Finding God in the Ordinary: A Review of “The Practice of the Presence of God”
Some spiritual books challenge us with great theological ideas. Others give us new ways to pray. Then you have those rare little books that quietly transform us in ways we did not expect. Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God is one of those books.
Brother Lawrence was a seventeenth-century Carmelite lay brother whose life was, by most standards, remarkably ordinary. He worked in the monastery kitchen, and he repaired sandals. He went about the daily tasks required of him in community life. Yet in the midst of those ordinary responsibilities, Brother Lawrence learned to remain continually aware of the presence of God.
After his death, his conversations and letters were collected into the small spiritual classic we now know as The Practice of the Presence of God. Its central idea is wonderfully simple: we do not have to escape ordinary life in order to encounter God. We can learn to turn toward him again and again while washing dishes, working, teaching, caring for children, running errands, or doing any of the countless tasks that fill our days. Perhaps that is why the book has remained beloved for centuries.
Brother Lawrence’s world may look very different from ours, but the struggle to remember God in the middle of a busy day certainly has not changed.
Recently, Ascension sent me its new Catholic Classics edition of The Practice of the Presence of God to review. And I have to begin with something that has absolutely nothing to do with theology: This book is beautiful!
The hardcover, leather-like cover is one of those book covers you immediately love when you touch it. Something substantial and almost devotional comes from simply holding it. I realize that sounds like a funny thing to say about a spiritual classic. However, this beautiful edition invites you to pick it up, leave it beside your chair, carry it with you, and return to it. This book feels meant to be kept. Kudos to Ascension for that unexpected delight.
A Pope, a Carmelite Brother, and Centuries of Continuity
One of my favorite additions to this edition comes before Brother Lawrence’s own words even begin: a foreword from Pope Leo XIV. There is something particularly moving about reading the current Holy Father’s reflections on a spiritual work that has nourished Christians for generations. Pope Leo has spoken of The Practice of the Presence of God as a book that deeply shaped his own spiritual life (particularly in December 2025), and his foreword provides a beautiful doorway into Brother Lawrence’s wisdom. I found myself thinking about the continuity those pages represent.
Here is the simple spiritual wisdom of a seventeenth-century Carmelite brother being handed to twenty-first-century Catholics by the pope. Centuries separate them, but the fundamental Christian invitation remains the same: know the Lord, love Him, and learn to live your life in His presence. That continuity is one of the Catholic faith’s treasures. We are constantly discovering that what helped Christians become saints hundreds of years ago still speaks remarkably well to the questions we are asking today.
More Than a Reprint
Ascension could simply have produced a beautiful new edition of Brother Lawrence’s text and stopped there, but I am glad they didn’t.
The introduction to the Catholic Classics edition provides helpful context for both the book itself and the larger series. It helps readers understand what they are about to encounter without making the spiritual classic feel overly academic or inaccessible. I especially love the introductions accompanying the individual sections. They help draw out the richness already present in the text. They give the reader a little more context, another question to consider, or another angle from which to approach Brother Lawrence’s deceptively simple wisdom.
And “deceptively simple” really is the right phrase.
The Podcast
Ascension has also created something particularly helpful for those who like to learn by listening. Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., and his sister Rebecca Dougherty, a theology teacher, host the companion season of Ascension’s Catholic Classics podcast. These episodes let readers move through The Practice of the Presence of God alongside them, with additional commentary and reflection along the way.
I love this approach because it makes reading a classic spiritual work feel less solitary.
You can read a section of the book and then listen as Fr. Gregory and Rebecca unpack it. Or you can listen while driving, folding laundry, cooking dinner, or doing one of the hundreds of ordinary things that Brother Lawrence himself would probably tell us are perfectly good places to meet God.
A Classic Made Accessible Again
Producing a new edition of a beloved spiritual classic always comes with a challenge. If you modernize it too much, you risk losing what made the original enduring. If you leave it completely untouched, some readers may find the language or historical distance difficult to enter. Ascension has found a beautiful middle ground.
The Catholic Classics edition honors Brother Lawrence rather than competing with him. The additional material provides guidance without overwhelming the original text. The podcast offers another layer for readers who want to go deeper. And the physical book itself is beautiful enough that you want to keep reaching for it.
Most importantly, none of those additions distract from the message at the heart of The Practice of the Presence of God. Well done, Ascension!
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