Bloom Like a Rose

The Guardian of the Cause of God has received your letter of 21 July 1932, telling of your and the other friends’ profound distress on receiving word of this calamity, this dire ordeal, that is, the ascension of the Most Exalted Leaf, that brightest fruit of the Eternal Tree.

It is certain that this anguish, this harrowing event, has reached into the very depths of his being, and oppressed and darkened his radiant heart more than words can ever tell. For the subtle and spiritual attachment that the Guardian felt for her, and the heavenly tenderness and affection between that lovely fruit of the divine Lote-Tree and himself, was a bond so strong as to defy description, nor can the mind encompass that exalted state. That secret is a secret well-concealed, a treasured mystery unplumbed, and to a plane such as this, the minds of the believers can never find their way. On this account the Guardian’s anguish at being parted from that bright and comely denizen of Heaven is beyond our conceiving.

She who was a sparkling light of God, she who was so full of grace—that widespread ray of Heaven’s splendour, that sign of God’s mercy—was made to appear with all perfections, all goodly attributes, all blessed ways; and never had the world’s eye gazed upon such a welling spring of tender love, of pity and compassion, and never will it behold again such a gem of loving-kindness, such a fount of God’s munificence.

How many a night did she whom the world wronged spend as a prisoner, worn with care, tormented, banished from her home. How many a day did she live through as an exile and a captive! There was no venom of affliction, at the hands of this Faith’s foes, that was not given her to drink, no arrow of cruelty but struck her holy breast. Yet in spite of the endless tribulations and disasters, she who was a spirit of holiness and a songster of Heaven, would even in the midst of dire ordeals, her face aglow, bloom like a rose.

The Guardian sends messages of consolation to you and all the friends in this bereavement, and he says that in this calamitous time all must bow down their heads and be acquiescent, arise in faithful service to His Cause, and model themselves upon that most exalted, sacred and resplendent presence.

From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, dated 15 September 1932 (translated from the Persian).

Source: Bahíyyih Khánum: The Greatest Holy Leaf, compiled by the Bahá’í World Centre (1982), Part IV, “Passages from letters written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,” no. 15. Text as reproduced in Project Gutenberg eBook #19242 (used under the Bahá’í terms of use; not public domain).

Effendi, W. O. B. O. S.. (1982). *Bahíyyih Khánum: The Greatest Holy Leaf*. Bahá'í World Centre. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19242/pg19242-images.html