Dear Fellow Members of The Mother Church,
There are two cloth-bound notebooks on my desk, precious to me. They belonged to my grandmother and she has filled them with handwritten testimonies of gratitude. The first is dated April 1, 1931, a few years after she was introduced to Christian Science in Japan. She writes, “Since Christian Science has been introduced to me, countless blessings have been showered upon me. If there is one that I recognize more than another, it is a sense of gratitude such as I have never before experienced. . . . Christian Science means everything to me. . . .” She acknowledges her two sons no longer spend time in the hospital during the winter months, her friends have noticed her worry give way to joy, her anxieties about finances and safety have lifted. In the second notebook, she writes of coming through the war years and experiencing a “tremendous thrill, a feeling that I shall never again say anything is impossible to thought armed with scientific power [Christian Science]. . . .”
The gratitude that spills from every page is thanks to the healing power of the Christ which enabled her to overcome the barriers of pantheistic beliefs and language, survive the firebombing of Tokyo, and find lasting health, peace, and joy. The Christ is the foundation of our Church, established by Mary Baker Eddy, “. . . designed to be built on the Rock, Christ; even the understanding and demonstration of divine Truth, Life, and Love, healing and saving the world from sin and death; thus to reflect in some degree the Church Universal and Triumphant” (Mary Baker Eddy, Manual of The Mother Church, p. 19).
