The horrible inhumanity I had read about in the news overwhelmed me. In the hope of restoring my natural trust in the omnipotence of God, good, I reached out to God in prayer. That day I prayed by opening my thought to recall earlier occasions when I had witnessed the power of God to reveal or restore goodness.
Then I was reminded of how when I fly I’m always deeply impressed by how very good people are. Crowds, delays, and threatening weather test people’s patience and endurance. But without fail I have found that my fellow travelers are patient, good-humored, perseverant, forgiving, kind, and helpful to one another.
Of course, the challenges of travel are no comparison to the horrors of oppression. However, considering the goodness I consistently observe at airports gave me a starting point for my prayer.
These Christly qualities, ways of living that Christ Jesus exemplified, and encouraged in his Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5-7), include mutual respect and self-control, and they uplift and comfort. These qualities, lived, create an atmosphere of mutual understanding that unites and supports us all, and counteracts inhumane tendencies.
Jesus taught us to love one another. And by healing the sick through spiritual love he showed us that God, Love, is the one and only originator and actuating power behind all existence. Jesus’ healing works gave evidence of our innate goodness and spirituality and the ever-present power of God to maintain our wholeness. He gave proof of these spiritual facts time and again.
This is how Jesus loved: He mirrored the perfect love of God, Love, in his own consciousness. He was at one with God, divine Mind. In truth, every one of us mirrors God’s consciousness, whether we are aware of this or not.
When Mary Baker Eddy turned to her Bible for healing, she discovered the means of the healing power Jesus practiced and called it Christian Science. In her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” which explains her discovery, she writes, “When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship, in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with the Scriptural command: ‘Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus’” (p. 276).
The evil we hear of or experience is not known to this Mind. It is baseless, without power or reality, because it is not part of the ever-present and everlasting thoughts that spring from God, Love. Love isn’t aware of evil, and those who do evil are ignorant of Love.
Jesus suffered the cruelty of the human ignorance of Love firsthand. Yet, when he was crucified, he called out to God to forgive his persecutors. He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Their cruelty did not shake Jesus’ faith in God, Love. He had lived spiritual love. He had healed others through the power of Love. Jesus knew that God, Love – and all the good that proceeds from God – is eternal, everlasting.
It was evident to Jesus that man’s inhumanity to man was as powerless and fleeting as it was horrific. He clung to God as he always had, and in his resurrection he proved the powerlessness of human hatred and the allness of all-powerful God, Love.
In praying, I realized I, too, can stand for the allness of Love. We all can live it, day by day, no matter what evil we encounter. And praying together, we will overwhelm whatever seems to hide Love and bring the truth of the pure goodness of all to light.
