Article March 4, 1933 Issue

Prayer and Its Answer One

MAUDE E. BEE

Prayer as understood in Christian Science is something different from the usual concept of prayer. We should be deeply grateful to Mrs. Eddy for giving us the correct understanding of prayer. Formerly, some of us when praying believed God to be afar off from men, and thought it necessary to beg long and earnestly to have our needs supplied. To be sure, oftentimes we thanked God for blessings received before asking for more; but who ever thought of thanking Him for that which had not yet been made manifest? Yet Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus said in his prayer, "Father, I thank thee," before Lazarus came forth.

When one of the disciples said, "Lord, teach us to pray," Jesus gave them the Lord's Prayer. With its spiritual interpretation, as given by Mrs. Eddy on pages 16 and 17 of our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," we find this prayer to be both petition and affirmation, a realization of what God is and what He does.

To the Christian Scientist the highest prayer is realization and demonstration. Let us inquire what it means to realize something. To make manifest, to apprehend or see, to accomplish, to discover or uncover—such are a few of its meanings; and in them we find that realizing is not a matter of getting something or adding to our store, but of proving what already is. In Christian Science, prayer is not petition or affirmation alone, but also practice; not merely asking, but acting. "The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration." So writes Mrs. Eddy on page 16 of Science and Health. And on page 4 she says, "The habitual struggle to be always good is unceasing prayer." In the words of a hymn,

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