Quote of the day, 6 February: Brother Lawrence, Maxims 1–5

In these spiritual maxims, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection offers brief counsels drawn from a life spent learning to practice God’s presence in the ordinary duties of each day.

CHAPTER 1
[PRINCIPLES]

Everything is possible for one who believes, still more for one who hopes, even more for one who loves, and most of all for one who practices and perseveres in these three virtues. All the baptized who are true believers have taken the first step along the way of perfection and will become perfect as long as they persevere in the practice of the following maxims.

We must keep our eyes fixed on God in everything we say, do, or undertake. Our goal is to be the most perfect adorers of God in this life as we hope to be throughout all eternity. We must make a firm resolution to overcome, with God’s grace, all the difficulties inherent in the spiritual life.

When we undertake the spiritual life, we must seriously consider who we are, recognizing that we are worthy of all scorn, unworthy of the name Christian, and subject to all kinds of miseries and a multitude of setbacks. These disturb us and make our health, our moods, our inner dispositions, and their outward manifestations changeable; in all, we are persons God wants to humble by means of a multitude of internal and external troubles and trials.

We must believe that it is advantageous for us and pleasing to God to sacrifice ourselves to him; that it is normal for his Divine Providence to abandon us to all sorts of trials, miseries, and temptations for the love of God, and for as long as he likes. Without this submission of heart and mind to the will of God, devotion and perfection cannot endure.

A soul depends on grace in proportion to its desire for greater perfection. God’s help is necessary at every moment because without it, the soul can do nothing. The world, nature, and the devil together wage war so fiercely and so relentlessly that, without this special help and this humble, necessary dependence, they would carry off the soul against its will. This seems contrary to nature, but grace finds pleasure and peace therein.

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection

Writings and Conversations, Maxims

Lawrence of the Resurrection, B; De Meester, C 1994, Writings and Conversations on the Practice of the Presence of God,  translated from the French by Salvatore Sciurba, OCD, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This image of an elderly friar at a writing table was created with Firefly3 in Adobe Express by Carmelite Quotes.

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