in Him. His refreshing Breeze
ever carries healing in its wings to the parched souls of men! Is it wise to
turn away from such a loving Father, Who showers His blessings upon us, and to
choose rather to be slaves of matter
As a devoted believer you are urged to strive to develop
forgiveness in your heart toward your parents who have abused you in so
disgraceful a manner, and to attain a level of insight which sees them as
captives of their lower nature, whose actions can only lead them deeper into
unhappiness and separation from God. By this means, you can liberate yourself
from the anger to which you refer in your letter, and foster your own spiritual
development. The peerless example of 'Abdu'l-Baha merits close scrutiny in your
quest for a sense of forgiveness; His abiding love for humanity, despite its
waywardness and perversity enabled Him to manifest sincere compassion and
magnanimity to those who had brought Him distress and hardship.