Why ...? January 1, 2018 Issue

I have given the name to all the Christian Science periodicals. The first was The Christian Science Journal, designed to put on record the divine Science of Truth; the second I entitled Sentinel, intended to hold guard over Truth, Life, and Love; the third, Der Herold der Christian Science, to proclaim the universal activity and availability of Truth; the next I named Monitor, to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent. The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.

—Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353

Why share the periodicals?

Suzanne Smedley

As a staff editor for The Christian Science Journal, Sentinel, and Herald, I’ve had the pleasure of reading hundreds of inspiring articles and testimonies of healing, by people who answer this very question in each piece they write. For instance, there’s the article that just came across my desk by a Brazilian woman who relates how Christian Science was introduced to her at a very troubling time in her life—and how it restored her peace and sense of home.

How did she learn of Christian Science? Someone saw this author’s need and, inspired by the Christly love of God and of her neighbor, extended a hand with a Sentinel magazine. When we feel this love, any sense of apathy, fear, or reservation we might have about sharing a periodical simply dissolves.

The woman explains in her article: “I liked what I read in the magazine so much that I immediately looked for the nearest church. I found the church and, consequently, a Christian Science Reading Room, which I loved. So many resources! It was like finding a treasure chest—actually, a room full of treasures” (Scheila Ferreira, “How I found home,” Sentinel, October 9, 2017).

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