"When thou hast shut thy door"

Our great Way-shower, Jesus the Christ, left us in no doubt as to how to pray effectually. He came directly to the point when he defined the prayer that heals, in the following words: "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

"The closet typifies the sanctuary of Spirit, the door of which shuts out sinful sense but lets in Truth, Life, and Love," our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, tells us on page 15 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Into this "secret place of the most High," this sanctuary of Soul where man communes with God, no thought of self, disease, pain, failure, fear, death, discouragement, lack, accident, or sin can enter to interrupt the sacred secrecy and prevent the reward of such communion. Jesus spoke of the Christ as "the door." When we study the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly, do we let the Christ bar the door against the intruding errors that would interrupt our prayers? When we attend church, do we allow the Christ to be active in our thought? Do we close the door to false suggestions about persons, and events of the day? When we sit for a period in happy contemplation of ideas brought to us through the articles contained in our periodicals, do we guard our thought, allowing only the ever-present Christ within?

Unforeseen realms of health and happiness open to the student closeted alone with God—with limitless Love. Think of it! Man in the presence of God! Enfolded, embodied, embosomed, encompassed in Life! In this divine presence no fear can enter, for all is Love; no disease, accident, or pain intrudes, for all is Life; no evil or sin can be present, for all is Truth; no mesmerism, hypnotism, or animal magnetism can operate, for all is Mind; no physical sense testimony can argue, for all is Soul; no matter is here, for all is Spirit; and no pretense of law parading under the name of materia medica, hygiene, surgery, sin, disease, or death can assail, for the only law is the law of God.

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Spiritual Vision
July 12, 1941
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