Speaker: I wonder if you've ever stopped to think of the application to your own life of the Beatitudes Christ Jesus gave us. In one of them, you'll remember, he said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

Today we're going to talk about the spiritual riches that come to us when we hunger and thirst after righteousness, about how they lift us out of sickness and discord into a new kind of experience, into a spiritual sense of existence that brings freedom, joy, dominion, happiness, purposeful living. In a way, that's what happened to our guest, Arthur McNamara, of Chicago, Illinois, and we're going to ask him to tell us his experience.

Suppose you begin, Air. McNamara.

Mr. McNamara: Through the years I'd experienced many physical difficulties, discordant human relationships, an unhappy childhood, and lack of things I needed. But all this I had accepted as a normal part of life, something I just had to live with and make the best of; that is, until I began to study Christian Science. My wife was a Christian Scientist, and out of curiosity I finally began to read "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. I studied the Bible and started attending church. And, you know, almost without my noticing it, some big changes began to take place in my life.

To begin with, I gained a vastly different concept of God from anything I'd ever known before, I glimpsed the nature of God as ever-present Mind or Spirit. Also I gained some understanding of man as God's perfect likeness, as the Bible says he is. All this was vastly different from my former concepts. And I found this spiritual understanding enriching my life in more ways than I could tell you.

For instance, I found that lack and limitation can be overcome through reliance on God. At one time, during the depression, I found myself penniless in a strange city. I had a car, but no gas. There was a hotel bill to pay, and I could have used a little food too.

I'd gone to this city with a group of salespeople I'd made a connection with. But we'd only been there a day when these men began to talk about leaving town without paying the hotel bill. I couldn't go along with anything like that; so I separated myself from them.

But I was penniless. So I went to the manager and told him I didn't have the means to pay the bill, but that I would have. Then I went to the Christian Science Reading Room to study and pray. I knew this was the only way I could possibly solve the problem. As I prayed for direction and guidance, the thought came very strongly to give. But I thought, "I don't have anything to give." That happened several times as I sat there and prayed. Finally the thought of service began to come to me. Well, I turned that over in my mind until I saw how I could be of service.

At one time I'd sold a piece of equipment—a meat-slicing machine—used by hotels, restaurants, and stores. It consisted of over one thousand parts, and I knew every one of them. In fact, I had a set of servicing tools right in my car. These machines were in common use everywhere, but in these depression times the merchants weren't prepared to ship them back to the factory for repairs.

So here was my answer. I decided to make some calls and offer to service these machines. And, you know, I was received with open arms. Between three and five that afternoon, I'd lined up enough work for two weeks. And for two years after that I made a living in this way, covering six states.

And perhaps I might mention another way in which this understanding helped me. It was a physical healing that came about entirely through prayer and reliance on God. I'd had attacks of neuritis and also arthritis over a number of years, and finally these attacks appeared in a very alarming form. My hands and arms were incapacitated. I had to hold my head in a rigid position, and the slightest move brought excruciating pain.

I had help from a Christian Science practitioner, and from my own study and prayer I realized that once again it was a question of spiritualizing my thinking. So I prayed earnestly to get a clearer understanding of man's spiritual nature in the likeness of God. As I did this, I saw I had to get rid of some hatred and resentment that had been smoldering in my thoughts.

When the healing finally came, it came suddenly, at about five o'clock one morning. It was complete; it was final. And I just raised my arms in the air rejoicing. I was back at work in two days.

But, you know, it's the over-all picture that really means so much to me. There's just no comparison between the poverty of my earlier thinking and the wealth of spiritual understanding that has come to me since.

Speaker: Thank you, Mr. McNamara. You've certainly given us a lot to think about.

No doubt there are times, as Mr. McNamara found, when our human needs seem to be very pressing. We may think, for instance, that our most urgent need at the moment is for a home, for a car, for employment, or for right companionship. But material possessions, important as they seem, do not of themselves bring lasting satisfaction. As Christ Jesus himself revealed, the prime need is never for things. He said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Christian Science explains that because God is infinite, ever-present Spirit. God is the only true substance. As we reach out for a deeper understanding of God, it's divinely natural that our lives should be blessed, enriched in every possible way. You see, we're actually reaching out to the very source of infinite, unchanging good —divine Love, the infinite Giver.

Our guest's experience is a useful illustration of what takes place when we look to God for divine direction. He woke up to the fact that his real need was to understand God. And he set about gaining that understanding. He got an entirely new concept of God and of man in God's likeness. His whole outlook on life changed. Instead of accepting discord, lack, and limitation as natural and inevitable, he learned to look in the right direction.

You'll recall he told us how the understanding of God brought him the guidance he needed. In other words, this understanding gave him spiritual inspiration, which led him to right human activity. Then his immediate needs were supplied.

There's a statement from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" in which Mary Baker Eddy gives this comforting assurance (p. 494): "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need." Let us realize that lack or discord of any kind indicates a need for spiritual awakening, a need for gaining spiritual enlightenment, a deeper understanding of God.

Christian Science explains that God, divine Mind, is the creator of all good. Therefore we can turn to God with complete confidence and certain expectation of the solution for every problem. And whether our need is for direction, integrity, purity, intelligence, for health, or for day-to-day supply, the right answer is always available. I'd like to read you something from Mrs. Eddy's book "Miscellaneous Writings" on this very point (p. 307): "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment."

The musical selection on the program was Hymn No. 201 from the Christian Science Hymnal (O do not bar your mind).