The Art of Prudence

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

The Lord replied, “Who then is the wise and prudent steward whom the master will place over his household to give them at the proper time their allowance of food? Blessed is that servant if his master's arrival finds him doing exactly that. I tell you truly, he will put him in charge of everything that he owns” (Matt. 24:45-47).

Our Lord talks about the wise and prudent steward. There are quite a few occasions in the Gospel where Our Lord highlights the importance of the virtue of prudence.

In another place, we’re told, “It is like a man about to go abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one, he gave five talents, to another two, and to a third, one. … The man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more” (Matt. 25:14-16).

We’re told about people who used their talents well. They had foresight, they planned things.

This meditation is about the virtue of prudence. It is one of the four cardinal virtues and always mentioned first: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. It's a very important virtue.

In St. Luke, we’re told, “The master praised the dishonest steward for his prudence” (Luke 16:8a). You would think he might condemn him for his dishonesty, but he commended him for his prudence. He was going to be discontinued in his employment, and he got all of the debtors of his master to make their debts to the master much less, so that he would be well received (cf. Luke 16:1-7). This was prudence.

“For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of [the] light” (Luke 16:8b). Prudence is aligned with being astute, being clever.

“I glorify you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for having hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little ones” (Matt. 11:25).

And then in other places, Our Lord says, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt. 24:44)—more or less inviting us to be careful, to be watchful, to be prudent, think of the future, be prepared. “Be wise as serpents and prudent as doves” (Matt. 10:16).

“Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason,” we’re told, “to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means to achieve it” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Point 1806).

It makes our mind think about what’s our true good, not just what is an apparent good—what seems to be good in this situation. What is the true good, what is the thing I really need, what is the thing that will really be good for my body, for my soul, for my life, for my future, for my happiness?

Prudence leads us to discern what that particular thing is in this particular situation. This virtue is always making us look forward, to see, where do I want to go? Where does God want me to go?

St. John Paul in nearly all of his encyclicals says there are three questions that every person must keep asking themselves all throughout their life: Where have I come from? Where am I going? What is my life all about? (cf. John Paul II, Encyclical, Fides et Ratio, Point 1, September 14, 1988).

What do I want from my life? What does God want from my life, what's the goal, what's the purpose? And in our vocation, what's the purpose?

We are focused on that purpose all the time, so that we’re going in that direction: prudence, sanctity, apostolate. That's why we hear so much about those two ideas. We come back and we look at them again and again in our retreat, in our annual course, in our Circle, in our chat.

The Book of Proverbs says, “The prudent person looks where they are going” (Prov. 14:15).

When we were learning to walk, we were very small; small children tend to look around the place. They often don't look where they are going. They bump into a lamppost, or they walk out onto the road at the wrong moment. Very often a parent will tell the small child: ‘Watch where you’re going!’ It's a phrase we hear quite often.

This virtue is “right reason in action,” says St. Thomas (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, Question 47). Right reason applied to practice, in doing, ordering our actions towards their end, their purpose, what I'm supposed to do, what's the idea of being in this particular situation?

One time in the Dominicans, many years ago, during the time of St. Thomas Aquinas, they had to elect a new superior general and there were three candidates. One was very holy, one was very learned, and one was very prudent.

St. Thomas Aquinas was asked his opinion of which of the three candidates should be elected as the superior general. He said, “If this person is very holy, let him make us holy. If this person is very learned, let him make us learned. But if this person is very prudent, let him govern us”—because in the job of governing, one of the most important virtues is prudence, to keep in mind the goal, the end, and how to get there.

What are the right things to do at this particular moment? Life is a decision-making process. We're always making decisions.

Will I get out of bed? Will I not get out of bed? Will I eat this last piece of chocolate? Will I not eat this last piece of chocolate? Will I be on time for this next activity? Will I not be on time?

We are, all the time, making decisions, and those decisions have to be guided by the virtue of prudence so that we're all helped to reach that end, that goal.

If we find that a certain person is in charge of some activity, or has a job of government in the Work, you can be sure that one of the main reasons they're there is because of the virtue of prudence.

See, somebody might have a wonderful idea one day, thinking out of the box, and say, ‘Instead of approaching the oratory along the corridor there and the bridge over the walkway, let's set up a tightrope from the main catering building to the chapel, to the oratory. And at six in the morning, let's all walk across the tightrope to have some more fun in getting to the oratory.’

The prudent person will say, ‘I think that's not a very good idea. Let's just stick to the normal way of getting to the oratory using our own two feet in the normal manner.’

Or on the next excursion: ‘Let's have some special fun. Let's go bungee jumping.’ And if discouraged we might say, ‘But I love bungee jumping; in fact it helps me to live presence of God. When I launch myself out into the air, I say a Memorare for the intentions of the Regional Vicar.’

We might be told, ‘The Regional Vicar would much prefer if you discontinued your bungee jumping and found some other moment to pray a Memorare for his intentions.’

We all need to be guided by prudence, or to have somebody there to make prudent decisions, because if we all go bungee jumping, there won't be too much left of this corporate apostolic work. Or possibly, anyway.

This is the virtue that has as its object to teach us what we should do in each particular case. What's the right way to solve this particular problem?

Our Father says, “The Book of Proverbs tells us, ‘The wise heart will be reckoned prudent’ (Prov. 16:21). We would have a mistaken idea of prudence,” he says, “if we thought it faint-hearted or lacking in daring. Prudence expresses itself as a habit which inclines us to act well, by shedding light on the end, and by helping us to seek the most suitable means of achieving it” (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 85).

You've probably heard that in some of the countries where there were people who went to start the Work, when there were so many things to do, often they didn't sleep too much. It seems somebody wrote a letter from Colombia saying, ‘We're now sleeping five hours in the night, or four hours in the night, doing all sorts of very heroic things in order to bring forward Opus Dei in that country.’ There was so much to do.

But when our Father got to hear about it, he laid down the criteria that everybody should sleep seven to seven and a half hours at night. It might be very good to stay up all night doing all sorts of things, but in the long term, it damages our health and affects the emendationem vitae.

We might, sometimes, preparing for an exam or something, stay up late at night for some other reason, but that's not the normal thing, because it's prudent to get the proper rest.

It’s prudent to get out on a weekly walk or a monthly excursion, an annual course once a year, or all these other things; to look after the normal means, not to think, ‘I don't need this thing,’ or ‘I can manage,’ or ‘I'm okay.’ Or someday when we're told, ‘Maybe you should have a check-up with the doctor,’ to say, ‘Never mind, I don't like doctors.’

There may be certain things that are very prudent that we don't like doing, but yet that's the prudent thing to do. This virtue shouldn't be confused with timidity, or fear, or with duplicity.

Some spiritual writers have called it “the charioteer of virtues, a virtue that guides all the other virtues by setting the rules and the measure” (cf. Catechism, Point 1806) and the right things to do.

“So, then,” said our Father in Friends of God, “we have to be prudent. Why is this? In order to be just, in order to live charity, and to give good service to God and to [all] our fellow men. Not without good reason has prudence been called the mother of virtues and the guide of every good habit” (J. Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 164).

It's prudent to try and get our norms done early in the day. It's prudent to plan our activities and have goals. All the management textbooks talk about quarterly goals, yearly goals, weekly goals, daily goals, and hourly goals.

On our To Do list, it’s very prudent to write things down, because we can so easily forget—and even when we write them down, we can still forget. All these things are little measures of this virtue.

There are also many unforeseen things in human action. Things turn up, things happen, unexpected things, plans change. The priorities, if we go through the morning or we go through the day, may change a little bit. We have to be flexible.

And maybe a new decision is needed. What is now the most important thing in this particular moment?

The virtue helps us to look at the means, to apply the general principles to circumstances that are changing or developing. It guides the judgment of our conscience.

“Wisdom of the heart,” we're told in Friends of God, “guides and governs many other virtues” in all sorts of ways.

Prudence means that we try and have some other means like a phone handy for all sorts of situations.

“Through prudence, a man learns to be daring without being rash. He will not make excuses (based on hidden motives…) to avoid [the] effort in living wholeheartedly according to God's plans. The temperance of the prudent person is not insensitive; his justice is not harsh nor is his patience servile” (J. Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 87).

This great virtue helps us to do things properly. Finishing tasks well. It’s prudent to do a good job, prudent to double check, not to trust our judgment. It helps us to be calm, careful in planning, ready for the unforeseen circumstances so we don't lose our cool or get overwhelmed by circumstances.

If there's no prudence, our work might be full of goodwill but there might be no fruit. We might have great intentions, but we might have done a very bad job because we didn't double-check, or we thought this was the right thing. We didn't consult on some particular thing.

Prudence helps us to control against impulses. We can all be full of impulse. We have an impulse to do this or to do that, or we think this is a great idea at this particular moment when perhaps it's not such a great idea.

There can be no common sense when there's no prudence. Common sense can be a wonderful thing. It’s great to talk to people with common sense.

We have to grow in our common sense. Very often in many professional situations, an awful lot of common sense is needed just to do the simple thing or the normal thing or the ordinary thing, to think: What are the consequences of my actions?

It's a very useful thing to be able to think of the consequences or the outcome. If I do this, what's going to happen tomorrow or the next day?

It helps us to make right decisions, good judgments. We gain in wisdom by applying the spirit of the Work to the situation in which we're in. Maybe it's good if we get this norm done earlier, or we bring forward our spiritual reading, or some other thing.

Humility can be important in prudence because if we think that we have all the answers, we can make big mistakes. That's imprudent.

That's why it's very prudent to ask questions; to ask many questions. Sometimes the most prudent thing may not be the immediate thing that comes to mind or what it seems to us. That means we have to not trust ourselves too much, because we know we can make mistakes. I know I can forget things.

We see that the style of government in the Work at every level reflects this. Collegiality. Six eyes are better than two. It implies to all areas, not just government: to our apostolate, to our work, to our examination of conscience, to buying clothes.

We're encouraged in so many places to be accompanied to get the benefit of somebody else's judgment and experiences.

All the virtues grow together. We need this virtue just like we need all the other virtues because we have to guide other souls.

Certain people need it more. When we pray for the people in government, we're very often praying for them to have that virtue: the Pope, the Father, the Bishop, the Director, the Regional Vicar.

It's another reason why we have good reason to be docile to what we're told. We listen carefully to what we're asked and the advice we're given. It's very prudent because it's coming from the person with the greatest faith.

The Holy Spirit is speaking to us. This is the way to go. This is the thing to do, not the other thing that might seem so apparently fruitful or easy or fast or attractive.

We're often told how important study is in our vocation. It's a norm of ‘always.’ It's very prudent to study, to learn the habit of studying. That's the way we learn more things, and to grow in that habit, in that virtue over time, so we come to love reading things and acquiring new knowledge.

We develop that desire to attend certain courses or classes to improve our competence and our abilities. It's very prudent. It makes us more effective. But to study things so that we know the criteria a little better—the criteria, which means the things to do so that this thing works out for the best, so that ultimately, you become a person of sound judgment and maturity.

You may find that in your family, people little by little come to consult you on things, because we pick up a lot of prudence as we go along in the Work with all the formation we receive. Sort of unconsciously, other people can come to see this: this person thinks a bit deeper, sees things from a different perspective.

We often have an interesting opinion on certain things. We may find people consulting us. We should try and grow in that capacity, to become more effective in those things.

Sometimes accidents happen. There's a loving providence of God that plays its part in all of the unforeseen circumstances that crop up and we should try and accept God's will in this situation. Omnia in bonum (Rom. 8:28; J. Escrivá, Furrow, Point 127, Friends of God, Point 119): prudence to see that somehow God has permitted this particular thing.

Sometimes we can cause things to happen that are not necessarily the will of God through our imprudence, our carelessness. We should try and ask forgiveness to avoid those things.

Try and observe the criteria, the way we're told to do things. Those criteria may change over time. We may be told one thing and we might be saying, ‘That's not what I heard in the Center of Studies. Twenty years ago, I heard we do things this way.’

‘Well, now in this center, twenty years later, we do things that way because it's a different circumstance. We found this is more effective’ or whatever.

Things change over time. We find we have experience in the Work over years. Things that work out well, things that don't work out so well.

We're reminded occasionally about basic matters of prudence: to have cars in good condition, to drive in a sensible way, to avoid driving at night, all these sorts of things. Prudence can never be lacking.

The development of that virtue in sanctity and apostolate can take time. It doesn't come with the breeze. It’s something we learn over the period.

We're taught how not to go quickly; sometimes to go slowly. Sometimes God's pace is a slow pace. To learn things one by one, bit by bit. If we have a lot of things to do, just to break them down a little bit.

I think there's a passage in the book of Dora [Dora del Hoyo: A Lighted Lamp] where she says there was a time when they would have, I don't know, a hundred or a hundred and fifty cassocks to clean there in Villa Tevere. Each of them had to be looked at, I suppose, and brushed and cleaned in different ways.

Well, how to tackle that big job? It's going to take time and effort. Of course, if we break it down little by little, then the big things get done.

Don Álvaro was asked once a question in a get-together, something along those lines. In January 1993, an Italian university student said that sometimes he felt confused because of a lack of preparation.

Don Alvaro cited an Italian proverb: Only when the donkey starts walking does its pack settle comfortably into place. Only when it's put one foot in front of the other does the load that it has on its pack sort of settle.

He added that we learn to walk by first putting one foot forward, and then the other, and so on. Sometimes we fall, but then we get up and start going forward again. That's how children learn to walk.

When we have a big job, we just put one foot in front of the other. Make a start. Then things begin to settle into place.

God will help us if we use the means that He's given us. God is a prudent ally. The Holy Spirit points out to us what seems to be the best course of action.

To listen carefully can be part of prudence, to get the message. If we see something written down, a note from Advisory or something, we don't perhaps get the full meaning in just one quick reading. Or something comes from the Father. Often these things we have to read and reread, two or three times.

We read the writings of our Father, and maybe after many years, we're still delving into the great spiritual depth and truth that there is there.

It's very prudent to read what other people have written on certain topics— lots of experience. If we think, I don't need to read what other people have written, that can be proud or immature—I know all things.

Often when Don Álvaro was asked something, he would say, “Let me think about it.” Just in words.

Don Javier liked to quote how when Pope Benedict was in Pamplona as Cardinal Ratzinger, somebody asked him a question about something, and he answered, “I've never really thought about it. I'd have to think about it.”

Don Javier was very impressed with that. He was one of the most intelligent persons in the world, saying, “I have to think about it.”

Other people might say, “My opinion on this is that,” and might immediately offer some rather superficial opinion. Some things we have to think about; spend time.

Often when our Father had to make a decision on something, he asked people to study the matter. A lot of government in the Work is done that way: two or three people studying a particular topic and then presenting their results. And then the Father makes the decision, because that decision, maybe, is going to affect 92,000 people, maybe half a million people.

When people asked our Father for something, the difficulty that they had, he would say, “Have you prayed about it? Bring it to your prayer.”

No decisions before you pray. “Be wise as serpents and prudent as doves” (Matt. 10:16). Urgent things must wait. Some things take time. Rome wasn't built in a day.

It's good to delay things sometimes. We're taught often to consult things—and not just big things, but small things. ‘Extraordinary expenses’ doesn't mean the amount. It could be paper clips. Do I really need these things?

Sometimes it's great prudence to keep silent. For the latter part of his life, our Father was largely silent. He could have created a big shindig. He could have kept up a stink about many different issues.

He says, “Our way is to be silent and pray” (J. Escrivá, The Way of the Cross, First Station, Point 3). Sometimes our greatest role in the center is to be silent and pray; to lead in holiness, become a model of holiness.

We heard yesterday that Don Luis de Moya had passed away. While people are saying many things about him— an enormous influence all over the world, great influence of holiness—if you get a chance to read his book sometime (Sobre la Marcha), you see that this is real leading to holiness. God uses people to light lanterns in our life.

It's prudent to be quiet and just contemplate that example—great lessons to be learned from the example of other people. Our Father liked to say: callar, trabajar, sonreír, rezar—to be silent, to work, to pray, to smile.

We ask Our Lord for the grace to be able to make good decisions, to do things with calm.

In The Way, our Father says, “Don't judge without having heard both sides. Even people who think themselves virtuous may easily forget this elementary rule of prudence” (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 454). Hear both sides of a story.

It's not enough to want to be good, we need to choose the right means to achieve it. A lot of the time our formation is all about that: teaching us to choose the right means to achieve the goal we want.

Often there are aspects in our life, in our vocations, we have to be very prudent about: taking care of our vocation; not going to certain places, not reading certain books; taking care of our confession, aspects of our formation.

Knowing things that are dangerous for me, situations I can't handle, occasions of sin. Not self-medicating, getting advice about different things. Doing pastimes or sports that are appropriate for me. Squash at 56 is not prudent. Or rock climbing at 75, or other things that might cross our minds.

Prudent about our finances, spending when necessary. Not spending when it's not necessary. Avoiding frivolities. Avoiding creating needs for ourselves. Prudence in our work, trying to specialize, become an expert, know our job.

Father Cormack was saying a few years ago, on reading the book of Dora, he commented that she was a real professional. She knew her stuff. Our Father would consult her on things.

Notice the prudence of our Father: You're buying this machine or that machine? He had to hear what was her opinion on the ground. What's the experience of this particular thing?

It's prudent to keep people happy around us, be easy to work with, to be courteous, take care of communication, fulfill our duty.

It would be imprudent if we have such apostolic zeal that we feel we have to be in Holy Family, meeting people every day from 10 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon.

That might be okay on certain occasions, but that's not the normal thing. We need to be doing our work. We need to be where we're supposed to be.

Prudent in family life means being present, having our heart at home, taking care of family life in all sorts of ways.

In Christ is Passing By, we're told, “The Gospels give us a picture of Joseph as a remarkably sound man who was in no way frightened or shy of life. On the contrary, he faced up to problems, dealt with difficult situations, and showed responsibility and initiative in whatever he was asked to do” (J. Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, Point 40).

St. Joseph needed to have great prudence, also Our Lady, to make those right decisions. Do we go to Bethlehem? Do we not go to Bethlehem? Do we go to Egypt? Do we not go to Egypt? Do we go back to Nazareth? Do we not go back to Nazareth?

We can ask Our Lady that she might help us to grow in this virtue. We're told in the Catechism that Our Lady is the model of all the virtues (cf. Catechism, Point 829; Vatican II, Lumen gentium, Point 65, November 21, 1964).

In the Litany we call her Virgo prudentissima. Notice the Latin superlative. She's not Our Lady with a little bit of prudence.Prudentissima means most prudent. Virgin most prudent.

Mary, may you help us to grow in that virtue so that like you, we also might come to be most prudent.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

UI