How much more there is to calling a Christian Science practitioner than just dialing a number and making a request of the person who answers! The healing Christ, Truth, is always present with its message of comfort, and both the caller and the practitioner are reaching out for this needed message. When the thought of the practitioner is so inspired that any argument of evil is recognized as an illusion, and the caller has humbled the human mind to a state of receptivity, often there is an immediate healing. Since this ideal is not always achieved, it might be well to see what would hinder better, quicker healing.
One hindrance to instantaneous healing is the substitution of words for spiritual understanding. "Expect to heal simply by repeating the author's words, by right talking and wrong acting, and you will be disappointed," Science and Health, p. 452. warns our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, in the textbook, Science and Health. Many students of Christian Science become proficient in quoting from the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings, and these excerpts are valuable assets that frequently come to thought at appropriate times. We are warned, however, against the ritualistic repetition of words, no matter how helpful a passage may have been on a previous occasion.
As Science and Health explains: "If we would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor bury the morale of Christian Science in the grave-clothes of its letter. The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love." Ibid., pp. 366-367.
