A compilation of pictures, prose, paintings, quotes, and poems…Mary of Magdala

Eva-Maria

photo by Andre (and Stella) -- dear friends from Cameroon/Africa

It has been said: Realistic optimism, a paradoxical notion, implies seeing the world as it is, but always working positively toward a desired outcome or solution. 

Roby Azzah -- a dear friend

Speaking of one of the underpinnings of Christianity, Mrs. Eddy pointed to the 91st Psalm. She explained that this Psalm “contains more practical theological and pathological truth than any other collection of the same number of words in human language except the Sermon on the Mount of the great Galilean and hillside Teacher,” She also said “that the first verse of this Psalm emphasizes an essential point of Christian attainment—dwelling ‘in the secret place of the most High’," and then she asked,  “But what is the sacred secret of the Almighty?  So far as experience reaches and Truth has unfolded its immortal idea through spiritual sense, this secret is spiritual Love, whereon David has based all Christianity, all healing, all salvation” (Christian Healer, p. 172/173).

--Eva-Maria

He  that dwelleth in the secret place

of the most High 

shall abide under the shadow

of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, 

He is my refuge,

and my fortress: my God; 

in him will I trust.

 …

--The Bible, Psalm 91--

excerpt from an oil painting by Eva-Maria

pictures by E-M

Spiritual stillness within gives us an entrance to a prayer of love.  Each of us, consciously or unconsciously, prays the prayer of love.  In its stillness we feel a deep yearning ... to love, and to be loved.  The response to this yearning is found in the Christ-consciousness, Jesus pointed to, “. . . behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).  I understand that to mean, the kingdom of God is the consciousness of God as Love.  When we are able to be conscious of God as Love … wherever we are … we’ll see the manifestations of Love everywhere, and a spiritual optimism will take hold to help us smile, especially at challenging times.  "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man" (Proverbs 27:19). 

A Christian Science practitioner new on the job was called to see a patient. He went and ... found the man on his deathbed.  Surprised, the practitioner leaned over him and said, “You can’t do this to me you are my first patient.” The man opened his eyes, looked at the practitioner, smiled, and then he started to laugh, and continued to laugh, and laugh!   He was a changed man … and he got off his deathbed.  He was healed!

--Eva-Maria

The shadow of ingratitude

Vanishes in the sunlight

Of gratitude.

--E-M

Divine Love always has met and always 

will meet every human need.

--Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 494—

God did not promise us we would find the perfect spouse, the perfect house, or the perfect job … He promised us that we would find Him.

Having found Him, surprise of surprises, He will add all the above.

(Perhaps not all … but enough … (smile))

-Eva-Maria—

Song of Love

Beloved, let us love: for Love is God;

In God alone hath love its true abode.

Beloved, let us love: for they who love,

They only, are His sons, born from above.

Beloved, let us love: for love is light,

And he who lovesth not dwelling in night.

Beloved, let us love: for only thus

Shall we behold God who loveth us.

--Horatius Bonar--

To those leaning on the sustaining infinite,

to-day is big with blessings.

--Science and Health, p. vii:1-2—

If I were to wish for anything, 

I should not wish for wealth and power, 

but for the passionate sense

of potential, for the eye which, 

ever young and ardent, 

sees the possible.

--Soren Kierkegaard, 19-century Danish philosopher from his “Either/ Or” volume I of Diapsalmata (1843, translated 1987)

photo by Gary Finn, a friend

all photos by E-M

No mortal sense can still or stay

The flight of silent prayer,

Unceasing, voiceless, heart desire

That seeks God everywhere.

The heart’s own longing lifts it high

Where words can never reach,

Though human lips may never form

That glory into speech.

The voices that are worldly wise,

With mortal modes in tune,

Are mute in that transcendent hour

When God and man commune.

--Samuel Greenwood—

Mary of Magdala 

“O gentle Mary, don’t cry.  Know,

For you, who have been sorely tried,

Brief will be your grief,

And doubt and fear will swiftly fly

When you embrace a matter-free thought keenly,

And follow me to learn of our Father’s power,

And trust in Him, in good, and love serenely

That spiritual perception, the healing path

Called Resurrection.”

She, bearing witness to Jesus, replied,

“I will not fear the darkest night, dearest Master.”

Forgotten were mind’s sore vexations as morning

Turned bright before her eyes.

Pure of heart, Mary was the first to behold

The risen, living Christ!

-- Eva-Maria Hogrefe --Published in the Christian Science Sentinel, March 29, 2010

NOTHING LIKE A YESTERDAY

When was the last time you felt complete,

so complete, nothing dared to approach you?

Nothing like a yesterday, or a tomorrow.

Nothing that could speak.

Nothing that could ever point to something

That would ever need to be done.

Nothing that could not do anything,

Anything but adore you.  Adore you.  Adore.

--Hafiz

photo by Susannah West -- a dear friend

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it—always.

—Mahatma Gandhi

by E-M

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Warmly,

Eva-Maria

a painting by Eva-Maria 

enjoying the abundance of a blooming cactus .....

an image by E-M

Gratitude that initiates good

Generally, gratitude is expressed for blessings received, for deliverance from difficulties, and for tasks successfully completed. There is another dimension, however, to gratitude, an aspect that initiates a joyful, constructive, helpful attitude and that leads to healing. It is not dependent on personalities, possessions, or one's position.

This kind of gratitude helps you and me to feel vibrantly alive, to experience a heart full of genuine affection for our fellowman, and lifts us to a higher sphere of thought. It floods our being with love, and we travel on a pathway of happiness, fulfillment, and satisfaction. Such gratitude has a spiritual basis. It's gratitude for the very reality of existence. It expresses a pure love for God and His boundless goodness, and for the goodness of all that He has created.

Feeling grateful in this way is natural because man is God's image and likeness, reflecting God's self-containment and completeness. Man bears witness to God's satisfaction with His own work.

Gratitude reveals one of the noblest aspects of our being—for to be grateful is to love. When we love divine Love, and Love's manifestation, we are actually living gratitude and showing that we put God, good, first in our lives. Gratitude always puts the emphasis, or spotlight, on God. A spiritually appreciative heart spontaneously responds to everlasting Love's healing presence and power. True gratitude inspires communion with Love and deepens our awareness of its influence in our lives.

But how about someone who feels deeply troubled, experiencing lack, sickness, grief, or a feeling of emptiness, and who sees life as devoid of beauty and meaning? He or she might say: "I don't feel a bit of love. I haven't really anything to love or to be grateful for." At such times gratitude in its purest sense is most needed and very practical—it opens the gates to spiritual freedom and healing. Gratefully recognizing divine Love as the only power and influence in our life in the midst of great difficulties helps to move thought away from the carnal mind's mesmeric and morbid preoccupation with evil. Such gratitude draws us closer to God, good. And who doesn't want to be closely associated with good, with peace and an all-around sense of well-being? To become conscious of Love through humble prayer, to see Love as the only source of constructive solutions, in itself cultivates gratitude and thereby removes the hardness and rigidness of human attitudes, and we grow rich in good. Then we recognize Love's truth not as impractical theory but as a nurturing, healing reality.

When we find ourselves grateful to divine Love for helping each one of us to grow in grace and for impelling us to love and to give more of ourselves, we are in fact praying. Such prayer comforts and spiritually satisfies. And we discover that divine Love is ever ready and equal to the greatest need; that Love never holds back good at any time. This awareness makes our heart overflow with a sweet assurance that divine Spirit knows us to be completely spiritual and satisfied. As we let a song of praise be our constant inner companion, we'll discover that genuine gratitude precedes our witnessing of the good that God bestows.

In the Bible we read that Paul and Silas were cast unjustly into prison, and the jailer "made their feet fast in the stocks." 1 Their prospect of coming out of this dark confinement was bleak. But the Scriptures record that "at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." Midnight is the darkest hour. In their darkest hour Paul and Silas didn't fear or panic, but they praised God. And their reward was great. We read, "And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed." Gratitude lifts people above evil's uncertainty, and liberates. When we sing praise out of appreciation for the absolute truth of God's supreme goodness and man's unity with Him, thus glorifying God, we'll see the victory over evil. It's a foregone conclusion.

Before he raised Lazarus from the dead, Christ Jesus prayed: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." 2 Jesus always turned to God first, and consistently acknowledged His presence, power, and governing law. He certainly knew God as the only Giver. Through the marvelous demonstration of his undivided love for his heavenly Father, Jesus showed, irrespective of circumstances, that gratitude in the highest sense is worship—loving and adoring God.

In the healing practice of Christian Science, gratitude is a key in finding freedom from the belief in sickness and sin. Prayer in this Science expresses thanks for all the good divine Love has already bestowed, and continues to bestow, on man. Starting with God and thanking Him with all our heart for making each one of us so very capable of loving and knowing Him—of loving and knowing Life, Truth, and Love—and of seeing His perfect man, opens the door to healing. Then the hoped for blessings appear in our lives. Mary Baker Eddy reminds us in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health: "In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as 'a very present help in trouble.' Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.'" 3 To approach our work with gratitude to God has a bonus—an expectancy of more and more good to come.

Gratitude is a mighty healing influence. Many years ago I saw in my own family how the power of gratitude brought a beautiful healing. My father was not a student of Christian Science, but he was a man of great curiosity. He lived far away in another country. On some of our visits I would speak to him of my love for Christian Science and its healing practice. And he would always listen.

He was in the habit of writing long letters, sharing all the interesting activities he was involved in. One day I received a short letter from my dad. His normally energetic handwriting appeared distorted. He said that something had happened and he was taken to a hospital and put into an emergency ward. The doctors had told him that his life was in danger and that they needed to operate on him—to amputate a leg. This was unacceptable to my father, especially since one of his loved pastimes was hiking. He was being monitored at the hospital but was taking no medication.

After I read his letter my first thought was, "He is reaching out to Christian Science for healing, and Christian Science, the law of God, will heal him!" A wonderful sense of gratitude welled up in me. I opened Science and Health and read from the Glossary the metaphysical interpretation of Father. It reads, "Eternal Life; the one Mind; the divine Principle, commonly called God." 4 "Yes," I thought, "God is my dad's Life, and Life is ever present, and undeniably whole and complete." And I knew there was only one possible course of action for all involved—to live as the reflection of ever-present Life.

Gratitude for Christian Science animated my being. Everything I needed to know—especially the healing solution in regard to this situation—I found in the Bible and its key, Science and Health. These two books showed me how God perceives man—as His perfect likeness. And they made it clear that the mortal, carnal mind with its evil is not a creation of divine Love; that it has no support from divine law and is therefore totally incapable of controlling man.

Praying along those lines, my prayer was one of gratitude. I wrote my father a letter sharing these ideas, and I sent it on its way. But before the letter reached its destination I received another letter. It was obvious (by the strong handwriting) that my father was again his normal self. He wrote that the doctors, after another examination, decided that the operation was no longer necessary. An earlier diagnosis showing some evidence of diabetes was also refuted. He was assured that he could live a normal, active life. (We later compared notes and discovered that the doctors gave him that second checkup shortly after prayer in Christian Science had begun.)

Soon my father returned home from the hospital and found my letter waiting for him. And he began to read Science and Health. When I saw him a few months later, he acknowledged with tears of gratitude that Christian Science had healed him.

A grateful heart, wide open to the healing message of the Bible and Science and Health, communes with divine Love. Love is ever so ready to guide and shepherd each of us. The consistent contemplation of God's allness and of man's pure, perfect being impels us to be grateful to God, and this initiates healing.

1 See Acts 16:22-26.↑  

2 John 11:41,42.↑  

3 Science and Health, pp. 12-13.↑  

4 Ibid., p. 586.↑  

--Eva-Maria Hogrefe

From the November 1996 issue of The Christian Science Journal

all pictures are taken by E-M

except this beautiful photo taken by one of my German friends, Gisbert Rentmeister (it is of his garden)

A grateful heart a garden is,

Where there is always room

For every lovely, God-like grace

To come to perfect bloom.

A grateful heart a fortress is,

A staunch and rugged tower,

Where God’s omnipotence, revealed,

Girds man with mighty power.

A grateful heart a temple is,

A shrine so pure and white,

Where angels of his presence keep

Calm watch day or night.

Grant then, dear Father-Mother, God,

Whatever else befall,

This largess of a grateful heart

That loves and blesses all.

--Ethel Wasgatt Dennis

a scetch by E-M

Gratitude is a mover…

----------------------- because you cannot stand still with gratitude, it moves you forward on your path and teaches you the power of LOVE in your life – it is a divine force, a power, and brings adjustments wherever adjustments are needed.

A grateful heart is like a fertile soil, indicative of activity, and not stagnation; of fruitfulness, not barrenness; of newness and freshness; not tiredness and staleness.  As a matter of fact, fruitlessness, stagnation, and barrenness, are associated with ingratitude and make up a futile soil.  

--Eva-Maria

Have a blessed Thanks-giving

Eva-Maria