A Marriage Prayer

 

 The Baha’i writings are full of beautiful prayers for many different events-such as marriage-

O Thou kind Lord! These are Thy servants who have gathered in this meeting, have turned unto Thy kingdom and are in need of Thy bestowal and blessing. O Thou God! Manifest and make evident the signs of Thy oneness which have been deposited in all the realities of life. Reveal and unfold the virtues which Thou hast made latent and concealed in these human realities. 

O God! We are as plants, and Thy bounty is as the rain; refresh and cause these plants to grow through Thy bestowal. We are Thy servants; free us from the fetters of material existence. We are ignorant; make us wise. We are dead; make us alive. We are material; endow us with spirit. We are deprived; make us the intimates of Thy mysteries. We are needy; enrich and bless us from Thy boundless treasury. O God! Resuscitate us; give us sight; give us hearing; familiarize us with the mysteries of life, so that the secrets of Thy kingdom may become revealed to us in this world of existence and we may confess Thy oneness. Every bestowal emanates from Thee; every benediction is Thine. 

Thou art mighty. Thou art powerful. Thou art the Giver, and Thou art the Ever-Bounteous. 

  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá 

‘The Marriage Of East And West’

The artist Bernard Leach concludes his autobiography ‘Beyond East and West’ with an expression of yearning for world unity-

I have seen a vision of the Marriage of East and West, and far off down the Halls of Time I heard the echo of a childlike voice. How long? How long?

Leach’s art was a conscious attempt to unify the traditions of East and West. In the years since his passing the world has seen the ‘Marriage Of East and West’ having an increasingly literal reality with a growing number of loving inter-cultural relationships. The occident and orient are reuniting like estranged lovers. In the words of Bahá’u'lláh-

…Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved? and what seeker findeth rest away from his heart’s desire? To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved.

‘Boughs That Will Grow Green’

A few days ago I had the pleasure of attending the wedding celebration of a friend, an Egyptian Bahá’í.  As part of the programme I read the following prayer by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on the subject of marriage.

“O my Lord, O my Lord! These two bright orbs are wedded in Thy love, conjoined in servitude to Thy Holy Threshold, united in ministering to Thy Cause. Make Thou this marriage to be as threading lights of Thine abounding grace, O my Lord, the All-Merciful, the luminous rays of Thy bestowals, O Thou the Beneficent, the Ever-Giving, that there may branch out from this great tree boughs that will grow green and flourishing through the gifts that rain down from Thy clouds of grace. Verily, Thou art the Generous. Verily, Thou art the Almighty. Verily, Thou art the Compassionate, the All-Merciful”. 

According to Abdu’l-Bahá the ideal marriage should be an expression of both spiritual and physical unity.

 It reminded me of when Minoo and I were married twenty years ago and we recited the marriage vow revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, “We will all, verily, abide by the Will of God.”

 Our wedding ceremony was followed by Persian food and dancing of kinds both oriental and occidental (most memorably my brother-in-law’s break dancing..).