Session 2
P. 142 - “The most sacred and most necessary practice in the spiritual life is the presence of God.”
The practice consists of simply looking lovingly toward God for support anytime, especially in ordinary and difficult times.
Impulsivity and rushing about are signs of an “untrained mind.”
By our attention to God with persistence and mindfulness we will “break the cycle of harmfulness, and make all weapons fall.”
Stop as often as you can to love God from the depth of your heart. Just briefly, like a whispered glance cast God’s way in the interiority of your own soul.
To let go of ordinary attachments and whatever is consuming your time just for moment to turn toward God’s indwelling presence is very pleasing to God.
The presence of God is the life of the soul and nourishment or food for the soul.
Here are ways to practice the presence of God:
Simplicity
Faithfulness
Allow an inner awareness of God’s presence to precede our actions
Practice self-control by letting go of our attachments
Empty your heart of all that is not God. That is, let go of our attraction to and grasping of all our attachments.
Br. Lawrence laments the fact that God has so much to give us, “infinite treasures” but we settle for so little and are happy with “an occasional tangible devotion that does not last very long.”
When we practice the presence of God we find our hearts become chapels to which we escape from our ordinary cares and worries to converse with Love.
The practice is simply a brief lifting up of the heart to God. “an inner act of affection.”
Over time the practice leads to a stabilization of the mind in God’s presence.
“As long as we are with God, suffering is a paradise.”
When we practice the presence of God by gently turning to God’s love dwelling within us suffering loses its sting.
Profile p. 152 Br.Lawrence’s dear friend Joseph of Beaufort wrote the profile as a tribute to and spiritual biography of his friend.
The goodness of Br. Lawrence made him warm, welcoming, and gentle.
His radical detachment did not extricate him from the world, quite the opposite fully attached to God he became intimately and richly connected to creation and people. He was much sought after for counsel and advice. People felt at ease in his presence and found that he had wisdom on a wide range of subjects and a sharp mind and soft heart for dealing with worldy things.
Everything he found in books and in the world paled in comparison to the “great abundance” he found in God and Jesus.
He saw God in all that he saw.
In a barren tree one winter when he was 18 years old he saw the infinite power and kindness of God as he realized that soon God would cause leaves and blooms to sprout on the tree. The love that mystical experience inspired in him that day was full and complete and thus never increased.
Sometimes a “crowd of wandering thoughts rushed into his mind and seized the place of God.”
When this happened he simply and gently dismissed the thoughts and returned to God. Over time this persistent rhythm was rewarded with the gift of “an uninterrupted joy.” He rested in an ongoing conversation with God. Thus commotion did not bother him or interrupt his practice.
He forgot himself and did everything for the love of God. He was then steadily in God’s presence and his self-absorption was dissolved in love.
Once he confessed his sins he didn’t think about them again. To do so would be to exercise an attachment to his past and his attachment was to God and the presence of Love.
Brother Lawrence practiced the presence of God in all things both small and large. Over time his faithfulness and devotion to this practice yielded this result: his heart and his mind were always lodged solidly in the presence of God. Rushed and anxious times did not distress him because they were to him no different from calm, serene times. All was time unfolding in the presence of God.
This puts us in the mind of Jim Finley’s saying, “Be faithful to your practice and your practice will be faithful to you.”
In an effort to assume an inner stance of receptivity to the gift of a stabilized awareness of God’s continual presence Br. Lawrence practiced radical detachment meaning he continually let go of everything that was less than or other than love.
Once he confessed his sins (which is very important to do, in fact one cannot progress along the spiritual path until one does so) Br. Lawrence forgot about them. He did not dwell on his past once he had turned it over to God. In fact he supposed that continuing to discuss and ponder his past sins would be one more bit of self-absorption and self-centeredness which would only hinder him on his journey to turn himself over to God completely.
He detached so completely from his own will, desires, likes/dislikes, and attachments to desired outcomes that when something didn’t go his way he simply said something to this effect, Well the people who decided thus and so must have their reasons. God has his. We will patiently await what comes our way.
Thus he was in heaven living eternity while he was still alive on this side of paradise. This is full surrender, equanimity and peace. Complete freedom.
He always prayed for those who were harmed AND for those who caused harm. He cared deeply for those who suffered.
He did every task for God and for the Love of God, therefore it did not matter what task he was assigned. Whether he liked the work or detested the work was not relevant information because all was done for God.
The practice of the presence of God gave him an “extraordinary calm.”
“He admired nothing, was surprised by nothing, and feared nothing.”
He didn’t concern himself with or spend any time focusing on his own desires and preferences instead he wanted only to want what God wants. He practiced humility, kindness and justice and didn’t desire signs or spiritual phenomena because these gifts would distract from God and become objects of his attention and attachment.
He didn’t want to know if God considered him good or not because he feared it would make him vain if he was certain God thought he was good. I will simply give myself to God, he said. P. 163
Once he gave himself to God he did not think or worry about heaven or hell or his own salvation.
He told his friends that the whole of life is worshiping and loving God and not worrying about anything else.
This practice is “praying without ceasing” and can be done by anyone. It is not just for cloistered monks and nuns. There is nowhere that God is not, and all people can forget themselves and surrender to God’s love. As Merton said, “the gate of heaven is everywhere.”
This practice yields a calm in those who practice it and an unshakeable sense of satisfaction with life on life’s terms.