"Consolation in Christ"

Albert F. Gilmore

In his epistle to the Christians of Philippi, Paul pleaded for increased brotherly love, appealing to their deepest sense as Christians and to their noblest impulses to live in peace and concord. "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ. if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, ..." he implored, "fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." Thus earnestly did Paul plead for that unity among brethren which would enable them to carry forward the work of spreading the gospel of Christ Jesus, the healing truth which the world, sunk in the misery of materiality, so greatly needed. The consolation which is in Christ was uppermost in Paul's thought as the sole means whereby was to be gained the spirit of true fellowship, necessary to establish the bonds of peace.

"Consolation in Christ"! What possibilities of spiritual comfort are glimpsed in these simple words! How far above the human comfort of earthly woes was the consolation thus visualized, even the consolation which can be found only in communion with all-inclusive Love, through its divine Comforter, the Christ, Truth!

In the Christ-idea, the message from Truth and Love, Christian Scientists learn to find the consolation for all their woes, comfort for all their fears, compassion and forgiveness for all their mistakes. The human heart needs a Comforter. Even as the child turns to its earthly parent for comfort and consolation, in full assurance that it will meet tenderness and gentle solicitude as balm to its grievous wounds, so the student of Christian Science, cognizant that the loving presence of the waiting Christ is ever ready to calm and console the troubled heart, looks to this divine messenger in full expectation of merciful release.

In the closing paragraph of the Preface to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. xii) Mrs. Eddy writes in these words of her joy in bearing the message of the consoling Christ to the needy everywhere: "In the spirit of Christ's charity,—as one who 'hopeth all things, endureth all things,' and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick,—she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth." With what sublime faith did our heavenly-inspired Leader give her book to the world! The Christ, Truth, therein revealed, she offered as full consolation to the sorrowing, to those sitting within the deep shadow of grief and remorse, as well as to those suffering the discomforts of disease; all were to find their healing balm in the Christ.

As we contemplate her exalted faith, let us ask ourselves: Are we making our own the cheer and solace which are so graciously proffered us in our Leader's words? Are we receiving from the message all the benefits in terms of spiritual blessedness that Mrs. Eddy foresaw as the sure reward of the faithful? Are we finding our consolation in Christ? Mankind has turned to many and divers ways for comfort and solace in time of stress and sorrow, more often, it is true, in the wrong than in the right direction. Mortals have sought to drown their sorrows, to assuage their griefs, and to alleviate their pains through material means, to escape the penalty of sinful living through anodynes,—practices scarcely less sinful,—when all the time the way has been open to perfect consolation by appealing to the all-loving Father through the gentle Christ. The perversity of mortals in refusing to avail themselves of the sure aid which the divine Father offered through the example of Christ Jesus can be accounted for only in the innate hatred which error holds for Truth, which evil ever maintains toward good.

As Christ Jesus neared the end of his earthly mission, aware of his early departure from the presence of his beloved disciples, he took occasion to reassure them in these words: "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you;" and in fulfillment of this promise, the Christ has ever come to the waiting heart receptive to this divine Comforter in the time of need, calming its fears, healing its ills, destroying its sins, and assuaging its griefs. Perfect consolation awaits the earnest seeker for Christ's comfort. No sorrow is too grievous to be lifted, no sickness too serious to be healed, by the loving-kindness and tender mercy of Christ's presence.

What more can one look for or wish for than to know that divine help is always at hand, the Love which never faileth? Surely, human woe, which is in itself but an erroneous belief, a mistaken sense of the so-called mortal mind, possesses no quality of reality; surely, such an impostor can scarcely be considered as able to withstand the divine might of the loving Father!

The Comforter is here; consolation is at hand. Let us not, through any false sense, cling to that which burdens and weighs us down. Rather, let us relinquish every erroneous concept of life and selfhood, replacing the false with the true in the assurance that in this process no good is lost, no reality relinquished. In the consolation which is of Christ is complete freedom from every taint of materiality. Moreover, in the healed mentality remains no slightest trace of regret; in the Christ-consciousness only spirituality obtains. The comfort awaiting the faithful is truly from the Father.

Albert F. Gilmore

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