Copyright (C) 2002 by Lightheart.
Brother Lawrence'sTHE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD2002 Editionedited by Lightheart at PracticeGodsPresence.com
Includes: Editor's Preface Conversations and Letters
Editor's Preface
Brother Lawrence was born Nicholas Herman around 1610 in Herimenil,Lorraine, a Duchy of France. His birth records were destroyed in a fire athis parish church during the Thirty Years War, a war in which he foughtas a young soldier. It was also the war in which he sustained a nearfatal injury to his sciatic nerve. The injury left him quite crippledand in chronic pain for the rest of his life.
The details of his early life are few and sketchy. However, we know hewas educated both at home and by his parish priest whose first name wasLawrence and who was greatly admired by the young Nicolas. He was wellread and, from an early age, drawn to a spiritual life of faith and lovefor God.
We also know that in the years between the abrupt end of his duties asa soldier and his entry into monastic life, he spent a period of timein the wilderness living like one of the early desert fathers. Also,prior to entering the monastery, and perhaps as preparation, he spenttime as a civil servant. In his characteristic, self deprecating way,he mentions that he was a "footman who was clumsy and broke everything".
At mid-life he entered a newly established monastery in Paris wherehe became the cook for the community which grew to over one hundredmembers. After fifteen years, his duties were shifted to the sandal repairshop but, even then, he often returned to the busy kitchen to help out.
In times as troubled as today, Brother Lawrence, discovered, thenfollowed, a pure and uncomplicated way to walk continually in God'spresence. For some forty years, he lived and walked with Our Father athis side. Yet, through his own words, we learn that Brother Lawrence'sfirst ten years were full of severe trials and challenges.
A gentle man of joyful spirit, Brother Lawrence shunned attention andthe limelight, knowing that outside distraction "spoils all". It was notuntil after his death that a few of his letters were collected. Josephde Beaufort, representative and counsel to the local archbishop,first published the letters in a small pamphlet. The following year,in a second publication which he titled, 'The Practice of the Presenceof God', de Beaufort included, as introductory material, the content offour conversations he had with Brother Lawrence.
In this small book, through letters and conversations, Brother Lawrencesimply and beautifully explains how to continually walk with God -not from the head but from the heart. Brother Lawrence left the giftof a way of life available to anyone who seeks to know God's peace andpresence; that anyone, regardless of age or circumstance, can practice-anywhere, anytime. Brother Lawrence also left the gift of a directapproach to living in God's presence that is as practical today as itwas three hundred years ago.
Brother Lawrence died in 1691, having practiced God's presence for overforty years. His quiet death was much like his monastic life where eachday and each hour was a new beginning and a fresh commitment to loveGod with all his heart.
Edited by Lightheart at PracticeGodsPresence.com October 2002
Introduction: At the time of de Beaufort's interviews, Brother Lawrencewas in his late fifties. Joseph de Beaufort later commented that thecrippled brother, who was then in charge of the upkeep of over onehundred pairs of sandals, was "rough in appearance but