The foundation of healing prayer

Guy Gilbert is a French Catholic priest who is well known for his commitment to underprivileged populations. He’s a student of the Bible and said something a few years ago that touched me: “Live in such a way that your way of living causes people to think it is impossible for God not to exist.”

Bible study and prayer in Christian Science empower us to tangibly demonstrate the presence of God, Love. Their meaning is in the good that they actually bring – in making one a better man, woman, child – more useful, more loving, more generous, more wise.

Isn’t this what Jesus alludes to when he says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16)? Mary Baker Eddy writes in her book on God, prayer, and healing, “Are we benefited by praying? Yes, the desire which goes forth hungering after righteousness is blessed of our Father, and it does not return unto us void” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 2).

There are thousands of ways to pray that affirm God’s nature as good and everyone’s identity as the spiritual, whole, and pure child of God. That being said, we can look to Jesus’ unique example of practical, healing prayer as leading the way. His prayer was not uncertain and hesitant. It healed completely and quickly.

Mrs. Eddy, in her own experience as a follower of Jesus, proved he was right when he said, in essence, that his way of praying was accessible to everyone, and that everyone could heal effectively as he did. He said specifically, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12). An informed, reasoned, inspired understanding of his teachings fuels our effective, healing prayer.

A few years ago, an acquaintance was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in her breast. She was in pain, and she was afraid. Along with a Christian Science practitioner, she prayed.

Over the next few months, a transformation, a regeneration of her thinking, took place. She let go of a hopeless sense of existence to discover, more and more every day, that God, Life, is the source and support of existence. And one day the pain was gone, the tumor was gone. It’s been 10 years now, and this woman is in excellent health. She published an account of her healing in The Herald of Christian Science, and it was republished in the Christian Science Sentinel (see Florence Anika Lasnier, “My spiritual journey to healing,” March 2, 2015).

The prayer that heals destroys our beliefs about disease, or whatever problem we’re facing, and reveals a clear sense of God as infinite good, and of the omnipresence of harmony. This prayer-induced change in our consciousness manifests itself in our life as a harmonious resolution of the problem.

Jesus’ followers, impressed by the effectiveness of his healing work, once asked him to teach them how to pray. I’ve found this way of praying, called the Lord’s Prayer, along with its spiritual sense given in Science and Health (see pp. 16-17), so helpful in Christian Science treatment. Here is some of the inspiration that has come to me through studying and applying this prayer:

• When we begin to pray, the temptation can be to focus on the problem, whereas the key is to seek a better understanding of our relation to the infinite God, divine Life, our Father.

• Divine Life is the source of harmony. Evil in any form is never sent or known by Life. Harmony is maintained by God, supreme good, the source of all health and inspiration.

• Our task is to defend our thoughts against the mental suggestions that God, good, could be absent, and that there is a power opposed to natural harmony.

• The foundation of prayer in Christian Science is fundamentally becoming conscious of God, omnipresent and infinite good.

There is no formula for prayer. Each inspiration is unique and spontaneous. But I’ve found that prayer helps foster an attitude of listening for the inspiration that presents itself to our thought. Dear reader, you are invited to try it out – to apply Christian Science to any need occupying your thoughts right now. Prayerful treatment and its effect may well become your treasure!

Pour lire cet article en français, cliquez ici.

Adapted from an article published on the website of The Herald of Christian Science, French Edition, July 20, 2023.