Immunity February 27, 1995 Issue

The immunity that divine Love gives

Sharon Slaton Howell

"A Calm, Christian state of mind is a better preventive of contagion than a drug, or than any other possible sanative method; and the 'perfect Love' that 'casteth out fear' is a sure defense," writes Mary Baker Eddy in an article titled "Contagion" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 229).

This is not mere theory. I know personally of contagious conditions that have been quickly and permanently healed through the power of divine Love, God. One, which took place many years ago, involved my own brother, who, as a preschool-age child, was stricken with all the symptoms of infantile paralysis. The fear of the disease at that time was great in our community, and my mother, who had just begun studying Christian Science, was understandably worried. But she had herself been healed of a longstanding, serious physical condition through relying on the law of God, so she decided to ask a Christian Science practitioner to pray for my brother. The symptoms were so frightening, my mother feared he might not live through the night. But he was healed within a couple of days. This powerful proof of God's love for His children made a deep impression on my mother, and it strengthened her trust in God as an ever-present help in times of sickness.

What my brother experienced was the effect of the understanding that man is God's own child, as the Scriptures bring out. In harmony with the Bible's spiritual meaning, Christian Science shows that man is inherently pure and whole—not a mortal, flesh-and-blood creature, who is subject to fear, disability, and death. We are actually God's spiritual offspring, not at the mercy of whatever disease is believed to be prevalent, not helpless before disease or fear. Divine Love, the tender Father of all, by virtue of His allness, excludes whatever is unlike His pure nature. This truth destroys any supposed evidence that we could be subject to disease.

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