He is pious and merciful, because He spares and protects. The Lord says: As a father has mercy on his children, so have I had mercy on you.
Search all the works of God from the beginning to the end, and you will always find operations of mercy that are great, greater, and greatest. The great operations of divine mercy are the operations of nature; the greater operations of divine mercy are the operations of grace; but the greatest operations are the operations of glory. Listen! You are the image of God; and image [imago] is called, as it were, imitage [imitago]: therefore, if you are truly the image of God, you ought to conform yourself to God in piety. Whence in Ecclesiasticus: In judging, be merciful to orphans as a father, and as a husband to their mother; and you will be as an obedient son of the Most High, and He will have mercy on you.
In judging, that is, in fostering justice, be merciful to orphans, namely so that you may truly be a son of the Most High. When the glorious God has compassion on the wretched, why do you not imitate Him? If there were some fountain that caused withered plants to grow green, it would be greatly prized. The soul without piety has withered plants. The river of divine mercy pours itself out most abundantly and causes dead plants to grow green. Is it not necessary that you introduce that river into your soul? But you cannot introduce it except through piety. The first original influence of piety, therefore, is from the uncreated Trinity.
12. The second original influence of piety itself is from incarnate Wisdom. Whence the Apostle to Timothy: Manifestly great is the sacrament of piety, which was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, appeared to Angels, was preached to the nations, was believed in the world, was taken up in glory. The mystery of human redemption accomplished through the incarnate and crucified Word is the great sacrament of piety.
He says that it was manifested in the flesh, through the incarnation; was justified in the spirit, on the gibbet of the cross; appeared to Angels, in the glorification; was preached to the nations, in the mission of the Holy Spirit; was believed in the world, through the spread of the faith; was taken up in glory, through the examination of the final judgment. I say that the incarnate Son of God assumed our poverty. What brought this about? Certainly piety. Whence he ought in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest before God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Through piety he assumed flesh, ascended the cross, was raised from the dead, sent the Holy Spirit upon the earth, called the Church to himself, and freed all the worthy from misery through piety. The Apostle to the Romans says: Do you despise the riches of his goodness and patience and longsuffering? Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God. The Son of God offered a holocaust, namely himself for us: this is the great sacrament of piety.
This sacrament is repeated daily upon the altar. For these reasons he gave us the Sacrament of the altar, so that, mindful of the sacrament of piety, we might put on the bowels of piety. Cruel is the heart that is not softened by these things.
13. The third original influence of the gift of piety is from holy mother Church, sanctified through the Holy Spirit, who possesses the pledge of the Holy Spirit. Holy mother Church has enjoined piety upon all. Those who are born from one father and one mother love one another more than those who are born from one father alone, or from one mother alone. The Holy Spirit makes us children of one father and one mother and members of one body. The Apostle: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, has appeared to all men, instructing us that, denying impiety and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and piously in this world.
Dearly beloved! See whether your piety is that of brother toward brother, and of a brother from the same womb toward a brother from the same womb! Who is our father? Certainly God. Who is our mother? It is the Church, who from her womb bore us through the Holy Spirit and will bring us forth when we shall be presented in eternal light. Do you not see that just as one member suffers with another member, so also we ought to suffer with one another? We are all members of one body, we are nourished with one food, we are brought forth from the same womb, we tend toward the same inheritance: and our inheritance will be magnified the more numerous we shall be, not diminished. We are one body; we ought to be piously disposed toward one another. Come to the father, the father receives you, or the mother; if holy mother Church stands by, even flagitious sinners will be compelled to return. We ought therefore to suffer with one another.
14. As a figure of this it is written in the Psalm: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Like ointment upon the head, which descended upon the beard, the beard of Aaron. We have one Father, one sacrifice, one Sacrament, and one reward. He says: Like ointment upon the head, etc. First there is the ointment of piety upon the head; afterwards it descends upon all others who draw near to the head. — First there ought to be piety in prelates and superiors, and afterwards in the common people; whence he says: which descended to the hem of his garment. Concerning this oil of piety it is said in the fourth book of Kings that a certain woman came to Elisha and said that her creditors wished to take her children; and she said: My husband was a man who feared God. And Elisha said that she should bring all the vessels of her neighbors and pour some of that oil into each one, until all were filled. Why did he command her to bring the vessels of her neighbors? Could he not have multiplied the oil and filled a single jar, so that the woman would not have labored so much? I say that the woman holds the type of the Church, and Elisha holds the type of Christ. When the Church is poor in merits and it is necessary that she repay the debt: by what means will she repay? She must fill the vessels of her neighbors. Do you wish the piety of mother Church to descend upon you? Fill the vessels of your neighbors. This oil of piety ought to be possessed by all. Whence in the Song of Songs: Your name is oil poured out.
15. It ought to be especially in the hearts of pontiffs. Whence pontiffs are anointed on the head, and once anointed, they ought afterwards to purify all of the people. It is said in the book of Maccabees: When the holy city was inhabited in peace, and the laws were very well kept because of the piety of Onias and the souls that held evil in hatred: it came to pass that kings and pontiffs held the place in reverence and honored it with many gifts. Afterwards Menelaus and his men entered the temple, and Antiochus contaminated the temple. I believe that the impediment was that the Holy Spirit was not among the people, because the impediment was in the pastor.
Blessed Gregory was noble and wealthy: he founded and endowed seven monasteries, and in the seventh in the city of Rome he became a monk, afterwards a cardinal, and finally Pope. Blessed Gregory was accustomed, when he was Pope, to have twelve poor persons who ate before him. One day there was among those twelve one who sometimes appeared as a young man, sometimes with venerable white hair. After the meal Blessed Gregory arose and led him into his chamber and asked who he was. He answered: I am that shipwrecked man to whom you showed mercy near the seaport. I said that my ship had been imperiled, and I asked alms from you, by which I might sustain myself. You had fifty gold coins given to me, and afterwards all the silver dishes that were in your house: and then I knew that the eternal God had disposed you for this honor, and that by dispensation you came to this dignity, so that you might give much for God. And Blessed Gregory said: who are you? He answered: I am His Angel. And Blessed Gregory was terrified, because he saw an Angel: and thus he was consoled, because works of piety are so pleasing to God. Martin and Nicholas, because they were men of mercy, therefore from their tombs oil flows.
Thus it is clear concerning the exercise of piety and concerning its original influence.
16. But what is the usefulness of the gift of piety? He says: Piety is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of the life to come. I do not know what more to add. Do you have temporal goods? Piety is profitable for those; and likewise for spiritual goods. Those who have suffered the slipperiness of the flesh have sometimes been freed through the gift of piety, and afterwards they obtained mercy. For piety is profitable for all things: it is profitable for knowing truths, for avoiding all evils, and for obtaining all goods.
17. First, I say, piety is profitable for knowing truths, namely salutary truths: whence in Ecclesiasticus: The Lord made all things, and to those who act piously He gave wisdom. God gives His gifts upon every creature: but the knowledge of truth He gives only to those who act piously. How could one attain to originated things who does not attain to the origin of truth? How would one know the origin of truth who opposes the origin of truth? The Apostle says to Timothy: If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to piety, he is proud and knows nothing, and is sick about questions and disputes of words. It is necessary that a man assent to the doctrine which is according to piety. It is said in Daniel: Moreover the impious shall act impiously: revelation shall be closed to the impious. If you wish to be true scholars, it is necessary that you have piety.
18. Second, piety avails for avoiding all evils. Whence blessed Peter says: The Lord knows how to deliver the pious from temptation, but to reserve the impious for torment unto the day of judgment. The impious are those who do not acknowledge divine piety. But the impious man, when he has come into the depth of sins, shows contempt. The impious man is he who defends his own impiety, namely sin. Of such the Psalm says: Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they acted deceitfully: judge them, O God. Let them fall from their own counsels: according to the multitude of their impieties, cast them out, for they have provoked you, O Lord. Do you wish to be freed from evil? Hear David, who says: I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and you have forgiven the impiety of my sin. Praise God and be angry against sin, and do not defend sin, because to defend sin is a twofold sin. It is noteworthy what the Psalm says: Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the impious, by consenting to sin; and has not stood in the way of sinners, by persisting in sin; and has not sat in the chair of pestilence, by defending his sin.
19. The third benefit of the gift of piety is that it makes one attain every good. Whence it is said in the book of Maccabees that Judas considered that those who had fallen asleep with piety carried away the finest grace, which may he who with the Father, etc., deign to grant to us.