Much that occupies thought during the Christmas season does not even touch the true significance of the occasion. The devotional festivities through which the birth of the Saviour is commemorated tend to keep alive the remembrance of a highly important historical event. But after the ornaments have been put away and the gifts have been evaluated and acknowledged, there is a tendency for one to assume that Christ has been glorified, and now men can get back into the routine of daily living.

But is Christ glorified in such observances? True, the Bethlehem babe has been honored. However, until human thought reaches beyond the manger to the period in which Christ Jesus took his Christly message of salvation and healing to the people, the true significance of the Christmas season remains unsought and so unrecognized. In fact, what is truly involved in the Saviour's appearing will remain a matter of conjecture until the spiritual meaning of what the Master said and what he did is understood, particularly his healing works.

In a short article entitled "The Cry of Christmas-tide," Mrs. Eddy states (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 370): "In different ages the divine idea assumes different forms, according to humanity's needs. In this age it assumes, more intelligently than ever before, the form of Christian healing. This is the babe we are to cherish."

Christian healing is a gift—the greatest of all gifts—as those who have been healed spiritually can testify. In the practice of Christian healing, health is acknowledged to be a divine quality which man derives from God unceasingly and abundantly. When we erroneously assume that health is dependent upon material processes and conditions, we place our well-being at the mercy of situations over which we believe God has only a vague and indirect control. But when we acknowledge health to be an essential quality of our being, the source of which is the divine Mind, we are able to prove that health is at all times under the control of ever-operative divine law.

The Preacher said (Eccl. 3: 14), "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever." This certainly applies to the health with which God endows us. When this is understood, we shall look to God, Spirit, for evidence of our well-being, rather than to matter, and we shall experience Christian healing.

There is a growing tendency on the part of those who deal with disease to trace many afflictions to the beliefs people entertain about themselves and others. It is being recognized more and more that what we think is evidenced in our experiences. Christian Science destroys one's belief in disease by establishing in one's consciousness the facts of health.

When Jesus said to the man in the synagogue, "Stretch forth thy hand" (Luke 6:10), he completely repudiated the belief that normal action can be interfered with—even the action of what appears to be a physical body. The realization that action belongs to Spirit, not to matter, restores normal bodily conditions now as it did in Jesus' time.

Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (Pref., p viii), "The question, What is Truth, is answered by demonstration,—by healing both disease and sin; and this demonstration shows that Christian healing confers the most health and makes the best men."

In today's widespread acceptance of Christianity, it is difficult to realize what a religious upheaval the teachings and demonstrations of Christ Jesus brought to the world. Although dedicated to peace on earth and goodwill to men, the revolutionary nature of Christianity challenges, and will continue to challenge, the thoughts of its adherents until Christ, the divine manifestation of God, has fulfilled its mission, and Truth and Love reign in the human heart.

When Mrs. Eddy was desperately in need of help, her humble thought was receptive of the power of divine Love, and she experienced a remarkable healing. Then the impersonal Christ appeared to her consciousness, which, through divine preparation, was ready to be used to record a revelation of God so free from doctrinal encumbrances that the Comforter promised by the Master was borne to earth.

In "Retrospection and Introspection," Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 24), "My immediate recovery from the effects of an injury caused by an accident, an injury that neither medicine nor surgery could reach, was the falling apple that led me to the discovery how to be well myself, and how to make others so." We see in her life what it means to glorify Christ.

As we gain an appreciation of how Jesus healed the sick and sinning and grasp firmly the Science Mrs. Eddy discovered, we find "the babe we are to cherish." Then we are able to exercise dominion over sin and disease through the same law of God that the Master understood and invoked so perfectly.

In the exercise of this dominion, Christmas takes on new meaning and extends beyond a given season. The Christ, which Jesus so fully expressed, becomes to us the liberating action of Truth, freeing us from error. Our moral fiber is strengthened. We become aware of the realities of being, and spiritual values become exalted. Our lives take on nobler purposes, and our true nature as a child of God begins to appear.

Ralph E. Wagers