Brother Lawrence: Listener Questions

Turning to the Mystics with James Finley

Center for Action and Contemplation

Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Kirsten and Jim answer Season 12 listener questions, which focus on the teachings of Brother Lawrence. Resources: The transcript for this episode can be found here. Connect with us: This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at ⁠⁠https://cac.org/support-cac/podcasts/⁠⁠ Thank you!

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more, visit
0:05.5	CAC.org. Greetings. I'm Jim Finley. And I'm Kirsten Oates. Welcome to Turning to the Mystics.
0:29.1	Welcome, everyone, to season 12 of turning to the mystics, where we've been turning to brother Lawrence and practice of the presence. And I'm here with Jim to respond to the
0:35.4	questions that have come in this season. Welcome, Jim.
0:38.5	Thank you. Yeah. This is the 12th season and there were 12 disciples, so we're on a roll.
0:44.1	We're on a roll. Wonderful. And I want to start by just saying thank you to everyone who made the
0:52.4	effort to send in a question. The questions really
0:55.6	helped the season really make sure we're tracking with people and that we're being responsive
1:01.6	to what's not clear and what insights people are getting. And Jim, this season, the questions
1:08.1	yet again were just wonderful.
1:11.7	Yeah, there were.
1:16.3	Unfortunately, we don't have time to answer them all, but we do read them all.
1:19.3	And we're very grateful for them, so thank you again.
1:22.6	And with that, we're ready to get started, Jim?
1:23.6	Yes.
1:24.3	Wonderful.
1:28.3	So the first question is from Andrea, and she says,
1:32.5	I've heard elsewhere that Brother Lawrence was too bothered by his sins to be able to maintain himself as a hermit.
1:35.5	In your telling, he was too troubled by PTSD.
1:40.0	I can see that sin and trauma are both forms of separation from connectedness.
1:45.7	So I see the connection between sin and PTSD, but the tone feels so different in the two
1:51.4	renderings. Can you speak to this? Let's say that in a broad sense, PTSD, post-traumatic stress
	...

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