SEVERAL YEARS AGO I got a call from a father for help. His young son had fallen from a tree house, injuring his ankle, and he asked if I would pray for the boy. He was in pain and couldn't walk. As his mother comforted him, I assured the father I would pray for his son immediately. My own daughter, who had once been healed of what appeared to be a dislocated bone in her leg, had learned that whenever she had a problem she could trust that God would help. Nothing was too hard for divine Love.
Moved by a sense of compassion for the boy, I knew without a doubt that not only the boy, but also his parents, were being comforted by this same Love. Because Love does not delay, we could expect to witness a quick healing.
I had been studying Science and Health just before the call, so it was open on my desk. As I looked down at the open page, my eyes fell on a quotation of Jesus' words to his astonished disciples when he reappeared to them after his resurrection. "Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have," he told them (p. 45). Looking up from the page (on which Mary Baker Eddy explained the spiritual significance of that Bible verse), I thought, "Don't be fooled by the mental image of the boy as flesh and bones. That is not what man—this boy—really is, as the disciples discovered when they saw Jesus again. The boy's substance is Spirit, God, and he is spiritual." I felt totally convinced of this fact. To me, this was a moment of spiritual discernment, enabling me to see clearly his true nature.
As I prayed with this idea, realizing that divine Love created this child whole—unbroken, invulnerable, and unfallen—this spiritual perspective began replacing in my thought the fearful perception that the child was injured and at risk. I also knew that the Christ, the spirit of Love that moved Jesus to have compassion on the sick and sinning—and enabled him to heal instantly— was with the boy's father and mother and me. At this moment I intuitively knew the boy was well.
But then, I had a fearful thought. My prayer seemed too simple. I asked myself, "Is that it? What about the ankle? Don't I have to pray about that? Looking down once again at Science and Health, I read, "The Master said plainly that physique was not Spirit..." (p. 46). The text seemed bold and imperative. I realized that I didn't have to give any further consideration to the condition of matter since it had no bearing on the child's well-being as Spirit's reflection. Now completely satisfied with what had come to me in prayer, I was filled with an awareness of the powerful love of God that permits no exception or interruption to Love's law of perfect, spiritual being. The entire prayer lasted less than two minutes.
The mother soon called to say that shortly after her husband's call, she and her son heard a series of noises come from his ankle. it sounded to her like he was being "zipped up." She said he stopped crying immediately, sat up, and began talking about his adventures for the day without referring to the leg again. Soon, she added, he stood right up and walked. The healing was quick, complete, and permanent.
Long before her discovery of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy learned that divine Love could heal. Through her mother's early encouragement to pray, she was healed of a fever. She wrote: "My mother, as she bathed my burning temples, bade me lean on God's love, which would give me rest, if I went to Him in prayer, as I was wont to do, seeking His guidance. I prayed; and a soft glow of ineffable joy came over me. The fever was gone, and I rose and dressed myself, in a normal condition of health" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 13).
Later, Mrs. Eddy understood that Love was, in fact, the key to healing. She discerned the Science of Love—the divine laws of good underlying the Christly compassion that healed sickness and sin. She explained in Science and Health, "If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one visit, and the disease will vanish into its native nothingness like dew before the morning sunshine" (p. 365).
What does it mean to reach our patient through divine Love? Christ Jesus, who made a practice of healing in one visit, is the example. The Scriptures relate numerous healings that resulted from his being "moved with compassion." He fed multitudes of hungry people (see Matt. 15:32—38), healed blindness (see Matt. 20:30—34), leprosy (see Mark 1:40-45), seizures (see Mark 9:17-27), and raised the dead (see Luke 7:11-15).
The account of Jesus healing the man with an "unclean spirit" is particularly interesting. To me, it illustrates how a Love-based, spiritually scientific perspective heals even the most difficult case. According to Mark's account, Jesus' "patient" had a history of self-destructive, violent fits that had made news throughout his community. He was an outcast, living in tombs, and bound up with chains. But after only a brief conversation with Jesus, the man was suddenly and completely well (see Mark 5:1-20). Jesus' compassion for his neighbor's situation moved him to heal the man. It enabled Jesus to love his neighbor in a holy and lawful way, and see beyond appearances to who he truly was—God's own likeness, whole, and in his right mind. The man immediately felt the effect of Jesus the Scientist reaching his patient through Love. Jesus' spiritual affection and perspective restored the man to mental health. Science and Health counsels, "Not having this spiritual affection, the physician lacks faith in the divine Mind and has not that recognition of infinite Love which alone confers the healing power" (p.366).
In Mark's account, no one but Jesus seemed to have had genuine love for the troubled man, a love that enabled Jesus to be unimpressed by the man's frightening behaviour. Some swine-herders living and working in the vicinity had probably long witnessed the severity of the man's condition, and that could be a reason they weren't quick to accept that the healing occurred so easily. According to some Bible commentaries, many who had known the man's history spread their fearful stories about him. An agitated mob even forced Jesus out of town, and the man asked permission to go with him.
I was filled with an awareness of the powerful love of God that permits no exception or interruption to Love's law of perfect, spiritual being.
But fear could neither stop the man's healing, nor prevent him from telling others about it. Jesus' understanding of divine Love's supremacy over a limited, material view of life wiped out fear and its disturbing effects on the mind and body. This understanding of spiritual being is the Science of Love Jesus practiced so effectively. He told the man, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee."
Today, we, too, can expect great things from our prayers. The reach of God's love, mothering, comforting, and guiding, has no limits in time or space. God is Love yesterday, today, and forever. We all have access to this infinite Love and so can accomplish its healing work in one visit.
