Today there is more news to consume and less time in which to consume it than perhaps ever before in human history. It may feel overwhelming to take time each day to discern what needs healing and devote prayerful attention to those issues.
But Mary Baker Eddy, who established The Christian Science Monitor, an international news publication, under the auspices of her worldwide church, offers a potent antidote to this sense of burden. In the Manual of The Mother Church, she includes this By-Law: “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; and it shall be the duty of the Directors to see that these periodicals are ably edited and kept abreast of the times” (p. 44).
Is the Monitor one of those periodicals? Although it is not mentioned anywhere in the Manual, it is noteworthy that it is mentioned in Mrs. Eddy’s editorial in the first edition of The Christian Science Monitor, where she says, “I have given the name to all the Christian Science periodicals.” And after giving the name and purpose of the other three periodicals, she says, “the next I named Monitor, to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent. The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind” (“Something in a Name,” The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353).
Why is it a privilege to subscribe to the Monitor? One dictionary defines privilege as “a particular right granted by law or held by custom, or an exemption from some burden ….”
The Christian Science Monitor, through its reporting, gives its readers an opportunity to see, and pray to affirm, the influence of the healing Christ, Truth, at work in all aspects of human affairs; to see human error uncovered and Truth upheld; to stick to the testimony of spiritual sense and firmly and consistently refute the testimony of material sense. These are rights granted by divine law, and they can never be revoked by time or society or one’s age or era.
The Monitor’s mission offers freedom from anything that would lead one to believe that it is too difficult, depressing, or pointless to take stock of the world today, such as confusion, cynicism, or selfishness. Instead, one can find great clarity, purpose, and joy in making it a daily discipline to embrace all mankind in one’s prayers. As Hymn 360 from the Christian Science Hymnal reads:
Is thy burden hard and heavy?
Do thy steps drag wearily?
Help to bear thy brother’s burden,
God will bear both it and thee.
(Elizabeth Charles)
Mrs. Eddy also insisted on including “Christian Science” in the name of the newspaper she founded, making it clear that it is undivided from the mission of her church. The Christian Science Monitor is understood as part and parcel of the mission of Christian Science, which reveals to mankind the divine Science of being, the promised Comforter. Because of this, the spiritual ideal of the Monitor, and its daily expression in human consciousness, comforts and uplifts individuals, not burdens them; it supports their work, their homes, families, churches, and communities. This healing effect of the Monitor annuls the lie that the Monitor could be a burden to its readers, its church, or its employees.
Like every By-Law in the Manual, the By-Law governing subscription to the periodicals is not merely a human rule, but an expression of divine law. Mrs. Eddy writes that each rule and By-Law in the Church Manual “will increase the spirituality of him who obeys it, invigorate his capacity to heal the sick, to comfort such as mourn, and to awaken the sinner” (Miscellany, p. 230). The subscription By-Law clearly conveys great love for humanity, and thus naturally inspires gratitude and obedience.
Embracing our fellow man with compassion is based squarely on the teachings and example of Christ Jesus, and thus carries with it the reassurance that we can take an active part in fulfilling the Monitor’s promise, no matter what the human demands on us may be. The Master’s calm, unhurried approach to healing—even when the masses were clamoring for help—reminds us that when we take his yoke, we find Christian healing to be not a burden, but a restful and natural unfoldment of God’s infinite, ever-present power.
Key ingredients to this work, such as opportunity, discernment, and unselfed love, are available in infinite measures to the readers—and employees—of the Monitor. As Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind …” (p. 60).
Previous writers in the Christian Science periodicals have testified to the healing effect of praying for their communities and nations. Among them is an outstanding example of two women, both Christian Science practitioners, who were asked by a federal agent to pray about an assassination plot against a traveling American president. They were led to understand deeply the absolute supremacy of God’s government. The president was not only protected from the threat, but upon his safe return he told reporters that a great weight, which had descended on him the day he took office, had been lifted from his shoulders (see “The ‘Great White Throne,’ ” Christian Science Sentinel, October 16, 1943).
Just as important to ameliorating the world’s ills is the working out of one’s own salvation.
In the fall of 2014, when I was based in Jerusalem as the Monitor’s correspondent, the city was experiencing what at that time was the worst violence between Israelis and Palestinians that it had seen in a decade. After six weeks of escalating violence, there was a particularly brutal attack, in which two Palestinians walked into a synagogue in West Jerusalem and killed four rabbis at prayer. I felt overwhelmed by the hatred all around me and by doubt about the usefulness of my work.
A practitioner lovingly reminded me that afternoon that the same Christ that was present 2,000 years ago, and that was expressed and demonstrated in Jesus’ triumphant rise from the hatred that crucified him, was still present today. And that because I was really the reflection of Mind, I had the capacity to discern the saving activity of the Christ all around me. This gave me a deeper sense of what it means to subscribe to The Christian Science Monitor—to wholeheartedly support or to subscribe to its mission—to prayerfully insist on the relevance, vital importance, and certain prosperity of the mission Mrs. Eddy gave to it.
So in a sense, I “renewed my subscription” to The Christian Science Monitor that afternoon—that is, I recommitted to supporting and witnessing to the Monitor’s ability to bless all mankind.
The next day, I went to the scene of the attack and found such resilience among the neighborhood’s religious Jews, who were already back at prayer in the synagogue—despite the bullet holes in the glass and heavy police presence. Not one of the individuals I spoke with expressed hatred toward Palestinians. Rather, they expressed a deep desire to deepen and purify their faith.
Their faith was like a strong anchor in a sea of raging hatred, and it calmed and comforted me as well. It was my privilege to write about their resilience in the Monitor (see “Jerusalem synagogue attack: Day later, site is symbol of faith, determination,” November 19, 2014) and share that with our readers, a number of whom wrote in to express their appreciation for the article. My desire to embrace all mankind in my prayers had enabled me to feel the embrace of divine Love, proving that “… whatever blesses one blesses all …” (Science and Health, p. 206).
Embracing all mankind in our prayers is something we can all “afford” to do, to use the language of the By-Law referenced above. And in fact, it could be said that we can’t afford not to be part of such blessing.
Whether you’re a reader or a reporter, The Christian Science Monitor broadens your love for God and man. It highlights the ever-present activity of the Christ to uncover the claims of evil in the world and destroy echoes of these errors in one’s own thought and experience. In doing so, it brings comfort, peace, and healing to reporter and reader alike—and to humanity as a whole.
