What boundless possibilities for helpfulness and happiness are opened to us when, through the teachings of Christian Science, we begin to find the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures and to search for the spiritual idea back of every human concept or material thing! On page 16 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy gives the spiritual interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, and on the same page she says, "The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration. ... It distinguishes between Truth that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense." This spiritual interpretation not only frees thought from the petty, the sordid, and the disheartening, but, incredible as it may seem to the materialist, it actually meets specific needs, mental, moral, and physical; and it does so because it leads straight back to the one Principle of being, the absolute cause, God, who is Spirit. This fact has been illustrated for the writer by a few of her own experiences.

I used to say, "Our Father which art in heaven," with the thought of a far-off, mighty being, who was to be obeyed, also revered and loved, if it were possible to love where fear and awe were so dominant; one who might grant my plea and send good, if for some reason incomprehensible to me He saw fit; but never for a moment did God, as thus believed in, seem near and dear, or even necessary to me, as my earthly father did. Our text-book interprets this phrase, "Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious;" and Christian Science has taught me to know God as infinite, unchanging Love, as my preserver, my guide, my source of being, supplying my every need lovingly and bountifully, often before I have felt it. Thus He has become so all-sufficient that in times of fear or suffering my thought turns to Him as naturally and confidently as that of a little child turns to its human parents. Many times the consciousness of His presence has been so clear as instantly to heal fear, pain, or resentment, so that I longed above all else to give Him loving and intelligent obedience.

Formerly, when I prayed "Thy kingdom come," I thought vaguely of a distant time that should follow a mighty upheaval called the judgment day, but Mrs. Eddy has given us a present realization of this phrase in the declaration, "Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present." We are taught in Christian Science that the kingdom of God is the dominion of good, and that the recognition of the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, good, destroys the false claims of evil, as the acceptance of the correct thought must cancel the wrong thought. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you." Hence this prayer understood and demonstrated enables one not only to stand, but to advance through the clamor and chaos of human theories and fears.

In the past, "Thy will be done" was always associated with moments of resignation, or even despair, when some weary and baffled being had given up the struggle in the face of an "inscrutable Providence;" but now "Thy will be done" is the cry of victory over human woe. For God's will is only good, since He "is of purer eyes than to behold evil," and hath "no pleasure in the death of him that dieth." This petition as understood in Christian Science has helped me, also, to meet self-will in myself and in others. In my work as a teacher it is leading me out of the unsatisfying thought of the domination of personality or human willpower into the realization that man made in the image of his Father-Mother God must be governed by divine Principle, and cannot be bound by heredity, evil influence, or apparently inherent sin. For this reason no child seems a hopeless case, and the heart-sick feeling of human responsibility, allied to impotence, has given place to one of courage and joy in my work.

"Give us this day our daily bread" was hitherto a perfunctory prayer, but now I look beyond the material and find help and inspiration in the understanding that "our bread, 'which cometh down from heaven,' is Truth,"—"the great truth of spiritual being, healing the sick and casting out error" (Science and Health, pp. 35, 33). In a material sense bread is often spoken of as the staff of life. The spiritual interpretation teaches us that the staff of life is really the right understanding of God and His creation. Jesus said, "I [Truth made manifest] am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." And he also declared, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." As the spiritual interpretation of this phrase of the prayer, we have in our text-book, "Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections" (p. 17). This last clause, "feed the famished affections," has been to me the prayer of demonstration previously referred to, for it has healed me of an intense, indescribable longing, and a morbidly sensitive disposition; and, together with an advancing understanding of the first clause, it has greatly increased my capacity for loving and for finding joy in the giving of love.

When I now pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," I am so filled with gratitude for the gleam of an understanding of God which has brightened my life, that I feel I have no debtors to forgive. Anything due me in the way of love, or commendation, or even acknowledgment, seems too small for consideration. Therefore self-pity and false ambition are giving way to a feeling of good-will and compassion, and I am gaining glimpses of what it means to pray, "And Love is reflected in love" (p. 17), which is the spiritual sense of this petition.

In Christian Science, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory," means much more than a dutiful acknowledgment of God's sovereignty. It is a fervently grateful declaration of confidence. In moments of darkness it is a pillar of fire. It makes moments of success real milestones of progress by proving to us the eternal fact, "God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All" (p. 17). This view of success brings much more happiness and growth than the fleeting satisfaction which arises from a sense of personal achievement, for it makes it clear that all success or progress results from the operation of divine Principle manifested to and through man, for the allness of the divine Mind becomes the one fact and it uplifts, inspires, and heals.

The spiritual understanding of the Lord's Prayer gained by thoughtful consideration of the Bible and the honest study of our Leader's interpretation of it in Science and Health, makes this prayer so vital and demonstrable that the Christian Scientist finds it always in his thought in time of need, an abiding consciousness, an ever-present help. It is for this reason that its audible repetition at Christian Science services is vibrant with gratitude and spiritual power.