PRACTICING THE PRESENCE
Luke 10:38-42
"Martha, Martha you are worried and distracted by many
things, there is need of only one thing."
"We should establish ourselves in a sense of God's Presence,
by continually conversing with him."
(Brother Lawrence, The
Practice of the Presence of God)
St. Augustine was a theologian and bishop,
Julian of Norwich was a visionary locked in her cell, and St. John of the Cross
was a monastic reformer and poet but, you may be pleased to know, the fourth
Christian mystic we will meet on this Lenten journey, was a cook. He would have fitted well into Volmoed, so
today without further ado or even waiting to check it out with the Trustees, I declare
Brother Lawrence (1611-1691) our patron saint.
Born Nicholas Herman, Brother Lawrence was a
soldier for eighteen years before he became a treasurer to the King of
France. But since the age of eighteen he
had a great sense of God's loving guidance in his life in all its aspects. This, in turn, awoke in him a great love for
God, which led him to make the love of God the end of all his actions. That was the reason why he eventually decided
to become a monk because he thought he
could then spend his days in prayer and contemplation. So he joined a Carmelite monastery in
Paris. He did not want to be like
Martha, distracted by the busyness of everyday life; he desired, rather, to be like Mary and spend quality time with
Jesus in quiet contemplation.
So you can imagine how annoyed he was at first
when the Abbot decided that he was not to spend his days in quiet
contemplation, but to work amid the
noise and clutter of the monastery kitchen.
Unlike Mary whose example he
craved, he had to become Martha and busy himself with ensuring that there was
wine in the cellar and food on the table.
But it was precisely in that busy schedule of daily life, , that Brother
Lawrence learnt to practice the presence of God irrespective of where he was or
what he was doing. And that is the heart
of what mysticism is about: a deep awareness of the love of God in the midst of
our daily lives despite its distractions and busyness. You can be Martha and still choose the better
part that Mary had. In Brother Lawrence
contemplation and daily work are brought together. Contemplation is not an escape from reality
and the daily round of necessary activity; it is a way of engagement with God
in the midst of our inescapable responsibilities.
Brother Lawrence did not have the time to write books or poetry like some of the other
great mystics, but he did keep a notebook of his sayings and thoughts, and he
also wrote many letters, all of which were found in his cell after his
death. These were collected by the Abbot
of the monastery. He also collected notes of conversations that various
people had had with Brother Lawrence, and published all of these in a very small
book which he called The Practice of the
Presence of God. This slender volume
has had a remarkable influence over the centuries, and continues to be published
in a variety of languages. You might
call it "every person's" guide to mysticism, for you don't have to be
a saint, priest or recluse to do what Brother Lawrence did. The Christian life, Brother Lawrence is
telling us, is an ongoing loving conversation with God. What we simply have to do is daily practice
the presence of God in our lives like a pianist who daily practices the piano. Loving God requires daily practice.
Of course, this is not easy, and in some
situations it might be difficult. After
all, as Bonhoeffer once said, you don't normally think about God when you are
cuddling up to your wife or husband in bed!
But even if you do, it is unlikely that a rugby player will be practising
the presence of God in the middle of a
scrum even if a soldier might do so in the heat of battle facing possible
death. But in the normal round of life,
in our relationships, in our daily work, and especially in times when life gets
tough, or anger takes hold of us, or envy and greed, being mindful that God is
present and loves us will make all the difference to what we say and do. Difficult, of course, but that's why we have
to practice the presence, or get into
the habit as it were.
Like most of us, Brother Lawrence had periods
of spiritual dryness when he found prayer difficult. But that did not mean that
he stopped practising the presence of God, whether at daily prayer in the
monastery chapel or at daily work in the monastery kitchen. So he learnt, as he tell us, "doing
little things for the love of God," because God "regards not the
greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed." It did not matter that he had to peel
potatoes while other monks were busy in the library or deep in contemplation. What mattered was doing his work out of love
for God. "The time of business," he wrote, "does not ... differ
from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen... I
possess God in as great tranquillity as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed
Sacrament."
Brother Lawrence did not follow any set method
of prayer and contemplation, his method, he said, was "simple attention...and a general
passionate regard to God; to whom I find myself attached with greater sweetness
and delight than that of an infant at a mother's breast." Like an infant who cuddles up in the embrace
of his mother, he sensed that he was continually being embraced in the warmth
of an infinite love that nourished and gave him life. In a letter to one of his friends who was a
soldier, Brother Lawrence writes:
We have a God who is infinitely gracious, and knows all our
wants...He will come in his own time and when you least expect it. Hope in him more than ever; thank him for the
favours he does you, particularly for the fortitude and patience which he gives
you in our afflictions; it is a plain mark of the care he takes of you; comfort
yourself then with him, and give thanks for all.
That is practicing the presence of God. If God is the love that embraces then
practicing the presence of God means daily giving thanks, daily placing our
trust and hope in God, daily seeking to love others, not just those who are
close to us, but all those we encounter.
Practicing the presence of God means learning to forgive, learning to
serve the needs of others, learning to do what is right, learning to be
compassionate and just. Like a pianist
who daily practices in order to master his music, so the Christian who follows
Brother Lawrence's example, daily practices love for God through practicing
love even in the kitchen.
John de Gruchy
Volmoed
Lent 4
23 March 2017
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