‘Enable us to know’

Years ago I found myself with a severely painful headache that made even thinking clearly difficult.  I was used to praying for myself to find relief and healing.  So I started praying with the Lord’s Prayer because I knew it so well.  But also because I remembered what Mary Baker Eddy said about the Lord’s Prayer in Science and Health,—that it “covers all human needs” (p. 16).  Now to me that is a radical statement.  But the reason I believed it is because not only is it the specific prayer that Jesus gave to his students (disciples) but also because Mary Baker Eddy’s record of healing appeared to be the closest of anyone I had ever heard of, to the way Jesus and his students healed.  So I figured she knew what she was talking about.  I’d also been practicing the ideas that she writes about in Science and Health regarding Jesus’ healing method and found that I, too, could in some cases heal both myself and others of physical problems.

What happened was that I had this migraine-type headache come on very fast.  Now you might be wondering why I didn’t just take an aspirin.  Well, frankly, I just had more faith in an all-powerful God than in a pill because I had experienced healing by turning to God in prayer.  Also I wanted permanent healing, a cure, rather than just a quick fix.  I was learning from Science and Health that that means dealing with our thinking rather than just with something physical, since thought controls the body.

I was putting my trust in the Lord’s Prayer as a way to help me feel my connection to God, to my source of harmony and health.  So I said that prayer out loud to myself over and over again.  Now I knew that just saying the words wouldn’t do anything for me, so I thought about what I was saying as best I could.  I said it out loud in an attempt to make it louder in my thought than the pain.  At first I wasn’t getting much out of the prayer, but as I kept saying it over and over, I would catch a little bit of inspiration here and there.  I felt as though I were in a wrestling match, and I decided I wasn’t giving up until the inspiration and spiritual truth in the Lord’s Prayer won out over the depressing pain.  I must have said it over 25 times.  I also found it a huge help and very comforting to include Mary Baker Eddy’s spiritual interpretation of each phrase of the prayer, which I had memorized as well.

Those bits of inspiration broke through until I began to feel the presence of God and harmony and peace more, and fear and pain less.  I kept at it until the pain completely faded away.  The whole process took about ten to 15 minutes, as I recall.  I felt stronger spiritually.  I felt God, divine Love, with me.  There is no greater feeling.

These headaches continued every so often for several months.  Whenever this happened, I again prayed successfully with the Lord’s Prayer, but each time I began with less fear and more confidence because of each victory.  It took less time, and the headaches became less severe.  Eventually they stopped altogether, and I was permanently cured.  That was many years ago, and I’ve never had those kinds of headaches since.

I’ve used the Lord’s Prayer many times, especially when I haven’t known how to pray about a particular situation.  In fact, I’ve made it a habit to pray that prayer every day—not just saying it but spending time pondering the meaning, always listening for new inspiration from God.

One time while visiting as a chaplain in a prison-type halfway house for women, I prayed with the Lord’s Prayer to bring healing to a serious situation.  I was talking with three women.  One had just hung up the phone with the hospital where her daughter was in her third day of labor.  There was no sign of progress with the birth, and the woman was distressed.  My heart went out to her—she was locked up and not able to be with her daughter.  I wanted to do something.  So I assured her that we would pray right then and prove that God and His/ Her goodness were present.  She appreciated that very much and went upstairs to call the hospital again.  I told the other two women that I would show them how useful the Lord’s Prayer could be.   So using that prayer as a basis, I verbally expanded on each phrase showing how it could change the situation.

For example, we had been given the picture of someone cut off from God, from ever-present harmony.   According to the Science of Christ revealed in the Lord’s Prayer, that is impossible.   God being all good and infinite, this must be a mistake or an error.  In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy reasoned this way about error: “Did God, Truth, create error? No! ‘Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?’ God being everywhere and all-inclusive, how can He be absent or suggest the absence of omnipresence and omnipotence?  How can there be more than all?” (p. 287).  And Jesus told us simply that knowing the truth makes us free (see John 8:32).  The truth of the harmony of God makes us free from the error of inharmony, or the feeling of being cut off from God, from good.

The science of astronomy explains the truth that corrects the error of what we see, as when we observe what appears to be the sun revolving around the earth.  Similarly, Christian Science explains that harmony is happening right where inharmony appears to be real to these five physical senses.  And the Lord’s Prayer helps reveal this Science of being to our own thinking and corrects the error, destroying fear and revealing harmony.  This spiritualization of thought changes the physical situation, and brings healing and cure.

That is what happened in this case.  The false picture presented to our thought was that there was a place where God was absent, where harmony didn’t exist, with this woman giving birth.  Going through the Lord’s Prayer changed our view of the situation to reveal that no one could be outside the goodness and harmony of our Father-Mother, Love (another name for God).

As the women and I went through this prayer together, we became more aware that this discordant picture of a woman struggling in birth was false.  The picture in my thought changed to a clear perception that everyone, including her, was dwelling in the harmony of God’s allness and goodness.

As we were finishing our prayer after about 20 minutes, the woman came back with a big smile on her face.  She told us that her daughter had just given birth, by natural means alone, to a healthy baby, and that all was well.  The feeling of God’s presence was palpable.  Everyone was so happy.  Later the mother of the woman giving birth said she truly felt it was God that had made all well.

For me this was an unforgettable experience.  Something had to be done, and done quickly.  Calling on God with the Lord’s Prayer proved to be effective and immediate.  It drew us all closer to God.

Originally published in the Christian Science Sentinel, June 2005.