Have you seen the babe?

For many decades, a life-size painting of Simeon and the Child Jesus, similar to the one below, hung in the lobby of The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston. Bible students will remember the story from the Gospel of Luke. Simeon lived in Jerusalem, and God promised him he would not die until he saw the Lord's Christ. He happened to be in the temple when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus "to do unto him after the custom of the law." Simeon saw more than a newborn boy. He knew in his heart that this baby would grow up to become Christ Jesus, so he took the babe in his arms and said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

As a new Monitor employee, I didn't know why the painting hung in the lobby. Later I learned Mary Baker Eddy was in her 80's when she started the newspaper with its unique mission "to injure no man, but to bless all mankind." When the first edition was delivered to her home in Chestnut Hill, MA, she may have glimpsed its future. The day was gray and rainy, but she said it was really the brightest of all days, for this was the day "our newspaper goes forth to lighten mankind." She died a few years later, and never saw the Monitor become widely respected international daily paper with several Pulitzer prizes to its credit. But like Simeon, she was thankful to have "seen the babe."