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Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The doors of the Kingdom are open. Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! Armies of angels are descending from heaven. Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The Sun of Truth is rising. Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The Heavenly Food is being sent from above. Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The Trumpet is sounding. Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The Banner of the Great Peace is floating far and wide. Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The Light of the Oneness of Humanity is burning brightly. Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The Fire of the Love of God is blazing. Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The Holy Spirit is being outpoured. Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! For Everlasting Life is here. O ye that sleep awake! O ye heedless ones learn wisdom! O blind receive sight! O deaf hear! O dumb speak! O dead arise! Be Happy! Be Happy! Be full of JOY.
- Abdu’l-Baha
There is no doubt that
each of us intends to celebrate in style the Greatest of
Festivals. Therefore, you are invited to a virtual pilgrimage, a special meditative session for the celebration of each of
the three special Days of the Festival of Ridvan.
Thou
seest, O my Lord, the assemblage of Thy loved ones, the company of Thy
friends, gathered by the precincts of Thine all-sufficing Shrine, and in
the neighborhood of Thine exalted garden, on a day among the days of
Thy Ridvan Feast -- that blessed time when Thou didst dawn upon the
world, shedding thereon the lights of Thy holiness, spreading abroad the
bright rays of Thy oneness, and didst issue forth from Baghdad, with a
majesty and might that encompassed all mankind; with a glory that
made all to fall prostrate before Thee, all heads to bow, every neck to
bend low, and the gaze of every man to be cast down. They are calling
Thee to mind and making mention of Thee, their breasts gladdened with
the lights of Thy bestowals, their souls restored by the evidences of
Thy gifts, speaking Thy praise, turning their faces toward Thy Kingdom,
humbly supplicating Thy lofty Realms.
- Abdu'l-Baha
CELEBRATION
PROGRAM - FIRST DAY OF RIDVAN
Imagine that you are eagerly waiting,
as you stand near the prison-city of Akka, the waving of a Hand, so
blessed.
Rejoice
with exceeding gladness, O people of Bahá, as ye call to remembrance
the Day of supreme felicity, the Day whereon the Tongue of the
Ancient of Days hath spoken, as He departed from His House,
proceeding to the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation
the splendors of His name, the All-Merciful. God is Our witness. Were
We to reveal the hidden secrets of that Day, all they that dwell on
earth and in the heavens would swoon away and die, except such as
will be preserved by God, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the
All-Wise.
- Baha'u'llah
Verily,
all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on
that first day of Riḍván, We shed upon the whole of creation the
splendours of Our most excellent Names and Our most exalted
Attributes. This, verily, is a token of My loving providence, which
hath encompassed all the worlds. Consort ye then with the followers
of all religions, and proclaim ye the Cause of your Lord, the Most
Compassionate; this is the very crown of deeds, if ye be of them who
understand.
VIDEO
- The Festival of Ridvan
TABLET
- April 22, 1863VIDEO
- Queen of Carmel
CELEBRATION
PROGRAM - NINTH DAY OF RIDVAN
Today, try to imagine that you are circling,
in spirit,
the "Verdant Isle" where
the KING OF GLORY enjoyed sitting
while hearing the whispers of the realms above.
The
Festival of Ridvan is come and the splendour of the light of God is
shining from the invisible horizon of His mercy. The overflowing
grace of the Lord of oneness is pouring down copiously from the
unseen world and the glad-tidings of the Kingdom are coming in from
all countries. The resplendent morn that betokens the advancement of
the Cause of God and heralds the exaltation of His Word is dawning in
every region.
Praise be to God that the fame of the Ancient
Beauty — may my life be offered up for His loved ones — has been
noised abroad in the world and the glory of His Cause is spread far
and wide throughout the East and the West. These joyous developments
will indeed gladden the hearts of His loved one. -
Bahiyyih Khanum
VIDEO
- History
TABLET - The Perspicuous Verses
CELEBRATION
PROGRAM - TWELFTH DAY OF RIDVAN
Finally, imagine that you sit in the colorful,
sun-filled garden where
this Prince of Peace occasionally pitched His tent,
tending to the needs
of the devoted souls
who had bound their lives so
inextricably to His.
Verily
I say, this is the Day in which mankind can behold the Face, and hear
the Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of God hath been raised, and
the light of His countenance hath been lifted up upon men. It
behoveth every man to blot out the trace of every idle word from the
tablet of his heart, and to gaze, with an open and unbiased mind, on
the signs of His Revelation, the proofs of His Mission, and the
tokens of His glory.
- Baha'u'llah
Cry out
before the gaze of the dwellers of heaven and of earth: I am the Maid
of Heaven, the Offspring begotten by the Spirit of Bahá. My
habitation is the Mansion of His Name, the All-Glorious. Before the
Concourse on high I was adorned with the ornament of His names. I was
wrapt within the veil of an inviolable security, and lay hidden from
the eyes of men. Methinks that I heard a Voice of divine and
incomparable sweetness, proceeding from the right hand of the God of
Mercy, and lo, the whole Paradise stirred and trembled before Me, in
its longing to hear its accents, and gaze on the beauty of Him that
uttered them. Thus have We revealed in this luminous Tablet, and in
the sweetest of languages, the verses which the Tongue of Eternity
was moved to utter in the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá.
- Baha'u'llah
And
whenever I chose to hold my peace and be still, lo, the voice of the
Holy Ghost, standing on my right hand, aroused me, and the Supreme
Spirit appeared before my face, and Gabriel overshadowed me, and the
Spirit of Glory stirred within my bosom, bidding me arise and break
my silence. If your hearing be purged and your ears be attentive, ye
will assuredly perceive that every limb of my body, nay all the atoms
of my being, proclaim and bear witness to this call: "God,
besides Whom is none other God, and He, Whose beauty is now manifest,
is the reflection of His glory unto all that are in heaven and on
earth."
We
will now mention unto thee Trustworthiness and the station thereof in
the estimation of God, thy Lord, the Lord of the Mighty Throne. One
day of days We repaired unto Our Green Island. Upon Our arrival, We
beheld its streams flowing, and its trees luxuriant, and the sunlight
playing in their midst. Turning Our face to the right, We beheld what
the pen is powerless to describe; nor can it set forth that which the
eye of the Lord of Mankind witnessed in that most sanctified, that
most sublime, that blest, and most exalted Spot. Turning, then, to
the left We gazed on one of the Beauties of the Most Sublime
Paradise, standing on a pillar of light, and calling aloud saying: "O
inmates of earth and heaven! Behold ye My beauty, and My radiance,
and My revelation, and My effulgence. By God, the True One! I am
Trustworthiness and the revelation thereof, and the beauty thereof. I
will recompense whosoever will cleave unto Me, and recognize My rank
and station, and hold fast unto My hem. I am the most great ornament
of the people of Bahá, and the vesture of glory unto all who are in
the kingdom of creation. I am the supreme instrument for the
prosperity of the world, and the horizon of assurance unto all
beings." Thus have We sent down for thee that which will draw
men nigh unto the Lord of creation.
TABLET - The Divine Springtime is come
VIDEO - The Ridvan Tablet of Baha’u’llah
Be
wonderfully blessed !
Loesha
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