Pope Leo XIV credits 17th-century Carmelite Brother Lawrence’s “The Practice of the Presence of God” as a key influence on his spirituality amid life’s trials.
Newsroom (22/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) In a recent interview, Pope Leo XIV shared a rare personal insight into the spiritual reading that has most profoundly shaped his life and ministry, naming the 17th-century classic “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Carmelite friar Brother Lawrence as his formative text outside the works of St. Augustine.
“It’s a very simple book by someone who doesn’t even give his last name,” the pope remarked. “I read it many years ago, but it describes a type of prayer and spirituality where one simply gives his life to the Lord and allows the Lord to lead.”
The pontiff connected the book directly to his own journey, noting that this trusting spirituality sustained him “in the midst of great challenges, living in Peru, during years of terrorism, being called to service in places where I never thought I would be called to serve.” He added, “I trust in God, and that message is something that I share with all people.”
The pope’s endorsement has sparked renewed public interest in the slender volume. Google searches for the title have surged, and three editions now dominate Amazon’s mysticism category.
Though only about 40 pages long, the book—compiled from Brother Lawrence’s letters and conversations—has long been regarded as a spiritual masterpiece. Its author, a lay brother in a Paris Carmelite friary, spent much of his religious life as a kitchen cook, transforming mundane labor into continual prayer.
To explore the enduring appeal of Brother Lawrence’s teaching, The Pillar consulted Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, the renowned spiritual writer and bishop of Trondheim, Norway.
Bishop Varden described the “presence of God” as a central biblical theme, from God’s self-revelation to Moses as “I Am Present,” through Isaiah’s promise of Emmanuel (“God-with-us”), to Christ’s assurance, “Behold I am with you always.” God, he noted, is never absent; rather, “we are the absent ones.” Brother Lawrence’s gift, the bishop said, is to teach readers “to return from our own estrangement, to seek communion with God, to learn to be reverently alert to him who is in us and about us.”
On practical steps to cultivate this awareness, Bishop Varden urged cultivating attentiveness and silence, resisting self-centered mental loops, and spending time each day simply being still. Spiritually, he recommended daily Scripture reading in modest portions, frequent reception of Confession and the Eucharist, and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
The bishop found Pope Leo’s choice of this text “heartening,” signaling a pontiff who “puts the search for God first, and exhorts us to do the same.”
Asked how best to approach the book, Bishop Varden advised against rushing through it. Given its origins in reflections matured over a lifetime, readers should “give it time,” treating its brief, simple entries with deliberate care rather than skimming like casual posts.
Brother Lawrence’s emphasis on sanctifying everyday tasks—famously turning kitchen work into prayer—aligns with the Catholic tradition of ordinary holiness. Bishop Varden noted that St. Teresa of Ávila similarly declared, “God walks among pots and pans.” He also saw continuity with St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s “little way,” both drawing from an ancient insight: most of life consists of small acts that become great when offered in love.
A 20th-century Romanian Orthodox monk, quoted by Bishop Varden, captured the essence: “Obedience without prayer is servitude; obedience with prayer becomes liturgy.” For Brother Lawrence and St. Thérèse alike, the goal is “making every aspect of existence an act of worship by consciously, trustfully living it before the face of God.”
Historically accused of Quietism—an charge of promoting passive spirituality—Brother Lawrence was firmly defended by Bishop Varden as emphasizing active praxis. The friar’s final declaration amid suffering—“Come what may, I will, for the entire rest of my life, do everything for love of God”—underscores a willed, loving response rather than inactivity.
For those struggling with distraction in prayer, the bishop advised examining daily habits first: “We prepare our time of prayer by the way we live the rest of the time.” Inner stillness, he stressed, begins with intentional living throughout the day.
Finally, on Brother Lawrence’s call to abandonment in God, Bishop Varden counseled resolute trust in providence, peaceful fulfillment of duties, rejection of murmuring or anger, and conscious effort to bear credible witness to Christ in whatever task lies immediately at hand.
In highlighting this unassuming kitchen friar’s wisdom, Pope Leo XIV has quietly directed the Church’s attention back to a timeless truth: holiness is not reserved for extraordinary moments, but woven into the ordinary when lived in deliberate, loving awareness of God’s ever-present companionship.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from The Pillar
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