Labor Day (U.S.)
CAC’s We Conspire introduces the life and teachings of Brother Lawrence (1611–1691), whose simple guidance and humble life inspired countless people to “practice the presence of God.” His wisdom reminds us that Divine connection is available in every moment if we learn to quiet our minds and surrender our hearts.
In the mid-17th century, a man named Nicolas Herman joined the Carmelite monastery in Paris, France. Wounded from fighting in the European Thirty Years’ war, and suffering a sustained leg injury, he took the monastic name “Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.” He worked in the monastery kitchen and eventually became the head cook. Amid the chaos of food preparation and the clanging of pots and pans, Brother Lawrence began to practice a simple method of prayer that helped him return to an awareness of Divine presence. He called it the practice of the presence of God and described it as “the most sacred, the most robust, the easiest, and the most effective form of prayer.” [1]
Brother Lawrence’s method of prayer is so simple that it might seem misleading. It is to cultivate and hand over one’s awareness to God in every moment, in whatever we are doing. Brother Lawrence recommends that newcomers to the prayer use a phrase to recollect their intention toward the Divine presence, such as “‘My God, I am all yours,’ or ‘God of love, I love you with all my heart,’ or ‘Love, create in me a new heart,’ or any other phrases love produces on the spot.” [2] Practice of the Divine presence sometimes simply means taking brief pauses “to love God deep in our heart” and “savor grace.” [3] It involves a surrendered and resting trust in God to which one returns at all times.
Brother Lawrence might be a surprising teacher of enlightenment. He lived through war, plague, and poverty. He suffered anxiety, injury, various humiliations, and even called himself a “clumsy oaf.” His leg pain became so great that, after twenty years in the kitchen, his monastic superiors transferred him to work repairing sandals. Yet translator and CAC core faculty member Carmen Acevedo Butcher commends him to us: “His exceptional calm and responses to life’s hardships make this unassuming friar an accessible and humanizing mentor of the time-tested practice of the presence prayer.” [4]
For Brother Lawrence, even suffering itself becomes fodder to practice the Divine presence. We know of Brother Lawrence’s kind and gentle witness through numerous spiritual maxims he wrote down, letters that he penned to others, and interviews he gave to a curious, eager-to-learn monk named Joseph of Beaufort. In one letter, written to a nun at a nearby convent undergoing health challenges, Brother Lawrence is convinced that the Divine love given to us through practicing the presence heals our wounds despite painful circumstances. Nearing death and unable to walk, Brother Lawrence nevertheless envisions God as a parent full of love, affirming when we are embraced by such a Divine friend and parent “all the bitterness is removed, and only the sweetness remains.” [5]
References:
[1] Nicolas Herman, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, Practice of the Presence, trans. Carmen Acevedo Butcher (Broadleaf Books, 2022), 54.
[2] Practice of the Presence, 54.
[3] Practice, 142.
[4] Practice, 29.
[5] Practice, 117.
Adapted from “Practicing the Presence,” CAC’s We Conspire, January 2025.
Image credit and inspiration: Bruce Tang, untitled (detail), 2019, photo, Japan, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Attentive to the moment and the task at hand, we find that holiness lives in simple, ordinary rhythms—no grand cathedral required, only the quiet altar of a kitchen table.
Story from Our Community:
Brother Lawrence’s little book is the oldest possession I have. I found it in my teenage years in my grandmother’s library. I was deeply inspired and blessed beyond measure to recognize God’s amazing presence in my own life. My Gran gave the book to my mother in 1972 and she in turn passed it on to me many years later. This precious little book has given me consolation at different periods of my life in much the same way as the CAC continues to today.
—Bridget W.
