Food for the Soul
A bi-weekly blog on the virtuous life. Written not by a master, but by a student, but one at least who knows whence sound teaching is found.
Prudence is right reason about things to be done. - St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae IIa, IIae Q. 47. Every sin is opposed to prudence. - Josef Pieper, Four Cardinal Virtues The prudent man does not expect certainty where it cannot exist, nor on the other hand does he deceive himself by false certainties. - Josef Pieper, Four Cardinal Virtues But prudence is concerned with human things and things about which it is possible to deliberate, for we say that this work belongs to the person of prudence most of all, to deliberate well, but no one deliberates about things incapable of being otherwise, nor about variable things among which there is not some end, and that end a good achieved by action. - Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics The value of prudence consists not in thought merely, but in its application, which is the end of the practical reason. - St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae IIa, IIae Q. 47, art. 1. And if prudence renders service, who in the world is a better craftsman than she? - Wisdom 8:6 For some reason we have lost touch with the importance of order in our lives. The monks in their wisdom set an horarium, or order of the hours of the day that was kept as a way of keeping oneself in proper balance and relationship with God, others, and themselves. Perhaps this neglect of order is due to the largely licentious vision of freedom that we have imbibed through our culture in which we consider freedom from constraint, including the "constraints" of nature and divine truth, as an ultimate good. "Give me liberty or give me death!", spoke Patrick Henry in his rousing exhortation aimed at a revolutionary war. It is not a stretch to assume that those words would mean something quite different for most Americans today than they did at the time Henry spoke them. A modern rendering of the meaning based on today's all too common conception of evil might be "Let me do what I want, or I'll kill myself." I really don't think Henry had anything like this in mind when he spoke of freedom. The primacy of tolerance as the greatest virtue and assisted suicide as the apex of freedom in progressive culture today has obfuscated our understanding of the nature of freedom. Subsequently, we are often slow to recognize that freedom is only truly free when we act in accord with orders of nature and grace.
The truth is that order is a fundamental aspect to living virtuously. The order I speak of is based on the truth of things, not just an imposition of a subjectively constructed order on our experience. This order is present in all things: physical, immaterial, moral, and divine. Prudence is the intellectual virtue that recognizes the moral ordering of things and causes us to act in accord with that order so that the means are fit to achieve the end for which we act here, now, and in a morally good way. Prudence is the virtue that determines the "ways and means" associated with down-to-earth realities. It applies universal principles of actions, such as "do good and avoid evil" to concrete situations through discrete actions. It is the first of the cardinal virtues because in the order of action our true perception of things (prudence) is requisite for the accomplishment of what we ought to do (justice, courage, temperance). In the order of the moral life, there is primacy in the virtue of prudence over all the other moral virtues. Thus, prudence and synderesis (the principle of knowledge in our intellect to "do good and avoid evil") together form what we call conscience. In this light, two commonly accepted axioms from theology become clear in their relationship to each other: "Every sin is opposed to prudence" (St. Thomas), and "A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself" (Catechism of the Catholic Church). The prudent person and the good person are identifiable each with the other. We are always acting for the sake of some end. Always. There is never a moment in which we are deliberately acting, but in a completely aimless manner. Our lives may be a mess. Our ends might change with our emotional status. But when we set out to act it is always for a purpose. In order for prudence to function well, the end or goal of our deliberation must be a true good, and not only an illusory one. In order for our ends to be upright and good, our appetites, both spiritual and physical, must be upright and good. If our appetites are distorted, prudence will not be able to identify and follow through in achieving what is truly good for us. This is why temperance and courage are required for us to be able to think well as well as act well. Yet, the key to prudence is based upon the accurate perception of reality. This is why prudence, which is a virtue of the intellect, is the first of all the cardinal virtues. Truth is prior the good, just as knowledge is prior to action. As St. Thomas so pithily states in his definition of prudence as "right reason about things to be done", prudence is the perfection of thinking that leads to acting. How does this happen? In three steps: deliberation (counsel), judgment, and command. In order for these three parts of a prudential action to happen, three more helper-virtues should be present: circumspection, docility, and foresight. Deliberation (Counsel): Let me quote again the aforementioned words of Aristotle about deliberation and its relationship to prudence: "But prudence is concerned with human things and things about which it is possible to deliberate, for we say that this work belongs to the person of prudence most of all, to deliberate well, but no one deliberates about things incapable of being otherwise, nor about variable things among which there is not some end, and that end a good achieved by action" (Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics). If I want to graduate from UND Law School, then I need to aim at getting there with all my actions. Some actions are going to lead me there, and others will not. But there are multiple ways for me to approach this goal. There are various undergraduate programs and schools from which I can choose. There are a thousand ways to build my resume. There are various relationships that I can focus on building or neglecting. There are various timelines to follow. Prudence is required to take into consideration the past, present, and future in order to act in such a way that will actually accomplish the end for which I am acting. The act of deliberation means that I need to sift through through all of the particulars of my life as the preliminary part of acting prudently. Judgment: Once I have deliberated about the impending decision to act in a certain way as a means to the end of graduating from UND Law School, I must make a good judgment about how to proceed. Perhaps, some of us know people who can never make a decision. This part of prudence would be lacking in them, and it will stall the whole process of acting well. It is in this part of the prudential act that the question of certainty becomes important. Some people are paralyzed by a lack of certainty about whether or not their judgment of the situation is the correct one. In our moral lives the level of certainty that we should have in order to act is not absolute certainty, but moral certainty, which is not mere opinion, but also not as great as mathematical certainty. There are so many variables in human action, especially when you consider the fact that our action is an action of a fallible human being, that to expect too much certainty about the quality of our judgment can paralyze us from achieving the good at all. "The prudent man does not expect certainty where it cannot exist, nor on the other hand does he deceive himself by false certainties" (Josef Pieper). Command (Act): While prudence is a virtue of the intellect, which is primarily associated with knowledge, prudence is also turned toward action as the "charioteer of the moral virtues." Prudence commands the moral virtues such as temperance, justice, and fortitude as a charioteer drives the team of horses upon which it depends to win the race. The last part of prudence is the command of the intellect to put into action the deliberated judgment about how to act. Perhaps, some of us know people who know what they should do, but can't get it done. They probably lack in the part of prudence identified by commanding action to happen, and to happen in a certain way. So here is a basic introduction to the virtue of prudence. A blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while, but we should aim for a greater consistency in good action than that of blind squirrels. For this to happen, we need to focus on reflectively becoming aware of our thought processes in acting. The picture at the beginning of the blog is an allegory of prudence. The "Virtue" is holding a mirror of introspection and a serpent, a symbol of the shrewd character of the prudent person. The mirror reminds us that in order for us to be good we need to accurately and in fine detail know ourselves. To this end, some questions we should ask ourselves include in order to grow in prudence include: Am I deliberating well about this decision? Is some disordered appetite or attachment skewing the way that I am seeing the world in this situation? Am I seeking advice from a trustworthy source? Do I struggle to make a sound judgment based upon the facts? Do I merely think about what I should do, but fail to command myself to carry out the good decision? Are the means to the end morally good? Is this the best way to go forward here and now? Are fear or anger driving my thought process? You can see that prudence is not a virtue that we can achieve in its fullness over night. It is a virtue that should naturally grow more and more refined over a lifetime of good decisions. Every good action that I accomplish gives me a greater insight into how to act virtuously. You can also see that prudence is quite complex. There are other virtues that I need to foster in order to really grow in prudence. It is of these three supporting virtues that I will write next time. Sincerely, Fr. Nelson God is Love. - 1 John 4:16 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. - Ephesians 5 And I will show you a still more excellent way...Love never ends; as for prophecy, it will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13: 8-13. Now it is charity that unites us to God, who is the last end of the human mind, since he that abides in charity abides in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16). Therefore, the perfection of the Christian life consists chiefly in charity. - St. Thomas Aquinas IIa,IIae, q.184, art.1 As we continue our introductory journey through the virtues, having spoken of faith and hope, we finish by treating the greatest of all virtues, charity. As you probably noticed in the quotations above, love and charity are sometimes used interchangeably. Love is the only one of the two words that can be used as a verb in English; as a result we usually just settle on using the word love exclusively. What a poor language we speak! There is a laughable story sometimes told about a southerner from the Bible belt that opposed teaching or speaking spanish in the United States on the grounds that if "English was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us." Whether the story is true or not, it is an apt reminder that for most of us the connection with divine revelation is mediated through a translation from Greek or Hebrew to English. The same can be said of the writings of just about any of the great works that were originally written in a foreign language. There is always something lost in translation.
Love describes a reality. Actually it describes various realities. Notice how all the following sentences use the same word in different senses:
Greek has four major words that correspond to "love": eros, philia, storge, and agape. Briefly, eros refers to erotic love that is the hallmark of sexual attraction. Philia refers to a love of friendship. Storge is the affection for someone that comes from familiarity, and agape is the divine love that is defined by its gratuitous nature; agape is not self-seeking, but wills the good of the beloved for his own sake. For a truly worthwhile reflection on love, I recommend reading Deus Caritas Est, the encyclical letter of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The first part is quite profound and beautiful as it speaks about the relationship between eros and agape in the Christian life. C.S. Lewis also wrote a nice little book about all four of the loves aptly titled The Four Loves. When we speak about the virtue of charity, we speak about divine love, agape. This love is proper to God, whose very essence is charity. God is love, says St. John. He doesn't have it as an add-on to what He really is, but rather He is love. You can see how quickly the doctrine on the Holy Trinity becomes the basis for our proper understanding of God's nature. God is one. The entirety of the Old Testament is a narrative about God's elimination of the pantheon of false gods. But with Christ, we begin to see that God is one in three; his oneness is a unity of three divine Persons. Remember, God is love; where there is a lover, there must be a loved and a bond uniting them. In order to see the supreme importance of the virtue of charity, it is helpful to go back to the beginning. When God created human beings in His image and likeness, He created us as persons. The three Persons of the Holy Trinity are reflected in the intellectual nature of each individual person; we are able to know, love, and act freely as God does. But we are also an image of God in our ability to form a communion of persons that brings forth a third person through love. In this way, marriage is an image of the Holy Trinity as well. In both ways we are images of God. Yet, we are infinitely distant from God according to our nature. He is God and we are not. This distance between us and God, however, is meant to be bridged by grace. Even Adam and Eve, prior to the fall, required grace to remain in intimate friendship with God. So it is with us too. God has created us for himself, that through the gift of his grace we might be elevated to share in his very nature, and thus His life. This is where the virtue of charity comes in to play. All three theological virtues are given to us by God so that we can be in personal relationship with God. They deal with God Himself as their object. Charity gives us the capacity to love God and our neighbor as God loves Himself and His creatures, because it is a share in divine love, which has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The superiority of charity over the other virtues is found in the fact that in heaven faith and hope will no longer remain. Faith will give way to seeing God "face to face" in the Beatific Vision. Hope will cease once we reach our final destination. Charity will continue for eternity. So charity is the greatest of all virtues because it is the theological virtue that grows and lasts into eternal life. There is another reason, however, that charity is so important on this side of heaven. It is because charity moves us to God. Whereas faith, in a certain sense, brings God into us through the acceptance of divine revelation. Charity, which is situated in our will, moves us to hold on to God in himself. I'll let Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP clarify: "'The action of the intellect consists in this, ' says St. Thomas, 'that the idea of the thing understood is in the one who understands; while the act of the will consists in this- that the will is inclined to thing thing itself as existing in itself. And therefore Aristotle says that good and evil, whic are objects of the will, are in things, but truth and error, which are objects of the intellect, are in the mind.' It follows that in this life our knowledge of God is inferrior to the love of God, since, as St. Thomas says, in order to know God we, in a way, draw Him to us, and in order to represent Him to ourselves we impose on Him the bounds of our limited ideas. On the other hand, when we love Him, we raise ourselves toward Him, such as He is in Himself" (Garrigou-Lagrange, 1937). In this way, you can see why charity is the lifeline to heaven; it is inseparable from the state of grace and the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity within us. He that abides in charity abides in God, and God in him. So how do we foster this virtue in our homes and our children? The first way is to evangelize our children through introducing them to the mystery of God's love for them. There is no charity without faith, and faith is a gift from God that comes through hearing the gospel. We cannot love what we do not know. We tell them about God. We pray with them. We make sure that they are baptized. We take them to church. Our Lord solemnly declared to His apostles on the eve before he would demonstrate the greatest act of love the world has ever seen that "greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Surely, they would have been cut to the heart by these words. The moment of His last discourse was charged with intimacy and solemnity. And even more surely, the apostles reflected upon those words time and time again on the first Holy Saturday. The silence of that day as it is lived liturgically every year still provides ample time to reflect on the quality of divine love revealed on Good Friday. In a certain way it is after the fact of the passion that it all begins to sink in. Just as the disciples of Jesus in the above painting are meditating on the great passion He just underwent as they lovingly care for His body, so also we need to meditate on and interiorize the works of our redemption. Jesus' passion is what redeeming love looks like in fallen sinful world. The one who loves gives himself away for the beloved. The virtue of charity will never grow within us, unless we take into our hearts the reality of God's love for us... while we were yet sinners. That divine love shown in the Upper Room, in Gethsemene, on Calvary, and manifest in the body of our Lord is communicated to us through the mysteries of the Resurrection and Pentecost by which he makes us alive in Him and enflames our hearts with the Holy Spirit. I think that this is the most underappreciated of aspects of living the virtue of charity. It isn't first and foremost about what we do. It is about Who we receive and subsequently what we become. Prayer opens us to receive God. There can be nothing greater for us in this life. St. Bernard of Clairvaux is right, "we are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable." God Bless, Fr. Nelson |
What I'm currently reading...The Discernment of Spirits by Fr. Timothy Gallagher, OMV Archives
April 2019
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