Inquirers often wonder if they can pray for family members who are struggling with illness, even though that family member has not asked for prayerful help.
The best answer to that question is to understand that divine Love always finds a way to help! The Love of God is all-inclusive, all-encompassing, everywhere all the time, and always present to bless everyone it touches, including your family member! No one ever stands outside of the ever-comforting care and healing power of divine Love.
If the family member is pursing forms of treatment other than Christian Science, those choices should be respected in the spirit of the Golden Rule, but one still has a moral obligation to keep their own thought correct about the person they love. One would treat their own thought to be sure they are seeing their loved one from God’s point of view, and not from a lesser material point of view.
Our right thinking about people around us help them even when we are not directly treating their thought. That’s okay. It’s like a person walking near a bright streetlight. That streetlight is not conscious of the person walking in its shine, but that person benefits from the shine anyway. The light emitting from the streetlight blesses anyone in its proximity.
Your prayers of spiritual understanding will act like a bright streetlight in your family member’s experience. The light you see can penetrate any type of darkness around you, for darkness cannot resist light. Error cannot resist Truth.
Mary Baker Eddy writes, “Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited” (Miscellany, p. 210:).
Be a bright light! The Light of God you reflect will take care of the rest.
Thank you. This is just what I need today. My sister has what doctors say is incurable . She is following the treatments they gave her. I have been focusing on seeing her as a child of God, perfect. I was wondering if my prayers could have any affect at all. She has stopped to drink daily alcohol out of fear for more sides effects from the meds. But yesterday she told me she is happy drinking tea instead of wine and she is even considering to quit smoking after 40 years. I was surprised when she told me. I don’t know if the light of my thinking helped or if she is acting purely out of fear. Only God knows. What matters is the positive result.
I, too, had an opportunity to pray for my sister who was under medical care last year. I was already working with a practitioner and I asked him if he would pray for her. He asked me to share with her what we were talking about, working with. She was extremely receptive and had an immediate turn around and was discharged from the hospital. Share your thoughts with her.
Also…there is nothing incurable. We can change (heal) our thought (where the problem lies) and the evidence of a healed thought will soon follow. ❣️
Glad your sister has taken steps to quit both wine and smoking. God is working HIS purpose out, as years succeeds to years. It’s NEVER too late, to see one suffering, completely healed by GOD! You give me hope as I pray for my family member who’s not working but affected negatively from a physical problem. THERE IS GOD directing the light of healing all around her.
I found this very helpful as well, I have a brother who I know was raised in Christian Science and who is a member of the Mother Church who has turned to medical means. When he was in hospital, I tried to keep my thought clear about who was really caring for him. As soon as he was able to read what was sent, I began sending him hymns from The Christian Science Hymnal for him to read. I also sent a very small copy of Science and Health (one given to the soldiers during WW1 and WW2) and the words only hymnal that had been used by our mother in her many years of readership (it was a very small Society). I thought he would be more likely to use the hymnal that had been hers. He began thanking me for sending the citations from Science and Health and the hymns. At one point, not longer after I started sending the hymns and citations, I asked if he wanted me to continue to do so and he said yes, I asked again later (in a round about way) when I asked him what he wanted me to send citations about. When I got an answer, I continued to daily send various citations, links to Daily lifts, to this blog, to the Sunday and Wednesday Services and so on. He has email and so we communicate in that manner. His replies are brief, thanking me for sending the inspiring citations, hymns or links. The other day he asked for a link to the Sunday Service and afterward said he had listened. I am very grateful that he has left the hospital and is staying with friends. I am grateful that he has the friends that will care for him, as otherwise he would still be in hospital or in a nursing home or rehab center as he lives alone. I know that the friends are caring for him in the best way they know how and that he can use his Science, if he wants. I know too that the hymns and citations I have been sending him for the past month have been received and studied from comments in his return emails.
Beautiful Esther, thank you. So happy for you and your family. ❣️
This is something I have often wondered about. Thank you, Evan for such a clear, practical and loving explanation.
Thank you, Evan. This was a great concern for me year ago. I wonder where does my responsibility rest for Christian Science treatment of a family member, friend or aquaintence who when I was informed of their trial was my responsibility. Sometimes, I would be alert in the silence of some form of transgression and I would instantly react to that is not right, but is it that which is the cause. I finally, came to the conclusion that I must first treat my own thought of God’s man and not allow any deteriorate thought in my own experience. The thought which came to me may or may not have been the experience of that life. Yet, I can rely on the my knowledge of Christian Science to see God’s man as true and perfect, harmonious, joyful, full of grace.
Evan, I am really grateful for these timely and inspiring comments today.
As we read in the Bible lesson this week: “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and THIS CORRECT VIEW of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy”.
Thanks to all of you sharing your experiences in how to pray for yourself when confronted with another’s suffering. It can be a conundrum at times. But, I see it as a wonderful opportunity to help your fellowman in the way it comes to each of us as Evan has so clearly presented on how to pray then act on any given situation that might present itself.
Absolutely wonderful Evan…thank you so much.
As a person completely surrounded by non CS family and friends I love to be reminded of the complete inclusion and effectiveness toward everyone in our prayers. We know it but it is so helpful to be reminded as you have lovingly done today.
What a grand statement you quote from miscellany. So many times I’ve found M Writings full of extra spiritual help . The quote above says it all.
You wrote to me some time ago..’ God doesn’t stop at the hospital door’’ or some words similar. This has been such a great help personally but the implication is as you say, all prayer benefits man and it starts with ourselves..ie to maintain the correct view of being. This is a truly beneficial subject today. I’m most grateful.
We must never doubt the efficacy of seeking Gods help. I feel this is fear trying to sneak in the back door. It would be wonderful for someone to ask for prayerful help from me , but until that happens surely we must express the all powerful Love we are all part of.❣️
A recent Sentinel Watch with Beth Packer was so helpful. Her comment: “I don’t accept that” in reference to a statement made about the inevitability of aging, has given me new ammunition in combating all lies about God and man that come my way. That I can always do: refuse to accept the misinformation that the original standard, perfect God and perfect man, has somehow fallen. It’s been a wonderful new tool for facing untruths. “I don’t accept that” (whatever it is) and here’s why. And then I affirm the truth. It’s making me a better pray-er on all fronts.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this important topic, Evan. We can always go to God in prayer and ask what to do, to know, etc. Jesus told us we could ask:)) Everything is about God since He is All so the problem confronting us or a loved one is a misunderstanding about God and Her creation in some way. And that loving desire to help comes from Divine Love. I think we can and should always go to God to guide our prayers generically for someone, ie: to feel His Love but it would not be right to treat their thought specifically without their consent as Evan said. Correcting our own thought is essential and we start by taking our concerns straight to the one and only Mind. Mrs. Eddy made some clear distinctions between prayer and prayerful treatment. Generic and specific ideas are shared in the chapter on Prayer and starting on page 410 in SH. But she often healed others without their consent while on her buggy rides and at other times, too. She wouldn’t and couldn’t tolerate suffering of any kind as it didn’t come from God. Her thought must have been so clear and so in sync with God that the suffering just couldn’t stay. Jesus always had that “correct view” of man and healed this way. The Divine Comforter always wins❤️ Thanks again, Evan.
Your analogy of the bright streetlight reminded me of something I read a number of years ago that has stuck with me. (Wish I could recall where I read it so I could give the author credit.). Anyway, he said that the, “People weren’t healed because they were in the presence of Jesus, but because they were in the presence of what Jesus KNEW.” Thanks to the Bible and Science and Health, we can know everything that Jesus did. I often ask myself, “Are people being healed because they’re in the presence of what I know?” It’s an immediate and effective reminder to me to “true up” my thinking and seeing…to, as quoted above, “Behold in Science the perfect man….”!
Thank you, Evan–this is very helpful and clarifying. And thank you, Robyn. Also, very clarifying.
Such wonderful ideas shared today and I’m grateful. I feel strongly that this right thinking about people around us must also extend to members of our church families. We have some in our congregation who have challenges to meet and live alone with no Christian Scientist family members. Being clear in our own thought as to man’s spiritual identity and perfection will support and bless all “whom our thoughts rest upon.” Thank you, Evan, and thank you, all.
“Responding to public issues with prayer” By Colin Treworgy. From the January 19, 2026 issue of The Christian Science Sentinel:
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/1iuh288yrcs?s=copylink
Thank you Evan, and I appreciate everyone’s comments.
Maggie shared with us a very insightful article by Judy Wolff. Judy was praying for a person and also included the person’s family members with this statement: “… God, as the only Mind, is constantly revealing Life universally to all of His creation. Of course, I did not telepathically communicate this to anyone, but I recognized God as already actively imparting all that is true about man and Himself to all of us.”
“Present perfection” By Jeffrey Hildner with contributions from Judy Wolff. From the June 2006 issue of The Christian Science Journal:
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/gu59ga179w?s=copylink
Thank you, Evan. I have wondered about this subject often. Your SV today answers it clearly. And thank you, J, for sharing this Sentinel article. If there were any questions left unanswered after Evan’s SpiritView, they were answered here in this beautiful article.
I would like to clarify that when I refer to the “beautiful article,” I am talking about “Responding to public issues with prayer,” that J initially posted. (My reply to her post appeared after her second post of the day which shared a different article.)
I would like to clarify that when I refer to the “beautiful article,” I am talking about “Responding to public issues with prayer,” that J initially posted. (My reply to her post appeared after her second post of the day which shared a different article.)
Thank you for this great reminder about maintaining our “right thinking” — and that the “light” of Love shines on everyone, all the time. So helpful.
Thank you for this great reminder about maintaining our “right thinking” — and that the “light” of Love shines on everyone, all the time. So helpful.
Thank you for this great reminder about being alert to maintain our “right thinking” — and that the “light” of Love shines on everyone, all the time. So helpful.
Just listened to a Sentinel Watch last night that included a description of how we can pray to free our thought from issues other people are having without specifically praying for them. Link below . This is Deborah Packer… not the same Sentinel Watch as was shared last Friday with Beth Packer. Are Beth and Deborah sisters?
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/1eij571lxii?s=copylink