If you had a few close friends who visited you on a regular basis, bearing precious gifts, wouldn’t you consider yourself blessed? That’s how I feel about the Christian Science periodicals—The Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lessons, and The Christian Science Monitor. I eagerly look forward to their arrival because they bring messages of comfort, guidance, and healing.
In the Church Manual the By-Law concerning these periodicals (which also includes The Herald of Christian Science) states in part: “It shall be the privilege and duty of every member, who can afford it, to subscribe for the periodicals which are the organs of this Church . . .” (p. 44). One dictionary defines organ as “that which performs some office, duty, or function.” By using this term to describe the periodicals, Mary Baker Eddy established their importance to the functioning of the ongoing Christian Science movement.
On the subject of their affordability, I have asked myself, How can I afford not to subscribe to them? How could I deprive myself of the “privilege” of receiving these gems of metaphysical thinking, which I consider so helpful in my spiritual progress?
