35 pages • 1-hour read
The Practice of the Presence of God
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Background
Historical Context: The French School of Spirituality in Catholicism
The Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation in 16th-century France brought about a renewal of mysticism and doctrine in the Catholic Church, established the Protestant faith, and solidified two opposing branches of Christianity that exist to the present day.
The Protestant Reformation introduced the ideas of German priest and reformer Martin Luther and French theologian John Calvin to France, leading to the Huguenot (French Calvinist) movement. The Catholic Church severely persecuted the Huguenots, and this led to the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598). The wars ended in the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which granted the Huguenots freedom to practice Protestantism, which had already spread throughout Europe.
The Catholic Reformation (or Counter-Reformation) was the Catholic Church's internal reform effort. Under the direction of Pope Paul III, over 200 high-ranking clergy formed the Council of Trent, which met between 1545 and 1563 to define and reaffirm the core Catholic doctrines. It ultimately expanded the Church's power and suppressed Protestantism's spread in the 17th century.
One of the spiritual movements from this era that had a particularly lasting influence is the French School of Spirituality. The Catholic Reformation had emphasized the universal call to holiness—i.e., the need for laypeople, not just the clergy, to pursue a spiritual life. Accordingly, the important figures in the French School, such as Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle and St. Francis de Sales, preached the need for a close, humble, personal communion of the individual with God and Christ. In reaction to Renaissance humanism—a secular movement based on the philosophy of civic virtue—Bérulle called on believers to reorient their lives toward God. The French School’s insistence on maintaining communication with God at all times was complemented by an equal emphasis on maintain an attitude of reverence, awe, and humility. In this way, the French School aimed to balance the ideas of God as imminent and transcendent (see Terms).
Religious Context: Brother Lawrence and the French School
Brother Lawrence’s teachings in The Practice of the Presence of God belong to the French School and echo many of its central themes. Lawrence places God at the center of life, insisting that Catholics should see all things in relation to God and constantly commune with the divine in their everyday activities. If necessary, Catholics must deny themselves things that stand in the way of their relationship with God.
Lawrence stresses that communication with God should be a form of contemplation from the heart and not merely a performance of rote prayers and rituals, again reflecting the French School’s emphasis on having a personal relationship with a God. These aspects of the French School reflect the charism—or spiritual orientation—of the Carmelite monastic school, to which Lawrence belonged.
Lawrence’s desire to spread his message to non-Catholics may also reflect the missionary spirit of the French School, which was involved with the effort to evangelize not only in France’s colonies overseas, but also to Christian areas of Europe and the Americas that had become secularized. The Carmelites performed their missionary work primarily in Central and South America, in countries such as Peru, Mexico, and El Salvador.
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