PIETY that makes us LOOK UP…
T. AMBROSE claims that piety or godliness is or inverting of God’s hierarchy found in Creation and
the foundation of all virtue (pietas virtutum
omnium fundamentum). This is because true
piety begets in our hearts a filial affection for
God as our most loving Father. Piety knows its END
is to be with God and all His saints in heaven forever.
St. Paul teaches that “Godliness (pietas) is profitable to
all things, having promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come” (1Tim 4:8). Godliness,
therefore, is always seeking to make us LOOK UP. In
maintaining this most profitable verticality, true piety
enables us to see all things with the eyes of God,
acknowledging the truth as He sees it and knows it:
“the acknowledging of the truth, which is according
to godliness” (Titus 1:1). Unhesitating and fervent
piety, therefore, is detached and ready to abandon its
most cherished ideas the moment it discovers them to
be, in any way, out of harmony with
the Church and Her perennial
teaching. Piety seeks not its own
special findings but what can be
gathered from the Deposit of the
Faith, as presented by the Church and
Her Fathers and Doctors since the
Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Devout and faithful theologians
always use piety as a principle in all
their writings, saying: “in theology
there is no place for anything which does
not foster piety.” Piety, therefore,
instinctively and naturally repels
novelties and innovations while
loving and embracing all things of
Tradition.
What is more, piety inspires us
to love, to reverence and to respect,
submit to and obey, for God’s sake,
persons and things consecrated to Him, as well as
those who are vested with His authority, including
His Blessed Mother and the Saints, the Church and
Her visible leaders (the pope, the bishops, priests, our
parents and superiors), as well as our country and its
rulers. Godliness seeks to make the “soul be subject to
higher powers: for there is no power but from God:
and those that are, are ordained of God. Therefore he
that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of
God. And they that resist, purchase to themselves
damnation” (Romans 13:1-2). In this way, GOD-li-ness
sees the Father standing, as it were, behind each office
and office holder (regardless of the individual’s
personal worth and virtue) of the Church, the family
and the land, ever seeking to honor and worship Him
present there. It looks upon those above in order to
honor what is superior in them as to become superior
over itself. It looks upon those below in order to help
them overcome all obstacles in serving God, the object
of true love. In this way, we can see that any flattening
His Church deflates and attacks true piety.
Alive, then, is the pious soul to whatever is
pleasing to God and whatever may add to His glory
and honor regardless of our personal feelings and
disposition. To discover and embrace all things
pleasing to the Lord, it is piety that opens the gates to
the heavenly pastures and enters in to feed, ever
seeking to map out all duties owed to God and man…
and fulfill them unto perfection. Never satisfied with
minimal observance, godliness seeks to measure the
inside of God’s Temple, count it towers, master its
streets. To do this, it piously looks upon those who
have gone before with filial affection, ever seeking to
know and imitate the good they have done. True
piety, therefore, is self-effacing, ever resisting and
subduing self-love, all the while inclining it to love of
God and neighbor with true and
heart-felt affection. In this way,
godliness inclines the soul to love
God’s creation and sees all men as
potential members of His holy
Church. It forgives injuries and
makes excuses for offenses
whenever possible, always having
compassion on the poor. It wants all
men to adore the Lord and be
healed of their sins and misery.
Piety nourishes within the soul
sorrow and compunction for
whatever may get in the way of
efforts to maintain verticality. Thus,
the pious soul laments its own sins
and those of the whole world,
sighing over all the pains and
agonies these evils have caused our
Redeemer and Savior, ever striving
to prevent them from being repeated. In this way, as
St. Paul indicates, piety is profitable in that it pays
debts, expiates sins.
Oh what a treasure is piety in overcoming our
selfish and corrupt hearts, in erasing sins, in making
heaven hear our pleas, and in avoiding all error! He
who is filled with piety finds the practice of his
religion, not a burdensome duty, but a delightful
service. Where there is love, there is no labor. The prayers
of the pious pierce the heavens and are readily heard
on high, making it the backbone of the spiritual life,
preventing us from slouching into lukewarmness and
sin. This is the godliness needed to help look up to
God as well as back, even unto His coming among us,
bringing the two together to form a Cross. Piety leads
the faithful soul to take up the Cross. Thus, the
Apostle exhorts us to “exercise thyself unto godliness
(pietatem)” (1Tim 4:7). 
Make us pious, O Lord, and we shall be pious!