In 2025, Pope Leo XIV wrote the introduction to a reprint of a book, called The Practice of the Presence of God, which is a collection of writings by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, OCD.
The Pope had explained on a flight that this book provides a key into his own spirituality.
Who is the 17th-century Carmelite called Brother Lawrence? Why is the Pope a fan of his book? And why isn’t Brother Lawrence a saint (yet)?
A leafless tree waiting to bloom
Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection was born into a peasant family in France in 1614, and was baptized with the name Nicolas Herman. The details of his life are sparse, and different sources provide conflicting information. One of the main sources is the compilation of contemporary texts written by and about him, which make up the The Practice of the Presence of God.
One of the key events of his life is his first spiritual awakening as a teenager. He saw a bare tree in winter and was struck by God’s providence, which rules the seasons and makes each plant bear leaves and fruit in due time. This “perfectly set him loose from the world and kindled in him such a love of God” that decades later he would tell a friend he was unsure “whether it had increased in the 40 years that he had lived since.”
He joined the army at the age of 18, but was taken prisoner and mistreated by the German army. Once freed, he returned to battle, and then was injured by Swedish forces. This left him incapacitated for military service at the age of 21, and he would be plagued by a limp and other complications for the rest of his life.
Nicolas tried to live as a hermit, but failed to find peace there. He then tried his hand at serving as a footman for a French aristocrat in Paris, but was ill-suited for that as well. By his own account, he was “a great awkward fellow who broke everything.” He was like that leafless tree in winter, waiting for time designated by the Lord for him to bloom.
Living constantly in God’s presence
At the age of 26, he joined the Discalced Carmelites, and in 1642 made his profession as a lay brother. That is when he took the name Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.
In religious life, he served first as the community’s cook for many years, and then as the community’s sandal-maker. He did not enjoy these tasks, and struggled in his spiritual life during the first years.
Not suited to complex devotions or erudite theological reflection, he abandoned himself to God and simply sought to live in His presence constantly, doing nothing but His will. In this way, he finally found peace. In a letter, he wrote, “I make it my business only to persevere in His holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention, and a general fond regard to God.”
This was, at last, his time to bloom. He wrote and spoke often about this holy practice of living in God’s presence during his life, and was frequently visited by people of varied stations in life for spiritual guidance. After his death in 1691, Father Joseph de Beaufort compiled Brother Lawrence’s writings and other accounts of his conversations on the topic into the book now known as The Practice of the Presence of God.
This book has since been a source of spiritual guidance for men and women of many generations — including Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo XIV and Brother Lawrence’s book
Pope Leo XIV’s fondness for this book became known in December 2025, during the press conference on his flight home from visiting Turkey and Lebanon. He was replying to a journalist who had asked him earlier to name a book not by St. Augustine that would help the world understand who the new pope is. His answer: The Practice of the Presence of God.
“It’s a very simple book, by someone who doesn’t even give his last name,” Leo XIV said. He goes on to briefly describe the main idea, that “one simply gives his life to the Lord and allows the Lord to lead.” This principle, he added, has guided his life for many years, especially when he was living in Peru during dangerous and difficult times.
He mentioned this again a week later, on December 9, when a reporter asked him why he had not stopped visibly to pray during his visit to the Blue Mosque in Turkey. “Who said that I didn’t pray?” the Pontiff responded. “I could be praying right now,” he added, and referred specifically to Brother Lawrence’s book again.
And then, still in December, the Vatican released a new edition of The Practice of the Presence of God with a new introduction written by none other than Pope Leo XIV. In it, he once again cites the book’s influence on his spiritual life. He praises Brother Lawrence’s “simple and arduous path” that transforms not only our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors, but also our feelings.
The Pope also points to Brother Lawrence’s great humility and sense of humor, and declares him as “an inspiration and a help also for the life of us men and women of the third millennium.” The 17th-century Carmelite teaches us today that “there is no circumstance that can separate us from God, that every action of ours, every occupation, and even every mistake of ours acquires an infinite value if they are lived in the presence of God, continually offered to Him.”
Why isn’t Brother Lawrence recognized as a saint?
Pope Leo XIV compares Br. Lawrence’s experience of union and personal relationship with God with that of great mystics, including St. Teresa of Ávila. So, why isn’t he recognized as a saint as well?
First, being a saint, in the sense of being a holy person who has died and is now living in God’s presence in heaven, is not the same as being a canonized saint, someone the Church formally recognizes as such. There are countless saints in heaven who have not been canonized, and Brother Lawrence can plausibly be considered among them, if not with the certainty and formal liturgical recognition that comes from canonization.
The fact is that canonization is a long process with many stages and requirements. Those who want to have the person recognized as a saint must provide abundant information about the person’s life and virtues. They must also provide proof of two miracles attributed to the person’s intercession. All of this involves time, travel, and thousands of pages of paperwork, and all of that costs money.
From all accounts one can find, Brother Lawrence’s cause of canonization hasn’t been rejected; it has never begun. This is likely because there isn’t enough evidence available to justify the time and expense of starting the formal process.
That shouldn’t stop us from joining Pope Leo XIV in learning this simple but demanding path to holiness, and even asking Brother Lawrence for his intercession as we strive to follow in his footsteps.
