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The Brother Lawrence Collection Kindle Edition

by Brother Lawrence (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 194 ratings
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Included in this collection are two different translations of The Practice and Presence of God, The Spiritual Maxims of Brother Lawrence, and a short Biography of Brother Lawrence. The Practice and Presence of God is one of the most beautiful and touching stories of Christian devotion ever written. Brother Lawrence was a Carmelite Brother known for his profound peace and deep relationship with God; many came to seek spiritual guidance from him. The wisdom that he passed on to them, in conversations and in letters, would later become the basis for the book. These two translations will help the reader find a more complete understanding of this wonderful and enduring story. The Spiritual Maxims of Brother Lawrence are beautifully spiritual teachings that can help anyone have a closer relationship with God. And the short biography that closes out the books offer a fascinating glimpse into the life of Brother Lawrence.
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  1. Print length
    109 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Start Publishing LLC
  5. Publication date
    February 18, 2013
  6. File size
    274 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00BIFLR9Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Start Publishing LLC (February 18, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 18, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 274 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 109 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1604592516
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 194 ratings

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Brother Lawrence

Brother Lawrence

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
194 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Peaches
5.0 out of 5 stars Genuine godliness
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2024
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Writings of a 13th century monk. Simple , genuine and full of inspiration— these words are not enough.
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V. Bede
5.0 out of 5 stars Simple truth
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2020
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Brother Lawrence has boiled the Christian life down to one simple principle: Love God with your entire being. That is what he meant by practicing the presence of God. While constantly turning to God he praised and adored God and it found expression in the way he worked, loved others, etc. He is a bit repetitive, since he has only one principle to elucidate, yet I read it cover to cover and enjoyed it very much.
3 people found this helpful
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Rick J. Strassman
4.0 out of 5 stars If you are living in a monastic or monastic-like environment (or wish you were) this book may be of great value
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2017
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Brother Lawrence lived for decades in a Carmelite monastery in Paris in the 17th century. The withdrawal from normal daily life, minimizing interactions with those ignorant or derisive of the religious life, provided Brother Lawrence with an opportunity to exist in that state of mind which initially attracted him to the discipline. With the addition of a maximally supportive cloistered community, he was relatively free to engage in the mental, behavioral, and verbal practices conducive to attaining and maintaining a relationship with God, a relationship that brought him to a particularly highly reinforcing state.

Brother Lawrence summarizes this practice and its effects in one of the entries of this little book, “Practice and Presence of God.” Its qualities partake of a more-real-than-real relationship with the perfect father, perfect son, perfect king, perfect friend, perfect brother--more perfect than anything on earth. By constantly thanking, praising, and petitioning that thing, God, Brother Lawrence exemplified and taught about the effects of that relationship as well as methods to obtain it. The other chapters in this short book present his correspondence, maxims, and a brief biography.

I would have liked to have met Brother Lawrence and his brethren. He was focused, energetic, kind, modest, soft-spoken, of few words, earnest, helpful. He was happy and sometimes childlike—with a shining face, the energy within might require a bursting out in song or dance. While monastic kitchens can be hectic, the discipline, routine, and mostly non-verbal interactions of his 15 years there provided an ideal setting to stay in the presence of God even while working. Those who met him loved him and he appeared to reciprocate. Nevertheless, he could criticize gently when criticism was called for.

I enjoyed this book. Brother Lawrence seemed like a religious practitioner who had found a perfect fit among his personality, experience, aspirations, and community. His advice is ostensibly simple, not requiring inordinate amounts of study or cognitive exercising. But they are difficult, because they require a psychic severing of attachments to everything but God, Who naturally enough is invisible. Several of his maxims I had never encountered in quite the exact version they appear in this book, and found them helpful. For example, “The soul learns what activities bring God’s presence near. It remains in His presence by practicing those activities.” And in response to hearing about someone’s loss, he said “I pray he profits from his loss.”

As a Jewish reader, I am sensitive to mentions of Jesus, but these are relatively few. To the extent that Christianity regards God and Jesus as synonymous terms, the few times Jesus came up, I simply replaced what I was reading with "God."

It’s my tendency to compare Western religious teachings and figures with those from the East, particularly Buddhism. Brother Lawrence does not teach Buddhism, at least the form that has established itself as mainstream Western Buddhism. God is outside of Brother Lawrence and he establishes and works hard to maintain a relationship with God. The closest Buddhist teachings that I could adduce in contrasting Brother Lawrence’s might be Bankei’s “abiding in the Unborn.” One of God’s characteristics is being unborn, as well as un-created, un-dying, and so on. However, in Bankei’s teaching, the implication is that one resides “in” the Unborn rather than “with” the Unborn. Brother Lawrence prays to God as something outside of himself, whereas Bankei seeks the Unborn within his own mind. Zen and other Buddhist meditation practices are inward-focused and directed toward attaining the dissolution of one's relationship to anything: the mind, the breath, the self, or the body. Brother Lawrence's practice attains to the apex of a type of interpersonal relationship with usually invisible realities.
7 people found this helpful
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Sujittra Chaturongkul
5.0 out of 5 stars I have found this book to be an excellent perfect fit for my major spiritual guidance.
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2020
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I have read, "The Practice of the Presence of God" which is the main portion of this book, in four different versions, and have found this portion and the book to be an excellent perfect fit for my major spiritual guidance.

Brother Lawrence, the author, was a Carmelite monk in the seventeenth century. He was unlearned and of a humble status. Yet, anyone could say that he comprehensively knows God and his way of staying in God's presence is the most practicable and the most correct. His usual way, going from thinking about God, to knowing God, to finally loving God, is the most helpful to me.

The following piecing together of his words is the recapitulation of his main ideas even though he does not believe much in book learning besides the Bible. The numbers in parentheses are the locations in kindle book format.

Think of nothing but God. (541) Love Him with pure love (1049) above all others. (561) Renounce whatever does not lead to God. (567) Faith as our foundation must be all in God. (405) Trust in God and surrender completely to Him. (581) Stay with God as much as one can. (700) The sole occupation in life is to please God. (729)

God deals with our hearts according to His will. (745) God Himself paints Himself into the depths of our souls. (1003) In communion of our hearts with His, one has only to do it generously and simply. (956) Keep your attention on God in a simple, loving way. (680)

Seek happiness in God alone. (1011) Live and die with Him. (382) Develop the ability to completely abandon oneself into God's hands. (1018) The practice of the presence of God is the easiest and shortest way to attain Christian perfection and to be protected from sin. (975) Our only business in this life is to please God, and that all besides is but folly and vanity. (359)
11 people found this helpful
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Bill Simons
5.0 out of 5 stars It's Never Too Late
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2017
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In 17 days I will be 76 years old and until two years ago I had led a very successful life. However, difficulties started creeping into my life; physical, psychological, and financial. I cannot find the words to describe how much Brother Lawrence's book The Practice of the Presence of God has not only helped to get through these times but has also given me the faith and courage to face the future knowing God will be with me all the way.
15 people found this helpful
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mhill35160
5.0 out of 5 stars good read
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2021
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Brother Lawrence is an inspiration. Good read
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M. Green
5.0 out of 5 stars I Love Brother Lawrence!
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2015
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I absolutely love Brother Lawrence! This is the perfect book for a self retreat. He is very wise and easy to understand! This is a book that you will want to keep and read it again and again. He is very inspiring. What I cannot understand is why is this man not a Saint?
3 people found this helpful
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L. K. Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars But for the person looking for a better Christian prayer life
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2016
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This is a small book, a little hard to read. But for the person looking for a better Christian prayer life, a closer relationship with the Lord, this is a great book to help you work toward "prayer without ceasing". Just because a book is not "the latest and greatest" from a famous preacher doesn't mean it has no worth. One of our biggest stumbling blocks is to ignore writings from earlier Christians of centuries gone by.
10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Charlie Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars A simple but oh so powerful text
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2021
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A classic text of Christian spirituality . Simple to read but deep in riches . This is a book that I return to time and time again and is a well of encouragement and help that i never tire of drawing upon!
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars powerful classic and inspriational
Reviewed in Canada on August 15, 2017
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classic if you can only have one devotional it would be this
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Ruth
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on February 4, 2016
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A great book for those looking to connect with God through out their day in a lifestyle of prayer.
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PC
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 30, 2013
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A guide to the heart of God to read again and again. Thank you God for this saintly man and his surrender to you
Our amazing God
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Lynne Hall
4.0 out of 5 stars Profound, helpful but part missing
Reviewed in Canada on February 14, 2024
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I’ve read several Brother Lawrence versions. I particularly like this one because it has two different translations—one older language and one more modern—of the original work. I’ve enjoyed comparing the two. Imagine my disappointment to discover that in the 4th Conversation the last 8 paragraphs are missing from the modern translation. Otherwise I would give this 5 stars. The biography by Beaufort is a lovely edition.
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