The Woman at the Church Door

A retelling based on Mahmúd's Diary by Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání (George Ronald), from the entry for 14 April 1912. The narrative is retold in our own words. Read the full text for the original entry.

It was Sunday, the 14th of April, 1912, and the Church of the Ascension in New York was full — some two thousand people had gathered, filling the pews and the aisles, to see and hear 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He spoke to them of unity, and when His words were done He chanted a prayer, the unfamiliar cadences filling that great Christian sanctuary with something the congregation had never quite heard before. Mahmúd, who kept the careful daily record of the journey, wrote that it was a great day, and that not one of those two thousand souls went away disappointed.

But the moment that lingers from that morning was not the grand address to the multitude. It came afterward, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá was making His way out through the crowd.

A woman was there in the press of people. Whatever she had carried into that church — some grief, some longing, some weight she had perhaps borne alone for a long time — rose up in her all at once at the sight of Him. She could not speak. The tears simply came, streaming down her face, and unable to find any words, she reached out and took hold of the hem of His robe, and held on.

In a sanctuary of two thousand people, with clergy waiting and a demanding schedule pressing on every minute, 'Abdu'l-Bahá stopped for her. He turned the whole of His attention to this one wordless, weeping woman, and gave her not a hurried blessing in passing but real tenderness — gentle words, kindness poured out, until the storm in her was calmed and she was at peace.

It is a small thing, easily lost in a diary full of great meetings and famous halls. But it tells us something essential about Him. The crowd of two thousand had its address; but the one trembling soul who could only clutch at His garment and cry received, in that instant, as though she were the only person in the world, the undivided love of the Master. No one, however lost in the crowd, was ever too small for His notice — and the heart that could find no words at all was answered most tenderly of all.

This account is retold for the Bahai Story Library; it is a paraphrase, not the original text. See Mahmúd's Diary (Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, George Ronald) for the original entry.

Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, M.. (1998). *Mahmúd's Diary*. George Ronald. https://bahai-library.com/zarqani_mahmuds_diary