What Does “Devotion” Mean in the Bible?
Love and self-giving to God. The word is also used for a special love for the Virgin Mary or for a saint.
It can mean
- Examples: the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, pilgrimages, processions, and visits to shrines.
- Promises: out of devotion, a person may promise God a prayer, an alms, or a pilgrimage. What is promised must be kept.
- In the Bible: Anna, the prophetess, never left the Temple and served God night and day with fasting and prayer.
Where it appears in the Bible
Luke 2:37; Acts 2:42
What the Bible says
Luke 2:37
And she was a widow until fourscore and four years; who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day.
Acts 2:42
And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: RAE, “devoción”; Catechism 1674 and 2101-2102