The Monitor's Mission

The Christian Science Monitor has recently made a progressive step in more immediate communication throughout the world, and the impact of this is the close concern of us all. Not only has this step rendered the newsworthiness of the Monitor of greater value to mankind, but it is bringing about a universal service to humanity by virtue of the mission of the Monitor, a mission of which journalistic worth is only one of the many effects. The Monitor is leavening thought by reason of an irresistible impulsion implicit in its mission. After referring to the other periodicals, which she had named, Mrs. Eddy states in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 353): "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."

Therefore does not this mission concern each of us very closely? Who does not desire "to injure no man, but to bless all mankind"? Who would try to impede or divide a "Science that operates unspent"? At this very time of a wider and more immediate application of the Monitor's mission, can anyone deny that such an achievement is necessary to solve human problems?

We can see around us, more readily than ever before because of the advances in physical communication, a wider picture of the world that needs the corrective thought of Christian Science. And to help the world at this juncture, the Monitor has come afresh, irresistibly to answer the call with greater urgency than ever before. It has stepped forward; so must we.

With this improved tool for handling the errors to be met we —and the Cause of Christian Science—are better able to fulfill the mission envisaged by Mrs. Eddy. Already that mission embraces all mankind, from the local to the universal community.

We, however, must embrace the Monitor in our thought if we are to utilize and realize its mission in any measure ourselves. Let us widen our mental horizons and let us more speedily communicate the Monitor's power for good so that mankind may indeed be blessed and not left hungering. In this way we may in a measure fulfill Jesus' command (Mark 16:15), "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

It is not enough to read the Monitor, nor is it enough to hand it on; both we may do. With its insight into and uncovering of the international situation, it helps us to combat the illusions of mortal mind effectively. But we do not "spread undivided the Science that operates unspent" if we stop at reading about these errors. Indeed, if we stop there the situation is no better than before; we have, in fact, accepted the forces of evil as having power. We must "spread undivided" infinite good; we must refute evil and replace it with the indivisible thought of omnipresent good and by this reversal arrive at the truth of any situation. Having done this we really are embracing the Monitor in our thought; we really are injuring no man, but blessing all mankind.

Such effective use of the Monitor need not be limited to world affairs. It may be used in the nullifying of resentment in a situation with our fellow men, in a more positive sense of home, or in a wider understanding of community that does not build up barriers amongst our fellows but breaks them down, whether they are barriers of theology, education, medicine, or ignorance.

Can we forget that the Monitor communicates? Can we forget that today its communication is more widespread than ever before? Can we honestly say that in no case at home or in our community have we failed to communicate good?

Communication is an integral part of our lives, for it includes all activity. Among other things the word "communicate" can mean to inform, to give, to share, and to join. What an unlimited and ceaseless flow of good this word can manifest when its wider meaning becomes clearer!

Daily our Monitor is immediately communicating, is informing, giving, and sharing; and it is opening vistas of hitherto closed areas of thought. By reading and using it, we too can take part wherever we are in this blessing of communication, for intelligent use of the Monitor enables us to see where and how to communicate when it is most needed. Thus we help to establish the operation of good within and without and begin to see only good as operating, informing, giving, and sharing.

As we consider our branch church, do we really sense that Science is undivided, or do we see a division into active and inactive members? If so, we can utilize the Monitor's mission. We can realize that inertia is impossible in Science, for Science "operates unspent."

And as we look around our community, do we injure or bless? Do we injure by creating barriers against that ever-active Science? Do we injure by viewing our neighbors as too sinful to be helped or too lost to be benefited? Surely the only barriers that exist in our church or community are those that we accept as real about others. Surely the remedy is clearer and more imperative than ever before in the Monitor's mission. Can we not, perhaps in unforeseen ways, bless our brother by seeing him as he really is—as God's reflection? This likewise blesses the world community.

In thus identifying ourselves with the Monitor's mission we can strengthen our resolve by remembering Mrs. Eddy's words in Science and Health (p. 483): "One must fulfil one's mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be well done, the work must be done unselfishly."

What Paul wrote to Timothy centuries ago speaks directly to each of us today (I Tim. 6:17, 18): "Charge them that are rich in this world ... that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate."