When your heart is filled with love and gratitude to God for being divine Love; when Christian Science has brought you its practical and demonstrable teaching enabling you to love and understand God, what is going to happen? Your sense of good is bound to overflow. It can't be stored up for a later day. What are you to do? Part of a verse in the Christian Science Hymnal gives us a hint. It reads: "Give of your heart's rich overflow, /And peace shall crown your joy-filled day." Hymnal, No. 139;
Christ Jesus put it this way: "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give."Matt. 10:8;
Why not open our thought to the healing practice of Christian Science—the Christ-idea serving humanity? No belief of intimidation or limitation can obstruct the way for this holy ministry to unfold in our experience when thought is sufficiently spiritualized and the heart is filled to overflowing with unselfed love for God and man.
In his biography of Mrs. Eddy an Episcopal clergyman has included a letter she wrote to one of her students concerning preparation and fitness for carrying on the work of spiritual healing. It reads in part: "Your aid to reach this goal is spiritualization. To achieve this you must have one God, one affection, one way, one Mind. Society, flattery, popularity are temptations in your pursuit of growth spiritual. Avoid them as much as in you lies. Pray daily, never miss praying, no matter how often: 'Lead me not into temptation,'—scientifically rendered,—Lead me not to lose sight of strict purity, clean pure thoughts; let all my thoughts and aims be high, unselfish, charitable, meek,—spiritually minded. With this altitude of thought your mind is losing materiality and gaining spirituality and this is the state of mind that heals the sick." Lyman P. Powell, Mary Baker Eddy: A Life Size Portrait (Boston:The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1950), p. 316;
The sincere student of Christian Science who opens thought to entering the healing ministry of Christian Science as a listed practitioner finds many understandable guidelines for strengthening his or her activity in the work. As we study the provisions for spiritual growth in this line offered in the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy, we learn to handle daily the temptation to let apathy, or neglect, or counterattractions draw us away from the spiritual demands of Christ-healing. We understand that we cannot pursue other careers without neglecting prayerful metaphysical work. We find we cannot follow another profession or vocation; we must give our full time to the healing ministry. And this is our desire. There will be no question of what comes first. Although neglect of normal family, church, and community responsibilities is never justified, the practice must have a place of prime importance in our lives.
Readiness and humility are indispensable. Divine inspiration sought through the prayerful study of revealed Truth gives us the infinitude of divine Mind's ideas to dwell upon and to utilize. Devout prayer, and the spiritual uplifting of thought that accompanies it, can never be confined to formula. Jesus said, "Your joy no man taketh from you." John 16:22; As there can be no formula for joy, which is always a part of healing, so there can be no formula for healing the sick. The Christ shows us what is needed for each individual case. Ideally, treatment is always given and received at the point of spiritual inspiration, which is fresh and vital.
Consciousness prepared for the healing activity of the Christ attracts opportunity for exercising this readiness. In Isaiah we read, "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isa. 65:24; Biblical promises like this are being practically demonstrated in many instances by Christian Scientists in all parts of the world.
A Christian Science practitioner I know had an unforgettable experience one time when her thought had been dwelling on a spiritually illumined truth from Psalms: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Ps. 118:24; She lived with the vital and inspiring conviction of the truth of this verse all one night; it permeated her prayers.
The following day she received a long-distance call for help for a Christian Scientist who had been shot by robbers at his place of business. Her thought was so prepared—so at one with divine Life, that this ungodlike event was absolutely powerless to project its darkened picture into her Christ-enlightened consciousness. She held steadfastly and joyously to the understanding that no matter what material sense claimed had taken place, it had not. The day was still God's beautiful, glorious day of spiritual unfoldment and the irradiance of infinite Life. Later, when the businessman regained consciousness and was on the road to recovery, and the newsmen were allowed to interview him, one of them asked, "What was the first thing you thought about when you regained consciousness?" His reply was, "This is the day the Lord hath made, and I'm glad I'm in it!" His reply made headlines in the newspapers of that city.
Loving obedience to the By-Laws in the Church Manual keeps thought alert to detect any belief of personal sense and personal contagion that argues for monopoly and exclusion in its attempts to divide and limit the ranks of Christian Science workers. Staying awake to this suggestion, we will annul it and aid in demonstrating unity in the churches. This unity will attract and enfold all in the healing embrace of the Christ Science. Evil has no power to break up the established harmony of those spiritually-minded individuals who are at work for the further establishment of peace on earth as revealed in Christian Science.
We can refuse to take on personal responsibility for our patients. Rather, we can release them and let them praise God. He sends each of us the work He has given us the understanding and readiness to do; our part is obedience and willingness to serve Him.
The spiritual law of omnipotent Mind unifies all good. It enables those who express divine goodness to join together with rejoicing, work together harmoniously, and resist anything that would claim to separate them from the consciousness of divine Love and thus separate them from each other. Because this law is in operation, the belief of animal magnetism and its supposed forces—whether in the form of false ambition, personal sense, incredulity, or misrepresentation—has no law to support it or to perpetuate its existence. Animal magnetism exposed is seen to be nothing, without identity or locality in God's divinely ordered universe.
We can clearly recognize that it is not just material means and medicine but the whole material theory back of these that must be given up. Any theory that substitutes drugs, exercise, and so on, for the Christ is not productive of the true consciousness of health. What are we dealing with? Is it a physical condition or its attending fears that must be cast out by Christ, Truth? Mrs. Eddy shares this inspiring experience: "The first spontaneous motion of Truth and Love, acting through Christian Science on my roused consciousness, banished at once and forever the fundamental error of faith in things material; for this trust is the unseen sin, the unknown foe,—the heart's untamed desire which breaketh the divine commandments." Retrospection and Introspection, p. 31;
The demonstration of spiritual healing is indeed a sacred thing, and there comes with each opportunity that joyous expectation and reward of witnessing again the promise of our Master when he said: "Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Mark 11:22, 23;
Faith, devotion, buoyant hope, will keep us and our patients above the seas of confusion. Active love of humanity will result in a spontaneous loving response to the world's needs.
It is, of course, entirely individual demonstration whether or not one goes into the public practice of Christian Science healing. But all earnest students have the opportunity of following through on Mrs. Eddy's counsel: "I recommend that each member of this Church shall strive to demonstrate by his or her practice, that Christian Science heals the sick quickly and wholly, thus proving this Science to be all that we claim for it." Man., Art. XXX, Sect. 7.
