| Verse | Topics | Earlier translations | Hidden Words cross-reference | Other writings cross-reference
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A51 | calamity, trials | A50 |
Only Through Suffering Can Nobility of Character Be Made Manifest--The Energy We Spend Enduring the Intolerance of Others is Not Lost[edit]"As to the inconveniences you have experienced during the last ten years, the best consolation I can imagine for you is your own quotation of the Hidden Words, 'My calamity is my providence.' We must bear with one another. It is only through suffering that the nobility of character can make itself manifest. The energy we expend in enduring the intolerance of some individuals of our community is not lost. It is transformed into fortitude, steadfastness and magnanimity. The lives of Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá are the best examples for this. Sacrifices in the path of one's religion produce always immortal results, 'Out of the ashes rises the phoenix'."
God does not only punish; He chastises because He loves[edit]"God, however, as has been pointed out in the very beginning of these pages, does not only punish the wrongdoings of His children. He chastises because He is just, and He chastens because He loves. Having chastened them, He cannot, in His great mercy, leave them to their fate. Indeed, by the very act of chastening them He prepares them for the mission for which He has created them. "My calamity is My providence," He, by the mouth of Bahá'u'lláh, has assured them, "outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy.""
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