COLLATION III.
On the gift of piety.
Summary. - Introduction: the twofold exercise, 1. - Three things to be considered, 2. - Part I. On the exercise of piety. This consists in three things, 3. - First, in the reverence of divine veneration, 4. 5. - Second, in the custody of intrinsic sanctification, 6. 7. - Third, in the abundance of interior compassion, 8. 9. - Part II. On the original principle of piety. This is threefold, 10. - It arises first from the uncreated Trinity, 11. - Second, from the incarnate Wisdom, 12. - Third, from holy mother Church, 13-15. - Part III. On the benefit or utility of piety. It avails for three things, 16. - First, for knowing true things, 17. - Second, for avoiding evils, 18. - Third, for obtaining good things, 19.
1. Exercise thyself unto piety. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but piety is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. These words are in the first Epistle to Timothy, in which the Apostle shows that there is a twofold exercise befitting man: one bodily, and another spiritual; and he shows that spiritual exercise is to be preferred to bodily as being a nobler exercise and a more useful one. For bodily exercise has little utility; whence he says: Bodily exercise profiteth little; but spiritual exercise has the greatest utility. Whence spiritual exercise is to be preferred to bodily: as much as spiritual things are to be preferred to bodily, eternal to temporal, and invisible to visible, so much is that spiritual exercise to be preferred to bodily. Therefore, if anyone is wise, he ought to seek spiritual exercise more than bodily, because bodily exercise profiteth little, for it is useful for the comfort of the body, but sometimes it is the cause and occasion of the contrary. Someone believes he is going to sport, and he goes to war; he seeks pleasure, and finds sorrow. Whence Seneca says: "I have found many exercising the body, but few exercising their minds." Foolish would he be who could dig for gold and wished to dig in mud. Spiritual exercise surpasses bodily more than gold surpasses mud. Of this spiritual exercise, insofar as it is ordered to piety, we must speak; for after fear we must speak of piety.
But we cannot explain this most sacred exercise in words nor put it into practice except through the aid of the Holy Spirit. Therefore at the beginning we shall invoke the grace of the Holy Spirit and beseech the Lord that He grant me to say something which may be to His honor and to the benefit of our souls.
2. Exercise yourself unto piety, etc. The Apostle Paul, as a good teacher, arouses the concern of our minds and intellects toward the good use of the divine gift. And having presupposed the influx of piety, he invites us to the exercise of piety and sets forth the benefit of piety. If you have received the gift of God, exercise yourself unto piety, lest you fall from the gift; if you do not have the gift of God, exercise yourself to obtain piety. He assigns the reason for this when he adds: Piety is profitable for all things, etc. Therefore he shows that concerning this gift of piety, three things are to be considered by us, namely the exercise of piety, the benefit of piety, and the original principle of piety. If it is a gift, then it is necessary to know how it is given; if it is a noble gift, it is necessary to know how we may advance in it and exercise ourselves; if it is a useful gift, let us see what fruit we may obtain from it.
See, my whole intention is that you conceive the gift of piety in your soul and learn what it is to be pious.
3. Let us begin from the exercise. The exercise of piety consists in a threefold act, namely in the reverence of divine veneration, in the custody of intrinsic sanctification, and in the superabundance of interior compassion. The first two modes of piety are more deeply rooted than the third.
4. First, I say, the exercise of piety consists in the reverence of divine veneration. Whence in Ecclesiasticus it is said of Josiah that he took away the abominations of impiety and governed his heart unto the Lord, and in the days of sinners he strengthened piety. It is certain that before the coming of Christ, the worship of God did not flourish except among the Israelite people, and it did not flourish in the whole people, because the ten tribes in the time of Jeroboam worshiped idols, namely the golden calf; nor did the worship of God flourish even throughout the whole time in the two tribes, because David was the best worshiper of God, but afterward came Manasseh, the worst, who made the people commit idolatry; but after him came Josiah, who began to reign in his eighth year and took away all idolatry, and in the days of sinners he strengthened piety, that is, divine worship.
5. That piety is the worship of God, Job says: Behold, he says, piety itself is wisdom. Another translation has: Behold, fear, that itself is wisdom; but in the Septuagint translation it reads: Behold, piety itself is wisdom. And Augustine says that piety in Greek is the same as theosebia, which is the same as the worship of God. The worship of God, moreover, consists chiefly in reverence for God, which is not had without fear. For it is necessary for a worshiper of God to think of God most loftily, most devoutly, with reverence and fear.
If you think diminishingly of the power of God, namely that he cannot create all things from nothing: you do not think most highly. Similarly, if you think diminishingly of the wisdom of God, namely that through his wisdom he cannot penetrate the innermost things: you do not think most highly. Just as we have the testimony of light, that it not only shines in itself but can illuminate many other bodies, so God sees and illuminates all things, because he himself is light. If you think of God's power and of God's wisdom that he cannot restore bodies, whether badly or well: then you think wrongly of God and do not think most highly. Likewise, if you do not believe in the divine condescensions and mercies, through which God fills the creature serving him with grace, pardon, and beatitude: you are not a worshiper of God.
I say therefore that piety is nothing other than a pious sense, pious affection, and pious service toward the pious, first, and highest origin. The highest good cannot be possessed nor worshiped without piety. Naturally every thing tends toward its origin: a stone downward, and fire upward, and rivers run to the sea, a tree is joined to its root, and other things have continuity with their root. The rational creature is deiform, which can return upon its origin through memory, understanding, and will; and it is not pious unless it pours itself back upon its origin. Therefore I said that piety is nothing other than a pious sense, pious affection, and pious service toward the pious, first, and highest origin.
The first exercise of the gift of piety therefore consists in the reverence of divine veneration.
6. The second exercise of the gift of piety consists in the custody of intrinsic sanctification; concerning which the Apostle says: I beseech first of all that supplications, entreaties, prayers, and thanksgivings be made for all, etc.; there follows: that we may lead a quiet life in all piety and chastity. You ought to understand that the summit of the Christian religion consists in piety and purity. For a man can never be piously disposed toward himself unless he has peace . This is the Christian religion, which consists in these two things. The tranquility of peace exists only in the tranquility of conscience. And conscience is not holy unless it is good and pious, namely that it prefers the life of virtue and grace to the life of nature. - Consider well: if a man were more attached to his shoe than to his foot, he would not love his foot much. He who would expose his foot to breaking for the sake of a shoe, would he love his foot much and be much attached to his foot? Certainly not. He who for a small thing would expose himself to hanging would not love his own life much. Must not a man guard his soul in holiness? Certainly so. But he exposes his soul to confusion who does not guard himself from sin.
7. O, how few there are who guard the piety of religion! But the Lord examines the wicked. It is said in Ecclesiasticus: Have mercy on your own soul, pleasing God; and gather and restrain your heart in holiness.
Have pity on your soul, that is, have piety toward your soul; pleasing God, namely, that you strive to please God. And how? Gather and contain your heart in holiness.
Some are content to have exterior holiness, namely in word and gesture and outward conduct; but this is to adorn holiness outwardly, like a man who whitewashes himself outwardly and makes a sepulcher of the dead, which outwardly is whitewashed . But just as "feigned righteousness is not righteousness, but double iniquity," so feigned holiness is not holiness, but rather iniquity. Against such the Apostle says: In the last times there will be men who are lovers of pleasures, having the appearance of piety, but denying its power.
Having the appearance of piety, "that is, of religion," says the Gloss. Those having the appearance of piety are hypocrites.
For such a one is a son of perdition. Of such a one it is said: With the breath of his lips he shall strike the impious one, namely him who will have the greatest appearance of piety. — Therefore the second exercise of the gift of piety is through the custody of interior holiness. — But some have no mercy on their soul; indeed, they do the worst they can to their soul. They supremely hate their soul; they could not do worse to it than they do, because they do everything the devil suggests to them. Have pity on your soul! And some under the appearance of piety take up things that are against their soul. They say: I will go to baseness under the appearance of piety. What piety is this? Certainly none.
8. The third exercise of the gift of piety is in the abundance of interior compassion. Of this it is said in Ecclesiasticus: These are men of mercy, whose acts of piety have not failed; with their seed good things endure.
Dearest ones! You ought to run through the lives of the holy Fathers, and you will see that these are men of mercy, namely Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, and Samuel. What was the piety of Noah! For a hundred years he did nothing but build the ark, so that he might save the human race. How great was the piety in the most sacred Abraham! God descended to strike the cities in which there were abominations of sin; and Abraham interceded with the Lord for them and wrested from the Lord that if He should find ten just men in the cities, the Lord would spare them. How great was the piety of Joseph! Who, sold by his brothers — indeed his brothers wanted to kill him — yet he guarded his brothers, governed and enriched them and their sons; and he had piety toward preserving the whole world by gathering and storing grain. How great was the piety of Moses! Who loved the people provoking the Lord and prayed to the Lord for them saying: Hear me, Lord, this people has sinned: either forgive this people this offense, or if you do not, blot me out of your book which you have written. Bernard gives the example of a woman who has her little child and is outside the house. If it were said to her: leave your little child outside the house, and you enter the house; she would not want to enter the house, such that the child would remain outside. So Moses willed that the Lord would forgive the people their sin, or that He would blot him from the book of life. So it was with Samuel, when the people sought a king; afterwards the people recognized that Samuel had governed the people well, and when the people had sinned, they feared that Samuel would not want to pray to the Lord for them. And the people asked him to pray for them, and Samuel said: Far be it from me that I should cease to pray for you. Of how great piety was David, king of Israel! Saul was seeking to kill him, and David had Saul in his hand: he could have killed him, with God not prohibiting it, because God said to him: I will deliver him into your hands . He could have killed him, with no man prohibiting it, nor the law prohibiting it; and yet he spared him and his house. These therefore are men of mercy, whose acts of piety did not fail.
9. To this piety blessed Peter invites us, who was the other Apostle, in his second Canonical epistle saying: Supply in faith virtue, in virtue knowledge, in knowledge abstinence, in abstinence patience, in patience piety, in piety brotherly love, and in brotherly love charity. What does he mean? He places piety in the middle of two, namely between patience and charity. He says piety is a purple garment, and patience and charity he says are a royal garment. Whoever wishes to be pious toward his neighbor, it is necessary that he bear with him patiently and love him charitably. David bore himself patiently and charitably toward his enemy; so it is necessary that a man bear himself toward his neighbor.
Where is piety today? There is no mean, because God has taken away the extremes; so great is the cruelty today that man cannot be satisfied with vengeance; today impatience and wrath reign; man judges badly; even if a man does not offend me, I will nevertheless judge badly of him. Whence comes this? Surely, because I do not have charity. Blessed Peter well knows how to say how I may have charity, because if I have patience on the one hand and charity on the other: behold, the exercise of piety.
10. Perhaps you will say, brother: I do not have this gift. It is necessary, therefore, that I explain to you the original principle of piety. And you will say: you should have begun from the principle, and you began from the exercise. No, brother, I could not lead you to the original principle of piety except through the act and exercise of piety. Now the gift of piety originates first from the uncreated Trinity, second from the incarnate Wisdom, and third from holy mother Church sanctified by the Spirit.
11. See, I say, that the gift of piety arises first from the uncreated Trinity, namely from God the Father. Although God possesses all the most noble properties, He is nevertheless most excellent in this property, namely that of piety; whence it is said in the prayer: "O God, whose property it is always to have mercy and to spare," etc. And in Ecclesiasticus: Pious and merciful is God, and in the time of tribulation He forgives sins and is a protector to all who seek Him in truth.