Brother Lawrence said that “it is a pity to see how many people are attached to certain works that they perform rather imperfectly and for human respect, always mistaking the means for the end.” Subtly we can do a lot of Christian activity that really serves ourselves rather than God. Our worship experience can become…

Brother Lawrence said that “our sanctification depends not on changing our works, but on doing for God what we would normally do for ourselves.” We sometimes get the notion, “If only I were in a different place, in a different relationship, in a different job, in a different setting, then I would be more spiritual,…

Brother Lawrence said that “we must ask him for his grace with full confidence, paying no attention to our thoughts, relying on the infinite merits of Our Lord. God, at every opportunity, always bestows his grace.” Once I complied a list of definitions of all the various ways “grace” was understood. Bottom line: I need…

Brother Lawrence discusses the simplicity of asking God for what we need. “We need only to recognize him present within us, to speak with him at every moment, and to ask for his help, so that we will know his will in perplexing events, and will be able to carry out those things we clearly…

Brother Lawrence poses a simple precept for developing an on-going conversation with God. “What matters is renouncing once and for all everything that we recognize does not lead to God, in order to become accustomed to a continual conversation with him, without mystery or finesse.” I find it helpful to picture the Christian journey as…

Brother Lawrence said that “we settle for penances and private devotions, leaving aside love, our end. Our works prove this, and that is why we see so little solid virtue. Neither finesse nor learning is required to approach God, only a heart resolved to devote itself exclusively to him, and to love him alone.” How…

Brother Lawrence said that “in the beginning we must faithfully act and renounce ourselves; and after that come only unspeakable delights. In times of difficulty we have no recourse but to Jesus Christ, to ask him for his grace that makes everything easy.” At the start of our Christian journey, after making a total surrender…

Brother Lawrence said that whenever he tried to “communicate with anyone concerning the state of his soul, he came out of it feeling more perplexed.” Yet whenever he would die to himself and “lose himself for the love of God, he feared nothing.” As he said, “Total surrender to God is the sure way, along…

Brother Lawrence said that “he expected great physical or mental suffering to occur, and that his greatest trial would be to lose the perceptible awareness of God he had experienced for so long. But God’s goodness assured him he would never abandon him, and would give him the strength to endure whatever evil he would…

Brother Lawrence said that “he was more closely united with God during his ordinary activities than when he put them aside to do his retreat exercises, which generally left him in great aridity.” Brother Lawrence so lived in God’s presence all the time that participating in some expected Christian practices didn’t make any real difference…