WHEN the disciples saw the works that Jesus was able to perform through his life of earnest prayer, one of them said to him, "Teach us to pray," and in response he taught them the prayer which Mrs. Eddy describes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 16) as "that prayer which covers all human needs." They proved that they had glimpsed the spiritual meaning of this prayer, for it is recorded that they said to the Master, "Even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."

When they failed to heal a certain case, and inquired of Jesus regarding their inability to heal it, they were told that "this kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." They knew that their Master had spent long hours in the watches of the night in communion with his Father, and they had seen the results of his consecration; for he healed all manner of disease and raised the dead.

One student has been uplifted and refreshed by the contemplation of the petition in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." Down the centuries this cry has come from the mentally and physically hungry multitudes without receiving a satisfactory answer, for it has been uttered largely from a material plane of thinking; and therefore God has been unjustly blamed for all the difficulties and discord of the human race. Recognition and increasing knowledge of God as good enable one to see that God's law, understood as Jesus knew it, means progressive, productive, harmonious, continuous activity in every detail of our lives; and knowledge of good begin to unfold when we grasp, however faintly, the deeper meaning of prayer which is lifted above the petition for the satisfying of personal desires.

The irrepressible cry for harmony, voiced or unvoiced, has been answered in the measure that the significance of prayer has been recognized by the petitioner. With many, prayer remained, however, more or less a mystery, until it found its true interpretation in the heart of a God-fearing, consecrated woman, Mary Baker Eddy, who learned and proved what Jesus meant when he taught his followers to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Out of her great love for humanity she brings within reach of all the bread that is needed for sustenance, refreshment, and satisfaction, when she says on the page already quoted from: "The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration. Such prayer heals sickness, and must destroy sin and death. It distinguishes between Truth that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense."

How often have we voiced, in earnestness and, as we honestly thought, in humility, this petition for "daily bread," and then, as we faced material conditions, wondered whether we should receive an answer commensurate with what we deemed our need! Have we become conscious that the bread we require is more love, receptivity, patience, more gentleness, tolerance, forgiveness—in fact, more of the fruit of the Spirit? If so, as we strive to express all these qualities in our daily living and close contact with others, we rejoice to find that we are fed "with the finest of the wheat" as our reward.

Today, the insistent world-wide cry for "daily bread" is answered through the literature which is being sent forth from the Christian Science Publishing House in increasing volume: the writings of Mrs. Eddy, the Christian Science Quarterly, which contains our Lesson-Sermons, the daily study of which contributes largely to individual and universal progress and success; The Christian Science Journal and Christian Science Sentinel, with the Herald in different editions, including the Braille; and The Christian Science Monitor, our international daily newspaper—all furnishing constant and continuous supplies of blessing and refreshment. In our day all who will may partake of the bread of Life which sustains every right desire, as revealed in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings, and also by the authorized Christian Science literature they are privileged to enjoy.

In proportion as we exercise our own right and privilege thus to partake, we shall be doorkeepers in the house of the Lord, and shall help joyfully to usher in the whole world to be fed from the table that is ever spread for God's children, who can know no lack, since each is assured, as indicated in Jesus' parable, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine."

The building activity expressed in the erecting of our new Publishing House proves that we have understood and made practical the fact that our Father-Mother God is giving us "our daily bread" in meeting our need for a new and larger building, in which to publish the good news to a hungering world that has grown weary of husks and is coming back to the Father's house. The Psalmist sang, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures."

Those who stand in the forefront of the Christian Science movement are giving the best they have of prayerful thought, time, energy, in order that only true, unadulterated bread may issue from the Publishing House. Can we ever be in uncertainty as to our determination to stand by them and uphold them? We can aid their every effort to establish a proper environment so that they may continue to obey our Leader's wishes in fulfilling all the sacred trust she left them. This we may further by our undeviating practice of the petition before quoted, "Give us this day our daily bread," in knowing how to give, "not grudgingly, or of necessity," but unselfishly and lovingly, gratefully deeming it a joyous privilege, never a sacrifice, for "God loveth a cheerful giver." Our ability to do this may be enhanced by the study of Mrs. Eddy's words on page 265 of Science and Health. She says there, "This scientific sense of being . . . confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace."