To stop a contagion

The Editors

Some are predicting this year’s flu season will be the worst in a decade, and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that dozens of states across the country are reporting earlier than usual spikes in flu activity. People are being urged to get flu shots and to take other measures to avoid this contagious disease.

Christian Scientists can help to alleviate the situation. Mary Baker Eddy, who founded Christian Science, wrote, “At a time of contagious disease, Christian Scientists endeavor to rise in consciousness to the true sense of the omnipotence of Life, Truth, and Love, and this great fact in Christian Science realized will stop a contagion” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 116).

Since God is infinite and omnipresent, there isn’t actually a disease “presence” that can somehow invade one’s being and make it sick.

Understanding that omnipresent Life, Truth, and Love are synonymous with Spirit, and that man is spiritual, strips away the belief that each of us is a material being vulnerable to disease. As Christian Scientists affirm this truth on behalf of humanity, they are also defending themselves from sickness. Each of us is the idea of God, and this spiritual fact totally deprives the so-called flu virus from a material locus in which to operate. Since God is infinite and omnipresent, there isn’t actually a disease “presence” that can somehow invade one’s being and make it sick.

Sometimes the media drumbeat or the evidence of disease at one’s employment, at school, or in the general community may seem almost overwhelming, even for those who have been praying regularly on behalf of themselves and others. The erroneous influence of this subtle fear needs to be directly and firmly addressed. As Mrs. Eddy puts it, “Fear is the fountain of sickness, and you master fear and sin through divine Mind; hence it is through divine Mind that you overcome disease” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 391–392).

Prayerfully insisting on the oneness of Mind lifts thought above the influence of other minds that may be fearful of or expecting to get the disease. This resort to a higher mode of thinking is in line with biblical authority. As the Psalmist put it: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me” (Psalm 56:3, 4).

Spirituality as taught by Christ Jesus, who understood man’s inseparability from God, makes clear that those who trust in divinity truly do not need to fear what disease or the flesh may claim to do. Even when he was mobbed by sick people, Jesus understood God’s power to heal and put it into practice on behalf of suffering humanity.

Christian Scientists can address the flu contagion with the firm conviction that the Christ, which empowered Jesus’ prayers, will also make their prayers effective. It is possible to stop this contagion now.

Send a comment to the editors

This is the end of the issue. Ready to explore further?

Online features Audio

February 11, 2013

Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit