A summary textual analysis for the Knights’ Book Giveaway, 2026
With special thanks to Mike O’Hara who suggested this favorite book of Pope Leo XIV.
Who was Brother Lawrence? Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, OCD (born: Nicolas Herman) 1612-1691, was a French Catholic brother who served at a Discalced Carmelite monastery. He joined the army, fought in the Thirty Years’ War, and became lame as a result of fighting the Swedes. In response, he chose a hermit’s life with the Discalced Carmelites of Paris, practicing a life of mendicancy and contemplation. He worked in the abbey kitchen, and later learned to repair shoes.
How did he describe himself? Once when tasked to go to Burgundy to buy the provision of wine for the society, he lamented that it was a “very unwelcome task for him, because he had no turn for business and because he was lame, and could not go about the boat but by rolling himself over the casks.” His interior castle was firmly focused on God. “Being questioned by one of his own society (to whom he was obliged to open himself) by what means he had attained such an habitual sense of GOD? he told him that, since his first coming to the monastery, he had considered GOD as the end of all his thoughts and desires, as the mark to which they should tend, and in which they should terminate.” The peaceful, self-confident expression of faith commended Brother Lawrence to people of high and low station.
Abbé Joseph de Beaufort recorded the text of the “conversations” of Brother Lawrence, and the compilation was approved by the Archbishop of Paris, Louis Antoine de Noailles. The book “The Practice and Presence of God,” was published posthumously. Brother Lawrence passed away on February 12, 1691 at the age of seventy seven.
The conversation, or “story” that most epitomized the lay brother was that of the battleground and the lone tree. “That in the winter, 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, he received a high view of the Providence and Power of GOD, which has never since been effaced from his soul. That 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 above forty years that he had lived since.”
Brother Lawrence was a relaxed saint, a soul at peace, because he “dwelt in the Lord.” Let us likewise take our repose in God Almighty, relying on Him in both life and death. He will not disappoint.
The Conversations as related to Abbé Joseph, summarized in a single sentence drawn from the good brother’s own text:
1st conversation: That 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 He lead us by suffering or by consolation, for all would be equal to a soul truly resigned.
2nd conversation: I will always continue to act purely for the love of GOD ..we ought to make a great difference between the acts of the understanding and those of the will; that the first were comparatively of little value, and the others all. That our only business was to love and delight ourselves in GOD.
3rd conversation: That many do not advance in the Christian progress, because they stick in penances, and particular exercises, while they neglect the love of GOD, which is the end.
4th conversation: That we need only to recognize GOD intimately present with us, to address ourselves to Him every moment, that we may beg His assistance for knowing His will in things doubtful, and for rightly performing those which we plainly see He requires of us, offering them to Him before we do them, and giving Him thanks when we have done.
The Letters of Brother Lawrence, written to a variety of people.
What was Brother Lawrence’s secret that gave him the habitual sense of God’s presence? What convinced him so firmly that God was present to him, in him, and with him — a fervent feeling, a resolute belief? “This made me resolve to give the all for the All: so after having given myself wholly to GOD, to make all the satisfaction I could for my sins, I renounced, for the love of Him, everything that was not He; and I began to live as if there was none but He and I in the world.”
1st Letter: I drove away from my mind everything that was capable of interrupting my thought of GOD.
2nd Letter: This was the reason why, at my entrance into religion, I took a resolution to give myself up to GOD, as the best satisfaction I could make for my sins; and, for the love of Him, to renounce all besides.
3rd Letter: A little lifting up the heart suffices; a little remembrance of GOD, one act of inward worship, though upon a march, and sword in hand, are prayers which, however short, are nevertheless very acceptable to GOD; and far from lessening a soldier’s courage in occasions of danger, they best serve to fortify it.
4th Letter: You must know, his continual care has been, for above forty years past that he has spent in religion, to be always with GOD; and to do nothing, say nothing, and think nothing which may displease Him; and this without any other view than purely for the love of Him, and because He deserves infinitely more.
5th Letter: 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 practise 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 from a principle of love, and because GOD would have us.
6th Letter: I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the presence of GOD.
7th Letter: Lift up your heart to Him, sometimes even at your meals, and when you are in company: the least little remembrance will always be acceptable to Him.
8th Letter: I am filled with shame and confusion, when I reflect on the one hand upon the great favours which GOD has done, and incessantly continues to do, me; and on the other, upon the ill use I have made of them, and my small advancement in the way of perfection.
9th Letter: I am filled with shame and confusion, when I reflect on the one hand upon the great favours which GOD has done, and incessantly continues to do, me; and on the other, upon the ill use I have made of them, and my small advancement in the way of perfection.
10th Letter: We ought to love our friends, but without encroaching upon the love of GOD, which must be the principal.
11th Letter : He often sends diseases of the body, to cure those of the soul.
12th Letter: Let us fear to leave Him. Let us be always with Him. Let us live and die in His presence.
13th Letter: Love sweetens pains; and when one loves GOD, one suffers for His sake with joy and courage.
14th Letter: Ah, how sweet is it to suffer with GOD!
15th Letter: Let us seek Him often by faith: He is within us; seek Him not elsewhere.