Article June 19, 1943 Issue

The Reading Room

HELEN M. EASTMAN

The definition of "wilderness" which Mary Baker Eddy has given us in the Glossary in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," reads in part (p. 597), "The vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence."

With what vision and wisdom did our Leader establish Christian Science Reading Rooms, wherein through study and prayer the awakening thought of the seeker may find the wilderness of material beliefs to be as a vestibule opening toward the reality of spiritual existence. We know that the Reading Room is one of the activities of The Mother Church through which the healing power of divine Mind may be found and the presence of the Christ-idea realized. As in the vestibule of a house one lays aside his outer garments so in the study of Christian Science are the fears and false beliefs laid aside as thought enters into contemplation of the real Church, "the structure of Truth and Love" (ibid., p. 583).

The stranger often finds his way to the Reading Room at a time when his need is very great. There he turns to the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy, together with all the literature published by The Christian Science Publishing Society. And perhaps for the first time he perceives something of the allness of God, good, and the illusory nature of evil; and oftentimes with this revelation comes healing. The Reading Room affords a refuge to the weary and burdened in heart, where the Christ speaks to them in Jesus' words, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The problems that are daily solved there are problems relating to the stirring questions of the world which seem today to be pressing upon the consciousness of each one of us.

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