Day 3: Practicing the Presence of God

Catholic Classics

Ascension

Spiritual Writings, Father Jacob Bertrand, Faith, Father Gregory Pine, Intro To The Devout Life, Catholic Spirituality, Fr. Bertrand, Meditation, Catholic Faith, Education, Christianity, Dominicans, Catholic, Spiritual Life, Religion & Spirituality, Fr Gregory, Francis Desales, Catholic Classics, Self-improvement, Devout Life, Classic Text, Introduction To The Devout Life, Catholic Church, Intro To Devout Life, Fr Gregory Pine, Classic Texts, Fr Jacob Bertrand, Mystics, St Francis De Sales, Fr Jacob, Spirituality, Prayer, Ascension, Saints, Fr. Pine, Spiritual Reading, Catholicism, Catholic Spiritual Reading

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🗓️ 10 June 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

How do we actually practice the presence of God in our lives? Fr. Gregory and Rebecca explore how prayer is not meant to be confined to just the chapel or a quiet hour in the morning, but woven into cooking meals, opening laptops, caring for children, working, studying, and everyday responsibilities. Today, we are reading Part 1: Third Conversation and Fourth Conversation.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Rebecca Docherty. And I'm Father Gregory Pine. And you're listening to The Catholic
0:04.3	Classics podcast, where we seek to grow our interior lives by learning from the church's
0:08.6	greatest saints and teachers. Each season will read through a great work, explain its spiritual
0:13.4	principles, and help you apply its timeless wisdom to your life. The Catholic Classics podcast
0:17.9	is brought to you by Ascension. This season, we are reading Ascension's exclusive translation
0:23.1	of practice of the presence of God by Brother Lawrence.
0:26.1	This is day three.
0:27.4	Today we will be reading part one, third conversation,
0:30.2	and fourth conversation.
0:32.0	A few reminders before we get started.
0:34.4	To get your own copy of Ascension's edition
0:36.5	of practice of the presence of God, go to
0:38.6	ascensionpress.com slash presence. Before we get into the reading, a quick look at what we're
0:43.9	covering today. Today's reading will go through the third and fourth conversation, rounding out
0:49.6	part one. One of the themes of today's reading is that our time of prayer should not be different from
0:56.3	other parts of our lives. We practice the presence of God at all times. Let's get started.
1:03.2	Third Conversation, November 22, 1666. The foundation of my spiritual life is in having a lofty idea and esteem of God in faith.
1:14.0	Once I had solidly conceived this, it left me with no other care than to faithfully reject,
1:19.9	especially in the beginning, every other thought, so that I might do all my deeds for the love of God.
1:26.5	Sometimes, when I go a long while without thinking
1:29.0	about him, I am not troubled by this. However, after acknowledging my wretchedness to God, I return
1:35.7	to him with all the more confidence for finding myself so miserable as to have forgotten him.
	...

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