As to those souls who are born into this life as ethereal
and radiant entities and yet, on account of their handicaps and trials, are
deprived of great and real advantages, and leave the world without having lived
to the full—certainly this is a cause for grieving. This is the reason why the
universal Manifestations of God unveil Their countenances to man, and endure
every calamity and sore affliction, and lay down Their lives as a ransom; it is
to make these very people, the ready ones, the ones who have capacity, to
become dawning points of light, and to bestow upon them the life that fadeth
never. This is the true sacrifice: the offering of oneself, even as did Christ,
as a ransom for the life of the world.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Selections from the
Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
