A Prayer for Prudence – the Art of Living Well

One of the earliest teachings my children learned centered on the practice of making good choices.

As toddlers, picking out the movie to watch before bedtime or choosing the tastiest snack to pack away for school never required much debate. However, as they grew older, good decision-making became far more complex as the world around them unfolded a menu of different choices to accompany each new scenario.

Soon enough, they were setting their own goals, shaping discipline into the art of study habits, making friends, and finding a unique way to bring “good” into the world.

Along this journey, I put my heart into teaching them “how” to think and wisely discern without determining the outcome itself. Ultimately, it was their choice to make and abide by. The bigger the decision, the more time we spent thinking through the impact of possible moves like in the game of chess.

In the Catholic faith, the work in perfecting the ability to make right decisions is one of the four cardinal virtues known as Prudence.

Prudence is the mold and “mother” of all the other cardinal virtues (justice, fortitude, and temperance).

Prudence aims to help us take the truth of reality about what human life can and should be and inscribe it (through the will) into our daily actions (Pieper 8). Given that our ultimate purpose in life is to give glory to God, the virtues are the specific means to actualize the beautiful potential in us (via traits and behaviors) to become all God has created us to be.

Saint Augustine describes the pursuit of virtuous living this way:

“To live well is nothing other than to love God with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul and with all one’s efforts; from this it comes about that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (and this is fortitude). The virtue driven life seeks to obey only God (and this is justice), and is careful and discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (and this is prudence).”

Sadly, the perception of the “prudent” individual is now seen as one who is adept at avoiding the need to act or affirm the right path altogether. Certainly the common mind today regards prudence and fortitude as virtually contradictory ideas. A “prudent” man is thought to be one who avoids the embarrassing situation of having to be brave at all.

The “prudent” man is the “clever tactician” who persistently contrives to escape personal commitment in the pursuit of some good with an end contrary to God (Pieper 5). Hence, the prudent person (or false prudence) is one who flows along with the tide of popularity to support the prevailing world view of what is most needed in life.

In this sense, the Gospel commands the beloved of Christ to be “wise as serpents” (Mt. 10:16).

True human flourishing can only be attained through the ability to deliberate well about what is truly good as seen through the eyes of the Creator. Prudence is “right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas. Within the heart, there is recognition and deep caring for the eternal consequence of our actions.

For all of us, navigating these steps can be extremely difficult.

While we do our best to sail in this life well, we cannot control the outside forces affecting the sea and other conditions along the journey. Storms arrive without invitation and all we can do is keep a steady hand on the rudder to keep moving in the direction toward goodness.

And so to truly live well, prudence is vital because it imprints the inward seal of goodness upon our actions in daily life through the choices we make. And for children today, the absence of models to emulate their own choices after make it increasingly difficult to discern the difference between what is good (virtue) or not (vice).

We cannot truly know what a healthy “good” fig tree looks like until we have actually seen one for ourselves.

Be prudent friend! As St. Paul tells us, always be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Keep your eye on the ultimate goal – the kingdom of God.