Despair

Things have come to such a pass that hope hath well nigh been banished from the hearts of Thy chosen ones, and the breaths of despair are ready to seize them, by reason of what hath befallen them in Thy days.

Be joyous while the ugly face of despair grins at you . . . .

Despair, both here and hereafter, is all you will gain from self-indulgence . . . .

If we are not happy and joyous at this season, for what other season shall we wait and for what other time shall we look?

Know thou that hardship and privation shall increase day by day, and the people shall thereby be afflicted. The doors of joy and happiness shall be closed on all sides, and terrible wars shall occur. Frustration and despair shall encompass the people until they are forced to turn to the One True God. Then will the light of most joyful tidings so illumine the horizons that the cry of 'Yá Bahá’u’l Bahá' will be raised from every direction. This shall come to pass.

One must never consider one's own feebleness, it is the strength of the Holy Spirit of Love, which gives the power to teach. The thought of our own weakness could only bring despair.

Still, as the believers of God are turning to the limitless world, they do not become very depressed and sad by disastrous calamities - there is something to console them; but the others in no way have anything to comfort them at the time of calamity.

Do you believe me when I say that I, the grandson of the Master, have been victim of painful experiences, sometimes of bitter disappointments, and always of constant anxieties - all justified - for my immediate work and future? If you have spent of late painful and trying times, my share of these troubled hours is by no means much less and my burden much lighter.

I am bound with my lectures and courses and feel sometimes depressed.

My studies and preoccupations are exerting an effect upon me almost as distressing as your own difficulties. Believe me it is so. I don't know what I shall do at the end.

They should persevere in their task, undaunted by the rising tide of calamity and despair which afflicts the world, and which is mysteriously paving the way for its unification and ultimate redemption.

We must not only be patient with others, infinitely patient!, but also with our own poor selves, remembering that even the Prophets of God sometimes got tired and cried out in despair!

As you face the future, you are encouraged to rely on prayer and consultation as your mainstays, confident in prayer’s solace and in Bahá’u’lláh’s assertion that “consultation bestoweth greater awareness and transmuteth conjecture into certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leadeth the way and guideth."

At this exact time in history when the peoples of the world are weighed down with soul-crushing difficulties and the shadow of despair threatens to eclipse the light of hope, there must be revived among the individual believers a sense of mission, a feeling of empowerment to minister to the urgent need of humanity for guidance and thus to win victories for the Faith in their own sphere of life.

It must be realized that the isolation and despair from which so many suffer are products of an environment ruled by an all-pervasive materialism. And in this the friends must understand the ramifications of Bahá’u’lláh’s statement that “the present-day order” must “be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead."

The House of Justice encourages you not to despair. Despite the illness you have inherited and the violence in the family life you have experienced, you have been favored with the greatest of all gifts: recognition of the Manifestation of God for this Age. May the realization of this fundamental reality give you the strength and confidence to take full advantage of the time you have left on this mortal plane.

The House of Justice has noted with sympathetic understanding the despair to which you have been driven by the recurrent incidences of cruelty and neglect you have been made to endure. It well appreciates, too, the urgency of your quest for relief from the consequent stresses that compound your ill health and exhaust your spirit.

Let neither despondency nor despair becloud the serenity of thy life or restrain thy freedom. These days shall pass away. We will, please God, in the Abhá Kingdom and beneath the sheltering shadow of the Blessed Beauty, forget all these our earthly cares and will find each one of these base calumnies amply compensated by His expressions of praise and favour. From the beginning of time sorrow and anxiety, regret and tribulation, have always been the lot of every loyal servant of God. Ponder this in thine heart and consider how very true it is. Wherefore, set thine heart on the tender mercies of the Ancient Beauty and be thou filled with abiding joy and intense gladness.