On the night before their departure from the slavery in Egypt, the children of Israel celebrated a solemn feast called the Passover. They were told that they should keep forever the feast of the Passover to memorialize the freedom which the Jewish nation attained under the guidance of Moses, God's humble servant. It was this feast of deliverance which Jesus celebrated with his disciples before his betrayal by Judas.

Christian Scientists have many opportunities through Christian Science to celebrate with feasting their continuing deliverance from the bondage of materiality. Mary Baker Eddy described the nature of this feasting in a Christmas message to her household in which she wished for them a feast at the table of Soul and a famine of the material senses. Among the spiritual feasts of which Christian Scientists partake are our church services and other activities, including our Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly, our lectures, class instruction, and association meetings.

The true enjoyment of these feasts and the lasting benefits which come from them can only be gained through proper preparation. This preparation is not material; it is mental and spiritual. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" our Leader writes (p. 272), "The spiritual sense of truth must be gained before Truth can be understood."

Jesus once related a parable in which he described a king who had prepared a wedding feast for his son. The guests who were invited all refused to attend, being involved with their own worldly affairs. Then the king sent his servants into the highways to invite anyone who would respond to the call. One man appeared without a wedding garment. He had not properly prepared himself for the feast, and he was put out.

To be prepared to partake of the glorious feasts to which Christian Science invites all men, each guest must put on his wedding garments, which Mrs. Eddy refers to as the robes of Christ. These robes consist of the pure qualities of God, Spirit, such as meekness, good will, sincerity, and truth.

The Christian Scientist prepares himself for the church services and meetings and for other church activities by freeing human consciousness of every encumbrance that might keep him from partaking of the bread and wine of pure communion with Spirit, which enlightens, blesses, and heals the receptive thought. He approaches the spiritual feasts in a spirit of prayerful receptivity, humility, and gratitude for God's goodness.

While others slept, Jesus prepared himself for the feasts of Spirit through countless hours of prayer. And he said regarding our preparation (John 15:7), "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." What a glorious promise! The desire to be constantly expressing the Christ—the ideal man of God—in thought and deed is the true preparation for the perpetual feast of Soul. Such preparation enables one to grow step by step into the stature of Christ and to be ready to meet any challenge of error which appears in his path. To have on the wedding garment of Truth and Love is to be equipped with the invincible armor of Spirit, which no shaft of error can penetrate.

In the book of Revelation, St. John reveals the message which Jesus sent to the early Christian church. In this message John records the Christ as saying (Rev. 3:20), "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." What greater blessing could one wish than to sup with the Christ, to receive the blessing of Christ's presence and activity in human consciousness.

And the preparation? Through the quiet lifting of thought away from earth to heaven's glories, through the earnest and importunate desire for growth in grace, we hear Christ knock and call to us. Then we open the door, open wide our thought, with eager expectation to welcome the angel visitant. This angel illumines for us the pages of the Bible and our Leader's writings, which reveal man's eternal spiritual nature as the son of God.

Let us, like the children of Israel, celebrate the Passover, but let us do this in its true spiritual sense, recognizing Christ as the Saviour from all fear, ignorance, sin, and other discords. And let us prepare to continually celebrate the morning meal of spiritual communion with Christ as a perpetual memorial of gratitude to God for His unspeakable gift of eternal life.

How grateful we should be for our beloved Leader, who faithfully followed in the path of Jesus. She prepared herself for the discovery of Christian Science by a prayerful study and acceptance of the age-old truths taught and lived by Jesus, by prophet and apostle. Clad in the wedding garment of Christ—of meekness and Truth—Mrs. Eddy illumined and interpreted these truths in the new light of spiritual understanding. In her message to the members of her Church our Leader writes (Message to The Mother Church for 1900, p. 15): "To-day you have come to Love's feast, and you kneel at its altar. May you have on a wedding garment new and old, and the touch of the hem of this garment heal the sick and the sinner!"

Harold Molter