The Practice of the Presence of God

The Practice of the Presence of God is a short collection of conversations and letters by Nicolas Herman (Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection), a 17th-century lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris, compiled and published posthumously by Joseph de Beaufort in 1692–94. Brother Lawrence describes a life of continuous interior attention to God in the midst of ordinary kitchen and cobbler work, treating the practice of awareness — not contemplative withdrawal — as the central spiritual discipline.

The text is one of the shortest and most widely read works in the Western contemplative tradition. Its plain register and emphasis on practice in ordinary life have made it a touchstone across Catholic and Protestant traditions alike: A. W. Tozer, Henri Nouwen, and Richard Foster are among those who named it a formative text. Scholarly readers note the compositional layering — Beaufort's edited account is at one remove from Brother Lawrence's actual speech — and treat it as devotional literature shaped by the editor's framing rather than as a transcript.

That he had always been governed by love, without selfish views; and that having resolved to make the love of GOD the end of all his actions, he had found reasons to be well satisfied with his method.

Second Conversation

First lines

The first time I saw Brother Lawrence, was upon the 3d of August, 1666. He told me that GOD had done him a singular favor, in his conversion at the age of eighteen. That in the winter, seeing a tree stripped of its leaves, and considering that within a little time the leaves would be renewed and after that the flowers and fruit appear, he received a high view of the Providence and Power of GOD, which has never since been effaced from his soul.

Contents

Reception

Originally read mostly within French Catholic devotional circles, the book entered the Protestant world via 19th-century translations and became a perennial seller in English evangelical, Quaker, and contemplative-Christian publishing. Figures as varied as A. W. Tozer, Henri Nouwen, and Richard Foster have named it a formative text. Scholarly readers note the compositional layering — Beaufort's edited account is at one remove from Brother Lawrence's actual speech — and treat it as devotional literature shaped by the editor's framing rather than as a transcript. Its short length, plain register, and emphasis on practice-in-ordinary-life have made it a frequent touchstone for contemporary mindfulness writers seeking a Western Christian analogue.

Frequently asked

What is The Practice of the Presence of God about?

It is a short collection of conversations and letters by Nicolas Herman, a 17th-century French lay brother known as Brother Lawrence, compiled posthumously by Joseph de Beaufort in 1692. The book describes his method of maintaining continuous interior awareness of God throughout ordinary daily tasks — kitchen work, cobbling sandals — without need for formal contemplative withdrawal.

Who was Brother Lawrence?

Nicolas Herman (c. 1614–1691) was a French lay brother in the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Paris. He served in the kitchen and later as a sandal-maker, and became known for a practice of continuous interior prayer he called the practice of the presence of God. His spiritual conversations were recorded by Joseph de Beaufort and compiled after Lawrence's death.

Why is the book still widely read?

Its short length, plain register, and emphasis on contemplative practice within ordinary working life have made it accessible across Catholic and Protestant traditions for more than three centuries. Figures including A. W. Tozer, Henri Nouwen, and Richard Foster named it among the most formative texts in their spiritual formation.