Feeling the touch of Love

HAVE you ever felt calm when things around you were in turmoil? Ever been inspired to speak, perhaps unexpectedly and eloquently, at a meeting? Ever been just led to do something for someone that resulted in a blessing? Or been healed of a physical trouble through prayer? If so, you have felt the healing touch of divine Love, the hand of our Father-Mother God, which gives us comfort, which inspires, guides, and heals us. There are many instances in the Bible where individuals felt this healing touch. Sometimes it came after a period of great struggle for a more spiritual sense of life. Sometimes it was felt after a wilderness experience, a time of prayer and fasting. We are told that Elijah went to a mountain, at first in fear, fleeing for his life, until he saw the power of God, not in the earthquake, wind, and fire, but in the ``still small voice.'' 1 And Jesus, after going up to a mountain to pray, to commune with his Father, came down and healed a multitude of people. What a powerful, compassionate hand touches us when we too feel the presence of Christ, of the universal divine healing influence, always with us. Perhaps we have faced an earthquake of sorts, a major disruption in our lives. Whether the problem be in relation to family, business, or the world's conflicts, we can feel the divine influence and the peace it confers. As we strive to purify our lives; as we mentally ascend the mountain of faith, letting go of troubles that would weigh us down; as we earnest ly pray to yield to the omnipresence of divine Love, we will experience healing. In Mark we are told of a woman who ``had an issue of blood twelve years,'' who had spent all her funds seeking the help of many physicians, all to no avail. In fact, she was getting worse. But when she heard of Jesus, she ``came in the press behind, and touched his garment. . . . And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.'' Jesus, aware of the mental call of one in need, asked, ``Who touched my clothes?'' When the woman made her presence known, she was met with his response ``Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.'' 2 In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Mary Baker Eddy3 writes, ``He that touches the hem of Christ's robe and masters his mortal beliefs, animality, and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing,--in a sweet and certain sense that God is Love.'' 4 To the extent, then, that we earnestly desire a better understanding of our inherent purity, as we let ourselves feel the touch of the Christ, we are blessed. We are healed. Recently, a friend accidentally cut the end of her finger quite deeply. She called an experienced Christian Scientist, and together they strove for a feeling of spiritual peace. They prayed, realizing that regardless of what the physical senses were reporting, the truth of man's being is that right now, as the beloved child of the Father, Love, he is whole and complete. Man, spiritual and perfect as the likeness of God, is not prone to mishaps, nor can his life be endangered in any way. Soon the fear was stilled, the pain left, and within a short time the wound closed and healed with no aftereffects or scar. Right in the midst of apparent suffering, my friend felt the immediate presence of the healing Christ. She had acknowledged the ever-presence of Love surrounding and sustaining her, and the healing was complete. What a wonderful sense of the presence of God, so immediately available that it is as if ``an hand touched me,'' 5 to use a Biblical phrase. As with my friend who felt the healing touch of the Christ, the blessing is to see that right now we actually dwell in harmony, regardless of appearances. We live and move in God's presence, where there is no tumult to rock us. Each of us, as the child of God, is greatly beloved of the Father, the perfect reflection of his Maker. This is our actual selfhood. A hymn assures us: Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid; I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.6 To be upheld, strengthened, healed--touched by the all-powerful love of God--this is a possibility now. We can never be outside His presence. 1 I Kings 19:12. 2 See Mark 5:25-34. 3 The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 4 Science and Health, p. 569. 5 Daniel 10:10. 6 Christian Science Hymnal, No. 123. 30{et