Article August 7, 1920 Issue

True Prayer

MOLLIE A. HOWE

WHEN Paul wrote, in his first letter to the Thessalonians, "Pray without ceasing," and prefaced this admonition with the words, "Rejoice evermore," following it with, "In every thing give thanks," one can readily see that the writer of this epistle recognized joy and gratitude as essential to true prayer, and these two qualities are so linked together as to make it difficult to find where the one ends, and the other begins, in attempting to differentiate. In the fourth chapter of Philippians we find the apostle again coupling rejoicing and thanksgiving with prayer; for he says, "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. ... Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

Now the student of Christian Science knows that true prayer can and should be expressed constantly, whether he is going about his daily business affairs, or pondering the things of Spirit in his study of the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy. And just in proportion as he consistently exchanges the human, or material, sense of things for the divine idea,—in other words, that which really exists as consciousness manifest,—just in that proportion will he find his prayer answered. Thus, for instance, that which has suggested itself as a lack or need, may be shown after all to be but the mist of false belief, which is always dispelled before the presence of light or spiritual understanding, proving the unreality of the former and the consequent reality of the latter. This brings us again to Paul's insight into the things of Spirit, for he says in I Corinthians, "All things are yours," and this recognition of God's allness expressed as His infinite idea is far more than the answer to mere petition.

Now in the awakening to the fact that prayer without ceasing is the true experience of the earnest student of Christian Science, one may ask: Does it follow that one can just as constantly and consistently be joyous in the face of perhaps frequent difficulties and struggles, as he can when things are apparently running smoothly? The answer must always be in the affirmative, for just in the proportion that we correct each thought that asserts itself as lack of good in any direction, with the fact of the infinitude of good in this same direction, just in this proportion are we going to recognize the quality of joy as existing in the place where the error of thought seemed to be. Again we have the Scripture for this in Nehemiah, "The joy of the Lord is your strength," as a reminder that the only Mind there is knows nothing but joy all the time, while erroneous sense can only obscure this fact through false belief.

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