Start:Stop - Business as usual

Monk (Mönch) by Katharina Fritsch, 1997/1999 (Art Institute Chicaco)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for a few moments and start to reflect on a passage from scripture. My name is Phillip Dawson. You can find an audio version of this reflection at this link. This week we begin with a passage from St Paul’s letter to the Romans. Described as his ‘theological masterpiece’ Paul’s reasons for writing the letter - to diverse congregations he did not establish and had not visited - are unclear; but in it, he sets out his view on the demands that living a life in a Christian community entails:

Bible Reading - Romans 12.9-12

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.


Reflection

Someone who perfected the art of being constant in prayer was Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, a lay brother of a religious community in Paris who lived in the seventeenth century. His approach - conversing with God while going about his daily chores, meant that it became habitual - for Brother Lawrence, prayer was business as usual.

While many accounts of his life paint him as an uneducated man - and he describes himself as not exactly bookish, it is clear that he could read and write and developed a great spiritual wisdom - although he always maintained that what was paramount in spiritual matters is not knowledge but will - we have to desire the presence of God.

That requires practice. Even though we know that God is all around us at all times - like a friend accompanying us wherever we go; most of us don’t act like it. We ignore Him. This isn’t just rude - like ignoring a friend in the corner of a room at a party - it’s incomprehensible when we know that this is the most loving, generous and compassionate friend we will ever have. We need to practice the presence of God.

Brother Lawrence’s approach of continual focus on God through simple, honest conversation, earned him a reputation as a sort of spiritual celebrity during his lifetime and attracted the attention of the Abbé Joseph de Beaufort who wrote accounts of four conversations he had with Brother Lawrence during the summer and autumn of 1666. After his death, collated and published a series of short letters from Lawrence; one to a priest and the others to religious women who had contacted him asking for spiritual advice. The conversations and letters were published under the title “The Practice of the Presence of God” which soon became a “spiritual classic”.

Born Nicholas Herman into a poor family in the Lorraine region of France, he joined the army when he was old enough to do so - like many young men from his background this was a sure way of being fed. He fought in the Thirty Years’ War. After his discharge he worked as a footman in the household of a leading member of the nobility, but by his own admission was clumsy and regularly dropped and broke things. While Brother Lawrence does not go into detail in either the conversations or the letters, there are hints that his military service left lasting effects both physically and mentally. In middle age he applied to join the Carmelites as a lay brother. Lay brothers were admitted to perform specific tasks to further the work of the order. Brother Lawrence spent fifteen years working in the kitchens, before ill health meant he was transferred to work fixing sandals.

The seed of his faith and spirituality was planted on the battlefield, when he encountered a leafless tree in the middle of the snow. Realising that it would be in full leaf by the spring, he saw the tree as manifesting the transforming power of God’s love and became aware of His power to transform the human heart.

One letter describes how one of the more learned members of the Order had sought to understand how Brother Lawrence developed his spirituality. He explained that he had consulted many books and listened to the way that others entered into prayer, but these appeared overly complex and perplexed rather than assisted him.

He adopted a simple approach of speaking directly to God asking for his assistance in his work as and when needed using as many or as few words as he thought necessary - an approach which requires no special knowledge or preparation but only a heart (and will) resolutely determined to love God for His sake.

In approaching prayer in this way, we realise that every moment and every task is sacred - every minute of our working lives equal to every minute we spend in church;

"The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, [he wrote] and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time  calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquillity as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.”

But isn’t it easy for a monk - of all people - to make prayer “business as usual”? Isn’t that what they are supposed to do? For the rest of us surely things are more difficult - we have lots of other things to think about during the course of a day.

In his letters we learn that the life of a Lay Brother is more like our lives than we might think. Brother Lawrence didn’t always find it easy to juggle prayer with his work. He had tasks to complete which he did not enjoy or feel capable of doing well. For the first ten years living in community he found his prayers distracted by thoughts of his past failures and his current difficulties. But he came to realise that dwelling on thoughts of the past not only got in the way of being present to the presence of God - but was also a manifestation of a lack of faith in God - that his forgiveness was not sufficient. Acknowledging our emotional baggage but leaving it behind is essential to live in the presence of God.

Brother Lawrence found that often during the course of a day different thoughts would occupy his mind, different images of God would appear - sometimes there would be periods when he didn’t talk to God at all. None of this should concern us, he writes. God doesn’t need us to shout often or loudly he is “nearer to us than we think.”

Brother Lawrence recommends that to ensure we remain focussed on God in prayer we need to be focussed in every other area of life. Prayers before and after each task asking for God’s assistance and prayers of thanks before each meal can help to keep us on track. 

The biggest distractions for Brother Lawrence came later in life, when most of the letters were written - at a time when he was afflicted by the pain of illness. He prayed not that his suffering be taken away but to receive the strength and courage to bear it until God sought fit to make him well. His final letter, written a week before his death, concludes with the plea for us to pray for each other.

This week began with what some have described as “Freedom Day” - with many parts of the City getting closer to business as usual. Wherever we happen to working this week, may we be inspired by the wisdom and example of Brother Lawrence; that we might continually practice being in the presence of God - that for us too, prayer - however and wherever it is said - becomes business as usual.


Silent Reflection


Prayer

We end with the words that Brother Lawrence prayed when he was about to begin a new task;

O my God, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience to Thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech Thee to grant me the grace to continue in Thy presence; and to this end do Thou prosper me with Thy assistance, receive all my works, and possess all my affections.
Amen.

Thank you for listening to this week’s Start:Stop reflection. Do join us in church or online for our events and services, check out our website for details. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Image : Monk (Mönch) by Katharina Fritsch, 1997/1999 (Art Institute Chicaco)

Links

For more information on 'The Practice of the Presence of God' see this post. 
You can find an older translation of the text online at this link. More modern translations may be easier to read.