Article September 24, 2007 Issue

Next in our biweekly series on how people have nurtured their public practice of Christian Science.

ANYONE CAN BE A HEALER

LOVE'S COMPLETE PROVISION

VERONICA RAGATZ—Hingham, Massachusetts

OHIO WAS HOME BASE when I was growing up, but because my parents were history professors, Fulbright scholars, our family frequently lived overseas. My mother was a Christian Scientist. There was no question in my mind that God healed. Wherever we traveled, we always turned to God, and our needs were met by evidence of divine Love in our lives, including a sense of safety and protection, and of being at home. Because of Love's provision and Love's comforting presence, I never felt away from home.

What propelled me into becoming a Christian Science practitioner was a period of intense study of this Science while in graduate school in Geneva. With all our moving around, I didn't have a lot of experience attending church, and although I'd always called myself a Christian Scientist, I asked myself if I really knew what that meant. For a six-month period when I was in my early 20s, I devoured the Bible, reading it straight through, along with Mary Baker Eddy's writings, biographies of her, and histories of the church. I also began regularly attending the Sunday and Wednesday services at a local branch of The Mother Church.

Six months later I applied for branch church membership and Christian Science Primary class instruction. I was also hired to work at The Christian Science Monitor in Boston. On my first day back at work after taking class instruction, someone who suddenly felt very ill asked me to pray for them. She had an instantaneous healing. That was the beginning of my part-time practice of Christian Science.

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