Chapter XXXVIII: On Special Devotions

“BUT please tell us, now that you have spoken of daily prayer and the Sacraments, what special devotions we ought to practise.”

We read in the lives of the saints of their having different special devotions and reciting special prayers according to their devotion. For example, St. John Gualbert forgave the murderer of his brother, who begged forgiveness through the Five Sacred Wounds of our Lord, to which St. John had a special devotion.

St. Juliana had a special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and through her exertions the feast of Corpus Christi was established in honor of it.

Ven. Margaret Mary Alacoque was devoted to the Sacred Heart of our Lord, considering especially His love for us all.

St. Teresa speaks in the highest terms of devotion to St. Joseph, and of the benefits derived from his intercession. All the saints have had a special devotion to our Blessed Lady. Some of them as the “Mother of Sorrows,” some as the “Refuge of Sinners,” or the “Help of Christians,” or to some particular mystery or event of her life.

“What special devotion would you recommend to us?” To answer this question we must look into it a little. What is the meaning or idea of any special devotion whatever? It is nothing more nor less than a special or particular way of raising the soul to God, either by viewing Him in a particular light, as, for example, in some circumstances of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, His Agony in the Garden, His Five Wounds, or His Crucifixion, or as present in the Blessed Sacrament, or the special devotion to the Holy Ghost. Or else in considering God’s goodness and love and power as shown in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or of the saints, and begging their prayers in our behalf.

God must be the end of all our devotion. To learn to know Him and to love Him better, is the sum and substance of all that we should propose to ourselves in all our prayers and all our devotions.

All special devotions, of whatever kind they may be, should be performed with the idea of uniting ourselves more perfectly to God, and not because others have performed them, or out of a mere routine or habit.

If they really nourish the soul and promote solid virtue, they may be practised; if they have not an effect of this kind, they are better let alone.

It appears to me that when a person is loaded down with a great number of special devotions and prayers, the soul is likely to be hindered rather than assisted in uniting itself to God by them.

And the reason of this is, that God Himself is not brought enough in view, but the mind rather taken up with such a number of things that it becomes either wearied out and distracted, or else we become merely creatures of a world of formal observances.

If a special devotion grows up naturally in our hearts, as, for example, when from reading the glorious actions of a particular saint we are powerfully excited to follow his example and pushed on to love God greatly, then it is very good, and we hope that saint will take an interest in us and beg his or her prayers. We love that saint and we set a great value on his love and assistance. We see from this how unfounded the idea is that special devotions lead us away from God, that they are in opposition to devotion to God. Why do we love to visit the good, listen to their conversation and beg their prayers? Because we are anxious to know and love God better, and these things help us on.

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, or to St. Joseph, or an apostle or saint, is of precisely the same nature. We love and admire them because they are so much like God and.so beloved by Him. We imitate them because their conduct was agreeable to God, and we beg their prayers because they are friends of God.

If devotion of a special nature is not produced by such a motive, it is good for nothing. If it takes the place of, and hinders the course of the soul to God, I am ready to admit that it is hurtful.

Suppose, for example, that a person should be running about begging the prayers of pious people without praying himself, we should not commend his conduct, although it is a good thing to ask the prayers of the pious.

So I am inclined to think that one who is occupied with a great round of litanies and special prayers to different saints, without thinking much of God, is on a false track of devotion.

But abuse of a thing or excess in it does not hinder the proper and discreet use of it, and special devotions to the Blessed Virgin and the saints are very profitable. Let us then refer them all to God, practise them all with a view to God’s love, and the Holy Ghost will direct us when to use them, and how far each one of us may profitably carry them.

I will say something of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to the saints, all of which must find their place in a true life of devotion to God.