“Learning to defend my mental citadel”

In Pulpit and Press Mrs. Eddy talks about the need to strengthen our mental citadel and remain within its walls to defend our heritage.  I love the fact that Christian Science is our heritage.  As an Assistant Committee on Publication, I had been writing weekly articles on Christian Science healing, when I began to witness the antagonism of what the Bible calls “the carnal mind,” which is “enmity against God.”  Three church members – one was a Reader, and another was very active in the Reading Room, and a third had been a student of Science for decades – took ill and were admitted to the hospital.  This seemed to mock what I had been writing about with the efficacy of spiritual healing. 

Then closer home, my son, who works for the government, also became ill.  He sought and received Christian Science treatment from me.  The situation seemed to persist, and at one point to take a turn for the worse.  In order to approve a leave of absence, his workplace insisted he get a hospital report according to government policy.  This was totally against his wish.  Prior to leaving for the hospital, he requested that I contact another practitioner for metaphysical support, and he released me from the case. 

On getting to the hospital, my son was admitted, pending the outcome of the tests that the hospital conducted to confirm their diagnosis of his symptoms and decide on a course of treatment.  The hospital gave my son rehydration treatment as soon as they admitted him, but after that, he refused all medication.

By this time, I began to realize the powerlessness of the outrage against the very public stand Christian Science was taking for the efficacy of spiritual healing. 

When the tests came back, they revealed that my son had had some type of dangerous fever.  But to the doctors’ surprise, the tests also showed that my son had been receiving excellent [spiritual] treatment for the fever.  He was discharged as soon as the tests came out.  There was a sense of relapse of this condition a few weeks later, and I am deeply grateful that the practitioner not only agreed to take up the case again, but that my son was then fully healed in Christian Science. 

These experiences continue to teach me the wisdom of defending better my heritage.  In order to find out how to defend my mental citadel, I again turned to Pulpit and Press.  Mrs. Eddy says that we do this Christianly scientific work by “intrenching ourselves in the knowledge that our true temple is no human fabrication, but the superstructure of Truth, reared on the foundation of Love, and pinnacled in Life” (Pul. 2:27-1).

In studying our assignment, I realize how practically Mrs. Eddy followed her own counsel, and how she gently but firmly, led and encouraged her students to do so.  In the twenty-first century, this is a lesson that I too am learning.