Brother Lawrence wrote, “How happy we would be if we could only find the treasure of which the gospel speaks; nothing else would matter. Since it is inexhaustible, the more we search, the more riches we find. Let us devote ourselves ceaselessly to looking for it; let us not grow weary until we have found…

Brother Lawrence actually never wrote the book we know as The Practice of the Presence of God. Yet this slender volume has become one of the top ten devotional classics of all time, popular among Catholics and Protestants alike, and acclaimed by many including John Wesley and A.W. Tozer. His spiritual leader, Joseph de Beaufort,…

Brother Lawrence wrote that “we can continue our loving exchange with him [God], remaining in his holy presence sometimes by an act of adoration, praise, or desire, other times by acts of oblation, thanksgiving, or anything else that our minds can devise.” As Brother Lawrence practices the presence of God, he does so with a…

Brother Lawrence wrote, “I know that to [live every day in God’s presence] your heart must be empty of all other things because God desires to possess it exclusively, and he cannot possess it exclusively without first emptying it of everything other than himself; neither can he act within it nor do there what he…

Reflecting on his relationship with God, Brother Lawrence said, “Far from chastising me, this King, full of goodness and mercy, lovingly embraces me, seats me at his table, waits on me himself, gives me the keys to his treasures, and treats me in all things as his favorite; he converses with me and takes delight…

Brother Lawrence said, “I gave up all devotions and prayers that were not required and I devote myself exclusively to remaining always in his holy presence. I keep myself in his presence by simple attentiveness and a general loving awareness of God that I call ‘actual presence of God’ or better, a quiet and secret…

Brother Lawrence said that “God . . . has infinite treasures to give us, yet we are satisfied with a bit of perceptible devotion that passes in an instant. . . . We are blind since we bind God’s hand in this way and halt the abundant flow of his graces; yet when God finds…

Brother Lawrence said, that “we must believe that it is advantageous for us and pleasing to God to sacrifice ourselves to him; that it is normal for his divine providence to abandon us to all sorts of trials, miseries and temptations. Once we recognize this, should we be surprised that we experience suffering, temptation, opposition,…

Brother Lawrence said that “when we undertake the spiritual life we must seriously consider who we are, recognizing that we are worthy of all scorn, unworthy of the name Christian, and subject to all kinds of miseries and a multitude of setbacks. These disturb us and make our health, our moods, our inner dispositions and…

Brother Lawrence said that “everything is possible for one who believes, still more for one who hopes, [even more for one who loves,] and most of all for one who practices and perseveres in these three virtues.” Jesus challenges us: “Everything is possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23). The psalm writer tells us: “Put…