Both a Calamity and a Blessing

...The news of the Memorial Service you had held for the Greatest Holy Leaf gave him the assurance that the friends are faithfully sharing his grief and are demonstrating in a befitting manner their profound devotion to one whose very life was an example of faithfulness and sincerity, of self-abnegation and love.

The ascension of the Greatest Holy Leaf is, indeed, both a calamity and a blessing. It is an overwhelming calamity since it has deprived us of the presence in our very midst of the last Remnant of that Heroic age of the Cause that gave birth to so many noble and faithful souls. The mere presence of our beloved Khánum among us was a source of inspiration and blessing. And now that she has gone we cannot too deeply deplore the immensity of our loss.

But thanks to God for having released her, after so many long years of agonizing pain, of the bondage of this world and given her the priceless privilege of being in direct communion with God.

May her everlasting spirit continue to guide our efforts and enable us to serve a Cause, for which she suffered so much, with all our might, our enthusiasm and hope.

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. 8 (letter dated 1 September 1932, to the Bahá’ís of Washington, D.C.). 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/ebooks/19242