The term, “devout Catholic” has been bandied about a lot recently; it is often thought to refer to external expressions of piety, such as going to Sunday Mass on a weekly basis, or thumbing the beads of one’s Rosary while offering the requisite prayers. Yet the word “devout” is much richer and more nuanced than is commonly surmised. Its origin is found in the Latin word “devotion,” meaning total dedication. “Devotion,” then, is the external expression of our internal disposition toward God. To be totally dedicated to God means we offer our will to Him, realizing that “In God’s will is our peace.” Our will must align with God’s will if we are to be really and truly devout.
Offering our will to God is often a challenging choice because we have the tendency, as a result of Original Sin, to want things our way. We come up with all sorts of justifications for our desires and positions on matters, expecting God to agree with us rather than us having to agree with Him. Fostering a real and true devotion to God requires us to meditate on God’s goodness and love, and to admit our shortcomings and sinfulness.
Offering our will to God, then, is not a matter of how we feel; it is about looking into the truth of things and choosing to align our desires with the truth. Thankfully, we are not alone in this daunting endeavor. The Catholic Church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). The terms pillar and bulwark refer to structural supports that hold up a building. The Church is set in place to support the edifice of gospel truth. The Holy Spirit makes this possible by enabling the successors of the apostles - our present-day bishops - to preserve the apostolic faith from corruption and distortion as the centuries pass and show us its continued relevance for our time. Thus if we really want to live a life of devotion - offering our will to God - let us conform ourselves to the apostolic faith. Otherwise, what we will see is a disconnect between internal disposition and external expression. And God, who can read the heart, is not impressed if acclamation to Him is on the lips alone.
David J. Conrad
Offering our will to God is often a challenging choice because we have the tendency, as a result of Original Sin, to want things our way. We come up with all sorts of justifications for our desires and positions on matters, expecting God to agree with us rather than us having to agree with Him. Fostering a real and true devotion to God requires us to meditate on God’s goodness and love, and to admit our shortcomings and sinfulness.
Offering our will to God, then, is not a matter of how we feel; it is about looking into the truth of things and choosing to align our desires with the truth. Thankfully, we are not alone in this daunting endeavor. The Catholic Church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). The terms pillar and bulwark refer to structural supports that hold up a building. The Church is set in place to support the edifice of gospel truth. The Holy Spirit makes this possible by enabling the successors of the apostles - our present-day bishops - to preserve the apostolic faith from corruption and distortion as the centuries pass and show us its continued relevance for our time. Thus if we really want to live a life of devotion - offering our will to God - let us conform ourselves to the apostolic faith. Otherwise, what we will see is a disconnect between internal disposition and external expression. And God, who can read the heart, is not impressed if acclamation to Him is on the lips alone.
David J. Conrad
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