Piety

"Beware of practising your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven." -Matthew 6:1



Chapter 6 of Matthew instructs how to be pious and humble in both our prayer life and in conducting the works of the Lord.



This is summed up in the following from Aphrahat the Persian one of the early Christians from the fourth century.

Our Lord told us to pray in secret -
that means in your hearts -
and he instructed us to "shut the door."
What is this door he says we must shut,
if not the mouth?
For we are the temple in which Christ dwells,
for as the Apostle said:
"You are the temple of the Lord."
And the Lord enters into your inner self,
into this house,
to cleanse it from everything that is unclean,
but only while the door - that is, your mouth -
is closed shut.