Friday before Easter. Among hundreds of others, a young woman made her way from a crowded auditorium onto the street. She had attended an inspired Christian Science lecture, her first. The message was timely. The speaker had paid grateful tribute to Jesus, to his unparalleled victory over mockery, malice, death, and the grave. Master he was, indeed, at restoring jubilant hope and the sense of indomitable Love, eternal, abundant Life.
The young woman waited for the crowd to disperse. Deeply stirred, this newcomer to Christian Science was conscious of spiritual awakening, of definite response to the bright Easter promise. She groped for words to mentally describe the quiet uplift, the stimulus within. "Animated, that's the way I feel—life-conscious, grateful for abundant life, more grateful than I've ever been before."
Someone was looking at her. It was the Christian Science practitioner she had recently met and talked with. (The practitioner had recommended she attend the lecture.) Suddenly she noticed a group of people leaving the church across the street. This was the somewhat prestigious church she had previously attended and in many ways supported. In her time of extremity it had been insufficient to meet her need. People coming from the church seemed somber and downcast. A few were brushing away tears. From among them a woman stepped forth. Tearfully she approached the practitioner, who was a friend of hers.
