XIX — THE GIFT OF PIETY

Presence of God. — O Holy Spirit, Spirit of piety, gladden and sweeten my heart.

Meditation

1 — Through the gift of piety the Holy Spirit gives a new touch to our spiritual life, a touch of sweetness and gentleness that perfects and simplifies our relations with God and neighbor. These relations are fundamentally ruled by justice, the virtue that inclines us always to fulfill duty by giving each his due. Yet if in life we were guided only by justice, our path would be very arid and fidelity difficult.

When, however, through action of the Holy Spirit, filial piety toward the heavenly Father is developed in us — a sense that in practice is translated into lively desire to please Him in all things — then we go beyond somewhat rigid limits of justice and give ourselves with all our heart to service of the Lord. Urged by that deep interior cry, “Father!” which the Holy Spirit repeats within us (cf. Gal. 4:6), we rise toward heaven with desire to win God’s heart, to behave in all things as true children of his; and thus even the hardest and heaviest duties become easy and sweet.

In this way the gift of piety helps virtue of justice and therefore, regarding our relations with God, virtue of religion. Through this gift the Holy Spirit “bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16), so that this truth becomes living and personal experience, capable of lifting us to God with wholly new filial impulse, an impulse that eases and simplifies prayer, transforming it into intimate heart-to-heart with the heavenly Father.

It is therefore very fitting that, aspiring to life of intimate union with God, we desire and invoke this gift. Under its influence our prayer will become more cordial and filial, and we shall attend with greater love and ease to all concerning divine worship.

Let us invoke this gift especially in moments when we feel more dry and cold, so that — even through trial and interior labor — it may help us go to God with a child’s heart. Moreover, our diligence and constant application to prayer despite lack of sensible devotion is one of best dispositions to draw down on us the life-giving breath of the gift of piety.

2 — The gift of piety perfects justice regarding our duties toward neighbor, helping us above all smooth rough edges, conquer that sense of reserve and hardness which, despite striving to practice virtue, still remains in conduct, particularly toward those troublesome or hostile to us. The gift of piety inspires in us sense of God’s fatherhood not only regarding ourselves but also all others. It makes us feel that same fatherhood extends over all men — near or far, friend or enemy — since “one is Father of all, who is above all, and through all” (Eph. 4:6).

Awareness of common fatherhood must not remain confined to ideas, but penetrate practical life and mark our relations with neighbor so as to modify, facilitate, and sweeten them. This is precisely action the Holy Spirit wants to perform in us by putting into act the gift of piety, through which He gently inclines us to sweetness, indulgence, and compassion toward all, precisely because all are children of one same Father.

The Holy Spirit makes us understand that our supernatural brotherhood is a bond far stronger than bonds of flesh and blood, because it springs not from man’s will but from will of the heavenly Father who “before foundation of the world ... predestined us unto adoption of children through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:4-5). In view of this bond, He urges us to go beyond every difficulty we may meet in relations with neighbor, treating all not as strangers but as brothers.

If we want to cooperate with movement of the gift of piety, we must strive to dispose our heart to benevolence and meekness, accustoming ourselves to consider every person — even if opposed to us — as child of God and brother of ours. And when this exercise is harder, instead of discouraging ourselves we will turn with greater insistence to the Holy Spirit, begging Him to do in us what alone we do not know how to do.

Colloquy

“O Holy Spirit, direct my soul, for all those led by You are truly children of God. You teach me I have not received spirit of servitude, to be still led by fear, but spirit of adoption as son, by which, turning my gaze to God, I can cry: ‘Father!’ You Yourself bear witness to my spirit that I am child of God; and if child, then heir: heir of God and co-heir with Christ, provided I accept to suffer with Him so as to be glorified with Him” (cf. Rom. 8:14-17).

“My God, send your light and your truth, that they may shine upon face of earth. I am like empty and sterile ground unless You, Lord, illumine me. Pour into me from heaven your grace, recreate my heart with heavenly dew, give me water of devotion to irrigate surface of earth, that it may produce beautiful and good fruits. Lift up my soul oppressed by weight of its faults, and raise all my desires to divine things, so that, having once tasted sweetness of heavenly happiness, every earthly thing may become wearisome to me.

“Draw my heart to Yourself, freeing me from human consolations that last little. No created thing can fully satisfy my desires or comfort me. Unite me to You with unbreakable bond of your love, for You alone suffice for one who loves You, and without You all things have no value” (Imitation III, 23, 9-10).

O Holy Spirit, create in me a son’s heart toward the heavenly Father, a heart that always seeks, loves, and serves Him willingly. Create in me a brother’s heart toward all neighbors, so that, overcoming every contrast, I may know how to be benevolent, gentle, and meek with all.