What *The Christian Science Monitor* Means to Me May 5, 2014 Issue

A great 'missionary'

Katherine Lazarus

The Christian Science Monitor has long held a very special place in my heart because it led me very gently into Christian Science many years ago. During my junior year in high school, one of my teachers expressed so much love toward others that I wanted to know where that came from. A classmate told me this teacher was a Christian Scientist, so I started to learn about Christian Science as much as I could without directly asking this teacher about it. Through bits and pieces of information (we did not have the Internet in those days), I learned that Christian Scientists practice spiritual healing.

At that time I was wearing a brace on my back to correct a curvature of the spine. I was very steeped, along with my family, in medical theory and treatment, so I kept my interest in Christian Science very quiet. I’d attended a Protestant church and Sunday school for a number of years and prayed for the healing of my back in the best way I knew, humbly asking God to heal me and to give me strength and patience in the meantime.

A year and a half later, as a college freshman and still wearing the back brace, I became aware of The Christian Science Monitor daily newspaper and ordered a subscription. Each day I read the Christian Science perspective article on the back page, and found myself gaining a new view of myself as a spiritual idea—whole, complete, and harmonious. After about two months of this daily spiritualization of thought, along with a growing appreciation for the excellent solution-oriented reporting in the Monitor, I ordered a copy of Mary Baker Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures using an order form published in the paper. I began to read the book in earnest, further spiritualizing my thought. At my next appointment with the doctor, he informed me that I no longer needed to wear the brace, as my spine had straightened and was strong. This was about two years earlier than he had originally predicted the brace should be removed.