The Guardian's Heart Was Like a Mirror
bahaistories.com archive · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
Shoghi Effendi completely dedicated his whole life to the Cause of God. He had no other thought. He ate, he slept, he was awake, he worked, every minute, day and night, was for the Cause of God. He thought of nothing else. Nothing else was of any interest to him. He didn’t talk about anything else. He talked about the conditions of the Plan. He talked about the services of the friends. And he was like a barometer. When any word came from any part of the world about successes of the believers in the teaching work they did, he was joyous and he was happy. But when word came of difficulties within the Faith, of persecutions of the some of the Bahá’ís, of difficulties that the pioneers were meeting with, the suffering of the believers, he became very sad. His heart was like a mirror, and it seemed [to] reflect all parts of the world. And wherever he turned his heart, he saw what was there. He saw pictured before him the exact conditions of the believers themselves.
Source: Hand of the Cause of God Leroy Ioas, “In the Days of the Guardian,” talk given in Johannesburg, South Africa, 31 October 1958 (transcript at bahai-library.com/ioas_days_guardian).
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: shoghi-effendi).
Cite this story
Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/shoghi-effendi
Record yourself reading this story
Recording stays on this device only. Nothing is uploaded.
Related stories
The Guardian Conquers Himself
Leroy Ioas recalled Shoghi Effendi telling how, unwilling to become Guardian after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing, he went to the mountains of Switzerland and fought with himself until he conquered himself, and that every Bahá’í must do the same.
The Victories Won Through the Friends
Leroy Ioas recalls the evening Shoghi Effendi shared news that a discouraged pioneer on a Pacific island, whom he had urged again and again to stay, now had two spiritual assemblies.
Leroy Ioas Remembers the Guardian
Hand of the Cause Leroy Ioas recalls the contrast between Shoghi Effendi's slight, refined frame and the power with which he spoke, and how closely the Guardian resembled 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
The Guardian’s Unfinished Plans
Leroy Ioas recalls that until Shoghi Effendi passed away in England he was sending cables about work to finish before his return, which suggests he did not expect to die.