Article March 30, 1963 Issue

The Effectual Prayer of Love

"Learning to love is . . . learning to see the manifestation of divine Love everywhere"

MIRIAM HAND DOUGLAS

The prayer of demonstration is the prayer of love. Without love, prayer has no effect. If we are to increase our fruitage of demonstration, a clear understanding of love is necessary.

In the New Testament we read, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16). What is "a righteous man"? Is it not one who knows his being to be the manifestation of divine Love? The righteous man is one who knows himself to be the outcome of God, the product of Mind's knowing, and the result of Principle's law. Both Mind's knowing and Principle's law are divine Love's manifestation of itself. Seeing himself in this true light, one no longer prays to God as though he were something separate from God, but he prays in harmony with God.

This kind of prayer knows man's righteousness before the prayer is uttered. And the reason for its utterance is not to change anything but to unveil what already is. For example, before the unveiling of a statue takes place, a veil is placed over it, and at one side hangs a little cord. At the time of the unveiling, the cord is pulled, the veil lifts, and the statue is revealed in all its beauty. Was the statue any different before the veil was lifted? No, the veil merely covered and hid its perfection, a perfection which had always characterized the statue.

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