Learning to Love Your Enemies with Giula Nesi Tetreau

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the final program in the twenty twenty four
Spiritual Solutions for Today's Challenges series. Podcasts will still be
available through November thirtieth at wor seven ten dot com
slash Spiritual Solutions. The sponsors of this week's program, Learning
to Love Your Enemies are the Christian Science Churches in

(00:25):
Jamaica and Levittown, New York. Our guest tonight, Julian Nissi Tetro,
has spent her entire career in the healthcare field. She
is a practitioner of Christian Science who has been on
the faculty of Harvard Medical Schools Symposium Spirituality and Healing
in Medicine. She has lectured widely to both professional healthcare
audiences and the general public. Julian Nissi Tetro asks, are

(00:50):
you feeling a call to go deeper to connect with
the divine experience better health and healing? The answers you
seek are within your reach. You can be happy, healthier,
and more at peace. I've experienced that kind of transformation
in my own life and have helped many others experience it.
The Christian Science Churches in Jamaica and Levittown are pleased

(01:13):
to present Julia Nissi Tetro speaking on learning to love
your enemies.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Welcome everyone, I'm Julian Nisi Tetra, and I'm going to
be speaking with you about learning to love your enemies.
When you hear that subject, what comes to mind? Where
does your thinking go? And speaking with folks both here
and in other countries on this topic, I've heard, I

(01:40):
don't have any enemies. Love nice emotion, but it can't
do or change anything. It has to be an eye
for an eye, otherwise you're ignoring evil in the world.
Others have said, oh, I don't want to, or it's
just too hard. I like being angry, the injustice, the harm,

(02:02):
the wrongdoing is dangerous, and it's just been too great.
Others have said, I feel like I'm my own worst enemy.
And then there's some individuals I've met with a quiet
and reflective voice, look within and acknowledge I really need

(02:24):
to learn how to do that. Do any of those
sound familiar to you? Clearly in looking out at the
United States today, particularly but not exclusively, in the political
arena with the upcoming presidential election, the polarization, divisiveness, and hostility.

(02:48):
It runs deep, and it's not just in this country.
It extends to other regions and nations as well, seeing
quote the other as the enemy. That view of othering
what happens it leads to stigmatizing, distancing, division, even the

(03:12):
dehumanizing of individuals that are perceived to be another or
different from oneself, whether it's politically or religiously, socioeconomically, racially.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Or whatever.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
I think we need to pause and ask ourselves this question,
what is it that makes us think that we have enemies?
Isn't it the fear or the belief that somehow we've

(03:49):
been cut off or separated from good or that in
some way it's under threat, that we could lose or
we've lost something we treasure, that we value, that we
feel we deserve, or that we desire, That someone or

(04:10):
something out of our control has the power or the
influence to determine what happens in our lives and the
lives of others. Well, if we're believing there's another power
or influence controlling our lives and that somehow we've missed out,
been held back, or deprived of what is right and

(04:33):
just for us to have, that can lead to some
pretty intense feelings anger, resentment, envy, revenge, even hatred. What
if there was a way that we could think and
then live that helps us to realize that we can

(04:57):
never be separated from good, that the source is a reliable, infinite,
constant present with which we have a spiritual unity or
oneness that can never be lost, that can never be destroyed.

(05:20):
The good news is that there is Christian science, which
is based in the Bible, primarily the life and teachings
of Christ Jesus and are the basis of this talk
explains why this inseparability is true, and then it shows

(05:41):
us how to experience it more and more in our lives,
and it's actually happening for many people today. Christian science
it gives us a new framing story for seeing what's enduring,
what's permanent in our world, spiritual viewpoint that can ultimately

(06:04):
lead to where good doesn't feel under threat and can
lead to the creation of a world community where our
differences don't divide us, but rather where harmonious diversity reigns.

(06:25):
If you're just tuning in, welcome, I'm Julia Nissi Tetro
and we're talking about learning to love your enemies. Well,
now let's take a look at where we find this
directive to love even our enemies. It's in the New
Testament in the Bible, in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.

(06:48):
Mary Baker Eddie, the nineteenth and early twentieth century religious reformer,
spiritual visionary, theologian, and founder of the Christian Science movement.
She referred to this sermon as Jesus's Diamond Sermon, and

(07:09):
she identified it as one of the key foundational stones
on which Christian Science is based. So in this sermon
we find these words. You've heard it said you'll love
your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you,
love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good

(07:35):
to those who hate you, and pray for those who
spitefully use you and persecute you, so that you may
be the children of your Father in heaven. The New
Testament was written in Greek, and the word in this

(07:55):
passage from Jesus's words for that love is is a gope.
It indicates a love that isn't weak or just a
nice emotional feeling, but an unconquerable, invincible benevolence and goodwill
towards others. It's a broad and inclusive, a charitableness to all.

(08:23):
It's unselfish, and it's not a passive love, but a
love in action, and it creates and it builds community.
So what was it that Jesus knew about the significance
of this mental and spiritual practice of a gopbe love

(08:47):
that we need to understand for our well being, for
our health, and for the world's wellbeing. Why is it
a prerequisite for us to live as the children of God?

Speaker 1 (09:00):
God?

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Well?

Speaker 2 (09:02):
To answer those questions, I did some research, both biblical
and other avenues, and I came upon what Reverend doctor
Martin Luther King Junior understood was the significance of this practice.
He thought it was so imperative that I understand he
preached on it almost once a year, and this is

(09:26):
what he said. The words of this text glitter in
our eyes with a new urgency, kind of diamond like right,
I would say that it's possible that what doctor King
said is even more true today. He understood one of
the paramount reasons that we needed to love our enemies

(09:49):
is because it's an absolute necessity for the survival of
our civilization. Doctor King expounds on this revolutionary love this way.
He said, when I speak of love. I am not
speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am not

(10:10):
speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. I
am speaking of that force which all of the great
religions have seen as the supreme, unifying principle of life.
Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which

(10:34):
leads to ultimate reality. A force that is the unifying
principle that unlocks the door leading to ultimate reality. Decades
before doctor King wrote that, Mary Baker Eddie, in an

(10:54):
address to the college she established to teach Christian science healing,
said this love is the principle of unity, the basis
of all right thinking and acting. And here she capitalizes
the P. It's a name for God, the supreme being

(11:17):
the one source, the one creator or principle that that
is divine love.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Love as the.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Principle or origin of creation is It's therefore the only
indestructible and unchanging source of the ultimate reality. Now, this
divine creator creates and knows only good, and so then

(11:46):
it follows naturally that true existence or reality life must
and does flow from love and be wholly good.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Love.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
It's unchanging, it's universal, it's eternal, it's unconditional. It's a
love that's infinite, always active, always present, impartial, embracing one
and all equally. Nothing or no one is left out,

(12:27):
cut off, or in any way separated from it. There
are no outsiders in Love's family. There are no others.
It's a love that binds up broken hearts, that men's

(12:49):
broken bodies. It's a love that nourishes hungry hearts, that
corrects and guides, misguide or wayward hearts. It's not just
a nice feeling, but this love, it's the ultimate force

(13:10):
for good. Doesn't ignore fear, hatred, malice. But what it does,
it nullifies it, It ennulls it, It harmonizes and unifies.
A favorite Bible passage of mine tells us about the

(13:32):
indivisibility we all have from this love as the basis
of the ultimate reality. It goes like this, For I
am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor

(13:53):
height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be
able to separate us from the love of God. Christian
science teaches us that each one of us is created
as the unique expression of our maker, our permanent authentic

(14:15):
identity is actually the very likeness of Deity. We are
Love's very image. So in our essence, all that we have,
all that we are, all that we be, comes from.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
This all good creator.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
And it naturally follows then that the divine nature that
we embody is wise and loving and healthy and joyful, patient,
and strong, and so much more. That divinity of our nature,
which Jesus lived so fully is called Christ, and it

(14:59):
actually defines our identity for every single one of us,
and Jesus's life example he shows us that nothing can threaten,
nothing can destroy that true spiritual nature we have as
God's likeness, and that we can never ever be separated
from that divine source, like the array can't be separated

(15:22):
from the sun. There's a woman. Her name is Paulie Murray.
She was the first black woman that was ordained to
the priesthood in the Episcopal Church, and she was also
active in the civil rights movement. And in a sermon
she gave, she said this, to think of oneself as

(15:45):
a child of God is a liberating experience. It's to
free oneself from all feelings of inferiority, whether it's race
or color, age or sex, economic status or your position
in life. I say that I'm the child of God,
made in God's image. When I truly believe that God
is my father and my mother, in short, my creator,

(16:09):
I am bound also to believe that all men, women,
and children of whatever race, color, creed, ethnic origin. I
would add political persuasion, are my sisters and brothers. What
a beautiful What a beautiful thought? So is it too

(16:33):
much to think that loving our enemies is what will
lead us to the promised land? A spiritual recognition that
we already have everything that we need or want, and
that we can never be deprived or prevented from experiencing
all that good. A world where we can live together

(16:56):
in unity and in harmony can reign in human hearts
and minds. No, it's not too much. If God is
this principle the origin or source of everything good? Well,
considering that I've had to ask myself some other questions,

(17:18):
is there anything a single individual can do to.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
Make a difference?

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Can one person bring light, healing and help to their
loved ones and contribute to the uplifting of others, even
potentially the whole global family? Is it possible to prove
harmony and love can prevail. A friend shared her recent
experience with me that gave me a very clear answer

(17:48):
and affirmative yes to those questions. This is what happened.
She shared that for several years after meeting this individual
with whom she was to have a very close contact with,
she became aware that this other person hated her. And
she said she had never felt hated by anyone, and
she couldn't understand it or why it.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Was the case.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
What she did was she returned an eye for an eye.
She returned the hate to this woman and felt justified
in doing it. She said she earned it by hating
me first, and because this hate had existed for so
many years, it was consuming all of her thoughts and
she didn't see how she could ever possibly get rid

(18:34):
of it. This woman was so awful to her. She
even changed she moved to a different state, but it
didn't change anything in terms of what was happening in
her thought and in her heart. Now, my friend is
a praying woman, and she realized she needed to address this,
and she turned to God in prayer, and she realized

(18:58):
that as she was praying, these messages, these angel messages,
as she described them, came from God that she realized
in Love's creation that there was no cause for hate.
With that divine love as the principle of all creation.
She recognized love didn't make hate doesn't cause, it doesn't sustain,

(19:21):
it doesn't send, it doesn't know it. And then as
the child of this all good creator, she couldn't express
anything that didn't come from God that was unloving or
ungodlike you could say. And looking at Jesus' example was
so helpful to see how he addressed that hate when

(19:46):
he was confronted with it. So as she prayed, she
said she found inspiring ideas in the Bible and in
the primary text of Christian science written by Mary Baker Eddie,
Science and Health with key to this Scriptures, And in
there Mary Baker Eddie writes that human hate has no

(20:08):
legitimate mandate and no kingdom.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Love is enthroned.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Well, Jesus told us the kingdom of Heaven was within.
It wasn't some far off place, but it was right
within our own consciousness, our own awareness of that love
and of our unity with that love. And so what
happened for my friend? She came to a place where
she asked herself, do I really want to surrender my

(20:35):
true identity as a kind, lovable, unselfish child of God
to the depth of the ugliness being possessed by hatred.
And of course, she said the answer was absolutely not.
With that firm declaration and that insistence on who she

(20:57):
really is, her authentic identity, she said she felt just
suddenly expunged of this fear and hatred that had consumed
her for so long, and that sense of hatred it
was destroyed by that love. And what emerged was feelings

(21:17):
of goodwill and benevolence, which are always there. Now they
may be hidden at times, but it's possible that when
we align ourselves mentally spiritually with our authentic identity as
the child of God, they emerge right where there seemed

(21:39):
to be hatred and fear. And she said she didn't
know if she'd ever hear from this woman again, and
she said she really didn't need to. But shortly after
this experience of this feeling of freedom, she got a
text from her as if they were friends, and she
said she was absolutely amazed and grateful, and they've gone

(22:00):
on to have a lovely relationship. So can one person
make a difference, Well, there's a beautiful quote that tells
us I alone cannot change the world, but I can
cast a stone upon the waters and create many ripples.
From the scriptural basis that Christian science gives what we've

(22:23):
been talking about, our very existence is eternally united or
at one with God, and also from her own life experience,
Mary Baker Eddie wrote a very pointed article entitled Love
Your Enemies, and at the very beginning she asks a question,
what is it that harms you?

Speaker 4 (22:47):
Well?

Speaker 2 (22:47):
I know that often we think of the enemy as
something or someone out there, an insensitive family member, a
political leader or government official, someone of a different race,
someone of a different religion, our neighbor, our boss. It
goes on and on the other. And I know sometimes

(23:10):
if you've been wronged being angry, you feel justified and
it can feel kind of good for a time. But
at some point can you recognize, just like my friend did,
that it's actually harming you. Maybe you've had a persistent
feeling of unhappiness or physical distress or sleepless nights, or

(23:31):
conflict with loved ones. Isn't it better to be free,
to be free to who you really are? In that article,
I just referenced Mary Becker Eddie explains that what harms
you isn't something or someone outside of yourself that's causing

(23:52):
the stress. That it's not a person, place, or thing.
The enemy is actually the destructive thoughts, the beliefs, perceptions, motives,
feelings about our lives that weigh on us. And it's
not a person, not a place, not a thing, not
a group. It's really anything that pulls us away from recognizing,

(24:18):
feeling and living in line with our true selfhoot our
christ'sly divine nature, our inherent goodness and divinity. That's the enemy.
There's a definition of enemy that says it's an adversary,
one that opposes or denies or disputes an opponent.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
Well, that's what these.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
Feelings and thoughts and motives are trying to oppose or
dispute who we really are.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
Now.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
I have yet to meet anyone that doesn't have at
least one of those things that's trying to grab a
hold of them and say it's a part of who
they really are. But what Christian science tells us about
the very nature of the ultimate reality, it helps us
to see that we don't have to stay in that lost, suffering,

(25:10):
angry place that no matter what it looks like on
the surface, it's possible to experience, moment by moment a freer, healthier, happier,
and more peaceful sense of existence. What happens is these
ungodlike offenders, they can and they do dissolve when we

(25:32):
yield to the presence of love and the truth of
who we really are as Love's children. That's reality shining through.
And because of the unity we have with divine Love,
that we are made in the very image of our creator,
it's impossible for us to have anything that's not from

(25:56):
our loving, benevolent maker. For me, Jesus is the ultimate
example of a life lived in line with our true
divine nature. He so lived the Christ, he was given
the title Christ Jesus, and he himself said I am
the Way. When I think about that in Jesus's words

(26:18):
saying I am the way, it's through the way that
he thought, the way that he taught, healed, and lived,
not through doctrines or denomination. That that's what he meant
when he said he was the way, and that his
life example is available for anyone and everyone to find

(26:42):
their way out of the chaos at times of a
superficial or a kind of physical view of life. Jesus
fully lived that agape love, and as we learned to
love that way, as he did, those ungodlike motives, emotions, thoughts,

(27:04):
they're removed a god ba love frees thought and advances
consciousness heavenward to the kingdom of Heaven, awakening to that
experience right here, right now, not at a far off
distant time. How does that happen? Well, that love demands

(27:26):
that we let the christ spirit, that we let grace
so permeate and purify our heart, our mental consciousness, that
anything anything appearing to be unlike the Anointed or Christ,
it dissolves like a shadow. And living this love, it

(27:49):
awakens us more and more fully to that promised land
that we've been talking about, and that we have a
deeper confidence and a deeper conviction that the good that
we yearn for is invulnerable and it's all ready ours.
And what happens is that ache of believing that we're

(28:10):
ever separated from good just disperses like a mist. Well,
my friend's experience that I just described to you and
really points to another important message in that Love Your
Enemies article that Mary Baker Eddie wrote, She said that

(28:31):
what we perceive to be our enemies might actually be
our best friends.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
How can that possibly be?

Speaker 4 (28:37):
Well?

Speaker 2 (28:38):
They compel or push us to learn really deep spiritual lessons,
though I found in my own life that those are
the moments when we can often feel that all embracing
power and presence of love, most tangibly and in reality,

(28:59):
we come to see that we really have no enemies.
Those harmful ways of thinking and feeling gets lifted off
of us. Love does the lifting off of us, and
seeing ourselves more and more as the loved child of God,

(29:19):
and seeing our brothers and sisters everywhere in that same light.
Mary Baker Eddie herself learned this deep spiritual lesson through
many many trials, and she went on to be recognized
as one of the most prominent and powerful women in
her day, and her life example continues today to be

(29:42):
an inspiration and provide guidance for many of us in
how we might better live this agape love. Clara Barton,
who you may know as the well known founder here
in the United States of the American Red Cross, when

(30:02):
she was asked what she thought of Mary Baker Eddie. Now,
Barton was not a Christian scientist. She said, this Missus Eddie,
should have the respect, admiration, and love of the whole nation.
Love permeates all the teachings of this great woman, so great.

(30:25):
I believe that at this perspective we can scarcely realize
how great. And looking into her life history, we see
nothing but self sacrifice and selflessness. And I say, no
one familiar with her and her teachings can help but
see the marvelous consistency and beauty of what she has

(30:50):
given to the world in Christian science. And Mary Baker
Eddie knew that this was not this was not her creation.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Didn't make this up. This is what she said.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Mary by Grady said, it was the divine hand that
led her into a new world, a new world of
light and life, a fresh universe, old to God but
new to his little one. She was talking about this

(31:24):
new framing story for understanding that divine love is the
principle of unity of harmony, that that divine principle is
the source and origin of everything that is enduring, that
is permanent. And you could say that has reality in

(31:47):
our lives. And then through the teaching she's given us,
which science and health, the foundational text Key to the Scriptures,
opens up the Bible and helps us to prac does
the sagatbe love more and more in our lives so
that we may experience the blessings. Mary Baker Eddie's life

(32:09):
is a wonderful example of the possibilities and potential for
all humanity today. The contribution she's made to Christianity and
the power of spiritual thinking, its impact on health and
the quality of our lives is absolutely undeniable. Well, we

(32:32):
don't have time to dig into every year of this
woman's life and all of her accomplishments, but you can
learn more about her at a website mary Baker eddielibrary
dot org. Her life and accomplishments were huge, and I

(32:53):
want to tell you a story from her formidable eighties
as it's been described that I think sheds a beautiful
light on the motivating, impelling love that lay behind everything
that she accomplished. There was a malicious, really media orchestrated,

(33:16):
baseless lawsuit brought against her, and remember she's in her
eighties and it was really set up to increase sales.
It was brought by a New York newspaper and they
were claiming that she was mentally incompetent to handle her
own affairs and was challenging this. Even her own son

(33:39):
was brought into this lawsuit against her. And now at
this time she was considered one of the most interesting,
powerful and famous women in the United States, if not
the world, and they're challenging here with this lawsuit her
mental competence. She was living in conquered New Hampshire at

(33:59):
the time, and it became a media circus there, as
you might imagine that from all over folks were there,
reporters wanting to get the scoop on Mary Baker Eddie
and really looking to dig up dirt about her. So
there wasn't just a single enemy, It was an army

(34:21):
of enemies there. And one of the reporters that was
there had apparently a pretty severe throat condition. We don't
know if it may have been cancer, we don't know,
but it was pretty disabling to him. He was often
in pain, unable to speak, but he was there and

(34:42):
Mary Baker ready knew why this reporter was there. But
what she did was she sent a message to him
through her representative, and she wanted this message going just
to this reporter directly, so her representative. His name is
Irving Tomlinson called over to the hotel and got this

(35:04):
reporter on the phone. Apparently he was quite uncomfortable at
the time, unable to speak, but he could listen, and
he did. Tomlinson delivered Mary Baker Eddy's message. Now we
don't know exactly what was said, but it must have
been in the spirit of everything we've been talking about here.
This agappe love and being, each one of us being

(35:26):
the loved of love. And when he hung up the phone,
he was completely healed.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
He turned to his colleagues. They were shocked.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
They didn't know what happened. They didn't understand what happened,
but they could see the proof right there. And what
they said, these reporters that were there with him said
was if Christian scientists were loving enough to actually heal
reporters who would come as enemy, they were showing a

(36:02):
genuine love beyond anything they had ever before encountered. Some
years later, this reporter got a message to mister Tomlinson,
and a relative of his got a message to mister
Tomlinson that said that in his later years this man
turned to Christian science and knew he owed a debt

(36:25):
of gratitude to Mary Baker Eddie for his healing in
conquered well this lawsuit, this baseless lawsuit. After a group
of examiners were sent by the court to meet and
interview Eddie, the lawsuit was abruptly withdrawn. There's a way

(36:49):
that Mary Baker Eddie shared that she prayed every day.
This is how it goes. God, bless my enemies, thy friends,
give them to know the joy and peace of love.
Well what she did right after the lawsuit was withdrawn,

(37:13):
she wrote a letter of overflowing forgiveness to one of
the individuals in the lawsuit. Forgiveness, that's a spiritual practice,
as I understand that that often goes hand in hand
with learning to love your enemies.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
And I know.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
Some people feel that, oh it's weak if you forgive,
you're a dormat, it's naive, But it's actually quite the opposite.
It takes a great deal of spiritual strength, humility and
love to forgive. If you have an eye for an eye,

(37:52):
hate meeting hate, where does that end?

Speaker 3 (37:54):
Can it end? That cycle?

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yes, it can end, and it can be broken, and
that is with divine love. I'd like to share with
you now an experience that I had. This was a
number of years ago, the very beginning of COVID, and
like many, very quickly had to move everything my whole life,

(38:18):
it seems, online and I was feeling the stress and
pressure of that. Got an email from someone that was
very critical and very judgmental, and I have to say,
I wasn't at my best and I reacted. I reacted
in anger and like, why did.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
They said that?

Speaker 2 (38:39):
How dare they do that kind of attitude? Well, I
was so busy I just put it aside and just
kept up with my activity. But a short while later
I developed these physical symptoms. The middle section of my
body became quite inflamed. The discomfort was and obviously I

(39:02):
wasn't going to ignore it and needed to address it.
And for me, Christian science is it's a healing system,
a prayer based healing system that's safe, that it's effective,
that's available to anyone anywhere, anytime, and without the use
of surgery or drugs. One is always free, of course,

(39:24):
to choose how best to care for oneself. This is
the way I've cared for my health for many years,
very successfully, so it was very natural for me when
I was faced with this health issue to turn wholeheartedly
to God in prayer, and I asked a friend who
is a Christian science practitioner, a professional that praise with

(39:45):
people for healing, to help me. And what I was
really striving to do in my prayers was much of
what we've been talking about here, which is to see
myself and to see others through the lens of love
as God sees and knows every one of us. And

(40:07):
as I did that, it was like this purging that happened,
and what came to the surface was what I call
an ungodlike offender. It was this intense anger that I
was feeling at injustice. Now, a lot of memories came

(40:27):
with it, that this was something that was just was
not new, It's something that had been with me for
a very long time. And all these memories came flooding
in from the time I was a little girl up
until more recent times. And a very significant one that
had been very recent had happened just the year before.

(40:49):
My husband, my new husband, we were recently married, was
running for his third term as the first selectman or
mayor of our town.

Speaker 3 (41:00):
His third term four year term.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Well, I had never had a front row seat at
a political campaign, in a political campaign, and here I
was newly married, front row and center in this and
unfortunately this campaign devolved. It devolved into a very very
difficult place. What you see happening here in the United

(41:26):
States nationally just take that down on a smaller scale.
But in our local community much of the same dynamics
were at work that political landscape. I know we were
seen as enemies, and very honestly, I saw some of
the others as enemies. There were half truths, there were

(41:49):
lies that were being spread. Now, there were serious issues
that had to be addressed, but this was developing into
a very very ugly situation. I had many many sleepless,
fearfilled nights. I knew I had to address this feeling

(42:10):
of injustice, the fear, the anger. Now, in Christian science,
where we always start, the place starting place is always God.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
What do I know about.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
God that can be helpful here? Well, our Creator is
a just God and justice is a primal quality of Dity.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
So if we.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Understand the idea that God is divine principle, the source
and origin of all, where does that leave injustice? It's
actually illegitimate. Well it may seem and I certainly felt
that way. That it may seem to be thriving for
a while, but that's temporary, and Jesus's life shows us

(42:57):
that we can challenge it and overcome that. There's a
beautiful passage that meant a lot to me during this
time and is from Isaiah in the Hebrew Scriptures or
the Old Testament, and it goes like this, this is
God speaking. I will make my justice rest as a

(43:18):
light unto the people. God's justice a present reality, a
justice that's universal, impartial, fair, It's there for all equally
to experience. So I had to ask myself, was I

(43:38):
willing to see myself and others as part of one
universal family, these folks that I thought were my enemy?
Was I willing to see them differently? Was I willing
to recognize the only power and authority governing my life

(44:03):
was divine love? I mean, my husband and I did
our best. We took I would say, the high road.
We never returned an eye for an eye. But yet
this was tough. This was hard. I also had to ask,
was I willing to let God's will be done, to

(44:26):
let go of outcome, knowing that it would be only
good because God only blesses Us, and just be so
willing to let go of what I thought was right
or what I wanted to see happen. Well, I answered

(44:50):
yes to all of that. There's a passage in Ephesians,
which is in the New Testament that says yourselves with
the new nature created in God's image in righteousness, justice,
and holiness. I was letting God remake me. And as

(45:18):
I yielded to that agape love, letting it permeate every
bit of my being, all of the anger that I
had been feeling this view of injustice just dissolved. And
as that happened, very naturally, my body conformed to its

(45:40):
normal state. This wasn't like mind over matter or blind
faith healing or positive thinking, some kind of activity of
the human mind, but rather it was the activity of
the one and only power and presence and healer, divine Love.

(46:00):
As I outligned my thought in heart with that, it's
very natural for that reformation, transformation, and shift to take place.
Now I can see Christian science healing. Really it's about
it's not about making a sick body well, but it's
about transformation, reformation, and I can see that what happened

(46:26):
with this was that that tendency I had to be
reactive to see these situations as terrible injustice to me.
That that doesn't happen anymore. No, I won't say I
never get angry. That wouldn't be truthful, but that quick

(46:48):
kind of reactive stance that just hasn't happened. I've been
faced with situations where it could have, but it did not.
There's a wonderful state meant that I found during this
time that Mary Baker Eddie wrote. She said, experience is victor,

(47:09):
never the vanquished, and out of defeat comes the secret
of victory. Now, my husband was not successful in his
re election campaign, but I can tell you through that experience,
the secret of victory we have experienced over and over

(47:31):
and over there has been a flood of blessings upon
both of us, and it continue today. In Jesus's Sermon
on the Mount that we talked about at the very beginning,
he also asked a profound question, if you love those

(47:53):
who love you, what reward do you have. Mary Baker
Edie drives a lesson home when she says, love your enemies,
or you will not lose them, and if you love them,
you will help to reform them. I'd like to finish

(48:17):
now with a passage from First Corinthians thirteen in the
New Testament. And it is all about a gape love.
If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels,
but have no love, I become no more than blaring

(48:40):
brass or crashing symbol. If I have the gift of
foretelling the future, and hold in my mind not only
all human knowledge, but the very secrets of God. And
if I also have that absolute faith which can move mountains,
but have no love, I amount to nothing at all.
If I dispose of all that I possess. Yes, even

(49:01):
if I give my own body to be burned, but
have no love, I achieve precisely nothing. This love of
which I speak is slow to lose patience. It looks
for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive.
It is neither anxious to impress, nor does it cherish

(49:21):
inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners
and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy.
It does not keep account of evil or gloat over
the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is
glad with all good men. When truth prevails, love knows

(49:48):
no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust,
no fading of its hope. It can out last anything.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
I walk with love a long way, and the days
only day no more. I solve the cruel lovey.

Speaker 5 (50:33):
I feel God's praise and seize me. He w joy,
I gone can take aways mine. I walk with love today.

(50:58):
Who walks with the over long the way?

Speaker 6 (51:02):
She'll talk with love and love be got.

Speaker 4 (51:09):
Time is free.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
All of father ansers, every call teas.

Speaker 4 (51:18):
Here dispers the clouds.

Speaker 5 (51:21):
Of great They all may walk with love today.

Speaker 4 (51:45):
Come walk with love the long the way, the child
like trust be today. Up lift your thought. We've therried.
Go on, give of.

Speaker 5 (52:01):
Your hearts ritual.

Speaker 4 (52:03):
Flow and please sucrawn you joy fiftyay.

Speaker 6 (52:09):
Come walk with love along the way.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
You can hear this program and others in the series
as podcasts. Go to wor seven ten dot com slash
Spiritual Solutions again. Go to war seven ten dot com
slash Spiritual Solutions to hear this and other programs in
the Spiritual Solutions for Today's Challenges series through November thirtieth.

(53:00):
The Christian Science Churches in Jamaica and Levittown, New York.
Each called First Church of Christ Scientists brought this programme
to you. These friendly churches welcome visitors to their services
on Wednesdays and Sundays. For details, go to c s
n YC dot com. That's c s n y C
dot com. Christian Science churches have Sunday schools that meet

(53:24):
every week. If you are less than twenty years old,
this is the place for you. First lessons include the
Ten Commandments and Beatitudes, not just what they say, but
also how they apply to them. Students search the Bible
stories and learn from the prophets, the disciples and apostles,
and especially Christ Jesus. Here you can ask the tough

(53:47):
questions and will search for God's answers together. Go to
c s n y C for locations and times of
Christian Science Sunday Schools that c s N y C.
While this is the final broadcast in the current series,
you can hear Helpful Christian Science Programs twenty seven seven.
You can hear Helpful Christian Science Programs twenty four seven

(54:10):
on your landline or cell phone dial three three, two, two, five, five, six,
seven eight nine to hear the Daily Lift, a brief
uplifting message to brighten your day, or listen to Sentinel,
watch the Bible Lesson or El Heraldo the Spanish Herald
for more in depth programs. Anyone can now access Christian

(54:32):
Science Programs twenty four seven on this New York City
number three three two two five five six seven eight nine.
That's three three two two five five six seven eight nine.
The website cs NYC also offers Christian Science programs. It
provides details about Thanksgiving Day and weekly services at area churches,

(54:54):
Sunday schools for children and youth, reading rooms, and events.
Check out c s NYC. Many thanks to our inspirational speakers,
members of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship, the enthusiastic
sponsoring Churches, the NYC Promotion and Extension Fund, to Tanya
Perkins and Peter Allen for their joyful music, the iHeartMedia staff,

(55:19):
and to countless volunteers who made this series a success.
Spiritual Solutions is produced by joint CS Media project.

Speaker 4 (55:28):
God Against My Care on my trial, can spose my.

Speaker 5 (55:38):
Great concern, Say

Speaker 6 (55:42):
To love and praise the Then