Daily Frameworks for 12 February 2023

Jamál, 06 Mulk (Dominion), 179 B.E

The Nine Year Plan: 2022-2031

Raising capacity for administration at all levels

Eighty years ago, a letter written on behalf of the Guardian described Bahá’í administration as “the first shaping of what in future will come to be the social life and laws of community living”. Today, at the beginning of the second century of the Formative Age, the shape of Bahá’í administration has developed considerably, and its continued development will be essential for the release of the society-building power of the Faith. ^{12 3}

Guiding Principles of Bahá’í Administration

The administrative machinery of the Cause having now sufficiently evolved, its aim and object fairly well grasped and understood, and its method and working made more familiar to every believer, I feel the time is ripe when it should be fully and consciously utilized to further the purpose for which it has been created. It should, I strongly feel, be made to serve a twofold purpose. On one hand, it should aim at a steady and gradual expansion of the Movement along lines that are at once broad, sound and universal; and on the other it should insure the internal consolidation of the work already achieved. It should both provide the impulse whereby the dynamic forces latent in the Faith can unfold, crystallize, and shape the lives and conduct of men, and serve as a medium for the interchange of thought and the coordination of activities among the divers elements that constitute the Bahá’í community. ⁴

1. “O Divine Providence! Awaken me and make me conscious. Cause me to be detached from all else save Thee, and captivate me by the love of Thy beauty. Waft upon me the breath of the Holy Spirit, and suffer me to hearken to the call of the Abhá Kingdom. Bestow upon me heavenly power, and kindle the lamp of the spirit within the innermost chamber of my heart. Release me from every bond, and deliver me from every attachment, that I may cherish no desire except Thy good-pleasure, seek naught besides Thy Countenance, and tread no path other than Thy path. Grant that I may enable the heedless to become mindful and the slumberers to awaken, that I may proffer the water of life to those who are sore athirst and bring divine healing to those who are sick and ailing.
   “Though I am lowly, abased, and poor, yet Thou art my haven and my refuge, my supporter and my helper. Send down Thine aid in such wise that all may be astounded. O God! Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the Most Powerful, the Giver, the Bestower, and the All-Seeing.”
   ’Abdu’l-Bahá. “Prayers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.” Bahá’í Reference Library. Accessed February 12, 2023. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/prayers-abdul-baha/2#874596022. ↩
2. Universal House of Justice. The Nine Year Plan: 2022-2031. 1st ed. Wilmette, Illinois: Baha’i Publishing, 2022, 65. ↩
3. Universal House of Justice. “30 December 2021 – To the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors.” Bahá’í Reference Library, December 30, 2021. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20211230_001/1#758524505. ↩
4. Effendi, Shoghi. Baháʾí Administration: Selected Messages, 1922-1932. Wilmette, Ill: Baháʾí Publishing Trust, 1974, 109. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/bahai-administration/8#770321763. ↩