Duty and devotion

Paul once reminded some of us about the concept of 'duty before devotion' that the Legion espouses. This might seem confusing to some if we take it to mean that our work comes before our prayer-life. This obviously can't be true since we are always called to place God first in our lives.

I would suppose that the phrase critizes excessive devotion to the detriment of our duties. For example spending our entire day in prayer and spiritual pursuits while neglecting our studies (which is our duty as students) and our obligations to our brothers and sisters is wrong.
This tallies well with something St James tells us: "Show me your faith without any actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions." (Jas 2:18)

But the point I'm trying to draw is based on Chapter 11, Point 1 of the Handbook.
This tells us that personal holiness is both the object and the means of our Legionary lives.

Personal holiness could be taken to mean abiding in Christ: being in union with God.

The Handbook tells us that this holiness is our object: our duty as Legionaries is to promote holiness in our own members and in those whom we meet.

Holiness is also the means with which we are able to carry out our service fruitfully because Christ said "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me, and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5). Without him our works will bear no fruits.

Thus, while it is true that duty comes before devotion, we cannot carry out our duties well without piety and holiness - giving God what is His due.