The Master said to Mary Hanford Ford, alluding to the restriction of His and…
bahaistories.com archive · Read original
Studio narration for this story is coming — it’ll be generated by the cloud-TTS pipeline (voice: auto-selected from the source author).
When in Bahá'í history
'Akká (today: Acre, Israel)
The Master said to Mary Hanford Ford, alluding to the restriction of His and His family’s life in ‘Akka: ‘. . . we are all happy because we have the love of God in our hearts. When the heart is full of the love of God it loses consciousness of the body. Then pain is as pleasure, then darkness is as light! If such a one is shut in a prison there are no walls for him, no solitude, he knows not a prison!’
Source: Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 103
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: prison-akka).
Discuss this story
For adults
- Where do love and patience meet in this story?
- How does this story illustrate the practice of love?
- What stands out about 'Abdu'l-Bahá's response in this account?
For teens
- How could the spirit of love show up in your week?
- What does this story say about how to face hard moments?
Reflection
- Read the passage a second time, slowly. What did you notice that you missed the first time?
- Sit quietly for a moment after reading. What does this story stir in you?
- If you could bring one quality from this story into your next conversation, what would it be?
Comprehension quiz
Which source is "The Master said to Mary Hanford Ford, alluding to the restriction of His and…" drawn from?
Where does this story take place?
What period of Bahá'í history does this story belong to?
Which historical figure is featured most prominently in this story?
Which virtue does this story most clearly illustrate?
Cite this story
Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/prison-akka
Record yourself reading this story
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