There is only one true devotion but there are many that are false and empty. If you are unable to recognize which kind is true, you can easily be deceived and led astray by following one that is offensive and superstitious.
SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES
Generally, there are two types of Catholics--the nominal and the devout. Their state in life does not matter as we see that even religious, priests, and bishops can be described as Catholic in Name Only. Devotion comes from supernatural faith and true love for our Lord. This devotion can be faked for a season, but the truth always comes out. This is why God permits us to be tested with trials and temptations. The Devil called Job a gold digger, but Job never lost his love for God even after he lost everything else. Conversely, the nominalist is the gold digger who sees God as an instrument for his own ends. His love for God is insincere.
These thoughts came to me as I witness nominalism among the laity. These are not fellow pewsitters, but those who attend Mass rarely. One fellow griped that when he attended a meeting for first communion preparation for his children that the priest had the audacity to expect the parents to actually attend Mass on a weekly basis. The nerve of that priest! That griping nominalist reminds me of the guy who told the Baptist preacher that he didn't come to church to get preached at.
Nominalism is what motivated me to become interested in Opus Dei. I did not want to be a nominalist but have a life of devotion. I fell prey to the very thing Saint Francis de Sales warns about in the opening quotation. Opus Dei and other cults in the Catholic Church attract laypeople who have sincere desires to live devoted lives. The lie these cults peddle is that the devout life cannot be found in the ordinary parish but only by following their special paths and learning their secrets. At some point, disillusionment hits these people leading to bitterness and anger. If the poison is strong enough, they will leave Catholicism altogether. In the interim, the devout get sidelined into these movements where their positive influence in the wider church can be negated. This has the same effect that shadowbanning has on the internet. You're still in the game, but no one knows you're there.
The devout life is hard, but it is not complicated. It is all right there in your parish, the sacraments, your Bible, your rosary and scapular, and in the writings of the saints which are readily available. What God requires He also supplies. The reason these things are overlooked is a consequence of Vatican II which diminished but did not destroy the practice of the faith. They replaced the Old Rite with the new. They replaced the old catechisms with new social justice coloring books. They replaced the rosary and the breviary with centering prayer and yoga classes. They have replaced the spiritual with the "practical." They have replaced love for God with love for neighbors mediated through a Marxist social service agency or government program. They focus on the stomach instead of the soul, yet both go empty.
Changing this is fairly simple. When you live a life of devotion, it catches on with others. When a priest has supernatural faith, the parishioners know it. When you have a small group fervently praying for the parish, that parish becomes alive. None of this fruit is the product of a "program" or a PR campaign. Those things have the opposite effect.
Devotion begins with you. This is a lesson that I am constantly relearning. We focus so much on others that we forget to look at ourselves and how we are not loving God as we should. I attend weekly Mass for my obligation, but I let days slip by without praying the Rosary. Externally, I am perfect. Internally, I belong on death row. As they say on the airplane, put the mask on yourself first before trying to help others. Dead people don't save lives.
The purpose and end of life is to become a saint. Nothing should distract us from this purpose and end. We are to be the wheat even in a field full of weeds. This is the call to the devout life. It all comes down to a personal decision to choose devotion over nominalism.
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Recycled from the Smoke of Satan blog
https://smokeofsatan.wordpress.com/2023/10/29/the-nominal-and-the-devout/