Here is a dictionary definition of Piety: Dutifulness in religion, devoutness, reverence, a virtue.

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1 Intro This morning we heard that in order to be fully human, we must have an ideal and that the highest ideal we can seek is the Christian ideal. Later in the Layperson in the Church Rollo, we heard that we need to share God s message of love, that is to bring the Christian ideal to others. To accomplish this Cursillo provides us with three tools: Piety, Study and Action. Piety enables us to grow towards God; through Study we learn more about God; and in Action we give of ourselves. The Tripod We call this the Tripod because Piety, Study and Action are like a three legged stool. If one leg is weak, or missing, the stool will not be able to support its load. Likewise, we will be unable to share God s message of love with the world, unless we have a strong balance of Piety, Study and Action. Tomorrow we will be discussing Study and Action; this afternoon we will look at Piety. What Piety is not Here is a dictionary definition of Piety: Dutifulness in religion, devoutness, reverence, a virtue. This definition fails to tell us what Piety is really all about. Perhaps we need to begin by defining what Piety is not, that is, what False Piety is. False Piety is merely doing Christian acts in order to appear Christian; and we can characterize people that live a life of false Piety as being Sanctimonious, Practitioners or Pharisees. Let s look at each of them.

2 The Sanctimonious are people that lack maturity in their relationship with God. They confuse sanctity with life on one s knees. They sometimes get so wrapped up in the life at Church or church groups, doing good deeds, they often fail in their responsibilities to their family and job. They believe they will gain the kingdom of Heaven solely by keeping the law. The Practitioners may be just as sincere, and as misguided, as the Sanctimonious. They go to Church on Sunday because they always have done so and it s expected of them. They do not go to Church out of the desire to grow closer to God, but out of fear that if they do not do so they will end up in hell. Their prayers are nothing but words and they walk along in fear because they do not know Love. I feel for these people because I was one of them some time ago. (Share the God of my youth) But the worst of the bunch are the Pharisees. They are model of perfection in the Church, but unethical in their business dealings. They profess a love of God and neighbor, but in reality they do not believe or act accordingly. They do not practice what they preach, and their hypocrisy can turn others away from the truth. Good examples of modern Pharisees are some of the evangelists we see on TV. Much too often making a buck is their real motive. Or my friend s Dad. (Share my friend s Dad false Piety) What Piety is So if that is what Piety is not, if that is false Piety, what is authentic Piety?

3 Authentic Piety is being a Christian not just acting like one. It s being God s friend; it s living a life of Grace. Piety is having a personal relationship with our God. But it was impossible for me to have an authentic relationship with an omnipotent God that I greatly feared; a God that kept track of every one of my wrong doings in His little black book; the God I grew up with. That all changed when my wife informed me that she wanted to make a Cursillo, and that she could not do so until I made one. It was because of Cursillo that I got to know God as a friend. Cursillo showed me a God far different from the one I had known. I learned that God loves me no matter what. Cursillo showed me a God that aches to have me take his hand in friendship; it introduced me to the God we heard in the two Rollos on Grace, a giving, loving God. Louis Evely, a French Abbot, in his book Our Prayer said it best: God is not omnipotent the way we think, that is in the way we should like to become omnipotent. He is omnipotent of love, not of force. God could have been omnipotent if He had not been love, if He had no one to love. He ceased to be omnipotent when he created man and entrusted the world to him. By making man free, He deliberately limited Himself. Now His omnipotence is only love From the two Rollos on Grace we learned that Grace is a gift from God; we cannot earn Grace, it s ours but for the taking. But there is no Actual Grace unless we do our part and accept God s gift. Piety is what we do to maintain ourselves in a state of Grace; it s accepting God s friendship and forgiveness, over and over again.

4 Piety is being God s friend; it s accepting God s love; it s having a personal relationship with God. There are two aspects of Piety: internal and external, and both aspects are required. Some elements of Internal Piety are: Attending Mass, Meditation, and Prayer. I am sure that each of you can probably come up with several examples of Internal Piety. I have only listed the three that I use most often to get closer to God. -Mass, to be challenged by the sermon and to be spiritually fed by the Eucharist. -Meditation, to go into a world where only God and I exist and to really take to heart the meaning of a spiritual reading. -Prayer, to speak with God even though much too often I fail to listen and miss hearing His answer. Christianizing our environment is one of the principal goals of Cursillo, and we as lay people that live in the world, have the best chance of accomplishing that. Again, as we have learned from the Rollo on the Lay Person in the Church, we are called to share God s message of love; and that is the basis of the external aspect of Piety. Some of the elements of External Piety are: helping feed at shelters; bringing Communion to the sick; being supportive of our Parish s programs and events; helping co-workers; taking care of our family, and so on. In order to be genuinely pious our external Piety must be shared in both the Church and in the world.

5 Piety is not once in a lifetime thing like Baptism; Piety is like a skill that needs to be improved with the passage of time. And like a skill it improves with practice, and without practice, it withers and dies. From Our Prayer by Louis Evely I have also learned that sometimes we mean well but use the wrong words to express our thoughts. Like telling someone May God be with you. The truth is that God is with us always, and if we feel His absence it s not because He has left us, but because we have turned away from Him. Surely what we really mean to say is Go with God, or in Cursillo language: Vaya con Dios. Because when we walk with God, we are living a life of authentic Piety. Let me summarize; Piety is having an authentic personal relationship with God; it s living a life of Grace. Piety is but one leg of the tripod, that is Piety, Study and Action. Piety can be internal, such as attending Mass and praying, and external, such as helping to feed at shelters or bringing Eucharist to the sick. Piety, like a skill, needs to improve through practice, or it will wither and die. An important question we always need to ask ourselves is: How successful am I at living a life of Piety, and what can I do to improve it. Finally, may I remind you that Piety needs to be a life-long quest, and in that quest I wish you my very best: Vaya con Dios!