The two great commands of Jesus—to love God supremely and to love our neighbor as ourselves—take on new meaning in the light of Christian Science. Love for God is seen to be based on the understanding which reveals Him as divine Mind, incapable of knowing, creating, or permitting matter, evil, or any discordant condition. God is Spirit, pure consciousness, and He is always lovely and lovable. Since man is the very expression of this pure creator, he too is altogether lovely and lovable. To love our neighbor as ourselves is always to recognize every individual as a son of God, wholly spiritual and good. Such an offering of love, a true understanding of God and man, brings rich blessings to mankind. It results in improved health, harmony, and success for the Christian Scientist and for all.
True knowing, whereby the individual sees himself and loves his neighbor as God's beloved idea, is true prayer. Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes (No and Yes, p. 39), "True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one affection." And later on the same page she adds this thought regarding prayer: "It shows us more clearly than we saw before, what we already have and are; and most of all, it shows us what God is."
We sometimes hear the question, "Is it right to pray for others if one has not been asked to do so?" Our Leader tells us that there are occasions when a Christian Scientist may pray for those who have not asked him for help. Among these she includes a situation in which one is confronted with evidence of an accident, with no time to obtain the individual's consent.
