 | Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection · Christ Bearer Press $7.99 Kindle · $10.99 Paperback · $24.99 Hardcover Buy on Amazon → |
Peace with God is not only for monks and mystics. It can begin in your kitchen, at your desk, or behind the wheel, today.
Maybe your days are full and your prayer is thin. You love God, but you meet Him for a few rushed minutes and then lose Him in the noise of work, worry and family life. Maybe you have tried methods and plans and given them up. Brother Lawrence knew that struggle. He was a clumsy former soldier and footman who spent his religious life among pots and pans, and he found a way to live every hour in the company of God. Then he showed his friends how to do the same.
His secret is so simple it can be missed: a little conversation with God, carried through the whole day. Turn to Him at the start of a task, speak to Him in the middle of it, thank Him at the end. When your mind wanders, come back gently, without fretting. Do small things for love of Him. "I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God," he said, and in that ordinary work he found a joy that never left him, even in pain and in death.
For more than three hundred years, readers of every background have found help in this little book. Yet Brother Lawrence was first of all a Catholic religious, and his peace grew from the Mass, the sacraments and a life of loving obedience. Here you meet him whole: the eulogy his friends wrote after his death, every letter they saved, his maxims, and the conversations set down by the priest who sought him out. You hear the cheerful, humble brother as his friends heard him, and you see how his holiness grew in a life very much like yours.
In this book you will find:
- the four Conversations in which Brother Lawrence explained his way, plainly and warmly, to a priest who came to learn from him
- all sixteen of his Letters to nuns and devout friends, some written to a sister in long illness during his own last months, full of tender, practical counsel
- his Spiritual Maxims, short rules for living in the presence of God that you can carry through your day
- the story of his life and holy death, told by the priest who knew him
- a nine-day novena to help you begin: one passage, one reflection, one small practice and one prayer each day
- drawings of a young pilgrim living out each chapter, and large, easy-to-read type
This is a book to live with, not just to read. You can open it anywhere and find a sentence to pray with. The Introduction sets Brother Lawrence in his home: a Carmelite lay brother in seventeenth-century Paris, faithful to the Rule, to his superiors and to the sacraments, who drew his peace from the same Church you belong to.
Where to begin? Start with the Conversations if you want his voice, or with the story of his life if you want to know the man. Then read a letter or a maxim each morning and try it out before lunch. When you finish, pray the novena, and let nine days of small practice become a habit of the heart.
If you are struggling, if prayer feels dry or God seems far away, take heart. Brother Lawrence spent years in darkness before peace came. He did not ask for great feelings, only for faith and a return to God, again and again. That return is the whole practice, and anyone can begin it.
Who it is for
- busy Catholics who want to pray without leaving their work
- anyone beginning or renewing a life of prayer
- parents, caregivers and those in hard seasons of suffering
- OCIA candidates, parish prayer groups and retreat reading
- a gift for Confirmation, a new job, a birthday or a time of grief
"Pray constantly." (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
Come as you are, with a full schedule and a restless heart. God is already with you. This book will help you notice Him.
Laudetur Iesus Christus.
Book details
Author: Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection · Publisher: Christ Bearer Press · Paperback: 178 pages · Paperback ISBN 979-8-1610-7021-5 · Hardcover ISBN 979-8-1611-7206-3 · Language: English · Newly translated from the French editions of 1692 and 1694
Part of Modern Catholic Spiritual Classics. See all our books →
The Practice of the Presence of God
| Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection · Christ Bearer Press $7.99 Kindle · $10.99 Paperback · $24.99 Hardcover Ver en Amazon →Por ahora, este libro está disponible solo en inglés. |
Peace with God is not only for monks and mystics. It can begin in your kitchen, at your desk, or behind the wheel, today.
Maybe your days are full and your prayer is thin. You love God, but you meet Him for a few rushed minutes and then lose Him in the noise of work, worry and family life. Maybe you have tried methods and plans and given them up. Brother Lawrence knew that struggle. He was a clumsy former soldier and footman who spent his religious life among pots and pans, and he found a way to live every hour in the company of God. Then he showed his friends how to do the same.
His secret is so simple it can be missed: a little conversation with God, carried through the whole day. Turn to Him at the start of a task, speak to Him in the middle of it, thank Him at the end. When your mind wanders, come back gently, without fretting. Do small things for love of Him. "I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God," he said, and in that ordinary work he found a joy that never left him, even in pain and in death.
For more than three hundred years, readers of every background have found help in this little book. Yet Brother Lawrence was first of all a Catholic religious, and his peace grew from the Mass, the sacraments and a life of loving obedience. Here you meet him whole: the eulogy his friends wrote after his death, every letter they saved, his maxims, and the conversations set down by the priest who sought him out. You hear the cheerful, humble brother as his friends heard him, and you see how his holiness grew in a life very much like yours.
In this book you will find:
- the four Conversations in which Brother Lawrence explained his way, plainly and warmly, to a priest who came to learn from him
- all sixteen of his Letters to nuns and devout friends, some written to a sister in long illness during his own last months, full of tender, practical counsel
- his Spiritual Maxims, short rules for living in the presence of God that you can carry through your day
- the story of his life and holy death, told by the priest who knew him
- a nine-day novena to help you begin: one passage, one reflection, one small practice and one prayer each day
- drawings of a young pilgrim living out each chapter, and large, easy-to-read type
This is a book to live with, not just to read. You can open it anywhere and find a sentence to pray with. The Introduction sets Brother Lawrence in his home: a Carmelite lay brother in seventeenth-century Paris, faithful to the Rule, to his superiors and to the sacraments, who drew his peace from the same Church you belong to.
Where to begin? Start with the Conversations if you want his voice, or with the story of his life if you want to know the man. Then read a letter or a maxim each morning and try it out before lunch. When you finish, pray the novena, and let nine days of small practice become a habit of the heart.
If you are struggling, if prayer feels dry or God seems far away, take heart. Brother Lawrence spent years in darkness before peace came. He did not ask for great feelings, only for faith and a return to God, again and again. That return is the whole practice, and anyone can begin it.
Para quién es
- busy Catholics who want to pray without leaving their work
- anyone beginning or renewing a life of prayer
- parents, caregivers and those in hard seasons of suffering
- OCIA candidates, parish prayer groups and retreat reading
- a gift for Confirmation, a new job, a birthday or a time of grief
"Pray constantly." (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
Come as you are, with a full schedule and a restless heart. God is already with you. This book will help you notice Him.
Laudetur Iesus Christus.
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