Brother Lawrence - The Practice of the Presence of God

"Give Him thanks, if you please, with me, for His great goodness toward 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."

"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 than purely that of love to Him."

"We have a God who is infinitely gracious and knows all about 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, then, with Him, and give thanks for all."

"Yes, we often stop this torrent (of God's love) by the little value we set upon it.  But 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 miscarriage there is irretrievable."

"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."

"There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.  Those only 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; but let us do it form 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; and were I a director, I should advise all the world to do it, so necessary do I think it, and so easy, too."

It is, however, proper to deprive it (the body) sometimes, nay, often, of many little pleasures which are innocent and lawful, for God will not permit that a soul which desires to be devoted entirely to Him should take other pleasures than with Him; that is more than reasonable."

"Sufferings will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him; and the greatest pleasures will be, without Him, a cruel punishment to us.  May He be blessed for all. Amen."

"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 in receiving the abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without which we can do nothing but sin."

"In order to know God, we must often think of him; and when we come to love Him, we shall also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure.  This is an argument which well deserves your consideration."

"I do not pray that you may be delivered from your pains, but I pray God earnestly that He 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 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 shall judge to be necessary for you."

"Those who consider sickness as coming form the hand of God, as the effect of His mercy, and the means which He employs for their salvation - such commonly find in it great sweetness and sensible consolation."

"I wish you could convince yourself that God is often (in some sense) 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 than in God."

"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 the soul and body."

"Take courage; offer Him your pains incessantly; pray to Him for strength to endure them. ...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."

"Ask of God, not deliverance from you pains, but strength to bear resolutely, for the love of Him, all that He should please, and as long as He shall please."

"Knock, persevere in knocking, and I answer for it that He will open to you in His due time, and grant you all at once what He has deferred during many years."

"God knoweth best what is needful for us, and all that He does is for our good.  If we knew how much He loves us, we should always be ready to receive equally and with indifference from His hand the sweet and the bitter."

"Let all our employment be to know God; the more one knows Him, the more one desires to know Him.  And as knowledge is commonly the measure of love, the deeper and more extensive our knowledge shall be, the greater will be our love; and  if our love of God were great, we should love Him equally in pains and pleasures."