Article May 16, 1983 Issue

Is gratitude important in healing?

DAVID HAUGHTON

The love of God for His children—each one of us—is infinite. It is so pure that even ungratefulness on our part will not necessarily prevent us from being healed when we turn to God in need. We should, however, understand that a state of unthankfulness or critical ingratitude for God, or for another person or persons, may—if persisted in—prolong suffering and in some instances bring about sinful or diseased conditions.

The gospel account of the healing of the ten lepers indicates that Christ Jesus considered genuine heartfelt gratitude to be a vital factor in the firm establishment of a Christianly scientific healing. To the Samaritan who, coming back to him after being healed, "fell down ... at his feet, giving him thanks," Jesus said: "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." Then Jesus said to the healed man, "Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."^{Luke 17:12-19.}

Does not this statement of the Master to the Samaritan indicate a need for each one of us to be profoundly grateful, at all times, for God—for Life, Truth, and Love? Ingratitude, no matter how slight, has the effect of dulling our receptivity to the ever-present Truth which, when understood, frees us from the claims of sin, disease, and death. "Such mental conditions as ingratitude, lust, malice, hate, constitute the miasma of earth," writes Mrs. Eddy. And then she adds even stronger words: "More obnoxious than Chinese stenchpots are these dispositions which offend the spiritual sense."^{Unity of Good, pp. 56-57.}

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