Monthly Reflection: Qawl (Speech) – On the Day of the Covenant

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For this month’s newsletter, I want to bring to the fore some media resources related to Abdu’l-Baha and some tributes of souls who were transformed in this presence. In preparation for our community’s celebration for the Day of the Covenant, I had the opportunity to return to the film Exemplar that was commissioned for the centenary of the Passing of Abdu’l-Baha. It has not lost its lustre or its beauty and I definitely recommend watching it again!

On a much smaller production scale, you might wish to revisit a video project we put together about the Centre of the Covenant:

And our sister channel, Baha’i Inspired, created this short introductory video on the Station of Abdu’l-Baha:

If you check out our special collection dedicated to Abdu’l-Baha, as well as our resource page for the Day of the Covenant, you’ll find several songs–both ones we’ve produced either as Studio Sessions or songs we’ve captured at conferences–as well as music made elsewhere by talented friends. Here is just a sampling:

There are several other musical gems in those collections–I could go on and on!

When contemplating the Day of the Covenant, I love to reflect on the stories of individuals whose lives were transformed by being in His presence–whether it’s how Abdu’l-Baha twice rested on John Bosch’s shoulder, how Fred Mortensen rode underneath trains in order to meet Him, how Abdu’l-Baha comforted and encouraged Thornton Chase when he poured out his heartaches, how Abdu’l-Baha and Fujita would laugh, how swiftly and illustriously Thomas Breakwell changed his source of income after meeting Abdu’l-Baha, and how Mother Beecher’s life was never the same after a near-death vision of Him. To name just a few!

I’d love to end this month’s newsletter with these words of tribute by the Universal House of Justice to Abdu’l-Baha (you can hear this tribute read aloud too):

He is, and should for all time be regarded, first and foremost, as the Centre and Pivot of Baha’u’llah’s peerless and all-enfolding Covenant, His most exalted handiwork, the stainless Mirror of His light, the perfect Exemplar of His teachings, the unerring Interpreter of His Word, the embodiment of every Baha’i ideal, the incarnation of every Baha’i virtue, the Most Mighty Branch sprung from the Ancient Root, the Limb of the Law of God, the Being “round Whom all names revolve”, the Mainspring of the Oneness of Humanity, the Ensign of the Most Great Peace, the Moon of the Central Orb of this most holy Dispensation—styles and titles that are implicit and find their truest, their highest and fairest expression in the magic name Abdu’l-Baha. He is, above and beyond these appellations, the “Mystery of God”—an expression by which Baha’u’llah Himself has chosen to designate Him, and which, while it does not by any means justify us to assign to Him the station of Prophethood, indicates how in the person of Abdu’l-Baha the incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended and are completely harmonized.

Wishing you a happy and joyous Day of the Covenant!

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Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.