The Practice of the Presence of God by Br. Lawrence of the Resurrection
In December 2025, Pope Leo XIV cited The Practice of the Presence of God as one of the most influential texts in his own spiritual life. This accessible collection of writings is an enriching window into the thought of Br. Lawrence of the Resurrection (1614-1691), a French discalced Carmelite lay brother. Before entering Carmel, Br. Lawrence (then known as Nicolas Herman) had been a soldier in the French military and was seriously injured, which eventually resulted in his dismissal from military service. After this, he attempted life as a hermit, but he did not succeed. He then tried yet another form of life as a footman for an official in the court of King Louis XIII, but this left him still feeling unsatisfied and out of place. Eventually, Br. Lawrence found peace in the fraternity of the Carmelite Order. His life as a Carmelite included working as a cook, sandal maker, and wine buyer for his community. In the monastery, Br. Lawrence discovered the power of resigning himself to God’s mercy, love, and forgiveness (and, importantly, to nothing else). Today, Br. Lawrence is known as a spiritual master, beloved by some of the most visible and well-known figures in recent Church history, from Dorothy Day to our current pontiff.
For those well-acquainted with Carmelite spirituality, the stories about and words of Br. Lawrence will feel at once familiar and also new. For example, he believed that the love of God should be “the end of all his actions,” and thus he pursued the presence of God wholeheartedly in simplicity and love (27). In this manner, Br. Lawrence’s spiritual insights anticipate those of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who also embodied the principle of doing ordinary things with extraordinary love for God, seeing everything as grace. Likewise, Br. Lawrence’s understanding of the soul as the place in which we encounter God, as well as his emphasis on fully abandoning oneself to the grace and love of God as the true path to light in this life anticipates the thought of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, who speaks of abandoning oneself to God in the abyss of the soul that they might encounter, as light through a prism, the eternal abyss of His love. Br. Lawrence also discusses the concepts of spiritual aridity and the flame of love, both of which recall the earlier Carmelite reformer St. John of the Cross. Moreover, Br. Lawrence’s insights are a resonant and vibrant thread within the broader tapestry of Carmelite spirituality.
Br. Lawrence’s spiritual maxims, which occupy the last section of the book, are particularly thought-provoking and beautiful. Br. Lawrence’s thought is a helpful rejoinder that God wishes for us throughout the day to “withdraw within ourselves and worship Him” (108). He emphasizes that God, who is of a spiritual nature, must be worshipped “in spirit and in truth,” which is a “lowly and genuine worship in the depth of our soul that God alone can see” (108). In this manner, Br. Lawrence reminds us that the communal sacrifice of the Mass is not the only way to truly worship the Lord, that we must also pray in the solitude and silence of our hearts (Mt 5:5-6). Further along, he reminds us that the love of God is something “which only experience can make us understand” (113). He explains that union with and knowledge of God is not a matter of intellectual or spiritual achievement. Rather, it is a matter of freeing the will from the many distractions in our lives so that we might love God above everything else, “for if the will is able in any degree to know God, it can only be through love” (113). When we focus upon God in this way, we begin to practice the presence of God. We start to become attuned to the reality that God’s immanence permeates every aspect of our lived experience and every dimension of the created world. Br. Lawrence explains that the transformative results of this practice include the enlivening of faith, the strengthening of hope, as well as the continual deepening and increasing of one’s love for God.
Overall, The Practice of the Presence of God is a precious witness to the fruits of a particular form of patient spiritual attentiveness that emerges from the practice of constantly striving to recognize God’s presence in the world and to do all things for the sake of His love. The arc of Br. Lawrence’s life shows us that no matter our past, our whole lives can become prayerful attunement to God, that we can worship Him in the smallest moments and activities by acknowledging His presence in all of them. Though he lived several hundred years ago, Br. Lawrence’s message is all the more pressing today. We are constantly inundated with and overstimulated by all manner of distractions from the Lord. Thus, in the rather prophetic wisdom of his experience, Br. Lawrence teaches us the value of seeking to converse with God constantly in our souls, that we might be freed from all that distracts us from love.