Is there a difference between silent prayer and declaring truth aloud?
—From a Christian Science Practitioner workshop
A1. When you are praying silently, you are actually having a private conversation with God, as His child. Christ Jesus set the tone for this prayer when he said, “When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matt. 6:6).
A quick healing comes to mind, which happened when I was praying silently. One day, my daughter had a huge boil on her arm. I began praying silently and felt the significance of the Lord’s Prayer. I then heard her calling out to me, and we found that every vestige of the inflammation had drained and she was healed. This quiet prayer enables one to understand the nature of God and the true being of the one you are praying for—to be still and listen for His angel messages that comfort, guide, and heal. Mary Baker Eddy described angels as “. . . spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; . . .” (Science and Health, p. 581). When we pray silently, it is a time when material want and woe is silenced and the divine will makes its presence felt.
