Catholic during the Great Apostasy

ON PRUDENCE

1. Just as a builder cannot do without line and plumb line, so we cannot achieve anything without prudence. It is the manager of the other virtues, the yardstick of our deeds and the champion of the good life. There is no godly life without prudence. Everyone agrees that it is the most difficult and complicated art.

Its difficulty arises from the fact that all human affairs come within its scope; and since all human relationships are uncertain, changeable and subject to variation, since they are dependent on innumerable circumstances, not every mind manages to keep a proper measure in everything, so that what appears to be a contradiction can by some means be reconciled and united. The complexity of this art comes from the fact that the motives for human actions are usually obscured by a thick veil. Hence human works are like buildings, the higher parts of which we can see, but their foundations are hidden from us.

The judgements of God on the course and outcome of human affairs are also obscure. Hence it follows that few can boast of this virtue. Only a handful of people can predict what is better in what case.

2 Prudence is the daughter of experience and memory. For the particular accidents which prudence directs we learn from experience. You will be happy if you trust your own and other people’s experience and do not want to get too high, lest you get dizzy and fall.

In order to do everything wisely, you must first have regard for yourself, then for the object of your activity, and finally for those for whom or with whom you are to do something.

As for yourself, you must know yourself properly and not overestimate your own strength. Many have compromised themselves by overestimating their abilities, e.g. as an orator; others have incurred expenses beyond their means, while others have taken on duties which, for lack of health, they cannot manage.

It is then necessary to examine the intended deeds and compare the strengths with the undertakings. A burden that is too heavy knocks the bearer to the ground. You should only undertake what you are certain or at least likely to achieve.

Finally, the choice of the people you are to live with is of great importance; whether they are worthy, whether they are moral people. Beware that you do not harm yourself by doing favours for others.

Finally, you must examine whether you have the right abilities for your intended activities, because this is what you should devote yourself to above all, what you feel innately gifted for. It is futile to work against which nature abhors.

3 A prudent man will not undertake anything in the rapture of a moment; for the soul, agitated and blinded by the frenzy of passion, cannot properly discern what is good and honest. Also a great enemy of prudence is haste, which has already thrown many into very difficult and intricate relationships. Hence the prudent man never acts blindly; indeed, not trusting his own prudence, he usually seeks advice from others.

People’s thoughts are fearful, their intentions unstable, the results of their affairs doubtful, and their experiences sad. Moreover, the prudent man is not content with a superficial knowledge of a thing, for appearances are deceiving; he always examines the thing to the very bottom.

Do the same to yourself; put aside money, fame, honours; examine a thing in its essence, do not pay attention to its name, but look at what it is in itself. Only a fool will be fooled by appearances. Then you should, as if from an observation tower, look ahead, so that one day you will not have to use that stupid excuse: I was not thinking.

A great deal of thought, careful consideration and careful discernment are needed to ensure that prudence does not turn into cunning and deviousness, and that you do not take vice for virtue as a result of the close proximity between real and apparent good. Since you have decided to do something, do not hesitate, but do it immediately. It would be superfluous to hesitate in a thing well thought out. The proof of good forethought is a successful outcome.

Cardinal Jan Bona – Guide to Heaven. Tarnów 1900.