In my homily last Sunday I mentioned using the following days this week to meditate on each of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. So, I would like to share these gifts for daily reflection.
Tuesday – Piety/Reverence
Presence of God – O Holy Spirit, Spirit of piety, give to my heart the spirit of filial love.
By means of the gift of piety, the Holy Spirit gives a new touch to our spiritual life, a touch of delicacy and sweetness which perfects and simplifies our relations with God and our neighbor. Basically, these relations are regulated by justice, the virtue which inclines us to fulfill every duty and to give each one his due. But if we were guided in our lives by justice alone, our path would be very dry, and fidelity, difficult.
When, however, a sense of child-like piety toward our heavenly Father is developed in us by the action of the Holy Spirit—a sense which, in practice, is expressed in ardent desires to please Him in all things—then we pass beyond the limits of justice—always a little rigid—and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the service of God.
As Paul tells the Galatians the Holy Spirit Incites in us that profound cry of “Father!” and repeats it within us, with a desire to rise toward heaven, longing to win God’s heart and to behave in all things as His true children; then the most difficult, laborious tasks become easy and sweet.
This is how the gift of piety helps the virtue of justice as well as the virtue of religion. By this gift, “the Spirit Himself gives testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God” (Romans 8:16); and this truth becomes a living, personal experience, capable of elevating us to God with entirely new child-like zeal, the zeal which will make our prayer easier, transforming it into an intimate heart-to-heart talk with our heavenly Father.
Therefore, if we aspire to live in close union with God, it is right for us to desire and pray for this gift. Under its influence, our prayer will become more affectionate, more child-like, and we shall attend with greater capacity to all that concerns divine worship.
Let us ask for this gift, especially when we seem to be very dry and cold, so that in times of trial and interior suffering by its help we shall go to God as a child to its Father. Furthermore, our diligent, constant application to prayer, notwithstanding the lack of sensible devotion, is one of the best dispositions for bringing upon us the life-giving breath of the gift of piety.
This disposition aids us in all of our efforts of devotion from private and personal prayer to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Sacred Mass.
Note from Fr. John: These meditations came from a wonderful website: spiritualdirection.com. I recommend it for further use to grow in Divine Intimacy.