Mrs Parsons was at the luncheon
bahaistories.com archive · Read original
Studio narration for this story is coming — it’ll be generated by the cloud-TTS pipeline (voice: auto-selected from the source author).
When in Bahá'í history
Mrs Parsons was at the luncheon. Before she became a Bahá’í she had been a Christian Scientist, and now she brought up the question of mental suggestion as a cure for physical disease. The Master replied that some illnesses, such as consumption and insanity, developed from spiritual causes -- grief, for example -- and that these could be healed by the spirit. But Mrs Parsons persisted. Could not extreme physical cases, like broken bones, also be healed by the spirit?
A large bowl of salad had been placed before the Master, Who sat at the head of the table, Florence Khánum on His right.
"If all the spirits in the air," He laughed, "were to congregate together, they could not create a salad! Nevertheless, the spirit of man is powerful. For the spirit of man can soar in the firmament of knowledge, can discover realities, can confer life, can receive the Divine Glad-Tidings. Is not this greater," and He laughed again, "than making a salad?"
Source: The Diary of Juliet Thompson, p. 105-106
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: healing).
Discuss this story
For adults
- Where do devotion and patience meet in this story?
- How does this story illustrate the practice of devotion?
- What stands out about Juliet Thompson's response in this account?
For teens
- Who is someone you know who lives out devotion the way this story describes?
- If you were going to tell a friend this story in two sentences, what would you say?
Reflection
- Is there someone in your life who would be helped by hearing this story?
- Where in your own life are you being asked to practice devotion?
- Take one line from this story and let it stay with you today.
Comprehension quiz
Which source is "Mrs Parsons was at the luncheon" drawn from?
What period of Bahá'í history does this story belong to?
Which historical figure is featured most prominently in this story?
Cite this story
Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/healing
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