Piety

At the risk of causing my readers to suffer “quiplash,” I feel that I must quote the old cliché: “The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.” Or its sister truism: “The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.”

Unfortunately, those humorous references to genuflectionary sanctimony might leave the impression that a prayerful posture is the ultimate criterion for piety. Of course, any prayer posture is acceptable if one’s mind is on God; remember St. Dominic’s twelve postures of prayer? (One Person even prayed an anguished prayer amidst a rabble mob on Calvary while hanging from a cross!)

In theological terms, piety, (or godliness) is not just facility in praying, regardless of the prayer posture. Piety is another of the gifts of the Holy Spirit--one that lets us experience a “delight in the fear of the Lord” (Is 11:3, emphasis mine). (To avoid misunderstanding of fear of the Lord, see chapter 69 of this book.) Piety is thus a delight in reverencing or worshiping God as his child; it is a gift by which we experience a filial affection for God as our Father, as Jesus did (see Jn 8:29).

To submit to God as our Creator is the virtue of religion, but to relate to him with filial affection as our Father is the gift of piety. This gift of filial relationship with God is bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit: “You have received a Spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:15-16, emphasis mine).

Thus, authentic piety is a kind of prayerful snuggling in the loving arms of our heavenly Father (try reciting the Lord’s Prayer in that frame of mind). That very word picture bespeaks a warm and comfortable trust in our loving, protecting, providing Father. Piety goes with trust as ham goes with eggs.

This excerpt is from the book Pathways of Trust, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.