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Brother Lawrence

2021-08-29 5:40 PM | Thomas
We must not grow weary of doing little things for the love of God, who looks not on the great size of the work, but on the love in it. We must not be surprised at failing frequently in the beginning; in the end, we will have developed the habit that enables us to produce these acts of love without thinking about them, deriving a great deal of pleasure from them.
  --From "The Practice of the Presence of God" translated by Robert J. Edmonson.

  --Brother Lawrence (1614 – 1691)

(100:7.8)  He loved men as brothers, at the same time recognizing how they differed in innate endowments and acquired qualities. "He went about doing good."

(132:4.4)  Jesus was very fond of doing things—even little things—for all sorts of people.

(171:7.8 -10) The Master could discern saving faith in the gross superstition of the woman who sought healing by touching the hem of his garment. He was always ready and willing to stop a sermon or detain a multitude while he ministered to the needs of a single person, even to a little child. Great things happened not only because people had faith in Jesus, but also because Jesus had so much faith in them.
    Most of the really important things which Jesus said or did seemed to happen casually, "as he passed by." There was so little of the professional, the well-planned, or the premeditated in the Master's earthly ministry. He dispensed health and scattered happiness naturally and gracefully as he journeyed through life. It was literally true, "He went about doing good."
    And it behooves the Master's followers in all ages to learn to minister as "they pass by"—to do unselfish good as they go about their daily duties.

    This is from one of four conversations between Brother Lawrence and the Abbe de Beaufort, Grand Vicar of the Cardinal of Noailles, that took place in 1666 and 1667. After each one, the Abbe carefully recorded what Brother Lawrence had told him. Recognizing in Brother Lawrence "the beauty of holiness," the Grand Vicar has left succeeding generations in his debt for making Brother Lawrence known.
    Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection served as a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris. Christians commonly remember him for the intimacy he expressed concerning his relationship to God as recorded in a book compiled after his death, the classic Christian text, The Practice of the Presence of God.

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