It’s the Christmas season again! Beyond the festivities and gift-giving, Christians around the world are again revisiting the nativity story and celebrating the legacy of Christ Jesus’ remarkable life and works. 

At this time of year, I’ve frequently pondered something Mary Baker Eddy, a follower of Jesus who discovered Christian Science, said about her celebration of the holiday: “I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth’s appearing” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 262).

While Jesus’ appearance on earth was brief, the Christ—the healing and saving Truth that Jesus demonstrated—appears to us today just as it did to the prophets and disciples in ancient times. The many instances of healing and protection they experienced, both before and after Jesus’ time, show clearly that the Christ is incorporeal and eternal and appears to the receptive heart in every age.