Pope Leo: Br. Lawrence teaches us pleasure of dwelling every day in God’s presence

[ad_1] Pope Leo XIV writes an introduction to “The Follow of the Presence of God,” a e-book by Carmelite Brother Lawrence, in a brand new version launched by the Vatican Publishing Home (LEV). Written by a humble French non secular within the 1600s, the e-book marked the religious lifetime of Fr. Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo.

By Pope Leo XIV

This small e-book locations on the heart the expertise—certainly, the observe—of the presence of God, because it was skilled and taught by the Carmelite friar Lawrence of the Resurrection, who lived within the seventeenth century.

As I've had event to say, along with the writings of Saint Augustine and different books, this is without doubt one of the texts which have most formed my religious life and have shaped me in what the trail might be for understanding and loving the Lord.

The trail Brother Lawrence factors out to us is easy and arduous on the identical time. Easy, as a result of it requires nothing apart from continually calling God to thoughts, with small, continuous acts of reward, prayer, supplication, adoration, in each motion and in each thought, having as our horizon, supply, and finish Him alone. Arduous, as a result of it calls for a journey of purification, of ascetic self-discipline, of renunciation and conversion of essentially the most intimate a part of us—of our thoughts and our ideas much more than of our actions.

It's what Saint Paul already wrote to the trustworthy of Philippi: “Have in you a similar sentiments as Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). Subsequently, it's not solely our attitudes and behaviors that should be conformed to God, however exactly our sentiments—our very manner of feeling. On this interiority we discover His presence, the loving and burning presence of God, so “different” and but acquainted to our coronary heart. As Saint Augustine writes, “the brand new man will sing the brand new track” (Sermons 34,1).

The expertise of union with God, described in Brother Lawrence’s pages as a private relationship product of encounters and conversations, of concealments and surprises, of trusting and complete abandonment, calls to thoughts the experiences of the good mystics—first amongst them Teresa of Ávila, who had additionally testified to this familiarity with the Lord to the purpose of talking of a “God of the pots and pans.” Nevertheless, it signifies a path accessible to all, exactly as a result of it's easy and on a regular basis.

Like many mystics, Brother Lawrence additionally speaks with nice humility but additionally with humor, as a result of he is aware of nicely that each earthly factor, even essentially the most grand—and even dramatic—is a really small factor earlier than the infinite love of the Lord. Thus, he can say mockingly that God “deceived” him, as a result of he, having entered the monastery maybe a little bit presumptuously to be able to sacrifice himself and harshly expiate the sins of his youth, discovered there as a substitute a life filled with pleasure.

Via the trail that Brother Lawrence proposes to us, little by little, because the presence of God turns into acquainted and occupies our inside house, the enjoyment of being with Him grows, graces and religious riches blossom, and even every day duties grow to be straightforward and lightweight.

The writings and testimonies of this Carmelite lay brother of the seventeenth century, who with luminous religion lived via the troubled occasions of his century—actually no much less violent than ours—might be an inspiration and a assist additionally for the lifetime of us women and men of the third millennium. They present us that there isn't a circumstance that may separate us from God, that each motion of ours, each occupation, and even each mistake of ours acquires an infinite worth if they're lived within the presence of God, regularly supplied to Him.

All Christian ethics can actually be summed up on this continuous calling to thoughts the truth that God is current: He's right here. This remembrance, which is one thing greater than a easy reminiscence as a result of it includes our sentiments and affections, overcomes each moralism and each discount of the Gospel to a mere algorithm, and reveals us that actually, as Jesus promised us, the expertise of entrusting ourselves to God the Father already offers us the hundredfold right here beneath. Entrusting ourselves to the presence of God means tasting an anticipation of Paradise.