301 PRUDENCE

YOUCAT Lesson 301

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

301  How does a person become prudent?

A person becomes prudent by learning to distinguish what is essential from what is non-essential, to set the right goals and to choose the best means of attaining them.  [1806, 1835]

Painting: …..The Holy Family with the Holy Spirit by Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo, 1675-1682. …..301

The virtue of prudence directs all the other virtues.  For prudence is the ability to recognize what is right.  After all, someone who wants to lead a good life must know what the “good” is and recognize its worth.  Like the merchant in the Gospel  “who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:46).  Only a prudent person can apply the virtues of justice, fortitude, and moderation so as to do good.

 “Prudence has two eyes, one that foresees what one has to do, the other that examines afterward what one has done.”  St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)

 “Saint Joseph teaches us that prudence is correct knowledge about things to be done or, more broadly, the knowledge of things that ought to be done and of things that should be avoided.”  --Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

1806, 1835

The cardinal virtues

  

…….1806 Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going."( Proverbs 14:15.)⁶⁵ "Keep sane and sober for your prayers."( 1 Peter 4:7.)⁶⁶ Prudence is "right reason in action," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle.( St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II,47,2.)⁶⁷ It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

  

IN BRIEF

 1835 Prudence disposes the practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it. --CCC