Carmelite wisdom to encourage & inspire
Describing his method of prayer to a spiritual director, Brother Lawrence explains that he came to a point of acceptance after years of prayer filled with anxiety: “I found myself changed all at once.”
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Brother Lawrence comforts a sick nun, saying: "God indeed knows what we need, and everything he does is for our good." Brother Lawrence urges us to recognize and accept God's loving action.
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Brother Lawrence speaks with simplicity as he describes his relationship with Christ the King: “this King, full of goodness and mercy, lovingly embraces me, seats me at his table, waits on me himself, gives me the keys to his treasures and treats me in all things as his favorite.”
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Brother Lawrence offers concrete advice to those who struggle with besetting sins; he says that we much carefully examine “which sins we commit most often, and which are the most frequent and inevitable of our falls.” Then, “we must have recourse to God with complete confidence at the moment of combat.”
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Monsignor Joseph de Beaufort was the first biographer of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection. In 1692 he published a Eulogy testifying to the virtues of the humble Carmelite. One example: "He had singular affection for the Blessed Virgin Mary and was especially devoted to her..."
Writing to a nun, as he could to each one of us, Brother Lawrence prays for patience and strength that she may be able to suffer as long as God desires. "Find consolation in him... happy are they who suffer with him."
In one quote we see the foundation of the doctrine of immovable trust in God that was echoed, almost word for word, by St. Thérèse of Lisieux some 200 years later.
After 42 years with the Discalced Carmelites in Paris, Brother Lawrence wrote to a nun: "We must never stop working, since in the spiritual life, not to advance is to go backward."
Brother Lawrence says that the practice of the presence of God is "the essence of the spiritual life, and it seems to me that by practicing it properly you become spiritual in no time."
Brother Lawrence gives us a lesson in Easter faith when he writes, "What consoles me in this life is that I see God by faith..."
Throughout the weeks of Lent, Saint Luke and the Carmelite saints will introduce us to the mystery of Divine Mercy in preparation for the great Easter feast. In Week Three, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection says that God in his mercy lets us make up for lost time so that we can return to him in trust and abandonment. "He is always ready to receive us lovingly."
Brother Lawrence reasons with a woman in spiritual direction: "You would consider it rude to leave a friend who is visiting you by himself; then why abandon God and leave him alone? Do not forget him..."
Joseph de Beaufort learned in his first conversation with Brother Lawrence that "we must nourish our souls with an exalted idea of God, and thereby we will draw great joy from being with him."
Six days before Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection died on 12 February 1691 at the monastery on Rue de Vaugirard in Paris, he wrote to a Blessed Sacrament Nun: “I hope for the merciful grace of seeing him in a few days.”
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.
God is spirit and we must adore him in spirit and in truth, that is, with humble, authentic adoration of spirit in the depths and center of our souls.
We must work gently and lovingly with God, asking him to accept our work
In the year 2021, the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis continues. But the wise response of the Carmelite saints endures: prayer, perfection and the search for truth.
God's help is necessary at every moment because without it the soul can do nothing.
It is there that the soul speaks to God... in a deep and profound peace that the soul enjoys in God
!["I took for my advocate and lord the glorious St. Joseph and earnestly recommended myself to him. [...] I don’t recall up to this day ever having petitioned him for anything that he failed to grant."](https://scontent-dfw5-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t39.30808-6/336879821_1374507696727108_3000064146961560788_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8ae9d6&_nc_ohc=GeKBPoaKfMcAX9h0wg5&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfAcLb9BeLfzYJ7Lx7y3p7CUeWbXYuQwcKCz_isfJSl3zQ&oe=64238CFB)
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Antonio Mas Arrondo
Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices. ~ St. Teresa of Avila
Monasterio de las Batuecas Carmelitas Descalzos
Carmelite Quotes 
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