Article December 25, 2017 Issue

The babe of Christian healing

Cynthia Clague

One Christmas, we were blessed with a new baby in the family. When our grandson was born, it was such a joy to watch his parents cherishing him. It seemed that no child could have been more loved! Tenderness and patience, and gratitude for this baby’s presence as a gift from God, permeated every thought and action in that household.

With this precious gift, I was more than ever aware of how often revelation and spiritual unfoldment are illustrated in the Bible through the concept of birth. It’s not just in the Christmas story, but throughout the Old and New Testaments. Even the petition in our Lord’s Prayer to “deliver” us could be thought of as relating to spiritual birth. Jesus says we must be born again, and Mary Baker Eddy, who devotedly followed his teachings, speaks of the “new birth” as going on hourly. She uses terms such as labor and travail to describe her efforts to establish Christian Science on earth, which included reinstating spiritual healing for mankind.

Observing how deeply my baby grandson was cherished, I was also reminded of a particular passage in Mrs. Eddy’s writings that mentions cherishing the “babe” of Christian healing: “In different ages the divine idea assumes different forms, according to humanity’s needs. In this age it assumes, more intelligently than ever before, the form of Christian healing. This is the babe we are to cherish. This is the babe that twines its loving arms about the neck of omnipotence, and calls forth infinite care from His loving heart” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 370).

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