True devotion
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“One quarter of an hour of contemplation can make more impression upon the soul than many years of ordinary prayer.” (Fr. Arintero quoting Juan de Jesus Maria Vol. 1)
The past ½ century has seen the American church embrace a contemporary spirituality, one that is relative and interpretative. In doing so, theologians and clergy turned away from devotional practices often mocking them entirely. My own Holy mother prayed her rosary privately and taught us no devotions (nor about saints) because the faithful were told ‘we don’t believe that anymore’.
People now seek words with which to express their hearts that represent the full and deep Truths of God. Because devotions usually contain scripture or are carefully written to perfectly reflect the teachings of it, these provide the means through which the heart can speak to its Creator.
Think of it this way: consider someone with whom you have a really close relationship. It isn’t one dimensional. There are many aspects to that relationship. Unless you are born into it (your family), you likely start knowing the person through lifestyle activities. Those give opportunity for your knowledge of them to slowly broaden and deepen. In doing so, you gain knowledge of yourself too.
This is how our relationship with God should be. Outside of the Sacraments, we get to know Him through vocal prayers such as rosary, office, novenas, litanies, and other devotions. These position us facing God and we learn basic knowledge of Him. If prayed with an open heart truly seeking Him, the heart will benefit from some growth in closeness.
Thinking about this in terms of relationships, some husbands and wives reach a comfortable plateau in their relationship, and never move beyond it. Too often that is where we end up with God too. Yet all it takes is adding 15-20 minutes of silence to a devotional prayer, and God will work in the heart.
Otherwise, devotions themselves might become the subject of our adoration and not God. In recent history, this was a spiritual illness throughout the Church that certainly influenced the later rejection of devotions altogether. Just praying in the name of Him isn’t the same as knowing Him.
“Devout persons, also, who are led by their own spirit are not free either. They think they are, because they make their own plans of devotion and follow a certain routine, from which they never deviate. But in reality they are the slaves of their own imagination; full of inconstancy, of uneasiness, of peculiarities, and of caprices; always seeking for sensible devotion, and when they find it not, which very often happens, then they are discontented with God and with themselves.” (Father Jean-Nicolas Grou, S.J. Manuel for Interior Souls p. 40)
Sometimes praying devotions loses focus on God or the helper of the devotion (e.g. Marian or saint prayers). Instead our focus digresses to the benefits we receive such as indulgences, shaving some painful days off of purgatory. Indulgences are a beautiful gift of the church: “when these are used in accordance with what she prescribes, they strengthen the spiritual life by inducing the faithful to approach the sacraments and to purify their consciences of sin. And further, they encourage the performance, in a truly religious spirit, of works that redound, not alone to the welfare of the individual, but also to God’s glory and to the service of the neighbor.” (Catholic Encyclopedia) However, one’s focus can slip from glorifying God and, instead, become saving oneself from the pain of purgatory. This is the 1st [lowest] class of man Ignatius teaches of in his exercises. Receipt of indulgences requires a truly contrite heart, not one conflicted by desire to manipulate the confession to its own benefit. St. Paul teaches us the ramifications of manipulating sacraments: “he is eating and drinking damnation to himself if he eats and drinks unworthily, not recognizing the Lord’s body for what it is.” (1COR 11:26-29).
“The most serious delusion of the spiritual life is illusion and deceit of oneself. It is possible to think of oneself as spiritual even when it is not so.” (Fr. Marko Rupnik)
“Sanctity does not depend upon the number of pious exercises, but upon the spirit and interior perfection with which they are performed.” (Fr. Arintero quoting Weiss, Vol. 1)
We now celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of our oldest feasts in the church Mary is our mother. This is a beautiful opportunity to know the Son better by knowing the Mother; simply tacking 15-20 minutes of silent prayer onto a devotion is a great way to start a lifelong relationship that will never plateau. Concluding your prayer, offer Pope Francis and our worldwide Church to our Mother too:
0 Holy Mother of God, pray for the priests your Son has chosen to serve the Church. Help them, by your intercession, to be holy, zealous, and chaste. Make them models of virtue in the service of God’s people. Help them be pious in meditation, efficacious in preaching, and zealous in the daily offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Help them administer the Sacraments with love and joy. Amen. (St. Charles Borromeo)
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam 😊