Daily Frameworks for 06 January 2023

Istiqlál, 07 Sharaf (Honor), 179 B.E

The Nine Year Plan: 2022-2031

A period of special potency which began in 2016 with the centenary of the revelation of the Tablets of the Divine Plan and included the bicentennial anniversaries of the Birth of the Twin Manifestations of God is now, a hundred years after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing, drawing to a close. The advancements the Bahá’í community has made during this time have been nothing less than extraordinary. These have prepared the believers everywhere to meet the demands and fulfil the requirements of the next stage of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, which is to commence just months from now and will last nine years. The accelerating decline of the current social order, and the growing need for constructive processes that will lead to the emergence of a new world society, are daily more evident. A century after the Master bequeathed to the followers of the Greatest Name a document which contains priceless elements for building a divine civilization, we are reminded of the words of the beloved Guardian: “The champion builders of Bahá’u’lláh’s rising World Order must scale nobler heights of heroism as humanity plunges into greater depths of despair, degradation, dissension and distress.” ^{1 2 3}

The Promulgation of Universal Peace

Bahá’u’lláh teaches that material civilization is incomplete, insufficient and that divine civilization must be established. Material civilization concerns the world of matter or bodies, but divine civilization is the realm of ethics and moralities. Until the moral degree of the nations is advanced and human virtues attain a lofty level, happiness for mankind is impossible. The philosophers have founded material civilization. The Prophets have founded divine civilization. Christ was the Founder of heavenly civilization. Mankind receives the bounties of material civilization as well as divine civilization from the heavenly Prophets. The capacity for achieving extraordinary and praiseworthy progress is bestowed by Them through the breaths of the Holy Spirit, and heavenly civilization is not possible of attainment or accomplishment otherwise. This evidences the need of humanity for heavenly bestowals, and until these heavenly bestowals are received, eternal happiness cannot be realized. ⁴

1. Effendi, Shoghi. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947-1957. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1965, 58. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/citadel-faith/2#417470573. ↩
2. Universal House of Justice. The Nine Year Plan: 2022-2031. 1st ed. Wilmette, Illinois: Baha’i Publishing, 2022, 27-28. ↩
3. Universal House of Justice. “25 November 2021 – To the Friends Gathered in the Holy Land.” Bahá’í Reference Library, November 25, 2021.
   https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20211125_001/1#854275865 ↩
4. ’Abdu’l-Bahá. The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ʻAbduʼl-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912. Edited by Howard MacNutt. 2nd ed. Wilmette, Ill: Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1982, 375. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/promulgation-universal-peace/27#319479254 ↩