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If you, Christian maiden, on leaving school or other institution where you have been brought up, do not at once throw yourself into the vortex of worldly amusements, if you dress neatly and quietly and do not neglect your religious observances, prayers, and the frequenting of the sacraments, it may happen that the worldly-minded persons will term you a dévote. Do not allow this to lead you astray! For in a way this term is applied to every truly pious person. However, a wide difference will be found to exist between various kinds of piety. Just as among flowers there are real and natural blossoms and others which are unreal, being fashioned by art, so can the forget-me-not of piety be true or false. When applied to the truly pious, the term dévote is is calumny and a reproach; it is better suited to those who are pious in appearance alone. You must be very careful that your piety is of the right kind; if such it is the name of dévote need not alarm you—you ought rather to be proud of it.
But is it necessary to be pious? When addressed to a young girl this question can be answered only in the affirmative. The Creator has so formed the heart of woman that it is specially disposed to piety. But if your piety is to be real and true, you must have a right understanding of false piety, so that you may avoid it carefully. Wherein does this false piety consist?
I will point out to you a few examples of it, and describe some persons who, while they fancy themselves to be pious, are not so in reality. For instance, one may be willing enough to fast, but have a heart full of bitterness and dislike. Another loads herself with a multitude of religious exercises, and at the same time neglects the duties of her calling. Another repeats endless vocal prayers, but is much addicted to slander and detraction; or she may appear truly pious, while her face is always as sour as vinegar. Another gives alms very freely, but is still more free with her biting criticisms and uncharitable judgments. Another is seen to shed many tears when engaged in prayer, but frequently causes her inferiors and the members of her family to weep, on account of her haughty or impertinent behavior. Again, we find a young person eager for admission into every kind of confraternity and pious association, while all the time she carefully inscribes on her mental tablets a record of every slight she receives, every occasion on which she is not treated according to her supposed merits. Another young girl goes to holy communion every week, or perhaps even more frequently, and for this reason fancies herself a saint, being by no means unwilling that others should term her such; yet she makes no serious and determined effort to get rid of her numerous faults. You perceive that all these, and such as these, can lay no claims to the possession of genuine piety.
Their conduct—to borrow the illustration employed by St. Francis of Sales—resembles that of Michol, the wife of David. The servants of Saul came to seek for David in his house; Michol took an image, laid it in the bed, and covered it with her husband’s clothes. Thus she induced them to believe that he was sick and sleeping there. In a similar manner many cover themselves with external works of piety, which are in reality mere images and shadows, destitute of all true life.
The genuine flower of piety is no mere sentimentalism, and does not consist in a multitude of pious practices. If you would be truly pious, do everything you have to do as service done to God, bearing in mind the exhortation of the Apostle, “Therefore whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” Act in the spirit shown by your Immaculate Mother when she said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” Regard yourself as the servant of God; as such hallow all your actions by referring them to Him acquitting yourself faithfully and conscientiously of your smallest and most ordinary duties. Without making a show of piety, every occupation in which you engage, every hour which passes over your head, will thus be made to exhale a sweet fragrance of sanctity.
We see true piety to be an interior frame of mind or disposition, a love which comes from within and gives life to everything which is without. Or it is that active love of God which makes men as St. Francis of Sales expresses it: “That man may be said to be truly pious who does, out of heartfelt love to God, everything which He commands, which holy Church requires, and which is incumbent on him in his particular calling and state of life.”
The words of Fénelon may be quoted here, in reference to external practices of piety: “Outward forms are good, if they express the feelings of the heart. Thy worship, O God! is love, and Thy kingdom is within us; let us therefore beware of attaching too much value to externals.”
An unmistakable mark of true piety is that it makes its possessor cheerful and merry. Attentively notice your companions and you will find that she who is really pious will always be cheerful. How indeed could it be otherwise? Who has more reason to be cheerful than a truly pious young girl? Who can look up to heaven with more confidence, who can trust more entirely in God, who can contemplate herself with more content, who can behold the future more hopefully, than such a one? Who takes more pure delight than she does in the benefits God bestows upon her? Whom does conscience reward with greater peace? Hence her eyes are always bright, her appearance friendly, her conversation attractive. Hence you must clearly perceive that when I urge you to be pious, I am as far as possible from wishing you to hang your head and wear a sour and gloomy aspect. To look as though you were a lamb being dragged to the slaughter-house is not only a sheer affectation, but an odious and hateful thing. It appears to me, our dear, good God loves particularly cheerful people, if only they are good and pious. Sadness is a consequence of sin, and does not come from heaven or from God.
How blessed are the fruits of true piety! It imparts to the soul that sweet, interior consolation of which those who have never experienced it cannot have the faintest idea. St. Paschal Babylon found that the consolation which is imparted to pious souls infinitely surpasses all the pleasures of the world, even if it were possible to enjoy all those pleasures at one and the same time. Weave, therefore, the forget-me-not of true piety in the garland of your virtues.
Sweet piety! the brightest flower
That blossoms in the maiden’s bower:
Without thee, skill, however rare,
Shall fail to weave a garland fair;
Led by thy light on life’s dark way,
Our steps from virtue will not stray.