394. Institutional Meeting for Eastern Europe

394

Institutional Meeting for Eastern Europe

15 April 2022

To the Believers Gathered at the Institutional Meeting for Eastern Europe

Dearly loved Friends,

394.1 As we supplicate at the Sacred Threshold for the successful launch of the Nine Year Plan throughout the world, our thoughts are especially with you who have come together in the heart of a region that is, at this dramatic hour, beset with so much suffering and uncertainty. We are deeply touched by the unified endeavours of the peoples of your lands to respond to the immediate crisis by providing assistance and shelter to those afflicted and displaced. In the midst of this tragedy, multitudes throughout Eastern Europe are searching once again for answers to existential questions. What else but the divine remedy of Bahá’u’lláh can heal their wounds and provide them with hope and vision for a better world? Where else can so many children and youth find the promise of a society founded on truth and justice if not within the community-building endeavours of the Cause of the Comforter of the world? We look to you who have been called to serve on the institutions and agencies of the Faith to exert a mighty effort in each of your countries to attract souls in significant numbers to His message, especially in clusters where a programme of growth is under way, and to draw on the methods and instruments of the Plan to address the needs and aspirations of your populations.\

394.2 As you set your objectives for the coming cycles, you should keep in mind the urgency of the situation at hand and the magnitude of the global enterprise about to begin and ensure that your efforts excel all those you have previously made. In recent months, the people of your region have been stirred to a new consciousness and have demonstrated great resourcefulness and initiative. Let this be evidence of the widespread capacity that exists to shoulder the work of the Cause. Seize the moment to aid and empower receptive souls to spearhead the community-building process, and trust in their ability to take charge of the growth and consolidation of communities.

394.3 Alas, dramatic upheavals have periodically plagued Eastern Europe, the most recent of which has shaken the world. You who are the spiritual descendants of the great teachers of the Cause in that region hold the key to the ultimate resolution of the source of people’s suffering. We assure you of our abiding love and fervent prayers in the Holy Shrines that you and your communities may fulfil the vital part you are destined to play in the upliftment of your societies.

The Universal House of Justice