Assault stopped

Sury Victoria Prieto

Originally written in Spanish, this first appeared as an article in the November 2013 Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese editions of The Herald of Christian Science.

One day I went on foot to meet my older sister at work so we could walk home together. I was waiting for her outside her building when a young man, apparently on drugs, passed by me. He then turned back and walked by me again. He did that twice, and on the third pass, he stopped next to me and tried to molest me. We struggled briefly, and I became afraid.

But I immediately remembered what I had learned in the Christian Science Sunday School about man being spiritual, and I began to pray. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes: “Man is spiritual and perfect; … He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; ...” (p. 475 ).

I knew that because the man of God is a spiritual idea, he cannot be an abuser nor can he hurt another spiritual idea. Since the man of God’s creating includes all right ideas, he expresses purity and innocence—only what’s good. In those moments, as I began to recognize God’s power and to see in this young man only the true, spiritual man, the fear disappeared, and the man stopped touching me.

Then I felt impelled to speak to the man about God. I told him God loved him so much, and that he didn’t need to take drugs to feel good. I told him that we are all God’s children, and that we are all brothers and sisters. I continued talking to him until he said, “Well, OK.” Then he kissed me on the cheek, apologized to me, and left.

I think that recognizing not only my own innocence but also the innocence of this young man—that both of us are ideas of God, made in His image and likeness (see Genesis 1:26, 27 )—protected me from harm. And it protected the man from committing something more harmful.
I’ve been able to prove the spiritual truths taught by Christian Science many times, and for this I’m deeply grateful.

Sury Victoria Prieto
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

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