In  Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy called the Lord’s Prayer “that prayer which covers all human needs” (p. 16). This was proved true to me not long ago. 

Over a period of several days, a painful condition developed in my body, making it difficult to move about freely. By the night of the fourth day, I was hardly able to get around at all, and had to spend the night in a chair. Although I have been a lifelong student of Christian Science, and therefore knew the condition could be healed through prayer, I must admit that my early declarations of truth seemed like empty words. 

In the back of my thought was the suggestion that if I could just get some freedom from the pain and a good night’s sleep, I would be able to handle it more effectively. However, when morning came, my thought was still heavy with fear and doubt; it did not seem possible for me to even move, let alone get up from the chair. 

Then in a heartfelt petition, I asked God what I needed to learn—what I needed to do, how I needed to pray. It occurred to me, before I even tried to move, to pray the Lord’s Prayer slowly, thoughtfully, humbly—word by word—remembering this comforting assurance in Science and Health: “Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord’s Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick” (p. 16). 

So I reached for Science and Health and opened to pages 16 and 17, where the prayer is printed along with its spiritual interpretation. I’ve always loved the very first words, “Our Father,” which immediately give the prayer a loving and all-inclusive universality. However, this time it took on a whole new meaning. First, I realized I wasn’t trying to heal matter. Since God, Spirit, is my Creator, I was never environed, embodied, or included in matter. Instead, I existed solely as a spiritual reflection of God, or as Science and Health states, a “compound idea of God, including all right ideas” (p. 475). 

Because of this, all the components of my human body had to be simply counterfeits of spiritual ideas that I already included. And God must be their Creator and Father-Mother. What a wonderful thought! These flawless spiritual ideas, mothered and fathered by God, governed totally by divine Love, must be supported by God’s law of love and truth, and could never be at war with each other—never cause pain or distress to themselves or other ideas. That was my true “embodiment.”

After the first line, then follows the spiritual interpretation, “Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious.” This copy of Science and Health had large margins with ample space in which I had written notes. One of them was a dictionary definition of harmonious as “agreeably related.” This further confirmed to me the harmonious relationship, interaction, and even a kind of loving cooperation of all ideas—and certainly those composing my compound spiritual identity.  

Next I thought about the words “Hallowed be Thy name.” I knew that in the Bible, the terms name and nature are frequently used synonymously. So by “hallowing,” or honoring as holy, God’s name (and nature), I would in effect be honoring my own God-bestowed nature, and therefore I could not be made to “unhallow” it by assigning to it any vulnerability to restriction, pain, fear, or disability. 

I prayed earnestly to be “enabled” to know unequivocally that “as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent, supreme.” This meant to me that God had no competition, no second, no equal. God was “all-acting” (Science and Health, p. 587), therefore also all-impelling, all-motivating, and there could be no such thing as inaction or immobility. 

Then I thought of “our daily bread”—fresh, inspiring, nutritious, satisfying. Never left over from the day before; never repetitive or routine. I prayed to recognize this bread, to accept it, value it, “chew” (consider, cherish), and digest it—be totally filled and satisfied by it. Nothing could cause me to ignore, overlook, or disregard this spiritual nutrition, this “grace for to-day.”

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” told me that God created man innocent, pure, incorruptible. Therefore I could confidently declare that not only was I forever innocent and therefore not under any law of penalty or curse for anything I ever did or didn’t do, but that so was everyone else. Even as I declared my innocence, though, in the back of my thought was the question “What on earth am I thinking or doing that is causing this condition?” 

Then I remembered the very comforting 139th Psalm: “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising . . .” (verses 1, 2). If it is God who is doing the “searching” and the “knowing,” what could be better? All God knows about us is perfection, purity, innocence. So we can wholeheartedly “praise him” because we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (verse 14)!  

Gratitude flooded my thought, as I saw that God never leads into temptation, but delivers us from all sin, disease, and death. I could joyously withdraw consent to the “death” of mobility, health, activity, and affirm that “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.” There simply is no other kingdom—no other realm; no opportunity or chance for any competing power or presence, because God alone is “infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.” 

I insisted these truths were effective—they were not and could not be reversed, or rendered ineffective. I further insisted on my joy and receptivity to Truth. 

By the time the prayer was concluded, and without another thought, I literally bounded out of that chair, moving freely, joyously, and totally without pain. This healing happened more than a year ago, and has remained permanent.

Of course, I was deeply grateful for this freedom, but even more grateful for the cherishing of every word in the Lord’s Prayer, and for the inspiration and joy that accompanied it. This wonderful prayer does meet all human need. It continues to inspire, comfort, and heal.