Montreal, Saturday, April 29, 2023 - A magnificent 60-minute Concert by Marguerite Bilodeau transformed the souls of the participants on the 9th day of the Riḍván Festival. A talented and multidisciplinary artist who plays several instruments accompanied by her angelic voice in her old age perfectly represented the spirit of this event that has been celebrated around the world.

Marguerite Bilodeau, 87, is the mother of 5 children, has 10 grandchildren, and a great-grandson. She has been a nurse for over 25 years and now runs her own business called Marguerite & Soleil.

Marguerite is a producer, writer, painter and an accomplished musician. She has studied piano, guitar, recorder, cello, harpsichord, Celtic and Paraguayan harps. She has composed over 60 songs in French and English.

Peace, Justice and Joie de vivre are words that wrap around her like a glove. She is committed to educating people of all ages about the culture of peace.

The celebration of the 9th day of Riḍván was held at the Bahá'í Center of Montreal in the presence of about 30 people from all over the city. Similar celebrations were held in other neighborhoods as well.

About Bahá'u'lláh's twelve-day stay in the garden of Najibiyyih, Nabil, the chronicler of the time, writes:

The departure of Bahá'u'lláh from the Garden of Riḍván, at noon, on May 3, 1863, witnessed scenes of tumultuous enthusiasm no less spectacular, and even more touching, than those which greeted Him when leaving His Most Great House in Baghdad. "The great tumult," wrote an eyewitness, "associated in our minds with the Day of Gathering, the Day of Judgment, we beheld on that occasion. Believers and unbelievers alike sobbed and lamented. The chiefs and notables who had congregated were struck with wonder. Emotions were stirred to such depths as no tongue can describe, nor could any observer escape their contagion."

"Rejoice, with exceeding gladness, O people of Baha!", He, in another Tablet, has written, "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... Were We to reveal the hidden secrets of that Day, all 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.

Mounted on His steed, a red roan stallion of the finest breed, the best His lovers could purchase for Him, and leaving behind Him a bowing multitude of fervent admirers, He rode forth on the first stage of a journey that was to carry Him to the city of Constantinople. "Numerous were the heads," Nabil himself a witness of that memorable scene, recounts, "which, on every side, bowed to the dust at the feet of His horse, and kissed its hoofs, and countless were those who pressed forward to embrace His stirrups." "How great the number of those embodiments of fidelity," testifies a fellow-traveler, "who, casting themselves before that charger, preferred death to separation from their Beloved! Methinks, that blessed steed trod upon the bodies of those pure-hearted souls." "He (God) it was," Bahá'u'lláh Himself declares, "Who enabled Me to depart out of the city (Baghdad), clothed with such majesty as none, except the denier and the malicious, can fail to acknowledge." These marks of homage and devotion continued to surround Him until He was installed in Constantinople.

• Reference: Shoghi Effendi : God Passes By