Brother Lawrence offers some insights on how spiritual growth happens: “Actual union is the most perfect. And completely spiritual as it is, its movement is perceptible because the soul is not asleep as in the other unions, but finds itself powerfully stirred. Its operation is more intense than fire, more luminous than the sun in…

The pattern for spiritual growth Brother Lawrence presents can be illustrated by a rock being dropped into a pond and sending out ever-widening circles. “There are three kinds of union: the first is habitual, the second virtual, and the third actual. Habitual union is when we are united to God solely by grace. Virtual union…

Brother Lawrence said simply that God “wants to make us like himself, if we so desire.” I’m captured by this phrase “if we so desire”. I find the question “what do you want?” one of the most difficult questions to answer consistently. I have to reflect, pray, listen. We have a choice. But wishing and…

Brother Lawrence picks up on the words of Jesus: “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). “I say that adoring God in spirit and in truth means adoring God as we are suppose to adore him. God is spirit and we must adore him in spirit…

Another maxim from Brother Lawrence: “We must carefully examine which virtues are the most essential, which are the most difficult to acquire, which sins we commit most often, and which are the most frequent and inevitable of our falls. We must have recourse to God with complete confidence at the moment of combat, remain firm…

Brother Lawrence reflected on prayer and work: “I do not mean that by this that you must withdraw forever from your duties, for that would be impossible; prudence, the mother of all virtues, must be your guide. I do say, nonetheless, that it is a typical error among the spiritually minded not to withdraw from…

Another spiritual maxim from Brother Lawrence: “During our work and other activities . . . we must stop for a moment, as often as possible, to adore God in the depths of our hearts, to savor him, even though in passing and stealthily. Since you are aware that God is present to you during your…

Here’s a spiritual maxim found among Brother Lawrence’s few possessions after he died. “We must continually apply ourselves so that all our actions, without exception, become a kind of brief conversation with God, not in a contrived manner but coming from the purity and simplicity of our hearts.” “We must perform all our actions carefully…

Six days before Brother Lawrence died, he wrote in a letter: “Let us devote ourselves entirely to knowing God. The more we know him, the more we want to know him. Since love is generally measured by knowledge, the deeper and more extensive the knowledge, the greater will be the love. And if our love…

Brother Lawrence wrote to a Christian woman who was sick: “God indeed knows what we need, and everything he does is for our good. If we knew how much he loves us, we would readily accept the bitter with the sweet, and even the most painful and most difficult things would be pleasant and agreeable….