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Contents
Humility
Faith Alone
True Surrender
Esteem For God
Sovereign Physician
Humility
1. "In the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquillity as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Supper." ... Brother Lawrence
Brother Lawrence was a model of humility. Why should we get to know him? Brother Lawrence did not hear voices, perform miracles, found an order or religious community, start a church, lead a cult or sect, or have wealth, power, or status. Brother Lawrence simply loved God. He lived in God's presence and loved Our Father in a way that is available to each of us.
2. In a letter Brother Lawrence told a friend: "I expect you will say that I am very much at ease, and that I eat and drink at the table of the Lord." He agreed that this impression was true. Then he added some background detail. Consider, if you will, he suggested, how a sinner such as I am, can ever really become complacent.
The earthly life in God's presence is not without pain; but there is a sweetness to the pain. When love is intense, our desire to please is strong. The sweet pain of the awareness of our unworthiness serves as a reminder.
Brother Lawrence's humility, the awareness of his unworthiness, kept him, on one hand, at the ready to accept anything that might lead to his improvement and, on the other hand, ever grateful for the favors and grace God constantly bestowed on him.
This balance is the reason Brother Lawrence was observed as being never hurried and never loitering, but always performing his tasks in their proper time and way. From Brother Lawrence we learn the true meaning of right balance in thought, word, and deed. That true meaning can only be recognized through humility.
3. Since Brother Lawrence's death in 1691, he has been variously referred to as mystic, innovator, saint, and philosopher. These titles were, no doubt, applied by those who had great respect for, if not always an understanding of, the practice of the presence of God.
Likewise, his detractors have their labels for him also; everything from simple-minded to ignorant and uneducated. Often, he is just ignored. This last, no matter the motive, always turns out to be a kindness.
If there was one sin Brother Lawrence thoroughly understood, it was the pervasive and corrosive nature of pride. He had seen a great deal of this in his life, especially during his years as a soldier in the Thirty Years' War. He truly knew the scriptural meaning of "pride has no place in humans".
He had seen its operation both in the world around him and within himself. So, Brother Lawrence also knew that the very understanding of the nature of pride was, in itself, a precious gift from God. He, therefore, had compassion for those who were unable to see and those who had hardened their hearts.
Yet, once Our Father gives the gift of the full understanding of pride, there is nowhere else to walk but on the path of humility. And, in God's presence, Brother Lawrence became deaf to the references, titles, and labels and he became blind to the artificial lighting of worldly things.
Brother Lawrence seems to capture the essence of his humble approach in a letter he wrote to his spiritual adviser, "I think it appropriate to tell you how I perceive myself before God, whom I behold as my King. I consider myself as the most wretched of men. I am full of faults, flaws, and weaknesses, and have committed all sorts of crimes against his King. Touched with a sensible regret I confess all my wickedness to Him. I ask His forgiveness. I abandon myself in His hands that He may do what He pleases with me."
Faith Alone
1. Brother Lawrence wrote: "For the first ten years I suffered much. During this time I fell often, and rose again presently. It seemed to me that all creatures, reason, and God, Himself, were against me and faith alone for me".
Then, as he had done so many times before, he gave up, gave in, turned to God with the thought that if this was the way it was to be, he would love God anyway. This time something shifted. God settled in. Brother Lawrence was filled with the indwelling presence of Our Father.
For the next thirty years, during sickness and health and amid tremendous growth and change in his monastic surroundings, Brother Lawrence lived his life in holy freedom and continual joy. Once firmly established, he remained in the presence of God.
2. A gentle man of joyful spirit, in addition to simple faith, Brother Lawrence had that help which God so often grants to His own - a good sense of humor. We get a hint of it in a letter where he lovingly remarked about a young nun: "she would go faster than grace." Humorous, memorable, and something to which we can all relate!
We each have at one time or another tried to go faster than grace. We try to get ahead of God and His perfect plan for us. We secretly think we know a better, faster, or easier way. Sometimes the results are humorous, sometimes disastrous, sometimes successful. Yet anything we think we do out of our own effort is bound to disappoint sooner or later.
As we come to practice the presence of God, we gain the full realization that nothing we think, say, or do is secret or separate from God. We cannot run. We cannot hide. We can no longer have our own way or have what we want when we want it. Most importantly, we come to understand that God really does know us better than we know ourselves. His way is better and easier. His timing is the perfect pace of grace. Even when it seems that the whole world is against us, if we persevere and continue in our conversation with God, His grace will smooth the way.
3. When Brother Lawrence succeeded in a task, he gave God the credit. When he failed, he identified his faults and said, "I shall never do otherwise if You leave me to myself. It is You who must hinder my falling and mend what is amiss."
In this confessional comment we see Brother Lawrence's faith, dependency, and surrender to God's correction, mercy, and will. We cannot see, let alone correct, our own faults. We simply have too many blind spots.
We have to look to God to show us, guide us, and point the way. We have to ask Him to help us become better listeners. We must be willing to let God refine and polish us to His satisfaction, not ours.
4. "Let us begin in earnest," wrote Brother Lawrence. And this, after nearly forty years of practicing God's presence. Humble and sincere, he was always aware of his unworthiness and, at the same time, hopeful of Our Father's mercy. At nearly eighty years old, Brother Lawrence knew well that we practice God's presence anew each day.
When we set our life goal, as did Brother Lawrence, to be the "best worshipper of God we can possibly be," each day is a fresh opportunity to revive and renew our most important relationship, the relationship with Our Father. This is a relationship that lasts for eternity.
5. Over the years Brother Lawrence developed a sharp instinct for others who were being drawn to God. These were often common people who were not among the monastery residents and visitors. He was sometimes criticized for conversing with other people. But, even in his letters, we see that Brother Lawrence had a natural gift for drawing out and encouraging sincere seekers.
An example appears at the end of his first conversation with Joseph de Beaufort. Brother Lawrence said to him that, if discussing God and the things of God were Joseph de Beaufort's motives for meeting with him, he was welcome back. If not, please visit no more. Strong words from this gentle soul.
Brother Lawrence had a single eye for God. He knew it was not pleasing to God for him to spend time with anyone who did not share this divine motive - even if he was the representative of Bishop de Noailles, whose charge included the very monastery to which Brother Lawrence belonged.
Yet, with these words, Brother Lawrence began a friendship with Joseph de Beaufort that lasted well over twenty five years. Perhaps this is part of the reason why Brother Lawrence was later described as, "rough in appearance but gentle in grace".
True Surrender
1. "We ought to give ourselves up to God with regard both to things temporal and spiritual and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling of His will." ... Brother Lawrence
This is one of Brother Lawrence's plain and simple comments that, when we read it closely, is exceptionally powerful. Where is the impact? It is in the phrase "both to things temporal and spiritual."
Most of us have a general idea of giving up the temporal and material to God. This is, of course, an essential part of establishing ourselves in the practice of God's presence. Yet, the most powerful part of this comment is "the spiritual."
We must let go of our expectations of what practicing God's presence will do for us. There is no room for personal ambition or self-serving attitudes no matter how lofty or good intentioned. We cannot afford to jeopardize our personal relationship with Our Father by discussing details and comparing or putting ourselves in competition with others. We have to place our whole trust in God alone.
At some point in our practice we come to realize that our spiritual preconceptions, ambitions, and attitudes stand between us and Our Father, obstructing the way and blocking His light. Only when we turn our spiritual preconceptions, ambitions, and attitudes over to God and really let Him direct our course do we begin to experience the beautiful journey of His will and plan for us.
2. "I endeavor to accomplish His will in all things. And I am so resigned that I would not take up a straw from the ground against His order or from any motive but that of pure love for Him." ... Brother Lawrence
Brother Lawrence embraced not only the letter of the law but the spirit also. Pure love does that. We become eager to obey in all things. We live in a constant state of "Yes, Lord". The practice of the presence of God changes our whole attitude. Once, in our worldly ways, we lived to see how much we could push the boundaries, get away with, or find loopholes and exceptions.
When pure love, the ardent desire to accomplish God's will in all things, is our motive, we constantly and actively seek ways to comply and conform in both letter and spirit. We loose all selfish need to challenge and ask why. Where once we had questions, now we have faith -a faith that assures us that God has His reasons for all things and His reasons are perfect. We surrender to Our Father's will and way.
With love as our motive we no longer feel a need to understand and, as is the nature and manner of Our Father, that's when He often reveals Himself in striking clarity. Often, just when we are humbly resigned to being a faithful servant, God makes us a partner. Often, when we cease pressing our efforts to understand, Our Father gives the gift of His understanding.
3. "He (Brother Lawrence) said that as far as the miseries and sins he heard of daily in the world, he was so far from wondering at them, that, on the contrary, he was surprised there were not more considering the malice sinners were capable of. For his part, he prayed for them. But knowing that God could remedy the mischief they did when He pleased, he gave himself no further trouble."
Does this seem selfish and un-caring? Many people during both Brother Lawrence's own time and today view this as an extreme attitude. He had few opinions and little interest in the issues and causes of the day. In worldly things he was indifferent.
Many tried to involve him in their interests, projects, and affairs. He gently but firmly refused unless, of course, it was a direction from a superior or an obligation of his office.
When questioned, during classroom studies early in his novitiate and also during later years, Brother Lawrence's answers were always brief, practical, and to the point. He had little regard for mental posturing, long discussion, or debate; all of which detracted from inner prayerful communion with God.
It is no doubt that Brother Lawrence had enemies and detractors. And it is no doubt he was well aware of the cost of practicing the holy habit, even in a religious community. But Brother Lawrence knew his gospel and he lived it.
From youth, he followed the simple instructions of John the Baptist: "He that has two coats, let him give to him that has none. He that has food, let him do likewise."
Brother Lawrence was indifferent to everything else that was temporal and material because he understood all Our Lord's references to the kingdom. Yet Brother Lawrence had an exceptional understanding of others. His compassion is evident when he says, "those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it". He knew that the practice of the presence of God is a gift that can only be given by God Himself. Brother Lawrence never stopped thanking Our Father for the gift.
4. "I will always continue to act purely for the love of God."
... Brother Lawrence
A very important insight we get from learning about Brother Lawrence's example of practicing God's presence is that, through the love of God and our surrender to His will and way, our priorities are arranged for us. If we put God first in everything we think, say, and do, He will order, arrange, and direct our steps. God will do it in His way and His time.
Though we cannot go faster than His grace, His grace is always sufficient at each step. But we must ask for it. Another way of looking at this is that we must keep God in mind in all we do. Brother Lawrence noted that the times things went awry were when he forgot to refer to God first. In time, and with more practice, this happens less and less as we refer to God more and more. At some point it becomes seamless and completely natural to us.
To make God our priority and "to act purely for the love of God" is the essence of the practice of the presence of God. This is why anyone, at any age, and in any circumstance can practice God's presence.
Consider Brother Lawrence's monastic life for a moment. He was a lay brother in a system that put him at the lowest rung on the ladder, even below the many who came to be trained there. The reality, even though Brother Lawrence completely embraced his position, is that lay brothers are generally considered common servants. Days are filled with menial but necessary jobs, chores, and tasks. As in any structured group, monastic or otherwise, those in the lowest positions are treated kindly by some and unkindly by others.
It is important to see this because otherwise, we might be tempted to think that the reason Brother Lawrence was able to live for forty years in God's presence is because he was a monk. Seeing the reality of his day to day life, it might be more accurate to say that Brother Lawrence was able to live for forty years in God's presence despite his being a monk!
The true insight we get from Brother Lawrence's life of practicing God's presence is that our circumstances and our station or place in life have little bearing on our practice. The practice of the presence of God is entirely private and personal. If we put God first in everything we think, say, and do, He will order, arrange, and direct our steps no matter our place or position.
5. "The most excellent method of going to God is that of doing our common business ... purely for the love of God."
... Brother Lawrence
Brother Lawrence introduces another powerful concept: our common business. When we couple this with renouncing all things that are not of God, we have another of Brother Lawrence's simple yet radical concepts. How can we possibly continue our daily common business and discontinue the things that are not of God? We cannot.
Here lies the secret and the power of the practice of the presence of God. When we offer to God, for His good pleasure, everything we think, say, and do; our common daily business; and all our acts and tasks both great and small; we are asking Him to do what we cannot ourselves do. We surrender our personal efforts to God's will and way.
Our Father, in His perfect time and His perfect way, in that time and way that is exactly right for each one of us, will rearrange, sort-out, and refine our common business to His satisfaction.
When Brother Lawrence looked back at the result of his decision to renounce all things that were not of God, he said he was surprised and that God had disappointed him. He expected suffering. He wanted penance. Instead Brother Lawrence got a showering of Our Father's favor and grace.
Esteem For God
1. "The practice produced in me so high an esteem for God that faith alone was enough to assure me."
... Brother Lawrence
Even in the early years of trial, testing, and struggle, Brother Lawrence experienced a great affection for God. He said that his faith had always been based on love and throughout his life that love for God had remained constant.
The practice, the constant exercise of the holy habit of turning our attention to God, develops our faith, the muscle most in need of strengthening. It is a basic principle that, if we turn toward something, we turn away from something else. When we turn to face God, we turn our backs on that which is not God.
The more we become filled with the light of God, the greater His light blots out the darkness. We focus on God. Our love and esteem grows. He fills us with His light. His light flushes out the darkness.
This working of the practice of the presence of God, Brother Lawrence called easy because the exercise requires little effort. In fact, as we develop the holy habit, there is no effort at all, only the pleasure that comes from loving Our Father's delightful presence.
2. One of the most beautiful aspects of Brother Lawrence's way is the quiet confidence that can only come from an unbreakable bond with Our Lord. Brother Lawrence cherished The Gospel. He knew the message of the Son of God so well that he reflected it in everything he did. He understood at the center of his being that the only way to Our Father is through His Son. He understood that when we take up Our Lord's call of "Follow Me" unconditionally and without reservation, unworthy as we are, we are given a share in the inheritance Our Father so greatly wants to give us.
Fifteen centuries passed between the time God's Complete Message was delivered in the Ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ, and the life of quiet Brother Lawrence. Yet in that prior fifteen centuries and during the next five to follow, few have been able to reflect God's Complete Message with such clarity and simplicity.
Brother Lawrence saw but one thing, the First Commandment message of The Gospel. His only desire was to know, love, and serve God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.
3. In God's holy presence Brother Lawrence suggested that we converse "with an act of praise, of adoration, or of desire or with an act of resignation, or thanksgiving, and in all the ways our spirits can invent".
The gift of imagination, which we sometimes call creativity or inventiveness, is a precious gift from Our Father. Like all of our God-given gifts, they are only of value when we return them to Him. Only the gift that is dedicated to its source and creator will grow and thrive.
Imagination, without God at its center, is fantasy. Imagination that is centered in God becomes inspiration, in-spirited. We look for and enjoy doing little things to please God. As we grow in the practice of the presence of God, our ability to vividly imagine His nearness becomes stronger and involves all our senses until we actually feel His indwelling spirit.
This spirit, then, naturally expresses itself in little creative and inventive ways of showing our love and affection for God. We arrive at that point where we, like Brother Lawrence, say, "those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it." Our Father's gift of inspiration is far more than mere words can describe.
Sovereign Physician
1. "If we were well accustomed to the practice of the presence of God, bodily discomforts would be greatly alleviated. God often permits us to suffer a little to purify our souls and oblige us to stay close to Him." ... Brother Lawrence
In this plain statement, Brother Lawrence shares valuable insight into God's purpose for allowing His children to experience pain and suffering. Yes, pain and suffering can purify and refine us. It can strengthen our faith, the muscle that needs constant exercise lest it atrophy.
Most importantly, God allows pain and suffering to "oblige us to stay close to Him." Brother Lawrence points out, "God has many ways of drawing us to Himself." Does it not, then, seem obvious that the way of pain and suffering, even the way of the cross, is a gift?
Yet Brother Lawrence, no starry-eyed dreamer, sees the big picture. He explains, "Worldly people do not comprehend these truths. It is not surprising though, since they suffer like what they are and not like Christians. They see sickness as a pain against nature and not as a favor from God. Seeing it only in that light, they find nothing in it but grief and distress."
"But those who consider sickness as coming from the hand of God, out of His mercy and as the means He uses for their salvation, commonly find sweetness and consolation in it."
Trials, troubles, sickness, injuries, diseases, losses, defeats, failures. In the light of the practice of the presence of God, all of it takes on new meaning. And, what's more, once we move into God's light and share His will and purpose, we are in His safekeeping forever.
2. Brother Lawrence, formerly Nicholas Herman, knew much pain and suffering in his eighty years on earth. He was critically injured as a youth in a war fought on his native soil, the Thirty Years' War. This was a war that, even today, still stands out as one of the most brutal wars in history.
This injury was an outward event that altered the course of young Nicholas' life. He was immediately sent back to his nearby village home to recuperate and return to the field of battle. Yet, even with good medical care and time for healing, he was unable to return to the fighting.
Of the little we know of his early childhood, it is generally thought that he was an only child in a village made up of close family members. We do know, from a few later comments from family members in religious orders that, from an early age, Nicholas was responsible, dependable, and reliable.
Young Nicholas Herman never regained his physical strength and vitality. One of his legs was permanently crippled and he suffered pain and complications that left him vulnerable to infection and fever.
How clearly we see the hand of God, the Sovereign Physician, in the life of Brother Lawrence. It was shortly before the outward event of his battle injury that Brother Lawrence later speaks of his conversion, the inner event. He told Joseph de Beaufort that, at age eighteen, he experienced the majesty of God through nature and was, from then on, loosed from the world.
This was the real beginning of Nicholas' religious life. The next several years were not only years of physical pain but also years of growing distaste for the the ways of the world. This is how God often prepares those He chooses to be in the world but not of it. This is how He prepares those He chooses to live in detachment from the material and selfish ways of worldliness and attachment to the gentle and humble ways of His kingdom of godliness.
Infirmity, losses, disappointments, despair, and helplessness are methods God employs to draw His Own to Him. Then, in His own time and way, God begins to reveal His will for them. Eventually, for Nicholas Herman, God's will and way was a monastery in Paris and a new name, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.
During his first fifteen years at the monastic community, Brother Lawrence ran the refectory. At first it was what most of us envision as the simple job of cook. The monastery was new and there were few mouths to feed.
That changed quickly when growth and expansion set in. The Paris monastery became a training center and the number swelled to upwards of one hundred residents plus guests and visitors. The crippled brother's job lasted round the clock. He rarely got to spend quiet time in the chapel.
After fifteen years his duty was changed to the sandal repair shop where he could spend a little less time on his feet. Yet, knowing the enormous amount of work required in the kitchen, he often went back to help out in any way he could.
Brother Lawrence never complained. In later life he suffered two serious illnesses that required close medical attention. After coming through the second illness, he thanked the doctor and, in Brother Lawrence's gently humorous way, told the doctor he wasn't sure he had done him a favor.
He respected the doctors of his day and knew that God very often worked His healing through them. But, when asked by one of the younger members of his community, how he managed so well, he took the opportunity to spend a few minutes sharing his experience of the practice of the presence of God and the necessity of putting God first. This is also summed up in one of his letters:
"Do not rely completely on another physician because God reserves your cure to Himself. Put all your faith in God. You will soon find the effects in your recovery, which we often delay by putting greater faith in medicine than in God."
"Whatever remedies you use, they will succeed only so far as He permits. When pains come from God, only He can ultimately cure them. He often sends sickness to the body to cure diseases of the soul. Comfort yourself with the Sovereign Physician of both soul and body." ... Brother Lawrence
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"I will always continue to act purely for the love of God. I shall have this good at least that until death I shall have done all that is in me to love Him."
... Brother Lawrence |
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