Easter 2026 - Reading #11 - Piety
Reading
G.K. Chesterton, in his study of Saint Francis of Assisi, illuminates how piety transforms our relationship not only with God but with all of creation: "What was it that Saint Francis found? He found the world. He found the world as he had never found it before, not less real, but more real; not diminished, but enlarged. The man who had been in the dark cave came out and saw the sunshine, and the sunshine was more radiant than anything he had ever imagined."
Chesterton continues: "Saint Francis's love of God was so intense that it overflowed into a love of everything God had made. The sun, the moon, the wolf, the birds, the worm in the road, all of them were his brothers and sisters because all of them had the same Father. This was not pantheism, which worships nature; it was something far greater, the gratitude of a son who sees his Father's handiwork everywhere and cannot help but love it."
For Chesterton, Francis exemplifies the gift of piety in its fullest extension: it begins with love of God as Father and radiates outward to embrace every creature as a fellow child of that Father. Piety does not contract the heart; it expands it until it encompasses the whole of creation in a single act of filial love.
Reflection
Twelve days into Easter, Chesterton shows us piety's most joyful face through Francis of Assisi, the man who called the sun his brother and the moon his sister, who preached to birds and befriended a wolf. This is not madness; it is piety carried to its logical conclusion. If God is Father, then everything God made is family.
Chesterton's insight is that Francis did not arrive at this vision by adding something to his life but by subtracting everything that was blocking his sight. He gave away his wealth, his status, his father's approval, and in losing everything, he found the world. He saw creation as if for the first time: shimmering with the Father's love, radiant with meaning, every leaf and stone and creature a letter in a love note from God.
This is what the gift of piety, fully received, can do. It does not make us otherworldly; it makes us more attentive to this world, because we see the Father's fingerprints on everything. The meal shared with friends becomes a sacramental moment. The beauty of a spring morning becomes a message. The face of a stranger becomes the face of a sibling. Lent taught us to let go; Easter teaches us to receive, and what we receive, through piety, is not just God himself but the whole world, given back to us as gift. As we close this week of piety, let the Spirit expand your heart. The Father's family is larger than you think.