To understand why we’re in such a mess today we need to consider how we have allowed ourselves to be cut off from our traditions. And we can’t do that without considering the role of piety. The word comes from the Latin pietas which means a dutifulness towards God, nation, family, etc., such that one should show honor and a sense of responsibility to those to whom they owe a debt of gratitude. In ancient Roman times, pietas was considered a high virtue; but in the Christian religion it was raised to the dignity of one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. So piety belongs to the virtue of justice because it demands that we give what is due to one who is owed.
Now let us consider this amazing event in the life of our Lord:
And his parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch, And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast, And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not. And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day’s journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him.
And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about my father’s business? And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them.
And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart.
(Luke 2:41-51)
The part in bold is translated in the New Lectionary as: “…and was obedient to them”.
For the purposes of this discussion, the relevance of this event is that it establishes that, to God, the Fourth Commandment is so important that He, in the person of Jesus, was even willing to submit and be obedient to His human parents, Mary and Joseph. So God Himself insists on obeying the Fourth Commandment — to set an example for us.
To recall the Fourth Commandment: Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
With a little bit of reflection we can see that this commandment is fulfilled with the virtue of piety.
The new Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that this commandment applies to all those to whom we have a duty: “The fourth commandment is addressed expressly to children in their relationship to their father and mother, because this relationship is the most universal. It likewise concerns the ties of kinship between members of the extended family. It requires honor, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors. Finally, it extends to the duties of pupils to teachers, employees to employers, subordinates to leaders, citizens to their country, and to those who administer or govern it.” (paragraph 2199, emphasis mine)
So the problem that Western countries have today is that we do not show honor, respect or gratitude to our ancestors. We have refused the traditions (or ways) that they passed on to us. We have rejected their culture. We have rejected their religion. We’ve rejected their arts, philosophy, theology, ways of worshiping — all of it. We thought that we were better than our ancestors, and we could throw off their ways and come up with all of our new stuff.
This is why the New Mass that Pope Paul VI promulgated in 1969 was so incredibly dangerous to the life and health of the Church, and therefore our very nations. Can you imagine for a moment that the order of the Mass was passed on practically unchanged for at least 1,500 years (as far as records document), only to have a handful of people in the Vatican come up with something completely different in the 1960s, and then force it on the Church’s faithful? Is that honoring our ancestors, as the Fourth Commandment requires? Is that showing gratitude? Does that respect our traditions? Is that an expression of piety or not?
But it’s not just in the Church now. It’s in our countries. We’ve cut ourselves off from all the arts of our forefathers, and now we have all this garbage you see on TV or hear on iTunes. Our contemporary political systems make absolutely no sense at all. We have a banking industry built on usury — in complete rejection of the laws of our ancestors. We think we’re better than them because we now have Crest toothpaste and air conditioning. Are we really better? Let’s look at it objectively: we have demonstrated that we have not been able to maintain the civilization that they had built and handed on to us. So we can’t even maintain what they built. Who has the bigger accomplishment?
So what is the consequence of cutting ourselves off from our traditions? Well it’s like cutting the boat’s rope from safe harbor, and our boat is floating at sea being ripped apart by the storm. We no longer have access to the bulwark of safety, which is our great culture and the wisdom of our forefathers. And if we don’t smarten up quick and take our obligation to piety more seriously, what is the long-term consequence? Well it’s right there in the Fourth Commandment. It says that if we obey this moral law, “our days may be long in the land which the Lord gives us”. The implication is that if we don’t obey, we’re not going to keep this land that is ours. And if we don’t think that’s possible, we would be wise to look at what’s happening with the third-world invasion of Europe, or what’s happening across America’s southern border.
If you hear anybody insulting our ancestors then go ahead and pop ’em right in the nose. I don’t care if it’s a movie, a school textbook, some talking-head idiot on TV or whatever. Don’t let them separate us from our people. They want us to disown and disrespect our own blood. If we feel shame for our ancestors, imagine what they would think of our ingratitude.
Be pious. Even the ancient Romans and pagans were pious before the time of Christianity. We can do it too, and we have God and our ancestors to help us.