The Character of Brother Lawrence

"Everything came alike to him, every station, every duty.  The good Brother found God everywhere, as near when he was at the humblest task as when praying with the Community.  He found no urgency for retreats, inasmuch as in the common task he met the same God to love and worship, as in the stillness of the desert."

"His one method of going to God and abiding in His Presence was to do all for the love of Him.  It was a matter of no consequence to him, whether he was employed on one thing or the other, provided that therein he sought God's glory.  It was to Him he looked, and not to the work in hand.  He knew that the more opposed the task was to his inclination, the greater and more blessed was the love which made him sacrifice his will to God; that the littleness of the work lessened not one whit the value of the offering, for God regards not the greatness of the work, but the love which prompts it."

"He marveled at nothing, nothing astonished him or gave him cause for fear.  This stability of soul sprung from the same source as did all his other virtues. The high notion which he had of God revealed in his heart a perfect picture of his Creator in all His Sovereign Justice and Infinite Mercy.  Resting on this he was assured that God would never deceive him, and would send such things only as were good for him."

Brother Lawrence - Spiritual Maxims

"We must go about our labors quietly, calmly, and lovingly, entreating Him to prosper the works of our hands; by thus keeping heart and mind fixed on God, we shall bruise the head of the evil one, and beat down his weapons to the ground."

"In very truth we can render to God no greater or more signal proofs of our trust and faithfulness, than by thus turning from things created to find our joy, though for a single moment, in the creator."

"To worship God in truth is to acknowledge Him to be what He is, and ourselves as what in very fact we are.  To worship Him in truth is to acknowledge with heart-felt sincerity what God in truth is,  -that is to say, infinitely perfect, worthy of infinite adoration, infinitely removed from sin, and so of all the Divine attributes.  That man is little guided by reason, who does not employ all his powers to render to this great God the worship that is His due."

"The union of the soul with God (paraphrased) is intensely active; quicker than fire are its operations, more luminous than the sun, unobscured by any passing cloud.  Yet we can be deceived as to this union by our feelings; it is not a mere fleeting emotion, such as would prompt a passing cry "My God, I love Thee with my heart's full strength"; it is rather a state of soul - if I can but find words- which is deeply spiritual, and yet very simple, which fills us with a joy that is calm indeed, and with a love that is very humble and very reverent, which lifts the soul aloft to heights, where the sense of the love of God constrains it to adore Him, and to embrace Him with a tenderness that cannot be expressed, and which experience alone can teach us to understand.

"God's love is in very truth a consuming fire, burning to ashes all that is contrary to His will:  the soul thus kindled cannot live save in the Presence of God, and this Presence works within the heart a consecrated zeal, a holy ardor, a violent passion to see this God known and loved, and served and worshiped by all His creatures."

"For me the time of action does not differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are together calling for as many different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as when upon my knees as the Blessed Sacrament."

'"We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for the love of Him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before Him, Who has given me the grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king.  It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God."

"O Loving-Kindness so old and still so new, I have been too late of loving Thee.  You are young, my brethren; profit therefore I beseech you from my confession, that I cared too little to employ my early years for God.  Consecrate all yours to His Love.  If I had only know Him sooner, if I had only had some one to tell me then what I am telling you, I should not have so long delayed in loving Him.  Believe me, count as lost each day you have not used in loving God."

"Ah, did I know that my heart loved not God, this very instant I would pluck it out."

"If you would go forward in the spiritual life, you must avoid relying on the subtle conclusions and fine reasonings of the unaided intellect.  Unhappy they who seek to satisfy their desire therein!  The Creator is the great teacher of Truth.  We can reason laboriously for many years, but fuller far and deeper is the knowledege of the hidden things of faith and of Himself, which He flashes as light into the heart of the humble."

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."