'PERFECTION UNDERLIES REALITY'

HELEN MATHIS

THIS WEEK'S BIBLE LESSON on "Reality" couldn't be timelier. People are finding themselves rethinking what once seemed so secure—homes, jobs, pensions, banks, the environment, city and state services. However, I found the Golden Text reminding me that the divine Father-Mother has no shadow-side, but is full of light. God provides spiritual gifts that don't fluctuate with the market, and are wholly perfect, good, consistent, dependable, and free (see James 1:17).

The word perfect appears in the Lesson 34 times, sometimes paired with the word whole. Those who touch Jesus are made "perfectly whole" (Matt. 14:36, Responsive Reading). Jesus asks the man at the pool of Bethesda, "Wilt thou be made whole?" (John 5:6, citation 16). The corresponding passage in Science and Health explains, "Truth is an alterative in the entire system, and can make it 'every whit whole' " (p. 371, cit. 17).

That phrase perfectly whole might seem redundant, since something that is perfect is by nature whole, needing nothing added. However, these two words work together to accentuate the wholeness and completeness of reality. The first section of the Lesson explains: "Perfection underlies reality. Without perfection, nothing is wholly real" (Science and Health, p. 353, cit. 2).