U.S. President Barack Obama joined representatives of America's many religions on17 December 2012 in the northeastern town of Newtown, Connecticut for a nighttime vigil held in honor and memory of the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Obama started his speech as follows: Scripture tells us: "…do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away…inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands."One of the religions represented at the multi-faith service tonight was the Baha'i Faith.
Please find herewith the beautiful and moving Baha'i scripture which was read at this occasion by John and Margo Deselin Woodall during the livetelecast:
"…Although the loss of a (child) is indeed heart-breaking and beyond the limits of human endurance, yet one who knoweth and understandeth is assured that the child hath not been lost but, rather, hath stepped from this world into another, and you will find them in the divine realm. That reunion shall be for eternity, while in this world separation is inevitable and bringeth with it a burning grief.
Praise be unto God that thou hast faith, art turning thy face toward the everlasting Kingdom and believest in the existence of a heavenly world. Therefore be thou not disconsolate, do not languish, do not sigh, neither wail nor weep; for agitation and mourning deeply affect their soul in the divine realm.
That beloved child addresseth thee from the hidden world: 'O thou kind Mother (and Father), thank divine Providence that I have been freed from a small and gloomy cage and, like the birds of the meadows, have soared to the divine world—a world which is spacious, illumined, and ever joyous and jubilant. Therefore, lament not, O Mother and Father, and be not grieved; I am not of the lost, nor have I been obliterated and destroyed. I have shaken off the mortal form and have raised my banner in this spiritual world. Following this separation is everlasting companionship. Thou shalt find me in the heaven of the Lord, immersed in an ocean of light.'
Abdu'l-Baha Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 201
See video below:
