In the summer of 1948 the Olympic Games brought together young men and women from many countries in friendly rivalry. Beautiful pictures were published of youthful runners bearing the flaming torch across Europe to its destination, one torch lighting the next one till the long race reached its dramatic close.
In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 202): "If men would bring to bear upon the study of the Science of Mind half the faith they bestow upon the so-called pains and pleasures of material sense, they would not go on from bad to worse, until disciplined by the prison and the scaffold; but the whole human family would be redeemed through the merits of Christ,—through the perception and acceptance of Truth. For this glorious result Christian Science lights the torch of spiritual understanding."
Like the runners in an ancient Greek race, young Christian Scientists may carry the torch of spiritual understanding as they run the straight race of their lives, not only lighting their own path, but illuminating that of others as the glowing brand is passed from hand to hand, spreading the light of Truth far and wide. This spiritual understanding is not primarily intellectual, nor is it gained by scholarship. It is more than intellectual achievement: it is the knowledge of reality, God and man, brought to humanity's darkness and perplexity.
