Devotion

Devotion, in the religious sense, is the will to giveoneself steadily to the service of God.

Devotion is not a virtue, but the act of a virtue. Indeed, it is an act of charity, as all the moral virtues are when they are supernatural. But specifically it is an act of the virtue of religion.

The extrinsic cause of devotion in a person is God. The intrinsic cause (which is in the person himself) is meditation or contemplation. When a person thinks upon God and ponders his goodness and loving kindness, he is stirred to a love of God thatbegets devotion. And, pondering his own insufficiency and his faults, a man is moved to turn to God and to lean upon him; out ofthis consideration too, devotion arises.

The direct and chief effect of devotion is joy in God. Its secondary and indirect effect is sorrow for one’sshortcomings and sins.