Articles

Affection for good, for Truth, and for Love opens wide the gateway of thought through which the understanding of Christian Science can be received. Quiet inner ardor for the things of Spirit offers a permanent abiding place within our hearts for the truth of God and man.

If , as the Christmas season approaches, thoughts of pressure and haste try to crowd out our consciousness of good will and peace, of completeness and health, we have but to remember and follow the lessons of faith in the story of Jesus' nativity. When first the angel thought came to Mary to tell her that she was to be the mother of Jesus, she was troubled and asked how that could be.

One day Christ Jesus sat beside Jacob's well when a Samaritan woman came to draw water. He said to her ( John 4:7 ), "Give me to drink.

The Gospel of John records that Jesus, having driven the money-changers out of the temple at Jerusalem, said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. " That he did not refer to a structure of stone and wood is clearly seen in the explanation which John gave, "But he spake of the temple of his body.

" Happiness consists in being and in doing good; only what God gives, and what we give ourselves and others through His tenure, confers happiness: conscious worth satisfies the hungry heart, and nothing else can," writes Mary Baker Eddy on page 17 of her Message to The Mother Church for 1902. Let us consider together what conscious worth is and why it alone can satisfy the hungry heart.

What is identity? For the answer to this question, Christian Scientists turn to the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. On page 477 our Leader says, "Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love.

In the thirteenth chapter of John an account is given of the Master's washing the disciples' feet. By this act Christ Jesus showed his disciples the way of humility and loving service to one another.

It is reasonable to suppose that almost everyone would like to heal as Christ Jesus healed. For not only did he heal so-called incurable diseases instantaneously, but these healings led hundreds who witnessed them to seek the Christ, Truth, which he expressed; and in this search their lives were transformed and uplifted.

The secret of the Lord, or the mystery of Life which men have sought to fathom, is revealed in Christian Science as the allness and oneness of God. His omnipresence occupies all space and contains within itself all that God creates.

The arresting words of the title appear on page 183 of "Miscellaneous Writings" by Mary Baker Eddy. These words form part of a sentence which reads: "Man must love his neighbor as himself, and the power of Truth must be seen and felt in health, happiness, and holiness: then it will be found that Mind is All-in-all, and there is no matter to cope with.