Article February 7, 1942 ISSUE

What is Prayer?

LINA PLUMER CLINGEN

When we are awakened through the study of Christian Science to perceive the oneness of divine Principle and its idea, we catch a glimpse of the all-inclusive perfection of God, and of what actually constitutes our true being. Reason informs us that an idea cannot possibly be detached from the Mind which expresses it, and that therefore God and man are inseparable; that apart from Mind man could have no intelligence, no activity, no being, and that without His manifestation, man, God would be intangible and imperceptible. These truths may at first be but faintly perceived and our recogtion of them may lack continuity, but as Paul declared, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Therefore, we press on to a fuller realization.

According to the Biblical record, the great characters in Hebrew history discerned one God, and were able, at times, to recognize the powerlessness of evil. Christ Jesus revealed to humanity the actual nature and meaning of prayer. So, for an answer to the question, "What is prayer?" we turn naturally to his words and works, looking at the Scriptural records of his career. As the deeper meaning of Jesus' teachings unfolds to us through the study of Christian Science, the spiritual nature of existence as he saw it is unmistakably revealed.

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