When the first issue of The Christian Science Monitor was given to Mary Baker Eddy on the dark and foggy day of November 25, 1908, she told those present: “This, in truth, is the lightest of all days. This is the day when our daily paper goes forth to lighten mankind” (Robert Peel, Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority, p. 312).
Over 100 years later, the Monitor in both its weekly and online forms is still doing its work to “lighten mankind.” To read about Mrs. Eddy’s determination to have the newspaper—and to identify it with Christian Science—is to realize that the paper is not just a distant relative of the The Christian Science Journal, the Christian Science Sentinel, and The Herald of Christian Science. She was thinking of the Monitor as an essential part of the redemption of humanity, including Christian Scientists, from sin, sickness, and death.
I myself have felt its redemptive power. When I was just a teenager, I was waiting for a teacher in the high school’s history department. Like all kids, I was alert for any unguarded comment a teacher might make. I heard one of them speak in a positive way about The Christian Science Monitor. At the time I didn’t even know it was a newspaper or what “Christian Science” was. But the remark—and the name—stuck with me as a positive memory.
Decades later, when I met my first Christian Scientist, that positive memory made me respectful and open toward this individual. Little did I know that my life was about to change. The whole story would take too long to tell, but I became a Christian Scientist—and a faithful Monitor reader. I even had the privilege of working for the newspaper. From this, I saw many examples of how the prayers of the members of The Mother Church supported the Monitor, and I also experienced the benefit of this support in my own work for the newspaper.
In this new century, the world needs the Monitor’s presence more than ever, and yet the lack of support from Church members continues to be a major challenge. The Daily News Briefing (DNB), the weekly Monitor, and CSMonitor.com combine to carry out the mission of Mrs. Eddy’s daily newspaper in the 21st century. Member support—especially in the form of subscribing to the DNB and the weekly—are essential in the God-directed activity of “publishing peace” (see Isaiah 52:7).
Given the challenges the world is facing these days, humanity needs all the lightening it can get.
While members may tend to think of the Manual provision for subscribing to the “church periodicals” as referring only to the Sentinel and Journal, Mrs. Eddy’s desire for a newspaper to “lighten” mankind, might be worth taking into account (see Manual of The Mother Church, p. 44).
Aggressive mental suggestions can’t be allowed to dictate our ability or willingness to support the newspaper that Mary Baker Eddy entrusted with the task to “lighten mankind.” Given the challenges the world is facing these days, humanity needs all the lightening it can get. And that light can begin to shine in our own thoughts as we support the “agent of light” Mrs. Eddy worked so diligently to bring to birth.
In her little article “Something in a Name,” Mrs. Eddy writes of the Monitor as meant “to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353). To me, that means that through its reporting the Monitor is leavening thought globally, including among Christian Scientists, and is revealing the operation of this Science to bless the world.
Since that first issue of the Monitor appeared, it has continued to shed healing light even in “dark places of fear” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 559) such as the ones then Monitor reporter David Rohde investigated when he uncovered mass graves in Bosnia. His work for the Monitor brought to light Europe’s worst massacre since the Holocaust and gained him a Pulitzer Prize.
Praying for the Monitor with its spiritual purpose in mind is a healing force in its own right. I know this from an experience I had while doing some work at home. I slipped on a ladder and hit my head very hard against a wooden joist. My head began to bleed profusely, and I felt fearful about this. I climbed down the ladder, praying all the way.
I recalled that just the day before, I had felt great inspiration as I prayed for the Monitor, specifically working with the reference to the “Science that operates unspent.” Now, those words seemed newly illuminated, and I found myself declaring that I could not be separated from the “Science that operates unspent.” Suddenly that thought came into total focus. At that moment the bleeding stopped. I was fine and was able to perform my usual activities at work the next day. The wound healed quickly.
The power of the Science that operates unspent can also be applied to concerns about the Monitor’s affordability. As we identify with the Monitor and its healing mission, we can’t be separated from the “Science that operates unspent.” The effort to subscribe and prayerfully support the Monitor cannot impoverish us. Our willing obedience to Mary Baker Eddy’s demonstration of truth for humanity can bring us new blessings. Under the protection of this Science, we can discover new insights into the nature of supply. And as we support Mary Baker Eddy’s newspaper, we are empowering its mission to bring light to humanity and to the world.
