August 8. On this date in 1943, Shoghi Effendi addressed a message titled "Preparations for the Centenary," admiring "the latest evidences of the magnificent success that has marked the activities of the members of the American Bahá'í community"

August 8. On this date in 1943, Shoghi Effendi addressed a message titled "Preparations for the Centenary," admiring "the latest evidences of the magnificent success that has marked the activities of the members of the American Bahá'í community...The few remaining months of this century must witness a concentration of effort, a scale of achievement, a spirit of heroism that will outshine even the most daring exploits that have already immortalized the Seven Year Plan and covered with glory its valiant prosecutors. The plea I address to them, at this late hour, will, I am sure, meet with a response no less remarkable than their past reactions to the appeals."

117-Preparations for the Centenary 8 AUGUST 1943
117.1 The latest evidences of the magnificent success that has marked the activities of the members of the American Bahá'í community have been such as to excite the brightest hopes for the victorious consummation of the collective undertaking they have so courageously launched and have so vigorously prosecuted in recent years. As the first Bahá'í Century approaches its end, the magnitude and quality of their achievements acquire added significance and shed increasing luster on its annals. The proceedings of the recently held annual Convention; the formation of twenty-eight Assemblies in the course of the year that has just elapsed; the splendid progress achieved in the inter-American field of Bahá'í activity; the superb spirit evinced by the pioneers holding their lonely posts in widely scattered areas throughout the Americas; the exemplary attitude shown by the entire body of the faithful towards the machinations of those who have so sedulously striven to disrupt the Faith and pervert its purpose-these have, to a marked degree, intensified the admiration of the Bahá'í communities for those who are contributing so outstanding a share to the enlargement of the limits, and the enhancement of the prestige, of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. The preparations which the American believers are undertaking for the celebration of the Centenary of the Faith must be such as to crown with immortal glory the fifty-year long record of their stewardship in the service of that Faith. Such a celebration must, in its scope and magnificence, fully compensate for the disabilities which hinder so many Bahá'í communities in Europe and elsewhere, and even in Bahá'u'lláh's native land, from paying a befitting tribute to their beloved Faith at so glorious an hour in its history. The few remaining months of this century must witness a concentration of effort, a scale of achievement, a spirit of heroism that will outshine even the most daring exploits that have already immortalized the Seven Year Plan and covered with glory its valiant prosecutors. The plea I address to them, at this late hour, will, I am sure, meet with a response no less remarkable than their past reactions to the appeals.
I have felt impelled to make to them ever since the inception of the Plan. He Who at every stage of their collective enterprise has so abundantly blessed them will, no doubt, continue to vouchsafe His blessings until the seal of unqualified victory is set upon their epoch-making task.