Article October 7, 1939 Issue

Daily Prayer

MAUDE PETTUS

Christian Science makes plain the spiritual meaning of prayer. In his consecrated study the student becomes aware of his true being. He learns that man is the creation of Spirit, God, as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;" and he knows that, since God is eternal and perfect, whom nothing can change, man is eternal and perfect.

He realizes too that because his true selfhood is God's likeness and possesses by reflection the qualities of his heavenly Father, he must entertain spiritual thoughts, which alone will proclaim his sonship. At first his understanding of prayer may be that of entreaty, a pleading for something of which he feels a lack. Yet, God has already bestowed upon man everything that is good, even as a loving parent, heedful of his child. But health, supply, or occupation may not always be apparent as the student goes forward from the errors of material sense to the apprehension of Soul; and at times courage, wisdom, patience, and enlightenment may seem to be absent, though necessary. Then he must pray to realize that through divine provision they are already his.

The Psalmist prayed. "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." His was a prayer of faith and understanding. He did not ask for material possessions, but only that his vision might be opened to reality. He wished to know only God and the workings of His hand, and to perceive beyond human limitations the great and good things He has bestowed upon all. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 586) Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, defines "eyes" as "spiritual discernment,—not material but mental."

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