When someone dear to us passes from our sight in what is called death, the material senses insist that we are separated from all the good expressed by that one. Through a correct understanding of God and man, we can learn this is not so.

Paul had this understanding. The Bible relates many of the trials and tribulations he experienced. His deliverance from them came through his great love of God and his consciousness of the Christ, Truth. Thus he could say with conviction, "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ^{Rom. 8:38, 39;}

Christian Science gives us an understanding of these words and shows us how to make them practical in daily life. The material senses argue that we miss the material presence of our loved one. But isn't it his expression of joy, kindness, consideration, and helpfulness that we miss? These are not material elements but God-derived qualities. Therefore, don't we really miss the Godlikeness of the one gone from sight and long for this presence?

Since he cannot be separated from the love of God, as the apostle declared, man cannot be separated from any good. Since man was created in God's image to reflect all good, this good is not dependent upon circumstances or mortals for its continuance. It must be realized that man is a spiritual idea, not a mortal man subject to luck and change. As the truths of God and man are insisted upon, that is, held in consciousness to the exclusion of all arguments to the contrary, they can be proved in human experience.

A woman was very grateful that her understanding of Christian Science had enabled her to overcome immediately the shock and grief at the time of the sudden passing of her mother. However, she found herself yearning for the cheerfulness, consideration, generosity, and unselfishness expressed by her loved one. A verse from a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal was encouraging. It reads,

The definition of "angels" given in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was studied daily. It is, "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality." ^{Science and Health, p. 581;}

After a few weeks of disciplining thought to listen for these angels, the woman heard the answer come in these words: "Learn to express the qualities you loved in your mother and you will not feel separated from her."' After pondering this for some time, she realized that by expressing the quality of unselfishness she loved, she and her mother would be one in unselfishness and thus one in God, the source of this quality. So it would be with every quality associated with her parent.

Whenever the writer felt a great yearning for the human personality of her mother, she made a great effort to be cheerful, unselfish, and generous. Becoming absorbed in using these qualities daily soon brought freedom and happiness. Loss simply could not be felt for that which was present. This in no way pushed the loved one out of thought, but brought her even nearer than when she had been present to human sight.

In Science and Health we read, "The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares." ^{p. 574;} Indeed this is what occurs when we refuse to go down under the weight of discords but use them instead as occasions to become better acquainted with the angels of God. When we do this, we not only heal discords in our own experience but help to heal those in our family, church, business, and in our community.

In a short article entitled "Angels" Mrs. Eddy writes: "When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our hearts. Oh, may you feel this touch,— it is not the clasping of hands, nor a loved person present; it is more than this: it is a spiritual idea that lights your path!" ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 306.}

Welcoming such visitors, we can expect to find in our human experience whatever companionship is needed to give us a full and happy life. Let's companion with angels!