One of the joys of examining the lives of the saints is observing how their lives take twists and turns that lead them to the places they are ultimately called to serve. This is the case with both Brother Lawrence, whose life was forever transformed through his experience as a soldier, and Patrick, whose early years as a slave in a foreign country changed the trajectory of his life. Through simple faith and legendary acts, the lives of these two faithful servants of Jesus begin to shine through. And yet, only one will advance to the Saintly Sixteen.
Yesterday, in the biggest margin of victory of Lent Madness 2020 to date, Joseph trounced Joshua 73% to 27% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen, where he'll face the Biblical Elizabeth. None of this gets easier as we move ever closer to the awarding of the Golden Halo.
Time to vote!
Brother Lawrence
Brother Lawrence understands troubling times. Born into poverty in Lorraine, France, around 1614 as Nicholas Herman, he joined the Army during the Thirty Years War in search of regular food and sustenance. Unfortunately, he was spiritually and physically injured by the violence of the battle. It is said that Nicholas first experienced God while staring at a dormant tree in the middle of winter. In that moment, Nicholas realized that God was present and working even in things that appeared to be dead—himself included. His contemplation reawakened his spirit, and Nicholas realized that if God could work in that tree, then God could also work within him and in much of the mundane life around him. Thus, began a journey where Brother Lawrence found God in the simplest of things.
Following his injury, Nicholas joined an upper-class household to serve as a footman. Crippled and awkward, Nicholas reported that he was a clumsy servant, ill-suited to carrying things he was most likely to break. He yearned to be a part of a community in which he could contemplate God. Consequently, he joined the Discalced Carmelite Priory in Paris where he took the name of Brother Lawrence. There he continued to serve others and was often found in the scullery, cooking and doing dishes. During this time, he began to develop his maxims for mundane living, providing the foundation for his book, The Practice of the Presence of God. Brother Lawrence’s book teaches us that even the small things in life are opportunities to pay homage to our Maker.
Brother Lawrence’s contemporaries report that he had an unworldly knack for marrying activity and contemplation. It is said that toward the end of his life, Brother Lawrence achieved living as though it were only God and himself and all his activities solely focused on God.
Brother Lawrence calls us to find God in our chores, our routines, our moments of anger and frustration. Brother Lawrence knows the pain of mental and physical injury and that God is working in the boring, the painful, and the moments we wish we could rush through. Brother Lawrence calls each of us to be fully present with God in every moment, not just those we consider as spiritual. His feast day is January 11.
Collect for Brother Lawrence
Heavenly God, we give thanks for the life and teachings of Brother Lawrence who through his actions, deeds, and words has taught us to believe in and concentrate on God’s continual attention to us that through our growing awareness of God in all things that we may come to realize our dependence on God’s very personal and continuous presence. Amen.
Patrick
As a sixteen-year-old, Patrick herded sheep. He kept guard as the lambs gnawed clover from the field. Patrick took care of a lot of animals, watching for sickness, cleaning out muck, and gathering in wanderers. With all of that work, his forearms were more muscular than a few months before. He had outgrown his boyhood’s lanky frame and expanded into the body of a man.
Patrick changed in other ways as well. His heart pierced as he thought of his family and birthplace. Out in that space, Patrick felt the acute loss of all he loved. He could not escape the ache of his homesickness, and with no one else to turn to, he began to pray. A few months earlier, bandits had captured Patrick and stolen him from his home in Roman Britain. They had moved him to Ireland, where he became a slave. In his desperate captivity, without the distractions of friends or family, he began to rely on God. Patrick converted to Christianity, and his faith grew deep through his trials.
Six grueling years later, Patrick dreamed that a ship was ready for him. He escaped from his captors and returned home. While Patrick was in Britain, he continued to study Christianity and became a priest. Then Patrick had another dream. Someone delivered a letter to him with the heading, “The Voice of the Irish.” In it, the people of Ireland begged him to walk among them again. He felt deeply moved, but he also had nagging doubts about responding to the call. He didn’t have as much education as he wanted.
Though Patrick was not initially welcome in Ireland, he eventually settled in a place where his ministry flourished. He became a bishop, baptizing thousands of people and ordaining priests who started new churches. He encouraged wealthy women to become nuns and ministered to the royalty. His legends include driving snakes out of Ireland and raising thirty-three people from the dead.
Today, festivities abound in his honor on St. Patrick’s Day. In memory of the patron saint of Ireland, exuberant people parade and green beer flows. The most pervasive emblem harkens back to those grazing sheep. People pin clover to their chests, recalling how Patrick plucked the three-leafed plant from the field in order to illustrate the Trinity.
Collect for Patrick
Almighty God, in your providence you chose your servant Patrick to be the apostle to the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so to walk in that way that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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196 comments on “Brother Lawrence vs. Patrick”
My favorite quote is “ Teach us to delight in the simple things.”—- Rudyard Kipling
So Lawrence it is!
I like Lawrence's teaching about being present with God in whatever the moment is. Besides, my mom went Home St. Patrick's Day 2008... kind of spoiled it for me from then on
I'm missing Oliver's young wisdom this year.
Yes! I started on day one searching the comments for Oliver - alas, to no avail! I miss him dearly!
me too. whenever the choice was too close, I always looked for what Oliver said
Ditto
I've been searching for meaning in a job that I've spent a long time in, mainly because it has allowed me to keep it despite my health issues. I'm over educated, underpaid and have been fearful of leaving because who knows if I could survive the change to something else. Lawrence's humble attitude and the acceptance that God is with me in even the least of tasks tells me that I am ok, and to stop being so hard on myself and my life for being such an "under achiever". Thank you for including him in this year's tournament, and he has my vote to go all the way!
"Overeducated and underpaid": the chronic theme for our time. The "precarious class" is the disgrace of our era, the stain on American democracy today. Sending you a prayer for well paid work with benefits, a position commensurate with your education and talents.
This one is a tough one. I just became acquainted to the story of Br. Lawrence and "wow" truly a saint. But, I had to go with Patrick cause he is my patron saint from 8th grade confirmation...certain loyalties I guess 🙂 Great match ups this year!
I have a feeling Brother Lawrence is going to go far in this year's tournament. But wow, the competition does get tough!
Brother Lawrence.
Isn't that how God always works ? Getting us alone without all our worldly goods and cell phones to distract us from Him ?
Even if its in a pasture.
I like them both equally, so I just voted for the one who's losing. I'm shocked it's Patrick, though. I thought he would win by a mile.
I have often had mixed feelings about St Patrick, despite my ancestry.
I really need Brother Lawrence in my life right now. It seems I am not alone. Thank you for bringing him to me.
Brother Lawrence who found the presence of God in the simplest things and even in things that appeared dead and practiced the presence of God in one single act that does not end.
My vote is for Lawrence because he speaks to me in that he found God in the ordinary things in life. I think that most of us are truly Lawrences in the way we come to find God and in the ways we worship Him.
Today, I am cataloguing documents and receipts for my mother's 8 years of as-yet unfiled tax returns (she has dementia), so I had to throw my support to Brother Lawrence. Help me, Brother, to stick with this odious task, rather than the hundreds of other things I'd rather be doing on this fine day in Southern California.
No problem for me today - in the long ago days before ultrasound, I was to be named Patrick. You see how well that turned out. "I arise today..." to vote for my patron saint.
I was always impressed that Patrick chose to return to the land where he had been enslaved and then worked to spread the Gospel. And I’m mostly Irish. And my rector is Fr. Patrick. So there ya go. This will probably result in my first losing vote this Lent.
I have tried to live "The Practice of the Presence of God" ever since I read the book in the 80's. It's time for a saint who spreads how to recognize God's presence in everyday life goes the distance to the Golden Halo! Vote for Brother Lawrence!
I’m torn because St. Patrick is my patron saint but I love Brother Lawrence’s story!
Oh this is a tough one. Both Patrick and Brother Lawrence have outstanding qualities. But I love the idea of Patrick going back to Ireland to minister to a group of people
The Discalced Carmelites operate a beautiful shrine called Holy Hill here in Wisconsin. I try to visit it at least once every year. I voted for Brother Lawrence in honor of the brothers at Holy Hill. Besides, St. Patrick has become such a cliche.
If he's not already, Brother Lawrence should be the patron saint of altar guilds. Here's to finding the holy in the mundane!
Ahmen... - G-d is not just in the 'mundane' of life... - HE is LIFE - Abba YHWH is our life; as Bro. Lawrence learned and shared [in his writings] G-d is "LIFE;" we, mankind, utterly have NO life if we have not received Abba AdonaiElohim as our 'personal' Lord & Savior! Ahmen....
A very difficult choice, but in the end, I went with Brother Lawrence. His bio above made me wonder if he returned home from the war with PTSD since his injuries were both physical and spiritual. Perhaps that was partly why the tree in winter was so meaningful for him. Hugely important to me. BUT the clincher was living faithfully in everyday life.
No contest....Patrick is the man!
My heritage is Irish! My heart is Irish! And, now, I must vote Irish!!! Paddy it 'tis!!
So sorry, Lawrence; if it weren't for Patrick, you would have my vote!!!
Mea culpa.
I had to vote for Saint Patrick my son was born on his day! He will be turning 21 this month
This was a tough one! For many years I belonged to the Brother Lawrence Guild at church; they cater our parish events, with brunch for annual meeting, cookouts for the Pentecost picnic and Michaelmas, and are inspired by his humility and service.
But I'm 3/4 Irish stock: my maternal grandparents "came over" from Ireland and my paternal grandmother was Irish as well. St. Patrick and St. Patrick's Day have always been a big part of my life, so he got my vote today.
Folks, it's Saint Patrick. SAINT PATRICK!!!!! Come on!!!!
Bro. Laurence vs St Patrick
For me while St Patrick is better known, it seems that Bro Laurence carries more impact in today’s devotional world. I more easily identify with someone who “walks with a limp” and who has self doubts. But what sways me towards Bro Laurence is his knack of finding God’s presence in the things he saw in his daily living and then reflected on those very experiences which led him deeper into a life of practical service and deeper faith
And so Nicholas is our first story of PTSD driving a wounded veteran to God. A story for our times, and a reason to let Patrick take a break. Let the cripple have his day!
I am so sad that St. Patrick lost. I am almost as upset as when Bridget of Kildare lost. 🙁
Somehow I missed voting yesterday, but I would have voted for Brother Lawrence, whose book meant so much to me at a special point in my spiritual journey.