"COMFORTERS ARE NEEDED MUCH"

Perhaps never before in the history of mankind has there been such a universal longing for comfort and security. Presenting itself sometimes as a deep hungering, but also in less easily recognizable though equally afflictive forms, this longing is one of the principal driving forces behind the social behavior of our times.

During the brief period of a few years the developments in nuclear research appear to have swept away many of the standards by which men have hitherto measured security. Yearning for reassurance and release from anxiety, some men in their need turn for comfort to ever-changing forms of matter, and others, with higher concepts, search religions, the natural sciences, or philosophy; but each in his own way strives to satisfy his longing for comfort.

It would appear that Christ Jesus' vivid prophecy recorded in Luke, where he speaks of "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (21:26),has now been fulfilled. But he who thus prophesied, spoke also words of heavenly reassurance. "I will pray the Father," he said, "and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. ... I will not leave you comfortless" (John 14:16, 18). Christian Scientists know that he kept his word. The Father has indeed given to the world the promised Comforter in the discovery of Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy.

How important it is that we should never lose sight of the fact that Christian Science is the Comforter. It is the gentle, tender, loving aspects of our faith that the world stands so sorely in need of today. How can Christian Scientists play their part in the Father's plan for the comforting of His children? In "Retrospection and Introspection" Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 94,) "I am persuaded that only by the modesty and distinguishing affection illustrated in Jesus' career, can Christian Scientists aid the establishment of Christ's kingdom on the earth." At the end of the paragraph, Mrs. Eddy quotes the following stanza by A. E. Hamilton (p. 95):

What greater contribution can any of us make toward the healing of the nations than that each, in all his contacts with his fellow men, shall be a comforter "of Christlike touch"?

Like the man in Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan, many in their journey through human life may believe that they have encountered discords or violence. The thieving, bullying, aggressive elements of the carnal mind may appear to have beset them, overpowered their sense of good, and robbed them of their ability to resuscitate themselves. They may believe in violence and the effects of violence; therefore their need is for spiritual strength, gentleness, and compassion. They may believe in depletion and loss; therefore their need is for the understanding of true substance and the riches of divine Love. They may believe in death and annihilation; therefore their need is for an assurance of the life-giving, resuscitating power of divine Life.

In his parable Jesus clearly brought out that it was love which inspired in the Samaritan his truly Christlike touch, the love which places our brother's need above our own personal interests; the love which enables us to understand his need; the love which inspires us, so that we are kept from well-meaning but blundering attempts to give human comfort to others. The limited, narrow-minded, loveless state of thought typified by the priest and the Levite who passed by on the other side is utterly indifferent to a wayfarer's urgent need. But the Samaritan cared sufficiently to go "where he was" (Luke 10:33). The Samaritan turned aside from his own pursuits and, in ways which were comprehensible to the sufferer's state of thought, gave him comfort, healing, and encouragement.

We may not in every circumstance be able to voice the comfort that we know, but it is always possible to gain the mental assurance that the individual has nothing to fear, since divine Love is ever present, omnipresent, and omnipotent. We can affirm that no circumstance or situation is beyond the reach of the holy Comforter.

Let us never forget that not only should we comfort others with the comfort which is from God, but we should ourselves partake of this divine comfort. A hymn from the Christian Science Hymnal (No. 174) tells us that

It is no sign of weakness on our part that we have a necessity to enthrone in our own consciousness that Love whence emanates the only true comfort. If we would comfort our brother with a comfort that is not just human sympathy, but rather is a Christlike, healing compassion, then our hearts must overflow with that comfort "wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God," the comfort of which Paul wrote (II Cor. 1:4).

The Greek word paraklētos, which is the original of the word translated "Comforter," has also the meanings of advocate, defender, helper, strengthener. Thus it is evident that the true sense of the Comforter is the very reverse of the concept that comfort is just an opiate, a pandering to weakness, or a shift for those who cannot stand' up to things. Comfort is active, not passive. It arouses; it does not deaden. It strengthens, not debilitates. Its whole effect is to resuscitate and invigorate.

Mrs. Eddy, whose transcendent demonstration of the Comforter so gloriously fulfilled the Master's prophecy, writes in a passage redolent with tenderness and compassion (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 366), "If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted." He who in self-abnegation, in compassion, and above all, in love divests his thought of all unjust criticism, self-interest, and indifference finds that his consciousness is the abode of the holy Comforter. His is the unspeakable joy of witnessing how the Comforter causes the shackles of sickness and fear to fall from his brother's experience, lifting him into his rightful dominion over the latter-day dread of atomic doom, and comforting his heart with heavenly assurance.