The Practice of the Presence of God

Think about the theme of Spiritual Humility and the Rejection of Ego as it relates to Brother Lawrence’s own life. Analyze three ways in which Lawrence put the virtue of humility into practice. Use examples from the text in your response.

How does Brother Lawrence balance the need for self-denial with the positive outcome of closeness with God? Analyze passages in which the text juxtaposes negative and positive aspects of spirituality.

Discuss the role that sin, guilt, and God’s mercy play in Brother Lawrence’s life story and his spirituality. Are there any sins that God won’t forgive? How does Lawrence’s view of sin conform to and differ from that of the Catholic Church as a whole?

Brother Lawrence says that “thinking often spoils everything and that evil often begins with our thoughts” (16). Based on your reading of the text, how does this kind of thinking differ from contemplation, which Lawrence espouses? Is there a particular type of “thinking” that Lawrence might be pointing to as unhelpful?

In Christianity, there is a tension between being in the world and seeking communion with God. How does Brother Lawrence resolve this tension? Analyze a few key passages, using examples from the text in your response.

Compare and contrast the personality of Brother Lawrence that comes through in his letters versus his personality as recorded by Beaufort. In what ways are these personas the same, and in what ways do they differ? Why is this important to the effectiveness of the text?

The idea of God as imminent (i.e., very close to human beings) and the idea of God as transcendent (i.e., utterly other and thus demanding respect and worship) are both found in the text. Does one predominate over the other in Brother Lawrence’s thought? How does he reconcile the two?

Although The Practice of the Presence of God is a Christian text, references to Jesus (or Christ or the Son) are infrequent compared to references to God. In what ways does Brother Lawrence’s stress on God’s imminence imply the role of Jesus in the spiritual life?