A day immemorial

The United States of America originally designated Memorial Day to honor its war dead. Many countries have similar observances, and many individuals have broadened these occasions to include special remembrances of family members who have passed on.

If such an observance brings sad memories to us, perhaps we need to turn from commemoration of death to a clearer recognition of the reality of Life. This higher view can uplift our outlook in very practical ways. Acknowledging valor and the affection others have expressed to us can inspire us to be grateful for the good we have shared. Our renewed efforts to express courage and strength can show our gratitude for the battlefield sacrifices of soldiers known and unknown, in a way far more beneficial than wreaths. Our lovingkindness to others can show we have not forgotten those who have cared for us—and this is far more comforting to ourselves and others than weeping.

Best of all, however, is learning to understand God as uninterrupted good. This can lead us to see that Life itself is actually all good—Spirit—and therefore imperishable. Approached in this way, a memorial observance can awaken us spiritually to God's eternal day of perfect Life. This day immemorial reaches, according to a dictionary definition of "immemorial," "beyond the limits of memory, tradition, or recorded history."

God's man—deathless and immortal in His image—dwells in His timeless day, progressing in infinite unfoldment. Reflecting divine Life and Soul, man is ever conscious of infinite individuality and everlasting being. And never conscious of death.

Christ Jesus' unmatched life example can remind us that the claims of death, separation, and sadness are but phases of a fleeting dream. It is always possible to awake from this dream of physical death and loss. Jesus proved this by raising the dead. Even when he was sealed in a tomb, the Master did not give up proving for himself what he had proved for Lazarus, Jairus's daughter, and others: that man's Life, God, is immortal, not material. When he raised himself from the dead, he proved the ultimate supremacy of Christ, the Truth he taught and practiced, over the errors of the flesh. He proved his own words "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." ^{John 8:51.} For Jesus' mourners, his beatitude came alive: "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." ^{Matt. 5:4.}

If we have failed to see vivid proof in the flesh of man's deathless immortality, or if we doubt the possibility today of such proof, does that mean that we are forever excluded from realizing undying life and eternal love? The doubting disciple Thomas, who would not believe news of the Master's resurrection until he saw evidence of it firsthand, received a rebuke that is an assurance for us. According to John, "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." ^{John 20:29.}

Here or hereafter, all must and will awake to believe and then to realize that death never destroyed anyone's life or identity. Before the radiance of eternal Life that dawns on us in spiritual understanding and Christianized living, we will witness the inevitable disappearance of all apparent cause for mourning. We will progressively overcome all belief in death.

But how can we see beyond markers in a cemetery? How can we feel consoled when we may have suffered irreparable loss?

The unfailing comfort of the Christ, Truth, is available to us today in full measure through Christian Science. This Science enables us to spiritually discern what many of Jesus' mourners only visibly saw.

Christian Science is the Science of the risen Christ, restoring to human view the timeless, universal laws that Jesus demonstrated and making available for all Christ's way of dominion over the flesh. In proportion as we cherish the Christ in our study and practice of Christian Science, we too dwell in the wondrous day of spiritual enlightenment. This day is warmed and brightened by the truth of one infinite Life, one all-comforting Love, the deathless Soul that is infinite good.

Immanuel, "God with us," acknowledged and understood even in slight degree, dries our tears and restores our joys. It can bring us the effulgent realization that as the immortal idea of God, immortal Mind, the real man is ever complete and permanent. Mrs. Eddy explains: "Life is real, and death is the illusion. A demonstration of the facts of Soul in Jesus' way resolves the dark visions of material sense into harmony and immortality. Man's privilege at this supreme moment is to prove the words of our Master: 'If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.'" ^{Science and Health, p. 428.}

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, loved her friends. Those who passed on were sincerely missed; she paid tender tribute to them. On occasion she also issued a message of comfort when the world grieved the passing of a public figure. On the death of Pope Leo XIII, she wrote: "I sympathize with those who mourn, but rejoice in knowing our dear God comforts such with the blessed assurance that life is not lost; its influence remains in the minds of men, and divine Love holds its substance safe in the certainty of immortality." ^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 295.}

When we pause to show respect for those gone before, may we view them in the progressive light that Mrs. Eddy did. If we feel separated from a loved one, we can awake to the recognition that his spiritual growth is continuing and so must ours; we both exist in the oneness and omnipresence of Life. And as we do progress, we will grow to realize that because in truth man never dies, separation never really occurs. Drawing nearer to God through understanding His laws, we draw nearer to demonstrating divine reality. We feel and know the closeness and comfort of our beloved family—God's ideas—dwelling in one harmonious place—heaven—happily united in one Life.

CAROLYN B. SWAN