Laurentius of the Resurrection (1614–1691)
Together with these lines, I am sending you a reply to the letter I received from our good sister N... (1); please be so kind as to pass on my writing to her. It seems to me that she has an entirely good will, but that she wants to be - when it comes to spiritual growth - quicker than grace: a person does not become a saint all at once!
I entrust her to you, we must help each other with advice and even more with good example. Let me know occasionally how she is doing and whether she is properly zealous and obedient.
Let us often remember, dear mother, that our only task in this life is to please God: is not everything else foolishness and vanity? We have lived as religious for more than forty years, have we used them to love God and serve Him, He who called us to this in His mercy? I am filled with shame and sorrow when I think on the one hand of the great graces that God has bestowed upon me and continues to bestow on me without ceasing, and on the other hand, how poorly I have utilized them, and of my slow and sluggish progress on the path of perfection.
Because God, in His mercy, grants us a little more time, let us quickly and joyfully get to work! Let us make up for lost time! Let us once again turn with full confidence to this good Father, who is always willing to lovingly receive us. Let us renounce, dear mother, let us generously renounce out of love for Him everything that is not Him, for He deserves infinitely more. Let us think of Him without ceasing. Let us place all our trust in Him, I have no doubt that we will soon experience the workings and overflow of His graces, with which we can overcome everything; without them, however, we will only continue to fall into sin.
We cannot avoid the dangers and pitfalls that life is full of without constant, current help from God; let us ask for it without ceasing. But how can we ask for it if we are not with Him? How can we be with Him unless we often think of Him? How can we think of Him often, if we have not made it a holy habit? You will tell me that I keep telling you the same thing. That is true: I know no more suitable and simpler means than this! And because I use no other, I recommend it to everyone. A person must know a certain thing before they can love it: to know God, we must often think of Him. And when we love Him, we will think of Him all the more, for where our treasure is, there our heart is (2). Think about this often and a lot!
Your most devoted etc.
March 28, 1689
(1) The recipient of this letter is some nun whose name we do not know, nor do we know the name of the “good sister” to whom the attached reply is addressed.
(2) Mt 6:21.
Excerpted from the book: Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, Collected Works
Published by: Sister Ancilla Karl OCD and Father Antonio Sagardoy OCD
Published by: CERF Paris, 1991
Translated and edited by: Norbert Žuška, OCarm.
