Article August 14, 1976 Issue

Outreach to Prison Inmates

LUCIA JOHNSON LEITH

"When saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?" the King is asked in Jesus' parable. "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."^{Matt. 25:39, 40;}

For most of us prisons are easily forgotten until they appear in the headlines. Yet how important to remember them and their inmates with prayerful support, as part of our impersonal prayer for humanity. Violence can be healed and true progress secured. Prayer is not dependent on prison visiting hours. Anyone, at any time, can mentally "come unto" prisons through prayer.

The Hymnal Notes for the Christian Science Hymnal indicate that Hymn No. 163 was written with a view to improving prison conditions.^{See Concordance to Christian Science Hymnal and Hymnal Notes (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1967), p. 246;} This hymn includes the words, "So from our hearts must ever flow/A love that will all wrong outweigh." Outflowing love is the outreach of prayer. It includes the mental discipline, willingly accepted, of identifying all men and women everywhere —whatever their circumstances—from the standpoint of Spirit, God, rather than from the restrictive standpoint of matter.

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