Book Review: The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

“I have kept my eyes always upon the LORD. Because He is at my right hand,

I shall not be overcome. Therefore my heart is glad,

and my tongue rejoices.”

-Psalm 16:8-9

Fans of "The Practice of the Presence of God":

“You will keep in perfect peace,

those whose mind is stayed on You,

because they trust in you.”

-Isaiah 26:3

"Believe me, count as lost each day you have not used in loving God."

“Think often on God, by day, by night, in your business and even in your diversions.

He is always near you and with you; leave Him not alone.”

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“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful,

than that of a continual conversation with God;

those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.”

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“That we need only to recognize God intimately present with us,

to address ourselves to Him every moment,

that we may beg His assistance for knowing His will in things doubtful,

and for rightly performing those which we plainly see He requires of us,

offering them to Him before we do them, and giving Him thanks when we have done.”

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“That in this conversation with God,

we are also employed in praising, adoring, and loving him incessantly,

for His infinite goodness and perfection.”

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“I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the presence of God.

For my part I keep myself retired with Him in the depth of centre of my soul as much as I can;

and while I am so with Him I fear nothing;

but the least turning from Him is insupportable.”

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“That there needed neither art nor science for going to God,

but only a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him,

or for His sake, and to love Him only.”

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“That useless thoughts spoil all: that the mischief began there;

but that we ought to reject them, as soon as we perceived their impertinence to the matter in hand, or our salvation;

and return to our communion with God.”

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“The King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me,

embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures;

He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand ways,

and treats me in all respects as His favorite.

It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence.”

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“That in difficulties we need only have recourse to Jesus Christ,

and beg His grace, by which all things became easy.”

Brother Lawrence (c. 1614 – 1691) was a lay brother in a Carmelite Monastery in Paris. He served as a cook in the kitchen and purchaser of supplies.

He was born Nicolas Herman in the region of Lorraine in modern-day eastern France. He fought in the Thirty Years War, which lasted from 1618-1648, with 8,000,000 fatalities.

After a battle wound which left him permanently lame in one leg, he left the army and served as a valet. At the age of twenty-six, he entered the Carmelite Order in Paris.

“He (told me that he) had been footman to M. Fieubert, the treasurer, and that he was a great awkward fellow who broke everything.

That he had desired to be received into a monastery, thinking that he would there be made to smart for his awkwardness and the faults he should commit, and so he should sacrifice to God his life, with its pleasures:

but that God had disappointed him, he having met with nothing but satisfaction in that state.”

His character attracted many to him. He had a reputation for experiencing profound peace, and visitors came to seek spiritual guidance from him.

Christians remember him for the intimacy expressed concerning his relationship with God, in conversations recorded by a cleric, Abbe Joseph de Beaufort, and published after Brother Lawrence’s death in the Classic Christian book:

The Practice of the Presence of God.

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Father de Beaufort recalls that: “Lawrence was open, eliciting confidence, letting you feel you could tell him anything.

Once you got past the rough exterior, you discovered unusual wisdom, a freedom beyond the reach of the ordinary lay brother.”

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”Brother Lawrence looks rough in appearance, but is gentle in manners. This blend demonstrates God in him.

I met him, and there’s a place in the book where the author, without naming me by name, told in a nutshell a very good talk I had with him about death when he was very ill and very cheerful.”

-Franςois Fénelon

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“This little book seems to me one of the most helpful I know.”

-Hannah Whitall Smith

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“Let us think often that our only business in this life is to please God.”

“The first time I saw Brother Lawrence was upon the 3rd of August, 1666. He told me that God had done him a singular favour, in his conversion at the age of eighteen.

That in the winter, seeing a tree stripped of its leaves, and considering that within a little time, the leaves would be renewed, and after that the flowers and fruit appear, he received a high view of the Providence and Power of God, which has never since been effaced from his soul.

That this view had perfectly set him loose from the world, and kindled in him such a love for God, that he could not tell whether it had increased in above forty years that he had lived since.”

“That we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.”

That if this was my design, viz., sincerely to serve God, I might come to him (Brother Lawrence) as often as I pleased, without any fear of being troublesome; but if not, that I ought no more to visit him.

That with him the set times of prayer were not different from other times: that he retired to pray, according to the directions of his Superior, but that he did not want such retirement, nor ask for it, because his greatest business did not divert him from God.

That we should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s Presence, by continually conversing with Him. That it was a shameful thing to quit His conversation, to think of trifles and fooleries.

That we should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of God; which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him. That we ought to quicken, i.e., to enliven, our faith.

That it was lamentable we had so little; and that instead of taking faith for the rule of their conduct, men amused themselves with trivial devotions, which changed daily.

That the way of Faith was the spirit of the church, and that it was sufficient to bring us to a high degree of perfection. That we ought to give ourselves up to God, with regard both to things temporal and spiritual, and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling His will, whether He lead us by suffering or by consolation, for all would be equal to a soul truly resigned.

That we ought, without anxiety, to expect the pardon of our sins from the Blood of Jesus Christ, only endeavouring to love Him with all our hearts. That God seemed to have granted the greatest favours to the greatest sinners, as more signal monuments of His mercy.

"The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen...I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament."

That his prayer was nothing else but a sense of the presence of God, his soul being at that time insensible to everything but Divine love: and that when the appointed times of prayer were past, he found no difference,

because he still continued with God, praising and blessing Him with all his might, so that he passed his life in continual joy; yet hoped that God would give him somewhat to suffer, when he should grow stronger.

Brother Lawrence said that the whole substance of religion was faith, hope, and love; by the practice of which we become united to the will of God: that all beside is indifferent and to be used as a means, that we may arrive at our end, and be swallowed up therein, by faith and love.

That all things are possible to him who believes, that they are less difficult to him who hopes, they are more easy to him who loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of these three virtues.

You must know, his continual care has been, for above forty years past that he has spent in religion, to be always with God; and to do nothing, say nothing, and think nothing which may displease Him; and this without any other view than purely for the love of Him, and because He deserves infinitely more.

“One way to re-collect the mind easily in the time of prayer, and preserve it more in tranquillity, is not to let it wander too far at other times:

you should keep it strictly in the presence of God; and being accustomed to think of Him often, you will find it easy to keep your mind calm in the time of prayer, or at least to recall it from its wanderings.”

SAyiNGS Of tHE dESERt fatHERS (AbbA PaMbO):

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.”

-Ezekiel 26:36 ______________________________________________________

“Abba Pambo said: ‘God is the source of life for all humanity. He has given Christ, the Way of Salvation; available to all.’

The Gospel is proclaimed to believers and unbelievers; to those freed from their passions and those addicted to their passions;

to the religious and the irreligious; to the monks and to those that live in the world;

to the well-educated and to the illiterate; to those that have good health, and to those that are ill; to both the young and to the elderly.

As it is written: ‘…He makes His sun to rise upon the evil and upon the good, and sends rain upon the just and upon the unjust.’ (Matthew 5:45)

Abba Pambo taught: ‘If you have a heart, you can be saved.'”

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-Sayings of the Desert Fathers

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