How can we pray for peace effectively? What can we do to make it possible to experience the promise of “on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14)?
The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, was very engaged with this subject. In response to the war between Russia and Japan in 1904 and 1905, at one point she called on all the members of The Mother Church to “pray each day for the amicable settlement of the war” (see The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 279). She also pointed church members to the two commandments to love God and one’s neighbor as oneself—the commandments Jesus commended to his followers.
As I thought about this more deeply, I noticed something significant in Jesus’ interaction with “a certain lawyer” (see Luke 10:25–37) that shed new light on the command to love our neighbor. The Bible account relates that they agree on the importance of loving one’s neighbor as oneself. But when the expert in the law asks Jesus who his neighbor is, Jesus gives a very surprising answer. He doesn’t name a group of people like the needy, the widows, or the sick. Instead, he tells a parable in which a man cares for a stranger who has been attacked and badly injured, after a priest and a Levite simply passed the wounded man by. Then Jesus asks, “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” That showed me that a neighbor is not just a person who asks us for help. It’s what we are when we are willing to be a neighbor to others.
As Jesus showed, prayer brings healing.
So, we become someone’s neighbor when we notice their needs and show compassion toward them. For example, as we pray about situations like the war in Ukraine, we must first notice the needs of others. But just being aware of, and then outraged by, suffering is not enough, because the priest and the Levite in Jesus’ parable certainly saw the man on the side of the road, yet they kept walking. So what do we do? Do we block out the news, ignore suffering, shrug our shoulders, and take care of our own lives? In the parable, Jesus gives a clear answer as to how we should address suffering. We should follow the example of the good Samaritan, and show our compassion toward others in practical ways, helping and supporting until we can see that everything has been done to make sure recovery moves forward.
How do we do this? As Jesus showed, prayer brings healing. The two commandments—to love God, Mind, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself—offer different ways of praying that complement each other beautifully.
Having one Mind, loving one God, requires that, in everything we do every day, we let God be the director of our actions. Divine Love never leads us into situations in which we must act contrary to our own good conscience. When I let God govern, I see that the many things that need to be taken care of every day come together like pieces of a mosaic. I feel my life being guided by a great peaceful intelligence that pervades everything, and I know that I am a valuable member of one whole. And this is true not only for me, but also for my family and for the whole world! Loving one God is a powerful prayer through which we experience divine Love practically, and it radiates out into the world. Mary Baker Eddy expresses this expanding love in a poem: “His arm encircles me, and mine, and all” (Poems, p. 4).
The command to love one’s neighbor as oneself is about recognizing the spiritual truth of God’s creation. At first when we claim in the face of war and destruction that God’s love is active right there, equipping all participants with benevolence and care for one another, it may seem abstract and disconnected from what’s going on. But when we acknowledge the spirituality of God’s creation—that God’s children reflect Him in being and in action—and affirm the law that stands behind this truth, then we’ll see the action of this law, in some word or deed, concretely.
For example, I have thought about the many reports of people in Ukraine who are helping, comforting, and supporting each other. A little girl on television sought shelter in a subway station with her family and was singing songs that encouraged and comforted others. Brave people are bringing food to others, helping those who’ve been wounded. These words and deeds point to the Divine. In truth, the law of Love is here and everywhere; and each act of compassion pierces through the fog of war over and over again.
Divine Love never leads us into situations in which we must act contrary to our own good conscience.
So, as I have only one God, the one guiding Mind, and obey the command to love my neighbor as myself, I pray to bind up the suffering. I may start my prayer with loving God, and recognizing specific truths of God’s law of abundance—that God’s great love meets every need. Or I may pray by affirming that divine Love, the Principle of existence, is all-powerful and cares for all. In prayer, I may also love my neighbor as myself by recognizing and loving the good of others. Then I see that my family, my neighbors, my friends, my colleagues, and everyone I interact with are all just as much governed by God as I am. I recognize that the divine great intelligence guides us all equally and that everyone expresses Love in diverse ways. God’s children are peaceful, loving, kind, wise, considerate, intelligent, and so on, because the one and only great, ever-active divine Principle created them.
While I’m praying for others, I focus less on myself and more on God. Working with the law of omni-active divine Love places me firmly on the rock of Truth, and so my own problems become less menacing in selfless prayer. I recognize that what is true for everyone is true for me and that what is true for me is true for everyone, thus fulfilling the law of loving my neighbor and strengthening my love for God. In this way the two commandments complement each other.
In both prayers the ideas come from the divine Mind and inspire us. We only have to open ourselves in humility and sincerity. Then the ideas to help and heal flow out from divine Love to us. These two ways of praying are as natural as breathing, and both are necessary to bring peace.
