Piety is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s the gift that moves in our hearts and allows us to pray. The reason you’re praying right now is the gift of piety—a desire to long for and to come to know the Lord more fully. And I thought I was just really good – really religious.
I thought I prayed because I wanted to pray, because I was holy. I thought I went to Mass because I was such a good Catholic. But I now understand that that in itself is a gift.
Apart from God’s Holy Spirit, I can do nothing. You can do nothing. But when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and we experience His gifts, it moves in us. So my desire to pray, your desire to pray, your desire to listen to a teaching on the Holy Spirit —it’s a gift. It’s a gift of piety that moves in your heart so that you can be more like Jesus.
There are all kinds of reasons why a person would pray. Some people pray out of superstition. Some people pray because they feel forced to. Some people pray because their mom and dad say they have to, or their spouse says they have to. Some people pray out of bribery. Who as a kid didn’t behave and pray because you’d get donuts at the end of Mass, right?
But piety moves us to something deeper.
Piety moves us to pray because we desire a deeper, more intimate union with Jesus, to be more like Him, to be in relationship with Him. Our desire to pray, to go to Adoration, to pray the Rosary, to go to Mass—even if not totally perfect or pure – comes from the Holy Spirit.
Piety moves us past merely the obligation or the duty to do what we have to do. Piety moves us to seek Jesus with a pure heart, with more pure motives. Piety moves us to worship God, to praise Him, and to thank Him. It moves in our hearts to give a reverence and worship of God. The gift of piety moves us to a place where prayer is natural. We just thank God automatically. Something happens in our life and we understand that that’s a grace, that that’s a blessing. We say, “Thank you, Lord. Oh God, you’re so good.”
So when something happens, we don’t just dismiss it as luck or coincidence. We recognize God’s presence. Piety moves us, in the midst of difficulty, to pray rather than despair or become frustrated and angry. We pray. We stop. Piety moves in us when we find ourselves in a situation where we’re likely to get angry or react out of anger. We stop and we pray. And we say, “Come, Holy Spirit.” Why? Why have we spent the past few months focusing and calling upon the Holy Spirit on the Road of Faith? “Come Holy Spirit” reflections every day. Because I know that I need the Holy Spirit, and this movement to prayer, this movement to union, allows me to experience the Lord’s presence more in my life. pray for that. Come, Holy Spirit.
Take a breath, quiet yourself. And let’s pray –
Jesus, we pray for the gift of piety, the gift that turns our hearts toward You. Where at times we want to turn away, we want to turn to ourselves, make us more docile to You and to Your movement and to Your grace. Even at this very moment, move in the busyness of my life. Draw me closer to You. Whether that be through devotions, through reading of the Scriptures, through attending liturgy, through Adoration, give me the gift of piety that I may experience a deeper unity with You, a deeper intimacy with You. Amen