of their Auxiliary Boards who gathered last

Auxiliary Boards - "The Hands of the Cause of God, the Counselors and the members of the Auxiliary Boards fall within the definition of the "learned" given by the beloved Guardian. Thus they are all intimately interrelated and it is not incorrect to refer to the three ranks collectively as one institution." - House of Justice referring to a letter of the beloved Guardian dated 4 Nov 1931

January
in the Holy Land. The event produced

January 09, 2001
Holy Land - The oldest recorded statement with this designation is found in Zechariah 2:12 ("And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, ...")

so illuminating an experience as to signalize into a new epoch,

Illuminate - To make light, to be resplendentthe Faith's entry
Epoch - Shoghi Effendi has divided the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah into three ages. The first of these, the "Primitive," "Heroic," or "Apostolic Age" began with the Declaration of the Bab in 1844. It is divided into three epochs corresponding to the ministries of the Bab (1844-53), Baha'u'llah (1853-92), and `Abdu'l-Baha (1892-1921). Shoghi Effendi states that this first age concluded with the death of `Abdu'l-Baha in 1921 and "more particularly" with the death of Bahiyyih Khanum in 1932 (WOB 98).
The second age is called the "Formative" or "Iron Age." It also divided into epochs. The first of these lasted until 1944 (CF 5) or 1946 (MBW 19) and covers the period during which the Baha'i administrative order was being set up by Shoghi Effendi. The second epoch, which lasted until 1963, was marked by the global spread of the Baha'i Faith.
The third epoch, which lasted until 1986 was characterized by the emergence of the Baha'i Faith from obscurity and the initiation of social and economic development plans. The present epoch, which is the fourth epoch of the Formative Age, is considered to have begun in 1986 and is to be marked by the national Baha'i communities taking on the responsibility for their own development.

The fifth of its Formative Age. Such a

Fifth Epoch - Began with Ridvan 2001
Formative Age - From 1921- until the inception of the Golden Age of the Baha'i Faith

freshness of vitality as was displayed at this historic gathering came to be understood as a manifestation of the rising quality of activity throughout the community. Pursuit during the

Pursue - A following with a view to reach, accomplish, or obtain

past year of the essentials for the advancing the process of entry by troops confirmed this observation. The path was thus paved for

Advance - To accelerate the growth or progress of
Process - Continued forward movement
Observation - Act of recognizing, and noting some fact or occurrence

the Five Year Plan, the first venture being entered upon in the Fifth Epoch.

Five Year Plan - Ridvan 2001 - Ridvan 2006

In augmenting major efforts of the previous

Augment - To enhance or magnify

Four Year Plan that brought into being more

Four Year Plan - From Ridvan 1996 - Ridvan 2000

than 300 training institutes,

Institutes - ... .... It is therefore of paramount importance that systematic attention be given to devising methods for educating large numbers of believers in the fundamental verities of the Faith and for training and assisting them to serve the Cause as their God-given talents allow. There should be no delay in establishing permanent institutes designed to provide well-organized, formally conducted programmes of training on a regular schedule. Access of the institute to physical facilities will of course be necessary, but it may not require a building of its own.
... ..... For the success of these training institutes will depend in very large measure on the active involvement of the Continental Counsellors and the Auxiliary Board members in their operation. Particularly will it be necessary for Auxiliary Board members to have a close working relationship with institutes and, of course, with the Local Spiritual Assemblies whose communities will benefit from institute programmes. Since institutes are to be regarded as centres of learning, and since their character harmonizes with, and provides scope for the exercise of, the educational responsibilities of the Auxiliary Board members, the intimate involvement in institute operations should now become a part of the evolving functions of these officers of the Faith. Drawing on the talents and abilities of increasing numbers of believers will also be crucial to the development and execution of instituteprogrammes.
As the term "institute" has assumed various uses in the Bahá¡'á­ community, a word of clarification is needed ...... What the friends throughout the world are now being asked to do is to commit themselves, their material resources, their abilities and their time to the development of a network of training institutes on a scale never before attempted. These centres of Bahá¡'á­ learning will have as their goal one very practical outcome, namely, the raising up of large numbers of believers who are trained to foster and facilitate the process of entry by troops with efficiency and love

the Twelve Month Plan achieved its purpose

Twelve Month Plan - The two stages in the unfoldment of the Divine Plan lying immediately ahead will last one year and five years respectively. At Ridvan 2000 the Baha'i world will be asked to embark on the first of these two stages, a twelve-month effort aimed at concentrating the forces, the capacities and the insights that have so strongly emerged. ( 2000 Ridvan Message)

It gathered significance through the notable responses of institutions and individuals to the call for a greater focus on the spiritual nurturing of children and the involvement of junior youth in Baha'i community life

Bahaí Community Life - The education of the members of the community in the principles and essential verities underlying the Covenants of Baha'u'llah and of `Abdu'l-Baha as well as the Administrative Order of the Faith -- the twin pillars sustaining the spiritual life and the institutions of every organized Baha'i community -- must, at all costs, be vigorously pursued and systematically intensified. (From a Letter of the Guardian, to the Baha'is of the West, February 8, 1934)

The training of teachers of children's classes and the inclusion of junior youth in the institute process have become a regular part of Baha'i activity in a number of countries. Despite its brevity, the Twelve Month Plan had an importance beyond objectives specifically assigned.

Junior youth -
Regular - Steady, uniform practice
Brevity - Shortness of duration
Objectives - That toward which effort is directed

The Plan was a dynamic link between a highly eventful epoch in Baha'i history and

Dynamic - Effective action, potent, forceful
Baha'i History - Events related to the Baha'i Faith since the birth of Baha'u'llah and the Bab

the immensely promising prospects of a new one, for which its achievements have so well

Immense - Immeasurable, infinite, magnificent
Achievement - Something accomplished by praiseworthy exertion

prepared the community. It has been etched

Etch - Engraved as in metal, a process

in our annals, too, for the enduring effects of the Faith's activities at the end of the twentieth century - a century that deserves to be reflected upon by any Baha'i who wishes to understand the tumultuous forces that influenced the life of the planet and the processes of the Cause itself at a crucial time in humanity's social and spiritual evolution. As an aid to so worthy and effort, Century of Light, a review of the twentieth century, was prepared at our request and under our supervision

Annals - Historical Records
Reflect -To turn back the thoughts to contemplate
Tumultuous - Full of commotion, agitation
Crucial - Relating to final choice or decision

On many occasions during this one-year endeavor, the external affairs activities of the Faith were especially visible. Consider, for example the instances of Baha'i representatives' having participated prominently in the millennial events that took place in May, August and September at the urging of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Endeavor - To exert strenuously
Visible - That which may be perceived
UN - visit http://www.un.org

The implications of so close and conspicuous an involvement of the Bahaí International Community with the processes of the Lesser

Implication - Involvement, close connection
Conspicuous - Attract attention, quite obvious, eminent
Involvement - To occupy, to employ
Lesser Peace - " Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace, hold ye fast unto this, the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some degree better your own condition and that of your dependents". (GWB, p. 254)

Peace will require the passage of time to be properly understood. Among other highlights was the continental colloquium organized in India by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity, a new agency operating under the aegis of the Baha'i International Community.

Colloquium - A meeting for discussion, conversation
Aegis - Shield, guidence
BIC - Visit http://www.bic-un.bahai.org

Adopting the theme of "science, religion and development", the conference featured the participation of leading non-governmental organizations of India, as well as that of institutions of such renown as UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank.

UNESCO - http://www.unesco.org
UNICEF - http://www.supportunicef.org
WHO - http://www.who.int
World Bank - http://www.worldbank.org

In October, the Bahaí World News Service (BWNS) was launched on the internet with the intention of reaching both Baha'i and non-Bahaí audiences with news stories about developments throughout the Bahaí World

BWNS - http://www.bahaiworldnews.org

Baha'i World - http://www.bahai.org

The intensive activities at the Bahaí World Center during the last year were, for the most part, made known to the friends through previous reports that included references to such achievements as the occupation by the International Teaching Center of its permanent

International Teaching Center - The International Teaching Centre will be the seat of that institution which is specifically invested with the twin functions of the protection and propagation of the Cause of God. The institution itself, referred to by the beloved Guardian in his writings, was established in June 1973, bringing to fruition the work of the Hands of the Cause of God residing in the Holy Land and providing for the extension into the future of functions with which that body had been endowed. (From a letter from the House of Justice, dated 31 August 1987)
For more informationRead : Letter from the Universal House of justice, dated June 8, 1973, quoted in Lights of Guidance Item 647, p. 240

seat on Mount Carmel; the Conference of Continental Counsellors and the members of the Auxiliary Board s held in the Holy Land last January; and the completion of the Mount Carmel projects, which are now receiving finishing touches in preparation for the celebratory events in May. Last October, for the first time, pilgrims and visitors were received at the new reception center in Haifa, which became fully operational. At Bahji the embellishment of the sacred site through the development of its gardens has proceeded continually; the effort has, however, received a boost from the new project initiated last year to construct a Visitors' Center towards the northern end of the property beyond the Collins Gate. Scheduled for completion in the next few months, the structure is fully in place, and work is progressing in all areas, including finishing and landscaping. The new facilities will improve the ability of the World Center to receive increasing number of pilgrims, short-term Baha'i visitors, and special guests

Counselors - See Appendix: Counselors (Turn to page 21)

Bahji - The Holy Tomb of Baha'u'llah Embellishment - Process of enhancing the beaut

Pilgrim - Please see Appendix "Pilgrimage" (Turn to page 24)

To conclude this summary of the year, we rejoice in informing you that, after the lapse of almost three decades, National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Indonesia was restored at the National Convention held in Jakarta last Ridvan. A ban imposed on Baha'i activities in August 1962 severely restricted the actions of the Indonesian Baha'is for all that time, but they remained steadfast and wise in

Lapse - passing, slip, drop
Decade - Ten years
National Assembly -

Steadfast - "And be thou so steadfast in My love that thy heart shall not waver, even if the swords of the enemies rain blows upon thee and all the heavens and the earth arise against thee". From the Tablet of Ahmed

their long-suffering until changed circumstances in that country resulted in the lifting of the ban. May we not venture to hope, then, that a similar happy report concerning our beleaguered co-religionists in Iran, Egypt, and other countries will not be too far distant?

Beleaguered - Harassed, Besieged, struggled

Dear friends : Two decades from now the Bahaí world will celebrate the centenary of the inception of the Formative Age. We look back

Inception - beginning, foundation, start Formative Age - CROWNING FEATURE OF ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER: THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE During this Formative Age of the Faith, and in the course of present and succeeding epochs, the last and crowning stage in the erection of the framework of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá¡'u'llá¡h--the--the election of the Universal House of Justice--will have been completed, the Kitá¡b-i-Aqdas, the Mother-Book of His Revelation, will have been codified and its laws promulgated, the Lesser Peace will have been established, the unity of mankind will have been achieved and its maturity attained, the Plan conceived by `Abdu'l-Bahá¡ will have been executed, the emancipation of the Faith from the fetters of religious orthodoxy will have been effected, and its independent religious status will have been universally recognized, whilst in the course of the Golden Age, destined to consummate the Dispensation itself, the banner of the Most Great Peace, promised by its Author, will have been unfurled, the World Bahá¡'á­ Commonwealth will have yet achieved since the Divine Plan itself was set in motion during the concluding years of the first Bahá¡'á­ century. Citadel of Faith,
by Shoghi Effendi, pp. 6-7:

at the dawning of the Age from the vantage point of attainments that could hardly have been imagined at the outset. Up ahead are horizons that urgently summon the community to even greater achievements in the short span separating it from that centennial. Those heights can and must be scaled. The Five Year Plan, to which we call the urgent and sustained attention of the

Span -Distance, extent
Centennial - One hundred years
Scale - Conquered
Sustain - Continue, uphold

friends throughout the world, is intended to meet this challenge. It constitutes the first of a series

of campaigns that will be pursued during these

Intended - Planned, proposed
Challenge - Confront, face up to
Constitute - Comprise, represent

Campaign - Movement, operation, drive
Pursue - Follow, track

twenty years. This Plan marks the next phase in the aim to accomplish a significant

Accomplish - Achieve, realize
Significant - Important, noteworthy, significant

advance in the process of entry by troops. It demands an acceleration of this vital process and, furthermore, insists upon continuity in systematic endeavor on the

Troops - Multitude, crowd
Acceleration - speeding up, rushing
Continuity - permanence, stability
Systematic - Efficient, methodical, orderly
Endeavor - To exert one's self strenuously

part of its three constituent participants

Constituent - Ingredient, element, component
Participant - Member, contributor, partaker

the individual, the institutions, and the

community
No need to elaborate on the requirements of the Plan, for these were set out in our message to the assembled Counsellors in the Holy Land and subsequently shared with all National Assemblies. Soon after their conference, the Counsellors began consulting with the National Assemblies about the execution of the Plan in their respective jurisdictions. The Plan's direction

Individual - Person
Institution - Organization, establishment, body
Community - Baha'i population
Requirement - Obligation, prerequisite
Subsequently - Later, next, afterwards

Execution - Follow through to the end
Respective - Own, individual, particular
Jurisdiction - Authority, influence, command

is therefore known to the friends everywhere, as regional and local preparations for pursuing its major aim are under way. There is a general awareness by now that efforts will be made to effect a deeper penetration of the Faith into

Regional - provincial
Local - base
Pursue - Follow, chase
Major - Main, chief, foremost
Aim - Aspire, intend, endeavor
General - Universal, all-purpose, common
Awareness - Consciousness, alertness, responsiveness
Effort - Exertion of power
Effect - That which is produced by an agent or cause
Deeper - Extensive, broad, firm
Penetration - Diffusion, dispersion, dissemination

more and more regions within countries.
For example, where circumstances permit, local communities that exist in close proximity to each other will be mobilized

to participate in extensive programs of

Proximity - Nearness, closeness
Mobilize - Rally, organize, assemble

Participate - Play a part, contribute, get involved
Extensive - Having wide extent
Program - Agenda, plan
Approach - Move forward, come near, approach

same consecrated spirit that prompted

those who scattered abroad at earlier times

Consecrate - Sanctify, bless
Spirit - Strength, courage, fortitude
Prompt - Punctual, timely
Scatter - Disperse, spread out
Abroad - Overseas, out of the country

to open virgin territories across continents and seas. Suffice it to say that the process animating this divinely driven enterprise will

Virgin Territory - Lands that are not opened to the Faith yet
Suffice - Enough, sufficient, adequate
Animate - Living, alive, conscious
Divine - Celestial, heavenly, Godly
Enterprise - An attempt or project