The Practice of the Presence of God | Page 2

interviews, Brother Lawrence was in his late
fifties. Joseph de Beaufort later commented that the crippled brother, who was then in
charge of the upkeep of over one hundred pairs of sandals, was "rough in appearance but
gentle in grace".
First Conversation: The first time I saw Brother Lawrence was upon the 3rd of August,

1666. He told me that God had done him a singular favor in his conversion at the age of
eighteen. During that winter, upon seeing a tree stripped of its leaves and considering that
within a little time the leaves would be renewed and after that the flowers and fruit appear,
Brother Lawrence received a high view of the Providence and Power of God which has
never since been effaced from his soul. This view had perfectly set him loose from the
world and kindled in him such a love for God, that he could not tell whether it had
increased in the forty years that he had lived since.
Brother Lawrence said he had been footman to M. Fieubert, the treasurer, and that he was
a great awkward fellow who broke everything. He finally decided to enter a monastery
thinking that he would there be made to smart for his awkwardness and the faults he
would commit, and so he would sacrifice his life with its pleasures to God. But Brother
Lawrence said that God had surprised him because he met with nothing but satisfaction in
that state.
Brother Lawrence related that we should establish ourselves in a sense of God's Presence
by continually conversing with Him. It was a shameful thing to quit His conversation to
think of trifles and fooleries. We should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of
God which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.
He said we ought to quicken and enliven our faith. It was lamentable we had so little.
Instead of taking faith for the rule of their conduct, men amused themselves with trivial
devotions which changed daily. He said that faith was sufficient to bring us to a high
degree of perfection. We ought to give ourselves up to God with regard both to things
temporal and spiritual and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling of His will. Whether
God led us by suffering or by consolation all would be equal to a soul truly resigned.
He said we need fidelity in those disruptions in the ebb and flow of prayer when God
tries our love to Him. This was the time for a complete act of resignation, whereof one
act alone could greatly promote our spiritual advancement.
He said that as far as the miseries and sins he heard of daily in the world, he was so far
from wondering at them, that, on the contrary, he was surprised there were not more
considering the malice sinners were capable of. For his part, he prayed for them. But
knowing that God could remedy the mischief they did when He pleased, he gave himself
no further trouble.
Brother Lawrence said to arrive at such resignation as God requires, we should carefully
watch over all the passions that mingle in spiritual as well as temporal things. God would
give light concerning those passions to those who truly desire to serve Him.
At the end of this first conversation Brother Lawrence said that if my purpose for the visit
was to sincerely discuss how to serve God, I might come to him as often as I pleased and
without any fear of being troublesome. If this was not the case, then I ought visit him no
more.
Second Conversation: Brother Lawrence told me he had always been governed by love
without selfish views. Since he resolved to make the love of God the end of all his actions,
he had found reasons to be well satisfied with his method. He was pleased when he could
take up a straw from the ground for the love of God, seeking Him only, and nothing else,
not even His gifts.
He said he had been long troubled in mind from a certain belief that he should be damned.
All the men in the world could not have persuaded him to the contrary. This trouble of
mind had lasted four years during which time he had suffered much.

Finally he reasoned: I did not engage in a religious life but for the love of God. I have
endeavored to act only for Him. Whatever becomes of me, whether I be lost or saved, I
will always continue to act purely for the love of God. I shall have this good at least that
till death I shall have done all that is in me to love Him. From that time on Brother
Lawrence lived his life in