Mrs. Dealy Chooses Spiritual Sight

One brief incident that made a lasting impression on Leroy Ioas illustrates the power of the Master. It occurred one evening when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke at the Masonic Temple in Chicago. More than a thousand people were present. The Ioas and Dealy families were very close, as it was through Paul Dealy that they had become Bahá’ís. The Ioases had brought Mrs. Dealy to the meeting, as she to her great distress was going blind.

Following the Master's talk, as hundreds milled around Him, she told her son he should have an interpreter ask ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to speak to her. Leroy, who was sitting next to her, remembers the son saying that would be impossible with all the people present. But she insisted and he went to pass on her request. The interpreter indicated she should sit on the aisle where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would leave. As the Master went up the aisle He stopped and greeted her lovingly. She reached for His hand and said, “‘Abdu’l-Bahá, please put your hand on my forehead, and I know that I will see.” “Yes, my daughter,” He answered, “you will see. But you will have to choose. You may have your spiritual sight or your physical sight—which do you desire?” She said with emotion, “‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that is no choice! I would be blind a thousand years before I would give up my spiritual sight!” “Well said, my daughter, well said,” replied the Master as He touched her shoulder and continued on His way out. Sitting next to her on that bench, Leroy realized with a chill how in that moment she had decided on her destiny. She was steadfast.

Source: Anita Ioas Chapman, Leroy Ioas: Hand of the Cause of God, pp. 25–26. Mrs. Dealy's choice of spiritual sight is also recorded in Star of the West, vol. 9, no. 19 (1919), p. 225.

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: steadfastness).

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