Several years ago, when my mother invited me to the Christian Science...

Horacio Omar Rivas with contributions from Elena M. de Rivas

Several years ago, when my mother invited me to the Christian Science branch church she was attending, I very agreeably accepted the invitation, although I had no knowledge of what it might really concern. Nevertheless, that first contact with Christian Science at a Wednesday testimony meeting gave me the assurance that I could never again have the feeling of being helpless. The cordial welcome given me by the ushers, the inspiration of the selections read from the desk, and the spiritual atmosphere that prevailed in the church were the most convincing proofs that I had come to this place under God's guidance.

As I commenced to study the Lesson-Sermon from the Christian Science Quarterly, I became aware of a new concept of God and man that permitted me to seek help only in divine Mind, God, and no longer to rely on material remedies. But even though I had experienced the healing power of Christian Science through prayer I continued to hold on to the habit of smoking and of drinking alcoholic beverages.

Nevertheless, I had already learned through reading the Bible that "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1); and thus the belief that man could be dominated by any noxious habit was crumbling. In Science and Health I found the basis for understanding that bad habits must go: "The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco, tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind's mastery of the body. This normal control is gained through divine strength and understanding" (p. 406). Mrs. Eddy goes on to say, "There is no enjoyment in getting drunk, in becoming a fool or an object of loathing; but there is a very sharp remembrance of it, a suffering inconceivably terrible to man's self-respect."