While serving as a Christian Science chaplain in the St. Louis prison system some time ago, I visited as a counselor once a week. One of the inmates came one day during our counsel session and said to me, "I want to prove to you that you are a sinner." I said, "Fine, I'll give you five minutes, and then I'm going to prove to you that we are both saints." So I listened to her for five minutes and afterward I said, "Now it's my turn."
I handed her a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy and asked her to turn to page 600 and start reading the headings of the testimonies of healing. After she had read just a few pages, she stopped. Her eyes got big and she said, "Oh, I've got that disease. But they can't operate here in the prison because it's too expensive." Then I said, "Would you like to heal yourself?" She said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, Christian Science follows in the footsteps of Christ Jesus. And Jesus told us to go and heal—to heal ourselves and our fellowman." I then asked her to turn back to page 475 and read the spiritual description of man and to think of herself as this image of God. We went over the passage together and then I said, "You read this and pray about it every day, and I'll be back next Wednesday; then we'll discuss it further if you have any questions, but I expect you to be healed."
The following week she came to me, all smiles. She said, "1'm healed. All the symptoms are gone of that disease I told you about." She said, "Now, I have a mother who is in the hospital in St. Louis, and she has some diseases." I told her to send the book to her mother and let her read it. She explained that her mother couldn't read, so I suggested that she pray for her mother as she had prayed for herself.
