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The high watermark of so gigantic an exertion, however, still remains to be reached. The year now entered, ushered in and consecrated by the Centenary of the tragic execution of the Martyr-Prophet of our Faith, and packed with poignant memories of the Persecutions of Zanjan which stained its history a hundred years ago and carried its fortunes to almost its lowest ebb, and were a prelude to the most ghastly holocaust ever experienced by its followers, must witness as it rolls forward to its close, a still more striking demonstration of the tenacity of the members of this community, a still nobler display of acts of self- sacrifice, a still more inspiring manifestation of solidarity, and evidences of a grimmer determination, of a greater courage and perseverance in response to the triple call of this Present hour. (84:1) The vital needs of the most holy House of Worship reared in the service and for the glory of the Most Great Name, though virtually met, still require the last exertions to ensure its completion as the hour of its Jubilee approaches. The Latin-American enterprise, initiated thirteen years ago, and marking the initial collective undertaking launched by the American Baha'i Community beyond the confines of the great republic of the West, and under the mandate of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, still in a state of emergency and rapidly advancing towards its initial fruition, demands unrelaxing vigilance, and calls for still more strenuous exertions and self-sacrifice on the part of those who have so enthusiastically embarked upon it, who have so conscientiously and painstakingly shepherded it along its destined course and throughout the early stages of its unfoldment, and who are now, as a result of their ceaseless exertions, witnessing the first efflorescence of their mammoth pioneer labors. The construction of the superstructure of the Holy Sepulcher of the Blessed Bab, now, at this anxious and urgent hour, superimposed on the manifold responsibilities shouldered by members of the American Baha'i Community, affording them the first historic opportunity of directly sustaining, through their contributions, the most sacred enterprise ever undertaken in the history of the Faith, the first and most holy edifice reared at its World Center, and the initial international institution heralding the establishment of the supreme legislative body at the World Administrative Center, requires the immediate and sustained attention of the members of a community whose destiny has been linked, ever since its inception, with the various stages marking the rise and consolidation of this divinely appointed, unspeakably holy enterprise.
(84:2)
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