Devotional for World Peace

"Dedicate the precious days of your lives to the betterment of the world." ---Bahá’u’lláh

Opening Prayer

Reading 1

Reading 2

Music

Reading 3

Reading 4

Reading 5

Music

Reading 6

Reading 7

Closing Prayer
 Opening Prayer

O Thou kind Lord! This gathering is turning to Thee. These hearts are radiant with Thy
love. These minds and spirits are exhilarated by the message of Thy glad-tidings. O God! Let
this American democracy become glorious in spiritual degrees even as it has aspired to material
degrees, and render this just government victorious. Confirm this revered nation to upraise the
standard of the oneness of humanity, to promulgate the Most Great Peace, to become thereby
most glorious and praiseworthy among all the nations of the world. O God! This American
nation is worthy of Thy favors and is deserving of Thy mercy. Make it precious and near to
Thee through Thy bounty and bestowal. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

1. We behold you, O children of the Kingdom, in darkness. This, verily, beseemeth you not. Are ye, in
the face of the Light, fearful because of your deeds? Direct yourselves towards Him… Verily, He
(Jesus) said: ‘Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.’ In this day,
however, We say: ‘Come ye after Me, that We may make you to become quickeners of mankind.’
Bahá’u’lláh (Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 91)

2. For the betterment of the world Bahá'u'lláh endured all the hardships, ordeals and vicissitudes of life,
sacrificing His very being and comfort, forfeiting His estates, possessions and honor -- all that
pertains to human existence -- not for one year, nay, rather, for nearly fifty years. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 322)

3. The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of the
fundamental oneness of religion. War shall cease between nations, and by the will of God the Most
Great Peace shall come; the world will be seen as a new world, and all men will live as brothers.
(Commissioned by The Universal House of Justice, Century of Light, p. 20)

4. Today there is no greater glory for man than that of service in the cause of the Most Great Peace.
Peace is light, whereas war is darkness. Peace is life; war is death. Peace is guidance; war is error.
Peace is the foundation of God; war is a satanic institution. Peace is the illumination of the world of
humanity; war is the destroyer of human foundations. When we consider outcomes in the world of
existence, we find that peace and fellowship are factors of upbuilding and betterment, whereas war
and strife are the causes of destruction and disintegration. All created things are expressions of the
affinity and cohesion of elementary substances, and nonexistence is the absence of their attraction
and agreement. Various elements unite harmoniously in composition, but when these elements
become discordant, repelling each other, decomposition and nonexistence result. Everything partakes
of this nature and is subject to this principle, for the creative foundation in all its degrees and
kingdoms is an expression or outcome of love. Consider the restlessness and agitation of the human
world today because of war. Peace is health and construction; war is disease and dissolution. When
the banner of truth is raised, peace becomes the cause of the welfare and advancement of the human
 world. In all cycles and ages war has been a factor of derangement and discomfort, whereas peace
and brotherhood have brought security and consideration of human interests. This distinction is
especially pronounced in the present world conditions, for warfare in former centuries had not
attained the degree of savagery and destructiveness which now characterizes it. If two nations were
at war in olden times, ten or twenty thousand would be sacrificed, but in this century the destruction
of one hundred thousand lives in a day is quite possible. So perfected has the science of killing
become and so efficient the means and instruments of its accomplishment that a whole nation can be
obliterated in a short time. Therefore, comparison with the methods and results of ancient warfare is
out of the question. According to an intrinsic law all phenomena of being attain to a summit and
degree of consummation, after which a new order and condition is established. As the instruments
and science of war have reached the degree of thoroughness and proficiency, it is hoped that the
transformation of the human world is at hand and that in the coming centuries all the energies and
inventions of man will be utilized in promoting the interests of peace and brotherhood. Therefore,
may this esteemed and worthy society for the establishment of international peace be confirmed in
its sincere intentions and empowered by God. Then will it hasten the time when the banner of
universal agreement will be raised and international welfare will be proclaimed and consummated so
that the darkness which now encompasses the world shall pass away.
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 123)

5. THE PITIFUL CAUSES OF WAR, AND THE DUTY OF EVERYONE TO STRIVE FOR PEACE,
'Abdu'l-Bahá said:

I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts of your heart on love and unity.
When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be
destroyed by a more powerful thought of love. Thoughts of war bring destruction to all harmony,
well-being, restfulness and content. Thoughts of love are constructive of brotherhood, peace,
friendship, and happiness. When soldiers of the world draw their swords to kill, soldiers of God
clasp each other's hands! So may all the savagery of man disappear by the Mercy of God, working
through the pure in heart and the sincere of soul. Do not think the peace of the world an ideal
impossible to attain! Nothing is impossible to the Divine Benevolence of God. If you desire with all
your heart, friendship with every race on earth, your thought, spiritual and positive, will spread; it
will become the desire of others, growing stronger and stronger, until it reaches the minds of all men.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 28)

6. All the Prophets of God came for love of this one great aim. Look how Abraham strove to bring faith
and love among the people; how Moses tried to unite the people by sound laws; how the Lord Christ
suffered unto death to bring the light of love and truth into a darkened world; how Muhammad
sought to bring unity and peace between the various uncivilized tribes among whom he dwelt. And
last of all, Bahá'u'lláh has suffered forty years for the same cause -- the single noble purpose of
spreading love among the children of men -- and for the peace and unity of the world the Báb gave
up his life.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 170)
7. I beseech you, one and all, to add your prayers to mine to the end that war and bloodshed may cease,
and that love, friendship, peace and unity may reign in the world. All down the ages we see how
blood has stained the surface of the earth; but now a ray of greater light has come, man's intelligence
is greater, spirituality is beginning to grow, and a time is surely coming when the religions of the
world will be at peace. Let us leave the discordant arguments concerning outward forms, and let us
join together to hasten forward the Divine Cause of unity, until all humanity knows itself to be one
family, joined together in love. (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 123)

Closing Prayer

O my God! O my God! Verily, I invoke Thee and supplicate before Thy threshold,
asking Thee that all Thy mercies may descend upon these souls. Specialize them for Thy
favor and Thy truth. O Lord! Unite and bind together the hearts, join in accord all the souls,
and exhilarate the spirits through the signs of Thy sanctity and oneness. O Lord! Make
these faces radiant through the light of Thy oneness. Strengthen the loins of Thy servants in
the service of Thy kingdom. O Lord, Thou possessor of infinite mercy! O Lord of
forgiveness and pardon! Forgive our sins, pardon our shortcomings, and cause us to turn to
the kingdom of Thy clemency, invoking the kingdom of might and power, humble at Thy
shrine and submissive before the glory of Thine evidences. O Lord God! Make us as waves
of the sea, as flowers of the garden, united, agreed through the bounties of Thy love. O
Lord! Dilate the breasts through the signs of Thy oneness, and make all mankind as stars
shining from the same height of glory, as perfect fruits growing upon Thy tree of life. Verily,
Thou art the Almighty, the Self-Subsistent, the Giver, the Forgiving, the Pardoner, the
Omniscient, the One Creator. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá