A PILGRIM’S NOTES: DEVOTION AND DEVOTIONS

In death, “life is not ended, but changed” (Preface for the dead). According to our Christian faith, there are three possible “places” or states in afterlife: hell, purgatory and heaven. What really matters for believers is not where and how: the place in afterlife and the how is God only and our relationship with him.  Thus, hell is God lost; purgatory is God purifying; heaven is God attained (Urs Von Balthasar).  In a similar way, we may speak of only one fire in the afterlife: the fire which devours the condemned; the fire which purifies the penitent souls, and the same fire which glorifies the just (J.M. Cabodevilla).

Heaven is our goal: we are citizens of heaven. Life is a journey to God. Our life is a pilgrimage to the house of the Father – of our Father. As human beings who are wounded and weak, we need help to make the journey: the necessary help of Christ, the helpful assistance of Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, and of the saints and angels in heaven.

WE NEED HELP FOR THE JOURNEY

Jesus says: “Without me, you can do nothing.” This means “nothing,” neither much nor little: nothing!  “This is the victory which overcomes the world, our faith.” We need a trusting faith that is lived in love.

We are weak: we are sinners. “He who says he is not a sinner, is a liar” (St. John). As St. Augustine says, we are God’s beggars.

But we are not alone: we have the Blessed Trinity, and we all have Christ the Lord and savior. We also have our Mother Mary and with her many other saints in heaven – and earth!  Kempis advises us: “Make now to yourself friends, by honoring the saints of God, and imitating their actions, that when you leave this life they may receive you into everlasting dwelling” (Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, Bk I, 23, no. 8).

How is our relationship with the saints?

THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS

We believe “in the communion of saints.” The communion of Saints means communion of holy things (divine life, grace, virtues, charity, charisms) as well as the communion among holy persons (solidarity between heaven, purgatory and earth). The common spiritual “things” are somehow common and therefore transferable: universally transferable in the case of Christ, the head of the Church, and through Christ, of Our Lady; and locally transferable in the case of the saints. (cf. Vatican II Lumen Gentium, LG, nos. 49-51; Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC, nos. 946-959).

Three branches or states make up the communion of saints: the souls in purgatory, the saints in heaven and the earthly pilgrims, that is, the suffering, the triumphant and the pilgrim Church respectively. They all form the one mystical Body of Christ. Pope Francis says that we experience the highest form of solidarity in the Church: no one is alone; but rather, there exists a communion of life between all who belong to the Church (Address, General Audience: October 29, 2013).

For the suffering Church, the pilgrim Church prays. (Cf. LG 49; II Mc 12:44). From its beginning, the Church has honored with great respect the memory of the dead” (CCC 958). The pilgrim Church prays with prayer of petition for the souls in purgatory. Like many religious Congregations, the Dominican Order in particular is characterized by a strong devotion to praying for the beloved dead, especially for the members of the Dominican Family, parents and relatives, friends and benefactors.

The saints of the triumphant Church intercede for us in heaven and are a path to imitate. Thus we are asked to pray to them. (Cf. LG 49-50). We also believe that God’s angels are our protectors and intercessors before the face of God (cf. CCC 336).

DEVOTION IN THE SINGULAR

There is a distinction between devotion in the singular and devotion in the plural. Saint Teresa of Avila asked her nuns: “Have few devotions and much devotion.”

Devotion in the singular refers to devotion to God, which means giving honor and glory to God, worshipping him. It is an act of the virtue of religion which inclines us to give due worship to God as the beginning of everything (St. Thomas, II-II, 81, 3). Adoration expresses externally our devotion to God by venerating, revering and submitting totally to him. Genuine devotion is simply “true love of God” (St. Francis of Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life First Part, 1).

Devotion is with prayer an act of the virtue of religion and also of charity. It is described as the prompt will to give oneself fully to all that belongs to the service of God. Devout people are those who consecrate their life totally to God and his service. Devotion then is directed to God and not to creatures – to these only as instruments of God. Cause of devotion is meditation, or contemplation of the goodness of God and of our misery: in meditation, in contemplation the prayerful decide to offer themselves to God’s service. The primary effect of devotion is spiritual joy, although secondarily it may produce certain sadness. It causes great joy when considering the divine goodness and some sadness when considering our misery. Meditating on the Passion of Christ, in his incredible sufferings produces some sadness, but above all great joy when contemplating also the goodness of God who liberates us in Jesus (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, question 82, articles 1-4).

 This devotion in the singular is necessary for salvation. It implies worshipping God through Jesus in the Spirit. It is called latria! It is devotion to God, devotion to Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary, and devotion to the Holy Spirit, our sanctifier and consoler.  Christ, then, is not merely one devotion, but the whole devotion, because He is the being (I Cor 1:30) and the life of the Christian (Phil 1:21). Christ is the only mediator before God the Father:  “Anything you ask in my name, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven.”

DEVOTIONS IN THE PLURAL

 Devotion in the plural – devotions – refers to our devotions to the saints, which are not necessary for salvation and include devotions to Mary, to the angels, and to the saints.

The devotion to Mary, however, is a special one and above the devotion to the saints: Our Lady is above the saints. The devotion to Mary is called hyperdulia. The place of Mary in the Church is “the highest after Christ and yet very close to us” (LG 54).  As followers of Jesus, we all have to be devoted to Mary, the Mother of the Son of God, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, the favored daughter of God the Father: “All should devoutly venerate her and commend their life and apostolate to her motherly concern” (Vatican II, Apostolicam Actuositatem, AA, no. 4).

Special devotion to Mary means basically filial love to Mary. Because Mary is the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, we have to receive her – like John the Evangelist- in our home, that is, in the center of our souls. Because she is the disciple of disciples, we have to imitate her.

What are the implications of our devotion to Mary then?  Mary is our unique intercessor before Christ, and our model in following her Son, our only Way. At Cana, Mary shows her role for us: first, her role as intercessor: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:1-10). Second, her role as disciple of disciples: “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5).

Mary is the most perfect person among angels and saints. The Fathers of the Church said: only the Blessed Trinity is above Mary. Our Lady is our Mother, our spiritual Mother, that is, in the order of grace (cf. CCC 968).  Jesus, to be sure, is the only Mediator before God. Mother Mary, on the other hand, is our best intercessor after Christ and the disciple of disciples: she cooperated like nobody else in Christ’s work of redemption. This is why in Christian tradition our Lady is given the titles of Mediatrix and Co–Redemptrix; but always through Christ and under Christ, the only Mediator and savior.

To be devoted to Mary entails not merely to admire her, to applaud her but to imitate her life and virtues: she is the Mother of God and the perfect disciple of Jesus, the first disciple, the disciple of disciples. She is the true disciple: she lived with Jesus; she shared her life at home with him and for him; she shared his sufferings and was assumed into heaven.

The devotion to the saints is called dulia. We are free to be devoted to one saint or another, to other saints to whom we have special devotion, maybe from our childhood. In my case, a saint that has helped me very much, with St. Dominic and St. Martin de Porres, is St. Teresa of Avila: “Only God suffices.”

Among the saints, St. Joseph has a special place in the heart of Christians. He is the head of the Family of Nazareth, the Spouse of Mary and the Guardian of Jesus the Son of God and of Mary. St. Joseph, the just man of the Gospel, is the universal patron of the Church and therefore deserves our special veneration.

GOAL OF OUR DEVOTIONS

All devotions are ordered to God: In the saints, we venerate what they have of God or God in them (St. Thomas Aquinas, II-II, 82, 2 ad 3). Devotions in the plural are directed by the Holy Spirit to Christ our Lord.” Hence, Jesus, the Son of God, is the end of all our devotions.

 Even the devotion to Mary, which is unique, which is above the devotion to all the saints, which is a special devotion for all Christians, is ordered to our devotion to Jesus. The end of our special devotion to Mary is Jesus. In this context we understand the words of the Lord: “Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked.” Jesus reply: “Happier are those who hear my word and keep it” (Lk 11:27-28; cf. Lk 8:19-21). Truly, Mary was the one who kept the word most perfectly.

Saint Bernard, a great devotee of Mary said: “The reason for our love of Mary is the Lord Jesus; the measure of our love for her is to love her without measure.” Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, another great devotee of Our Lady wrote: “If devotion to Our Lady distracted us from our Lord, we would have to reject it as an illusion of the devil” (True Devotion to Mary). Vatican II tells us “While honoring Christ’s Mother, these devotions (to her) cause her Son to be rightly known, loved, and glorified, and all of his commandments observed” (LG, 66).

As Vatican II says that our devotion to Our Lady is directed “to know, love and glorify Jesus” (LG 66) The Rosary is a very special popular devotion to Mary. The goal of praying the Rosary, a vocal and contemplative prayer, is to “learn” Jesus, to “read” Jesus and discover his secrets and understand his message (John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 2002).

Our devotion to Mary and the saints then must lead us to follow Jesus, the only way to salvation, the Way to the Father, the Truth to be proclaimed and the Life to be lived. “Devotion to the saints does not end in them but in God” (St. Thomas Aquinas, II-II, 82, 2 ad 3; cf. Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, no. 37).

“By the fruits” you will know the authentic devotion to our saints – the fruits of holiness: of love of God and neighbor, of humility, of prayerfulness, and also of love of the cross. We recall two sayings of St. Teresa of Avila: “Few devotions and much devotion”; “From silly devotions deliver us Lord!”

Therefore, we are asked above all to have devotion in the singular! We are called to have devotion to God through Jesus in the Spirit.  Devotions in the plural mean intercession and imitation: we implore the aid of the saints, and we follow their path, “a most safe path.” God continues “speaking to us” in the saints “and gives us a sign of his Kingdom”; the saints are “our brothers and sisters and extraordinary benefactors” (LG 50). Our devotion to them is measured, above all, by “the intensity of our active love” (LG 51).

BECOMING SAINTS

Vatican II underlines that all Christians are called to holiness, that is, to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity. (Cf. LG, 40; CCC, 2013)

Holiness is loving union with God. For us Christians, holiness is union with God the Father, through Jesus Christ the Son of God, and in the Holy Spirit. Union with Christ is called “mystical union, because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments – ‘the holy mysteries’ – and, in Him, in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.” All Christians are called to the mystical union with Christ, although only some receive special graces or extraordinary signs of the mystical life (CCC 2014).

The Holy Spirit, the sanctifier, is the agent of holiness; to Him, holiness is appropriated. (See LG, chapter V). The union with God is union of love (the Holy Spirit is the Love between the Father and the Son): union of love with God (vertical dimension) and with the neighbor (horizontal dimension).

Holiness is a gift of God. As free human beings, we are asked to respond freely to this gift. Our response is our availability: we have to be available like the Virgin Mary and also the saints. Our cooperation means to say yes to God, to his grace that calls us to holiness, to perfection, to happiness; in a word, to do the will of God always.

Holiness entails a graceful life, a virtuous life: a life grounded on grace, and centered on charity as love of God and neighbor.

The way of holiness passes through the cross. “There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle” (II Tim 4). Spiritual progress implies ascetism and mortification. These lead gradually to live in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes (CCC, 2015). As Christians, we are called to be transfigured on the mountain of life. This transfiguration, like the Transfiguration of Christ gives strength to walk patiently and even joyfully the Way of the Cross.

We are devoted to Mary and to the saints to be devoted to Jesus, that is, to follow him, to be united to him and become saints. Because we are devoted to Jesus, we want therefore to follow him in an ever more intimate way. We want to be saints. We grow in holiness by growing in love, by growing, more radically, in grace which is the foundation of our Christian life.

 St. Robert’s father told him: “Son, the only mistake we make in life is not to be a saint.” Once the French writer Leon Bloy said: “There is sadness, only one: the sadness of not being a saint.” He asked himself: “Is it hard to be a saint?” His answer: “No, just one step beyond mediocrity and you are a saint.” Well, perhaps, a few more steps!

I believe that my mother took those simple steps, and I am also sure that people from your own family, dear reader, climbed up also the ladder of holiness. Once a friend from the Philippines living in Madrid told me, “So far your mother is the only saint I have met in Spain.” Well, take it with a grain of salt: she did not know many people and was my friend and my mother’s!  I do strongly think that she was a saint: I look at my mother, at her daily life, and see God’s presence in everything she did, in everything that happened to her. “It is the will of God,” she repeated often. My father told me once: “Your mother had two special kinds of friends: the saints and the poor.” She was devoted to the daily Holy Mass and to the Blessed Sacrament, to Jesus on the Cross, to Mary as our Lady of the Remedies, of the Rosary (she prayed the Rosary every day) and of Carmel; to St. Joseph, Saint Isidro Labrador, St. Teresa of Avila… She began the day with some prayers she knew by heart, and ended it in a similar way. She lived a simple life style, totally dedicated to home, family and God, and she always shared something of what we had with the poor. Certainly, there was nothing extraordinary in her life. Well, extraordinary was, perhaps, her serene and peaceful countenance even when visited by suffering and pain. She died with the Rosary in her hands and her last words were: Ave Maria Purísima – the words the poor used when they knocked at the door of our home. I think she was knocking at the door of heaven and waiting for the Lord – for Saint Peter – to open and let her in.

How to become a saint? We become saints by being followers and imitators of Jesus Christ, the Holy One. By the sacrament of Baptism we become holy in our being as Christians. By our practice of faith we become holy and holier. St. Paul advises us: Live “as is proper for God’s holy people” (Eph 5:3); be clothed with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col 3:12); do the will of God in all things, even – like Jesus – by being “obedient unto death, even to death on the cross” (Phil 2:7-8).

Jesus sent to us the Holy Spirit to teach us about him and provide the grace and graces we need to follow him closely, above all, regarding love of God and love of neighbor, and the perfection of love of our neighbor, that is, loving him or her not just as we love ourselves but as Christ loves us (cf. Jn 13:34; cf. LG 42). Grace and love are poured into our souls by the Holy Spirit who has been given us (cf. Rom 5:5).

Holiness is one (loving union with Christ in the Church, which is holy). However the paths of holiness are many and each one is called to follow the best path for him or her, that is, his or her personal vocation. A lay person, a married couple, a religious woman, a priest are called by the Lord to imitate him essentially in the same way and individually according to the specific path each one of us is called to follow Jesus. Remember always that all the saints point to Jesus. St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, a great devotee of Our Lady writes: “If you call Mary, the echo is Jesus.” (You may read Raffaello Martinelli, “How Do We Become Saints.” www.sancarlo.pcn.net: February 2013)

 CONCLUSION

Let us be truly devout people. Then, for sure, we shall have unspeakable spiritual joy: “the direct and principal effect of devotion is spiritual joy” (II-II, 82, 4).

Let us be devoted to God – to Jesus. Let us be good children of Mary our Mother. Let us venerate in a personal way the saints of our devotion and imitate their virtues. Let us realize that according to the tradition of the Church, guardian angels protect us before dangers and intercede for us before God.

May Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and other saints accompany us on the journey of life to heaven, to eternal life, to a life in God in the company of Mary and the saints and our family and friends, and the whole company of heaven!

FAUSTO GOMEZ, O.P.

Macau, November 2013