BROTHER LAWRENCE AND GOD CONSCIOUSNESS

By T K Jayaraman IRS (Rtd)

Brother Lawrence was a layperson who worked in the kitchen of a Carmelite Monastery in Paris in the 17th century. He was from a very humble back ground. He was a soldier for some time. He worked also as a footman (male servant) for some important person. He entered religious life quite late. But today he is remembered for a spiritual classic “Practice of the Presence of God”. The book based on his letters and conversations was published after his death in 1691.Remember that he was not a learned man. In fact, he was only doing kitchen work and other menial jobs in the Carmelite Monastery.

All religions tell us that God is present always. He is not limited by time. The title itself makes me understand that the book is going to tell us something about God consciousness. Is it possible to lead a life in full consciousness of the Presence of God? The answer for us is the life of Brother Lawrence. He was born as Nicolas Herman in 1614 in a peasant family. His schooling was limited. He joined army. A leafless tree

(Perhaps in autumn) which in few months will be full of leaves and flowers convinced him of God’s ability to transform the human heart. He participated in the Thirty Years’ War. His career in the army was chequered. He was witness to all the horrors of the war. He served as a valet for some time. When that service ended he joined the order of the Discalced (barefooted) Carmelite Priory as a lay brother and took the religious name “Lawrence of the Resurrection”. He was assigned kitchen work and other menial jobs. He was very much conscious of his awkwardness. Despite his lowly status, he experienced profound inner peace and earned the respect of others. Many people were impressed with his spiritual nature. While doing his allotted work, he was all the time conscious of the Presence of God. Based on conversations with him and 15 letters which he wrote to various people, the spiritual classic “Practice of the Presence of God” was compiled and published after his death. Brother Lawrence influenced many persons including John Wesley,Hannah Whiehall Smith,A.W. Stozer and François Fénelon. Both Catholics and Protestants love this classic.

In his first letter, Brother Lawrence indicates that the spiritual practices mentioned in books did not appeal to him. For example a fixed time for prayer. What about the other times? He resolved to give all for One

God). In other words thinking of God even while performing daily chores. He wanted to feel God’s presence all the time. He wanted to establish himself in the practice of the Presence of God. His unshakable faith in God made him realize what he wanted. He advised his correspondent to live as if there was none but He and to think of God all the time.

 

In the second letter he mentions that in the time set for prayer in the monastery he thinks of death, judgment, hell, heaven and his sins. In the rest of the time he applies his mind to the presence of God. His faith apprehends God as infinite and inconceivable. He confesses all his sins before God abiding totally in the feeling of his Presence. He says that he finds attached to God with greater sweetness and delight than an infant at the mother’s breast. However this sweetness is inexpressible. Before God, he is like a stone before a sculptor. It is for God to make His perfect image in his (Brother Lawrence’s) soul. If others feel that it is delusion and self love he does not care; let God remedy it.

While writing to a soldier friend suffering from some serious health problem Brother Lawrence hopes that the affliction which God has sent him will prove wholesome remedy for him and make him enter into himself.

In another letter he says for 40 years he is always with God. He does nothing, says nothing and thinks nothing that displeases Him. He received continual succor from the Divine Presence experiencing continual joy.

While writing to a sister who is about to make a vow and a profession, he emphasizes the necessity and virtue of practicing the Presence of God. For the right practice of it, the heart must be empty of all other things. There’s not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.

At the age nearing 80, he exhorts his correspondent who is 64 to live and die with God. We have but little time to live; you are 64 and I am almost 80. Let us live and die with God; suffering will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him; and the greatest pleasure will be without Him a cruel punishment to us. May He be blessed for all.

To a correspondent troubled by wandering thoughts while in prayer, he exhorts, “Hold yourself in prayer before God like a dumb and paralytic beggar at a rich man’s gate.” 

Let us think often that our only business in the life is to please God that perhaps all besides is but folly and vanity. 

Death is inevitable for all. To one who lost a friend, Brother Lawrence would say,” We ought to love our friends but without encroaching upon the love of God which must be the principal. He is always near you and with you; leave Him not alone.”

To a sick person Brother Lawrence would say, “I wish you could convince yourself that God is nearer to us and more effectually present with us, in sickness than in health. Rely upon no other Physician, for according to my apprehension, He reserves your cure to Himself. Put then 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 (doctor) than in God. 

If we were well accustomed to the exercise of the Presence of God, all bodily diseases would be alleviated thereby. God often permits that we should suffer a little, to purify our souls and oblige us to continue with Him.

When he was in his last stage of life, he remarks,” How sweet is to suffer with God. However great the suffering may be receive them with love.”

One week before his death, Brother Lawrence penned his last letter wherein he made observations that would delight all human beings. “God knows best what is needful for us and all that He does is for our good.” What a wonderful life he led! A beacon to generations to come!