Christian Comment with June Tufnell of the Christian Science Church and Reading Room, Lansdown, Stroud

WHEN I was a child, a friend of the family would often tell us of the times that she had encountered people that she could help, and the joy felt by those she helped and herself.

Being a rather self-righteous child I used to think ‘lots of people do kind things but they don’t go on about it’.

Many years later I learned of even greater acts of goodness on her part, and often to people whom she hardly knew.

She never spoke of these.

When a smart lawyer asked Jesus who the neighbour was whom he was supposed to love, Jesus answered with a story.

It wasn’t a direct answer but one that left his listeners to work out who their neighbour was for themselves.

One day, while reading the account by Luke in the New Testament, I remembered this family friend.

I realised that sharing her experiences of helping others wasn’t self-praise; she spoke of them with such joy because she didn’t see herself as the source of these small acts of kindness.

They came from that law of divine Love itself and she wanted others to feel that love too.

Today there are doctors, nurses and charity workers in areas of terrible conflict, all risking their lives to help others.

In Science and Health with key to the Scriptures Mary Baker Eddy wrote: ‘Blessed is he who seeth his brother’s need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another’s good’.

May these brave men and women return to their homes blessed and in safety like the Samaritan and the one he helped.