An experience celebrating the Ascension of Abdu'l-Bahá (November 28, 2021) brought some spiritual light and joy into my life at a time I needed it.
I was dealing with chronic health problems that created a lot of obstacles for me, as well as supporting others going through big struggles in their religious lives had depleted me emotionally. I had also recently gone through a couple negative moments when others derided my faith tradition without knowing that was my heritage. I felt a painful lack of belonging in the greater community, and my spiritual strength and grounding felt fractured and unstable.
The Montreal Bahá’í community reached out to me to attend a special reception to celebrate the centennial (100 year anniversary) of the death and spiritual ascension of one of their early spiritual leaders, Abdu'l-Bahá. I walked to the Montreal Bahá’í Shrine near campus on Pine Ave. Bahá’í community members greeted me warmly as I and representatives of other faiths walked into the beautiful reception space. The shrine has two halves: one is a renovated space for gatherings, and the other is a meticulously preserved historic home which is considered a sacred shrine partly because Abdu'l-Bahá, the second leader of the Baháʼí people, taught religious discourses there. The shrine is a peaceful quiet space where anyone can go seeking solace and spiritual renewal.
The interactions I had with the community made me feel seem and respected as my whole self, including my religious identity, personal convictions and community role. Some people mentioned things they’d learned about my faith tradition and interesting points of comparison they had drawn between the two traditions. I felt I was treated like family even though I came from a different faith community.
I sat down with some hors d'oeuvres and learned about the life of Abdu'l-Bahá, the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh who served as head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 until 1921 and how he came to Montreal to teach large gatherings of people in Montreal in 1912 in the home of a Bahá’í family, the Maxwells. He taught about spiritual rebirth, gaining spiritual virtues, and the oneness of humanity and of religion.
I learned that both Abdu'l-Bahá and his father, the faith’s founder, Bahá'u'lláh, faced great persecution during their lifetimes and spent time in prison. Both showed great resilience and left prison full of love from humanity and a desire to share uplifting messages of hope and the importance of love despite their suffering. They surmounted adversity through their spiritual practices, transcendent insights, and reaching out to uplift and help unite other people.
They taught that all world religions offer inspiring and true divine messages, and that humanity is intended to work as one collective of equals whose destiny is to progress spiritually in this life and to work toward total love and unity. I felt the uplifting spirit of these fascinating teachings as they welcomed me into their sacred space.
Sometimes individuals can feel alone, unseen, or judged in their religious and spiritual lives, but community connections, including with the greater interfaith community, can be a powerful remedy. We're all in this together.
