Article July 13, 1912 Issue

SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING

RENETTE K. BUTLER.

What boundless possibilities for helpfulness and happiness are opened to us when, through the teachings of Christian Science, we begin to find the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures and to search for the spiritual idea back of every human concept or material thing! On page 16 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy gives the spiritual interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, and on the same page she says, "The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration. ... It distinguishes between Truth that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense." This spiritual interpretation not only frees thought from the petty, the sordid, and the disheartening, but, incredible as it may seem to the materialist, it actually meets specific needs, mental, moral, and physical; and it does so because it leads straight back to the one Principle of being, the absolute cause, God, who is Spirit. This fact has been illustrated for the writer by a few of her own experiences.

I used to say, "Our Father which art in heaven," with the thought of a far-off, mighty being, who was to be obeyed, also revered and loved, if it were possible to love where fear and awe were so dominant; one who might grant my plea and send good, if for some reason incomprehensible to me He saw fit; but never for a moment did God, as thus believed in, seem near and dear, or even necessary to me, as my earthly father did. Our text-book interprets this phrase, "Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious;" and Christian Science has taught me to know God as infinite, unchanging Love, as my preserver, my guide, my source of being, supplying my every need lovingly and bountifully, often before I have felt it. Thus He has become so all-sufficient that in times of fear or suffering my thought turns to Him as naturally and confidently as that of a little child turns to its human parents. Many times the consciousness of His presence has been so clear as instantly to heal fear, pain, or resentment, so that I longed above all else to give Him loving and intelligent obedience.

Formerly, when I prayed "Thy kingdom come," I thought vaguely of a distant time that should follow a mighty upheaval called the judgment day, but Mrs. Eddy has given us a present realization of this phrase in the declaration, "Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present." We are taught in Christian Science that the kingdom of God is the dominion of good, and that the recognition of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, good, destroys the false claims of evil, as the acceptance of the correct thought must cancel the wrong thought. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you." Hence this prayer understood and demonstrated enables one not only to stand, but to advance through the clamor and chaos of human theories and fears.

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