Ask For A Greater Degree of the Gift of Piety

An Excerpt from Mother Angelica’s Book of Spiritual Lessons

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“To love is to wish one well and to do all you can to bring that about. The gift of piety resembles the virtue of love. It gives me a childlike affection for God. I am obliged to love as God loves me.

My love for you must be totally separated from whether or not you are lovable. Through this gift you can see people in a totally different light. For instance, when you analyse why you don’t like people you will find it is because they do not know do you expect them to do, they do not give what you expect them to give, they do not please you. But If you love as God loves, you are not disappointed in anyone, because you know human nature.

The gift of piety makes me love. What is love? Love is an intangible desire, a giving of the self, something that makes me change for the better. “God is Love”, St. John says (1 John 4:8). When I love Him as father, a part of that loves comes into me—it is the Spirit. And when the Spirit of the Lord enters into my heart. He transforms me; He makes a new creation; a new mind, a new heart. Love makes us new.

So, my love for you must make you new—it must change both of us. You cannot possess God’s love and give it to others without changing that person in some way. If your neighbour is not changed for the better because he knows you, you do not love him, you love yourself! The greatest witness of the first Christians was their love. “See how these Christians love each other,” people said. We must love like that.

The gift of piety should do another thing for you. It should allow you to release everyone to the Lord. The gift of piety makes you look upon everyone as someone very precious with an immortal soul. It protects me from judging others. So every day ask the Spirit of the Lord to give you a great degree of the gift of piety—that you might have patience and compassion—that you might love first and never be disappointed. Because remember as you love your neighbour, so you love God.”