Session 1
First Conversation and Spiritual Maxims
Pages 123 and 46-56 (Butcher)
In August of 1666 Joseph of Beaufort, an ordained priest some 20 years younger than Br. Lawrence began a series of conversations with Br. Lawrence which he recorded on paper and later published. We have Fr. Joseph’s notes on four of those conversations.
When Br. Lawrence was 18 years old “something happened to him.” As he put it, the thing that happened occurred while he was “still in the world.” I take this to mean it happened before he had eyes to see God in all things.
It was winter and he was looking at a bare tree. He made note that though it was stripped of its leaves, soon enough the leaves would sprout again followed by blooms and fruit. In that moment he received the gift of a profound awareness of God’s kindness and power. He kept an acute sense of this gift for the rest of his life. He completely detached from the world and surrendered to an all consuming love for God.
Br. Lawrence saw clearly the presence of the divine in the most ordinary, organic, natural thing - the movement of a tree through the seasons of the year. His first inclination was to name God’s creative work with the tree as “kindness.” Kindness is a generosity of friendship and regenerative tenderness toward creation which is exactly God’s stance toward the tree. And all of us!
Br. Lawrence often felt inadequate to his calling to a religious order because he considered himself clumsy and full of character defects. None of that ever seemed to bother God. Br. Lawrence was continually satisfied with the present moment just as it was.
BL said that we must find our ground in God and continually and gently turn toward God and God’s love. Do this especially in the midst of the ordinary tasks of the day.
BL was never surprised when he heard news of horrific things happening, instead he was more surprised that there wasn’t more evil in the world b/c of our human inclination toward missing the mark. He prayed for those who caused suffering and then left them to the care of God. He didn’t worry about anything. Instead he turned gently to love and to God in all his ordinary movements. He encouraged self-reflection which leads to humility.
Spiritual Maxims - this section of the book is a summary of the method of Practicing the Presence of God. This writing was found after Br. Lawrence’s death.
Like Julian of Norwich and Teresa of Avila BL’s teaching and practice find their foundation and essence in love and the absolute kindness of God.
The way of perfection is the mysterious gift of union with God in love.
Always look to God and God’s kindness in all that we do and say
We are human and God teaches us humility through all of life’s challenges and setbacks.
We are to become Grace dependent creatures by continually turning to God, otherwise our shortcomings and the temptations of life will overwhelm us.
Look to God all the time “without methods or limits”
All our actions become unselfconscious conversations with God flowing from our simple good heartedness
Being rash and rushed are signs of an untrained mind
Our turning to God continually will make “all weapons fail.”
“What can please God more than if we leave all created things many times during the day to withdraw and respect Love present within?”
We believe God really lives in our hearts
In our fragility we find our strength in God
We must look at ourselves and identify what we need to be kind and what we need to work on to rid ourselves of our character defects. Do it all gently.
Three kinds of spiritual union exist
Habitual - united to God by love’s grace
Virtual - begin to be united to God by our own kind actions
Actual - a completely spiritual union that seems to come as a gift akin to contemplation.
The practice of the presence of God is a gentle turning of our minds to God when we’re not caught up in ordinary affairs, or sometimes even when we are going about our daily tasks. We turn our awareness to God’s love, not spoken, rather the soul speaking to God heart to heart. Wordless gesture of love toward God.
“Everything that takes place outside the soul is like a straw fire that goes out as soon as it ignites.”
How to practice
Live with great simplicity
Be faithful to the practice of the presence
Don’t give in to hurry or anxiety
Take care that the inner awareness precede our activities
Don’t get discouraged or feel guilty when you forget the practice
Produce this little inner look to God in the heart, that is, in the depths of yourself
You may use a phrase that love produces “on the spot” like, “My God, I am all yours" or “Love, create in me a new heart.”
Devotion to the practice causes the soul to become more alive in daily life.
The practice “finds grace for us in our temptations.”
The practice strengthens our hope “as we are calmed and sustained by the generosity of our Friendship with God.
This practice can cause a stabilized, steady-state inner fire to burn with God’s love within the soul.