The
Practice of the Presence of God - Brother Lawrence's Conversations and Letters
Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite lay brother, was born
Nicholas Herman around 1610 in Herimenil ,
Lorraine
Experiencing the "trouble of mind" that
often comes at mid-life, he entered a newly established monastery in Paris
where he became a cook and then sandal maker for the community which grew to
over one hundred members.
In times as troubled as today, Brother Lawrence,
discovered, then followed, a pure and uncomplicated way to walk continually in
God's presence. For some forty years, he lived and walked with Our Father at
his side. Yet, through his own words, we learn that Brother Lawrence's first
ten years were full of severe trials and challenges.
A gentle man of joyful spirit, Brother Lawrence
shunned attention and the limelight, knowing that outside distraction
"spoils all." It was not until after his death that a few of his
letters were collected. Joseph de Beaufort, representative and counsel to the
local archbishop, first published the letters in a small pamphlet. The
following year, in a second publication which he titled, 'The Practice of the
Presence of God', de Beaufort included, as introductory material, the content
of four conversations he had with Brother Lawrence.
In this small book, through letters and conversations,
Brother Lawrence simply and beautifully explains how to continually walk with
God -not from the head but from the heart. Brother Lawrence left the gift of a
way of life available to anyone who seeks to know God's peace and presence;
that anyone, regardless of age or circumstance, can practice -anywhere,
anytime. Brother Lawrence also left the gift of a direct approach to living in
God's presence that is as practical today as it was three hundred years ago.
Brother Lawrence died in 1691, having practiced God's
presence for over forty years. His quiet death was much like his monastic life
where each day and each hour was a new beginning and a fresh commitment to love
God with all his heart Conversations.
Brother
Lawrence's Conversations
At the time of de Beaufort's interviews, Brother
Lawrence was in his late fifties. Joseph de Beaufort later commented that the
crippled brother, who was then in charge of the upkeep of over one hundred
pairs of sandals, was "rough in appearance but gentle in grace".
First
Conversation:
The first time I saw Brother Lawrence was upon the 3rd
of August, 1666. He told me that God had done him a singular favor in his
conversion at the age of eighteen. During that winter, upon 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, Brother Lawrence
received a high view of the Providence and Power of God which has never since
been effaced from his soul. 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 the forty years that he had lived since.
Brother Lawrence said he had been footman to M.
Fieubert, the treasurer, and that he was a great awkward fellow who broke
everything. He finally decided to enter 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 his life with its pleasures to God. But Brother Lawrence
said that God had disappointed him because he met with nothing but satisfaction
in that state.
Brother Lawrence related that we should establish
ourselves in a sense of God's Presence by continually conversing with Him. It
was a shameful thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and
fooleries. We should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of God which
would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.
He said we ought to quicken and enliven our faith. It
was lamentable we had so little. Instead of taking faith for the rule of their
conduct, men amused themselves with trivial devotions which changed daily. He
said that faith was sufficient to bring us to a high degree of perfection. 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. Whether
God led us by suffering or by consolation all would be equal to a soul truly
resigned.
He said we need fidelity in those drynesses, or
insensibilities and irksomenesses in prayer by which God tries our love to Him;
that then was the time for us to make good and effectual acts of resignation,
whereof one alone would oftentimes very much promote our spiritual advancement.
He 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.
Brother Lawrence said to arrive at such resignation as
God requires, we should watch attentively over all the passions which mingle in
spiritual things as well as those of a grosser nature. God would give light
concerning those passions to those who truly desire to serve Him.
At the end of this first conversation Brother Lawrence
said that if my purpose for the visit was to sincerely discuss how to serve
God, I might come to him as often as I pleased and without any fear of being
troublesome. If this was not the case, then I ought to visit him no more.
Second
Conversation:
Brother Lawrence told me he had always been governed
by love, without selfish views. Since he resolved to make the love of God the
end of all his actions, he had found reasons to be well satisfied with his
method. He was pleased when he could take up a straw from the ground for the
love of God, seeking Him only, and nothing else, not even His gifts.
He said he had been long troubled in mind from a
certain belief that he should be damned. All the men in the world could not
have persuaded him to the contrary. This trouble of mind had lasted four years
during which time he had suffered much.
Finally he reasoned: I did not engage in a religious
life but for the love of God. I have endeavored to act only for Him. Whatever
becomes of me, whether I be lost or saved, I will always continue to act purely
for the love of God. I shall have this good at least that till death I shall
have done all that is in me to love Him. From that time on Brother Lawrence
lived his life in perfect liberty and continual joy. He placed his sins between
himself and God to tell Him that he did not deserve His favors yet God still
continued to bestow them in abundance.
Brother Lawrence said that in order to form a habit of
conversing with God continually and referring all we do to Him, we must at
first apply to Him with some diligence. Then, after a little care, we should
find His love inwardly excite us to it without any difficulty.
He expected after the pleasant days God had given him,
he should have his turn of pain and suffering. Yet he was not uneasy about it.
Knowing that since he could do nothing of himself, God would not fail to give
him the strength to bear them.
When an occasion of practicing some virtue was
offered, he addressed himself to God saying, "Lord, I cannot do this
unless Thou enablest me". And then he received strength more than
sufficient. When he had failed in his duty, he only confessed his fault saying
to God, "I shall never do otherwise, if You leave me to myself. It is You
who must hinder my falling and mend what is amiss." Then, after this, he
gave himself no further uneasiness about it, Brother Lawrence said we ought to
act with God in the greatest simplicity, speaking to Him frankly and plainly,
and imploring His assistance in our affairs just as they happen. God never
failed to grant it, as Brother Lawrence had often experienced.
He said he had been lately sent into Burgundy Auvergne
So, likewise, in his business in the kitchen (to which
he had naturally a great aversion), having accustomed himself to do everything
there for the love of God and asking for His grace to do his work well, he had
found everything easy during the fifteen years that he had been employed there.
He was very well pleased with the post he was now in. Yet he was as ready to
quit that as the former, since he was always pleasing God in every condition,
by doing little things for His love. With him the set times of prayer were not
different from other times. He retired to pray according to the directions of
his superior, but he did not want such retirement nor ask for it because his
greatest business did not divert him from God.
Since he knew his obligation to love God in all
things, and as he endeavored so to do, he had no need of a director to advise
him, but he greatly needed a confessor to absolve him. He said he was very
sensible of his faults but not discouraged by them. He confessed them to God
and made no excuses. When he had so done, he peaceably resumed his usual
practice of love and adoration. In his trouble of mind, Brother Lawrence had
consulted nobody. Knowing only by the light of faith that God was present, he
contented himself with directing all his actions to Him. He did everything with
a desire to please Him and let what would come of it.
He said that useless thoughts spoil all -that the
mischief began there. We ought to reject them as soon as we perceived their
impertinence and return to our communion with God. In the beginning he had
often passed his time appointed for prayer in rejecting wandering thoughts and
falling right back into them. He could never regulate his devotion by certain
methods as some do. Nevertheless, at first he had meditated for some time, but
afterwards that went off in a manner that he could give no account of. Brother
Lawrence emphasized that all bodily mortifications and other exercises are
useless unless they serve to arrive at the union with God by love. He had well
considered this. He found that the shortest way to go straight to God was by a
continual exercise of love and doing all things for His sake.
He noted that there was a great difference between the
acts of the intellect and those of the will. Acts of the intellect were
comparatively of little value. Acts of the will were all important. Our only
business was to love and delight ourselves in God. All possible kinds of
mortification, if they were void of the love of God, could not efface a single
sin. Instead, we ought, without anxiety, to expect the pardon of our sins from
the blood of Jesus Christ only endeavoring to love Him with all our hearts. And
he noted that God seemed to have granted the greatest favors to the greatest
sinners as more signal monuments of His mercy.
Brother Lawrence said the greatest pains or pleasures
of this world were not to be compared with what he had experienced of both
kinds in a spiritual state. As a result he feared nothing, desiring only one
thing of God - that he might not offend Him. He said he carried no guilt.
"When I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, I am used to do
so. I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself. If I fail not, then I
give God thanks acknowledging that it comes from Him."
Third
Conversation:
Brother Lawrence told me that the foundation of the
spiritual life in him had been a high notion and esteem of God in faith. When
he had once well established his faith he had no other care but to reject every
other thought so he might perform all his actions for the love of God. He said
when sometimes he had not thought of God for a good while he did not disquiet
himself for it. Having acknowledged his wretchedness to God, he simply returned
to Him with so much the greater trust in Him.
He said the trust we put in God honors Him much and
draws down great graces. Also, that it was impossible not only that God should
deceive but that He should long let a soul suffer which is perfectly resigned
to Him and resolved to endure everything for His sake.
Brother Lawrence often experienced the ready succors
of Divine Grace. And because of his experience of grace, when he had business
to do, he did not think of it beforehand. When it was time to do it, he found
in God, as in a clear mirror, all that was fit for him to do. When outward
business diverted him a little from the thought of God a fresh remembrance
coming from God invested his soul and so inflamed and transported him that it
was difficult for him to contain himself. He said he was more united to God in
his outward employments than when he left them for devotion in retirement.
Brother Lawrence said that the worst that could happen
to him was to lose that sense of God which he had enjoyed so long. Yet the
goodness of God assured him He would not forsake him utterly and that He would
give him strength to bear whatever evil He permitted to happen to him. Brother
Lawrence, therefore, said he feared nothing. He had no occasion to consult with
anybody about his state. In the past, when he had attempted to do it, he had
always come away more perplexed. Since Brother Lawrence was ready to lay down
his life for the love of God, he had no apprehension of danger.
He said that perfect resignation to God was a sure way
to heaven, a way in which we have always sufficient light for our conduct. In
the beginning of the spiritual life we ought to be faithful in doing our duty
and denying ourselves and then, after a time, unspeakable pleasures followed.
In difficulties we need only have recourse to Jesus Christ and beg His grace
with which everything became easy.
Brother Lawrence said that many do not advance in the
Christian progress because they stick in penances and particular exercises
while they neglect the love of God which is the end. This appeared plainly by
their works and was the reason why we see so little solid virtue. He said there
needed neither art nor science for going to God, but only a heart resolutely
determined to apply itself to nothing but Him and to love Him only.
Fourth
Conversation:
Brother Lawrence spoke with great openness of heart
concerning his manner of going to God whereof some part is related already. He
told me that all consists in one hearty renunciation of everything which we are
sensible does not lead to God. We might accustom ourselves to a continual
conversation with Him with freedom and in simplicity. We need only to recognize
God intimately present with us and address ourselves to Him every moment. We
need to 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 completed them.
In our conversation with God we should also engage in
praising, adoring, and loving him incessantly for His infinite goodness and
perfection. Without being discouraged on account of our sins, we should pray
for His grace with a perfect confidence, as relying upon the infinite merits of
our Lord. Brother Lawrence said that God never failed offering us His grace at
each action. It never failed except when Brother Lawrence's thoughts had
wandered from a sense of God's Presence, or he forgot to ask His assistance. He
said that God always gave us light in our doubts, when we had no other design
but to please Him.
Our sanctification did not depend upon changing our
works. Instead, it depended on doing that for God's sake which we commonly do
for our own. He thought it was lamentable to see how many people mistook the
means for the end, addicting themselves to certain works which they performed
very imperfectly by reason of their human or selfish regards. The most
excellent method he had found for going to God was that of doing our common
business without any view of pleasing men but purely for the love of God.
Brother Lawrence felt it was a great delusion to think
that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times. We are as strictly
obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of action, as by prayer in its
season. His own prayer was nothing else but a sense of the presence of God, his
soul being at that time insensible to everything but Divine Love. 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. Thus he
passed his life in continual joy. Yet he hoped that God would give him somewhat
to suffer when he grew stronger.
Brother Lawrence said we ought, once for all, heartily
to put our whole trust in God, and make a total surrender of ourselves to Him,
secure that He would not deceive us. We ought not 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. We should not wonder if, in the beginning, we often
failed in our endeavors, but that at last we should gain a habit which will
naturally produce its acts in us without our care and to our exceeding great
delight.
The whole substance of religion was faith, hope, and
charity. In the practice of these we become united to the will of God.
Everything else is indifferent and to be used as a means that we may arrive at
our end and then be swallowed up by faith and charity. All things are possible
to him who believes. 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. The end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become,
in this life, the most perfect worshippers of God we can possibly be, and as we
hope to be through all eternity.
Brother Lawrence said when we enter upon the spiritual
we should consider and examine to the bottom what we are. We, then, would find
ourselves worthy of all contempt and subject to all kinds of misery, and
numberless accidents, which trouble us and cause perpetual vicissitudes in our
health, in our humors, in our internal and external dispositions. Alas, we are
persons whom God would humble by many pains and labors as well within as
without.
After this, we should not wonder that troubles,
temptations, oppositions, and contradictions happen to us from men. We ought,
on the contrary, to submit ourselves to them and bear them as long as God
pleases as things highly advantageous to us. The greater perfection a soul
aspires after, the more dependent it is upon Divine Grace.
Being questioned by one of his own community (to whom
he was obliged to open himself) by what means he had attained such an habitual
sense of God, Brother Lawrence told him that, since his first coming to the
monastery, he had considered God as the end of all his thoughts and desires, as
the mark to which they should tend, and in which they should terminate.
He noted that in the beginning of his novitiate he
spent the hours appointed for private prayer in thinking of God so as to
convince his mind and impress deeply upon his heart the Divine existence. He
did this by devout sentiments and submission to the lights of faith, rather
than by studied reasonings and elaborate meditations. By this short and sure
method he exercised himself in the knowledge and love of God, resolving to use
his utmost endeavor to live in a continual sense of His Presence, and, if
possible, never to forget Him more.
When he had thus, in prayer, filled his mind with
great sentiments of that Infinite Being, he went to his work appointed in the
kitchen (for he was then cook for the community). There having first considered
severally the things his office required, and when and how each thing was to be
done, he spent all the intervals of his time, both before and after his work,
in prayer.
When he began his business, he said to God with a
filial trust in Him, "O my God, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in
obedience to Thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech
Thee to grant me the grace to continue in Thy Presence; and to this end do Thou
prosper me with Thy assistance. Receive all my works, and possess all my
affections." As he proceeded in his work, he continued his familiar
conversation with his Maker, imploring His grace, and offering to Him all his
actions.
When he had finished, he examined himself how he had
discharged his duty. If he found well, he returned thanks to God. If otherwise,
he asked pardon and, without being discouraged, he set his mind right again. He
then continued his exercise of the presence of God as if he had never deviated
from it. "Thus," said he, "by rising after my falls, and by
frequently renewed acts of faith and love, I am come to a state wherein it
would be as difficult for me not to think of God as it was at first to accustom
myself to it."
As Brother Lawrence had found such an advantage in
walking in the presence of God, it was natural for him to recommend it
earnestly to others. More strikingly, his example was a stronger inducement
than any arguments he could propose. His very countenance was edifying with such
a sweet and calm devotion appearing that he could not but affect the beholders.
It was observed, that in the greatest hurry of
business in the kitchen, he still preserved his recollection and
heavenly-mindedness. He was never hasty nor loitering, but did each thing in
its season with an even uninterrupted composure and tranquillity of spirit.
"The time of business," said he, "does not with me differ from
the time of prayer. In the noise and clutter 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's Letters.
Brother Lawrence's letters are the very heart and soul
of what has become titled 'The Practice of the Presence of God'. All of these
letters were written during the last ten years of his life. Many of them were
to long-time friends, a Carmelite sister and a sister at a nearby convent, one
or both who were from his native village, perhaps relatives. It is likely that
the first letter was to the prioress of one of these convents. Note that the
fourth letter is written in the third person, Brother Lawrence describing his
own experience.
First
Letter:
Since you desire so earnestly that I should
communicate to you the method by which I arrived at that habitual sense of
God's presence, which our Lord, of His mercy, has been pleased to vouchsafe to
me; I must tell you, that it is with great difficulty that I am prevailed on by
your importunities. I do it only upon the terms that you show my letter to
nobody. If I knew that you would let it be seen, all the desire that I have for
your advancement would not be able to determine me to it.
The account I can give you is: Having found in many
books different methods of going to God, and divers practices of the spiritual
life, I thought this would serve rather to puzzle me, than facilitate what I
sought after, which was nothing but how to become wholly God's. This made me
resolve to give the all for the All. After having given myself wholly to God,
to make all the satisfaction I could for my sins, I renounced, for the love of
Him, everything that was not He, and I began to live as if there was none but
He and I in the world.
Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor
criminal at the feet of his judge. At other times I beheld Himin my heart as my
Father, as my God. I worshipped Him the oftenest that I could, keeping my mind
in His holy Presence, and recalling it as often as I found it wandered from
Him. I found no small pain in this exercise, and yet I continued it,
notwithstanding all the difficulties that occurred, without troubling or
disquieting myself when my mind had wandered involuntarily.
I made this my business, as much all the day long as
at the appointed times of prayer. At all times, every hour, every minute, even
in the height of my business, I drove away from my mind everything that was
capable of interrupting my thought of God. Such has been my common practice
ever since I entered into religion. Though I have done it very imperfectly, I
have found great advantages by it. These, I well know, are to be imputed to the
mere mercy and goodness of God, because we can do nothing without Him; and I
still less than any.
When we are faithful to keep ourselves in His holy
Presence, and set Him always before us, this hinders our offending Him, and
doing anything that may displease Him. It also begets in us a holy freedom, and
if I may so speak, a familiarity with God, where, when we ask, He supplies the
graces we need. In fine, by often repeating these acts, they become habitual,
and the presence of God is rendered as it were natural to us.
Give Him thanks, if you please, with me, for His great
goodness towards me, which I can never sufficiently admire, for the many favors
He has done to so miserable a sinner as I am.
May all things praise Him. Amen.
Second
Letter:
Not finding my manner of life in books, although I
have no difficulty about it, yet, for greater security, I shall be glad to know
your thoughts concerning it. In a conversation some days since with a person of
piety, he told me the spiritual life was a life of grace, which begins with
servile fear, which is increased by hope of eternal life, and which is
consummated by pure love; that each of these states had its different stages,
by which one arrives at last at that blessed consummation.
I have not followed all these methods. On the
contrary, from I know not what instincts, I found they discouraged me. This was
the reason why, at my entrance into religion, I took a resolution to give
myself up to God, as the best satisfaction I could make for my sins and, for
the love of Him, to renounce all besides. For the first years, I commonly
employed myself during the time set apart for devotion, with the thoughts of
death, judgment, hell, heaven, and my sins. Thus I continued some years
applying my mind carefully the rest of the day, and even in the midst of my
business, to the presence of God, whom I considered always as with me, often as
in me.
At length I came insensibly to do the same thing
during my set time of prayer, which caused in me great delight and consolation.
This practice produced in me so high an esteem for God, that faith alone was
capable to satisfy me in that point. Such was my beginning. Yet I must tell you
that for the first ten years I suffered much. The apprehension that I was not
devoted to God as I wished to be, my past sins always present to my mind, and
the great unmerited favors which God did me, were the matter and source of my
sufferings.
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. I was troubled sometimes with thoughts, that
to believe I had received such favors was an effect of my presumption, which
pretended to be at once where others arrive with difficulty. At other times
that it was a willful delusion, and that there was no salvation for me.
When I thought of nothing but to end my days in these
troubles (which did not at all diminish the trust I had in God, and which
served only to increase my faith), I found myself changed all at once; and my
soul, which till that time was in trouble, felt a profound inward peace, as if
she were in her center and place of rest. Ever since that time I walk before
God simply, in faith, with humility and with love; and I apply myself
diligently to do nothing and think nothing which may displease Him. I hope that
when I have done what I can, He will do with me what He pleases.
As for what passes in me at present, I cannot express
it. I have no pain or difficulty about my state, because I have no will but
that of God, which I endeavor to accomplish in all things, and to which I am so
resigned, that I would not take up a straw from the ground against His order,
or from any other motive but purely that of love for Him.
I have quitted all forms of devotion and set prayers
but those to which my state obliges me. I make it my business only to persevere
in His holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention and a general
fond regard to God, which I may call an actual presence of God; or, to speak
better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God,
which often causes in me joys so great that I am forced to use means to
moderate them and prevent their appearance to others. In short, I am assured
beyond all doubt that my soul has been with God above these thirty years. I
pass over many things, that I may not be tedious to you, yet I think it proper
to inform you after what manner I consider myself before God, whom I behold as
my King.
I consider myself as the
most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all
sorts of crimes against his King. Touched with a sensible regret I confess to
Him all my wickedness. I ask His forgiveness. I abandon myself in His hands
that He may do what He pleases with me. This 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 and 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.
My most usual method is this simple attention, and
such a general passionate regard to God to whom I find myself often attached
with greater sweetness and delight than that of an infant at the mother's
breast. If I dare use the expression, I should choose to call this state the
bosom of God, for the inexpressible sweetness which I taste and experience
there. If sometimes my thoughts wander from it by necessity or infirmity, I am
presently recalled by inward emotions so charming and delicious that I cannot
even describe them.
I desire your reverence to reflect rather upon my
great wretchedness, of which you are fully informed, than upon the great favors
which God does me, all unworthy and ungrateful as I am. As for my set hours of
prayer, they are only a continuation of the same exercise. Sometimes I consider
myself there, as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue.
Presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to make His perfect image in my
soul, and render me entirely like Himself. At other times, when I apply myself
to prayer, I feel all my spirit and all my soul lift itself up without any care
or effort of mine. It continues as if my spirit were suspended and firmly fixed
in God as in its center and place of rest.
I know that some charge this state with inactivity,
delusion, and self-love. I confess that it is a holy inactivity, and would be a
happy self-love, if the soul in that state were capable of it; because in
effect, while she is in this repose, she cannot be disturbed by such acts as
she was formerly accustomed to, and which were then her support, but would now
rather hinder than assist her.
Yet I cannot bear that this should be called delusion;
because the soul which thus enjoys God desires herein nothing but Him. If this
be delusion in me, it belongs to God to remedy it. Let Him do what He pleases
with me. I desire only Him and to be wholly devoted to Him.
You will, however, oblige me in sending me your
opinion, to which I always pay a great deference, for I have a singular esteem
for your reverence, and am yours.
Third
Letter:
We have a God who is infinitely gracious and knows all
our wants. I always thought that He would reduce you to extremity. He will come
in His own time, and when you least expect it. Hope in Him more than ever. Thank
Him with me for the favors He does you, particularly for the fortitude and
patience which He gives you in your afflictions. It is a plain mark of the care
He takes of you. Comfort yourself with Him, and give thanks for all.
I admire also the fortitude and bravery of M--. God
has given him a good disposition, and a good will; but there is in him still a
little of the world and a great deal of youth. I hope the affliction which God
has sent him will prove a wholesome remedy to him and make him enter into himself.
It is an accident very proper to engage him to put all his trust in Him who
accompanies him everywhere. Let him think of Him the oftenest he can,
especially in the greatest dangers.
A little lifting up the heart suffices. A little
remembrance of God, one act of inward worship, though upon a march, and sword
in hand, are prayers which, however short, are nevertheless very acceptable to
God. And far from lessening a soldier's courage in occasions of danger, they
best serve to fortify it. Let him then think of God the most he can. Let him
accustom himself, by degrees, to this small but holy exercise. Nobody perceives
it, and nothing is easier than to repeat often in the day these little internal
adorations. Recommend to him, if you please, that he think of God the most he
can, in the manner here directed. It is very fit and most necessary for a
soldier, who is daily exposed to dangers of life, and often of his very
salvation.
I hope that God will assist him and all the family, to
whom I present my service, being theirs and yours.
Fourth
Letter:
I have taken this opportunity to communicate to you
the sentiments of one of our society concerning the admirable effects and
continual assistances which he receives from the presence of God. Let you and
me both profit by them.
For the past forty years his continual care has been
to be always with God; and to do nothing, say nothing, and think nothing which
may displease Him. All this without any other view than purely for the love of
Him and because He deserves infinitely more.
He is now so accustomed to that Divine presence that
he receives from it continual succors upon all occasions. For about thirty
years, his soul has been filled with joys so continual, and sometimes so great,
that he is forced to use means to moderate them and hinder their appearing
outwardly.
If sometimes he is a little too much absent from that
Divine presence, God presently recalls Himself by a stirring in his soul. This
often happens when he is most engaged in his outward business. He answers with
exact fidelity to these inward drawings, either by an elevation of his heart
towards God, or by a meek and fond regard to Him, or by such words as love
forms upon these occasions. For instance, he may say "My God, here I am
all devoted to You. Lord, make me according to Your heart." It seems to
him (as in effect he feels it) that this God of love, satisfied with such few
words, reposes again, and rests in the depth and center of his soul. The
experience of these things gives him such an assurance that God is always in
the depth or bottom of his soul that it renders him incapable of doubting it on
any account whatever.
Judge by this what content and satisfaction he enjoys.
While he continually finds in himself so great a treasure he is no longer in an
anxious search after it. He now has it open before him and may take what he
pleases of it. He complains much of our blindness; and cries often that we are
to be pitied who content ourselves with so little. God, says he, has infinite
treasure to bestow, and we take up with a little sensible devotion which passes
in a moment. Blind as we are, we hinder God, and stop the current of His
graces. But when He finds a soul penetrated with a lively faith, He pours into
it His graces and favors plentifully. There they flow like a torrent, which,
after being forcibly stopped against its ordinary course, when it has found a
passage, spreads itself with impetuosity and abundance. Yet we often stop this
torrent by the little value we set upon it. Let us stop it no more. Let us
enter into ourselves and break down the bank which hinders it. Let us make way
for grace. Let us redeem the lost time, for perhaps we have but little left.
Death follows us close. Let us be well prepared for it, for we die but once,
and a mistake there is irretrievable.
I say again, let us enter into ourselves. The time
presses. There is no room for delay. Our souls are at stake. I believe you have
taken such effectual measures that you will not be surprised. I commend you for
it. It is the one thing necessary. We must, nevertheless, always work at it,
because not to advance, in the spiritual life, is to go back. But those who
have the gale of the Holy Spirit go forward even in sleep. If the vessel of our
soul is still tossed with winds and storms, let us awake the Lord, who reposes
in it, and He will quickly calm the sea.
I have taken the liberty to impart to you these good
sentiments that you may compare them with your own. They will serve again to
kindle and inflame them, if by misfortune (which God forbid, for it would be
indeed a great misfortune) they should be, though never so little, cooled. Let
us then both recall our first favors. Let us profit by the example and the
sentiments of this brother, who is little known of the world, but known of God,
and extremely caressed by Him.
I will pray for you. Please pray also for me, as I am
yours in our Lord.
Fifth
Letter:
I received this day two books and a letter from Sister
M--, who is preparing to make her profession. She desires the prayers of your
holy society, and yours in particular. I perceive that she reckons much upon
them. Pray do not disappoint her. Beg of God that she may make her sacrifice in
the view of His love alone, and with a firm resolution to be wholly devoted to
Him. I will send you one of those books which treat of the presence of God; a
subject which, in my opinion, contains the whole spiritual life. It seems to me
that whoever duly practices it will soon become spiritual.
I know that for the right practice of it, the heart
must be empty of all other things; because God will possess the heart alone. As
He cannot possess it alone, without emptying it of all besides, so neither can
He act there and do in it what He pleases unless it be left vacant to Him.
There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of
a continual conversation with God. Only those can comprehend it who practice
and experience it. Yet I do not advise you to do it from that motive. It is not
pleasure which we ought to seek in this exercise. Let us do it from a principle
of love, and because God would have us.
Were I a preacher, I should above all other things
preach the practice of the presence of God. Were I a director, I should advise
all the world to do it, so necessary do I think it, and so easy too. Ah! knew
we but the want we have of the grace and assistance of God, we would never lose
sight of Him, no, not for a moment.
Believe me, make immediately a holy and firm
resolution never more willfully to forget Him. Resolve to spend the rest of
your days in His sacred presence, deprived of all consolations, for the love of
Him if He thinks fit. Set heartily about this work, and if you do it sincerely,
be assured that you will soon find the effects of it.
I will assist you with my prayers, poor as they are. I
recommend myself earnestly to you and those of your holy society.
Sixth
Letter:
I have received from M-- the things which you gave her
for me. I wonder that you have not given me your thoughts on the little book I
sent to you and which you must have received. Pray set heartily about the
practice of it in your old age. It is better late than never.
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 and center of my soul as much as I can. While I
am with Him I fear nothing; but the least turning from Him is insupportable.
This exercise does not much fatigue the body. It is, however, proper to deprive
it sometimes, nay often, of many little pleasures which are innocent and
lawful. God will not permit a soul that desires to be devoted entirely to Him
to take pleasures other than with Him. That is more than reasonable.
I do not say we must put any violent constraint upon
ourselves. No, we must serve God in a holy freedom. We must do our business
faithfully without trouble or disquiet, recalling our mind to God mildly and
with tranquillity as often as we find it wandering from Him. It is, however,
necessary to put our whole trust in God. We must lay aside all other cares and
even some forms of devotion, though very good in themselves, yet such as one
often engages in unreasonably. Those devotions are only means to attain to the
end. When by this exercise of the practice of the presence of God we are with
Him who is our end, it is useless to return to the means. We may simply
continue with Him in our commerce of love, persevering in His holy presence by
an act of praise, of adoration, or of desire or by an act of resignation, or
thanksgiving, and in all manner which our spirit can invent.
Be not discouraged by the repugnance which you may
find in it from nature. You must sacrifice yourself. At first, one often thinks
it lost time. But you must go on and resolve to persevere in it to death,
notwithstanding all the difficulties that may occur.
I recommend myself to the prayers of your holy
society, and yours in particular. I am yours in our Lord.
Seventh
Letter:
I pity you much. It will be of great importance if you
can leave the care of your affairs to M-- and spend the remainder of your life
only in worshipping God. He requires no great matters of us; a little
remembrance of Him from time to time, a little adoration: sometimes to pray for
His grace. Sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, and sometimes to return Him
thanks for the favors He has given you, and still gives you, in the midst of
your troubles. Console yourself with Him the oftenest you can. Lift up your
heart to Him at your meals and when you are in company. The least little
remembrance will always be acceptable to Him. You need not cry very loud. He is
nearer to us than we are aware.
It is not necessary for being with God to be always at
church. We may make an oratory of our heart wherein we retire from time to
time, to converse with Him in meekness, humility, and love. Every one is
capable of such familiar conversation with God, some more, some less. He knows
what we can do. Let us begin then. Perhaps He expects but one generous resolution
on our part. Have courage.
We have but little time to live. You are near
sixty-four, and I am almost eighty. Let us live and die with God. Sufferings
will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him. The greatest pleasures
will be, without Him, a cruel punishment to us. May He be blessed for all.
Amen.
Use yourself then by degrees thus to worship Him, to
beg His grace, to offer Him your heart from time to time, in the midst of your
business, even every moment if you can. Do not always scrupulously confine
yourself to certain rules or particular forms of devotion; but act with a
general confidence in God with love and humility.
You may assure M-- of my poor prayers, and that I am
their servant, and yours particularly.
Eighth
Letter:
You tell me nothing new. You are not the only one that
is troubled with wandering thoughts. Our mind is extremely roving. But as the
will is mistress of all our faculties, she must recall them and carry them to
God as their last end. When the mind, for want of being sufficiently reduced by
recollection, at our first engaging in devotion, has contracted certain bad
habits of wandering and dissipation, they are difficult to overcome. Our mind
can draw us, even against our wills, to the things of the earth. I believe one
remedy for this is to confess our faults and to humble ourselves before God.
I do not advise you to use multiplicity of words in
prayer. Many words and long discourses are often the occasions of wandering.
Hold yourself in prayer before God, like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich
man's gate. Let it be your business to keep your mind in the presence of the
Lord. If your mind sometimes wanders, and withdraws itself from Him, do not
much disquiet yourself for that. Trouble and disquiet serve rather to distract
the mind than to re-collect it. The will must bring it back in tranquillity. If
you persevere in this manner, God will have pity on you. 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.
Keep your mind strictly in the presence of God. Then
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. I
have told you already of the advantages we may draw from this practice of the
presence of God. Let us set about it seriously and pray for one another.
Ninth
Letter:
The enclosed is an answer to that which I received
from M--. Pray deliver it to her. She seems to me full of good will, but she
would go faster than grace. One does not become holy all at once. I recommend
her to you. We ought to help one another by our advice, and yet more by our
good examples. Please let me hear of her from time to time and whether she is
very fervent and obedient.
Let us thus think often that our only business in this
life is to please God, that perhaps all besides is but folly and vanity. You
and I have lived over forty years in the monastic life. Have we employed them
in loving and serving God, who by His mercy has called us to this state and for
that very end? I am filled with shame and confusion, when I reflect on the one
hand upon the great favors which God has done and incessantly continues to do
me; and on the other, upon the ill use I have made of them and my small advancement
in the way of perfection.
Since by His mercy He gives us still a little time,
let us begin in earnest, let us repair the lost time, let us return with a full
assurance to that Father of mercies, who is always ready to receive us affectionately.
Let us renounce, let us generously renounce, for the love of Him, all that is
not Himself. He deserves infinitely more.
Let us think of Him perpetually. Let us put all our
trust in Him. I doubt not but we shall soon find the effects of it by receiving
the abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without which
we can do nothing but sin. We cannot escape the dangers which abound in life
without the actual and continual help of God. Let us then pray to Him for it
continually. How can we pray to Him without being with Him? How can we be with
Him but in thinking of Him often? And how can we often think of Him, but by a
holy habit which we should form of it?
You will tell me that I am always saying the same
thing. It is true, for this is the best and easiest method I know. I use no
other. I advise all the world to do it. We must know before we can love. In
order to know God, we must often think of Him. And when we come to love Him, we
shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure.
Tenth
Letter:
I have had a good deal of difficulty bringing myself
to write to M.--. I do it now purely because you desire me to do so. Pray write
the directions and send it to him. I am very well pleased with the trust which
you have in God. I wish that He may increase it in you more and more. We cannot
have too much trust in so good and faithful a Friend who will never fail us in
this world nor in the next.
If M.-- takes advantage of the loss he has had and
puts all his confidence in God, He will soon give him another friend more
powerful and more inclined to serve him. He disposes of hearts as He pleases.
Perhaps M.-- was too attached to him he has lost. We ought to love our friends,
but without encroaching upon the love of God, which must be the principal.
Pray remember that I have recommended you think often
of 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. You would think it rude to
leave a friend alone who came to visit you: why then must God be neglected? Do
not forget Him but think on Him often. Adore Him continually. Live and die with
Him. This is the glorious employment of a Christian; in a word, this is our
profession. If we do not know it we must learn it.
I will endeavor to help you with my prayers, and am
yours in our Lord.
Eleventh
Letter:
I do not pray that you may be delivered from your
pains; but I pray earnestly that God would give you strength and patience to
bear them as long as He pleases. Comfort yourself with Him who holds you
fastened to the cross. He will loose you when He thinks fit. Happy are those
who suffer with Him. Accustom yourself to suffer in that manner, and seek from
Him the strength to endure as much, and as long, as He judges necessary for you.
The men of the world do not comprehend these truths.
Nor is it to be wondered at, since they suffer like what they are and not like
Christians. They consider sickness as a pain to 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, as
the effects of His mercy and the means which He employs for their salvation,
commonly find in it great sweetness and sensible consolation.
I pray that you see that God is often nearer to us and
more effectually present with us in sickness than in health. Rely upon no other
Physician because He reserves your cure to Himself. Put all your trust in Him,
and you will soon find the effects of it in your recovery, which we often
retard, by putting greater confidence in physic than in God. Whatever remedies
you make use of, they will succeed only so far as He permits. When pains come
from God, He only can cure them. He often sends diseases of the body to cure
those of the soul. Comfort yourself with the sovereign Physician both of soul
and body.
I foresee that you will tell me that I am very much at
my ease, that I eat and drink at the table of the Lord. You have reason. But
think how painful it would be to the greatest criminal in the world to eat at
the king's table and be served by him yet be without assurance of pardon? I
believe he would feel great uneasiness, such as nothing could moderate, but
only his trust in the goodness of his sovereign.
So I assure you, that whatever pleasures I taste at
the table of my King, my sins, ever present before my eyes, as well as the
uncertainty of my pardon, torment me, though in truth that torment itself is
pleasing. Be satisfied with the condition in which God places you. However
happy you may think me, I envy you. Pain and suffering would be a paradise to
me, if I could suffer with my God. The greatest pleasure would be hell to me if
I could relish them without Him. All my consolation would be to suffer
something for His sake.
I must, in a little time, go to God. What comforts me
in this life is that I now see Him by faith. I see Him in such a manner as
might make me say sometimes, I believe no more, but I see. I feel what faith
teaches us, and, in that assurance and that practice of faith, I will live and
die with Him.
Continue then always with God. It is the only support
and comfort for your affliction. I shall beseech Him to be with you.
I present my service
Twelfth
Letter:
If we were well accustomed to the exercise of the
presence of God all bodily diseases would be much alleviated. God often permits
that we suffer a little to purify our souls and oblige us to continue with Him.
Take courage. Offer Him your pains incessantly, pray
to Him for strength to endure them. Above all, gain a habit of entertaining
yourself often with God, and forget Him the least you can. Adore Him in your
infirmities. Offer yourself to Him from time to time. And, in the height of
your sufferings, beseech Him humbly and affectionately (as a child his Father)
to make you conformable to His holy will. I shall endeavor to assist you with
my poor prayers.
God has many ways of drawing us to Himself. He
sometimes seems to hide Himself from us. But faith alone ought to be our
support. Faith is the foundation of our confidence which must be all in God who
will not fail us in time of need. I know not how God will dispose of me. I am
always happy. All the world suffers and I, who deserve the severest discipline,
feel joys so continual and so great that I can scarce contain them.
I would willingly ask of God a part of your
sufferings. I know my weakness, which is so great, that if He left me one
moment to myself, I should be the most wretched man alive. And yet I know not
how He can leave me alone, because faith gives me as strong a conviction as
sense can do. He never forsakes us until we have first forsaken Him. Let us
fear to leave Him. Let us be always with Him. Let us live and die in His
presence.
Do pray for me, as I pray for you.
Thirteenth
Letter:
I am in pain to see you suffer so long. What gives me
some ease and sweetens the feeling I have of your griefs, is that they are
proof of God's love towards you. See your pains in that view and you will bear
them more easily. As your case is, it is my opinion that you should leave off
human remedies and resign yourself entirely to the providence of God. Perhaps
He waits only for that resignation and a perfect trust in Him to cure you.
Since, in spite of all your cares, physic has so far proved unsuccessful and
your malady still increases, it will not be tempting God to abandon yourself in
His hands and expect all from Him.
I told you in my last letter that He sometimes permits
bodily diseases to cure the distempers of the soul. Have courage. Make a virtue
of necessity. Ask of God, not deliverance from your pains, but strength to bear
resolutely, for the love of Him, all that He should please, and as long as He
shall please. Such prayers, indeed, are a little hard to nature, but most
acceptable to God, and sweet to those that love Him. Love sweetens pains. And
when one loves God, one suffers for His sake with joy and courage. Do so, I
beseech you. Comfort yourself with Him, who is the only Physician of all our
maladies. He is the Father of the afflicted, always ready to help us. He loves
us infinitely more than we imagine. Love Him then, and seek not consolation
elsewhere. I hope you will soon receive it. Adieu.
I will help you with my prayers, poor as they are, and
shall be, always, yours in our Lord.
Fourteenth
Letter:
I render thanks to our Lord, for having relieved you a
little, according to your desire. I have been often near expiring, though I was
never so much satisfied as then. Accordingly I did not pray for any relief, but
I prayed for strength to suffer with courage, humility, and love. How sweet is
it to suffer with God! However great the sufferings may be, receive them with
love. It is paradise to suffer and be with Him. If in this life we would enjoy
the peace of paradse, we must accustom ourselves to a familiar, humble,
affectionate conversation with Him.
We must hinder the wandering of our spirits from Him
on all occasions. We must make our heart a spiritual temple, wherein to adore
Him incessantly. We must watch continually over ourselves, that we may not do,
nor say, nor think anything that may displease Him. When our minds are thus
employed about God, suffering will become full of unction and consolation.
I know that to arrive at this state, the beginning is
very difficult because we must act purely in faith. But though it is difficult,
we know also that we can do all things with the grace of God, which He never
refuses to them who ask it earnestly. Knock, persevere in knocking, and I
answer for it that He will open to you His graces in His due time, and grant
you all at once what He has deferred during many years. Adieu.
Pray to Him for me, as I pray to Him for you. I hope
to see Him quickly.
Fifteenth
Letter:
God knows best what is needful for us. All that He
does is for our good. If we knew how much He loves us, we should be always
ready to receive equally and with indifference from His hand the sweet and the
bitter. All would please that came from Him. The sorest afflictions never appear
intolerable except when we see them in the wrong light. When we see them in the
hand of God who dispenses them, when we know that it is our loving Father who
abases and distresses us, our sufferings will lose their bitterness and become
even a source of consolation.
Let all our employment be to know God. The more one
knows Him, the more one desires to know Him. Knowledge is commonly the measure
of love. The deeper and more extensive our knowledge shall be, the greater will
be our love. If our love of God were great we should love Him equally in pains
and pleasures.
Let us not amuse ourselves to seek or to love God for
any sensible favors (however elevated) which He has or may do us. Such favors
no matter how great, cannot bring us so near to God as faith does in one simple
act. Let us seek Him often by faith. He is within us. Seek Him not elsewhere.
Are we not rude and deserve blame, if we leave Him alone to busy ourselves
about trifles which do not please Him and perhaps offend Him? It is to be
feared these trifles will one day cost us dearly. Let us begin to be devoted to
Him in good earnest. Let us cast everything besides out of our hearts. He would
possess them alone. Beg this favor of Him. If we do what we can on our parts,
we shall soon see that change wrought in us which we aspire after.
I cannot thank Him sufficiently for the relaxation He
has vouchsafed you. I hope to see Him within a few days. Let us pray for one
another.
Brother Lawrence died a few days after this last
letter.