O ye loyal servants of the Ancient Beauty! In every cycle
and dispensation, the feast hath been favoured and loved, and the spreading of
a table for the lovers of God hath been considered a praiseworthy act. This is
especially the case today, in this dispensation beyond compare, this most
generous of ages, when it is highly acclaimed, for it is truly accounted among
such gatherings as are held to worship and glorify God. Here the holy verses, the
heavenly odes and laudations are intoned, and the heart is quickened, and
carried away from itself.
The primary intent is to kindle these stirrings of the
spirit, but at the same time it follows quite naturally that those present
should partake of food, so that the world of the body may
mirror the spirit’s world, and flesh take on the qualities of soul; and just as
the spiritual delights are here in profusion, so too the material delights.
Happy are ye, to be observing this rule, with all its mystic
meanings, thus keeping the friends of God alert and heedful, and bringing them
peace of mind, and joy.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Selections from the Writings of
‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
