The Virtue of Prudence: Human Beings Not Human Doings

The virtue of prudence is the habit of choosing the greatest possible good (exercising true freedom) and making a plan to get it. This far-ranging virtue touches on every dimension of our lives. One important part of exercising prudence is to examine our lives and to shape ourselves according to God’s plan and in cooperation with His grace. How do we define ourselves? How do we understand the purpose of our existence? These questions shape many of the choices we make as we seek to exercise prudence.

Chastised in Prayer

One of the greatest lessons of our faith is that we are human beings rather than human doings. God reminded me of this just this morning in my morning prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I was expressing great frustration with how slowly my teaching mission was taking off. Immediately Saint Theresa of Calcutta’s famous quote came to my mind: “God does not call us to be successful. He calls us only to be faithful.” Immediately following that thought came the words I heard from a talk given by a priest who was complaining to God the he was moved just as his ministry was taking flight. God said to him, “Don’t you think I could find anyone to do this work for me, and to do it better than you?” Those aren’t the words one wants to hear from God.

Except, they are often just the words we need to hear. You see, there is a secular humanist tendency to define ourselves based on how useful we are. We see our lives as having value directly in proportion to our success. It’s a pervasive and dangerous attitude that all too often defines our purpose in life. I found myself defining my purpose in life as serving the Kingdom of God through my teaching. This is certainly my mission. But it’s not my purpose. The true purpose of life is to grow in holiness – to become like Christ.

So in my prayer, God was directing my heart back to what is truly important. It was humbling to realize that God doesn’t need my teaching. He can raise up any number of gifted teachers. He called me to be a teacher only as part of His project to help me participate in His divine life and to become more like Him. My activity and my works only have value if they help me become more holy. God is more concerned with who we become than what we do.

Let the Virtue of Prudence Help You Focus on Being

Do you fall into the trap of defining yourself by what you do? Do you get frustrated with your life because you don’t feel successful enough? Focus on who you are as a human being, not what you can accomplish as a human “doing.” Exercise the virtue of prudence to help you re-orient yourself to what matters most. 

First of all, you are created in the Image of God. God gave you an intellect to know truth (and ultimately to know Him). He gave you a will to choose goodness (and ultimately to freely choose to love Him).  As rational creatures made to freely love God, each human person has inestimable dignity.

Second, as a Baptized member of the Church, you are also an adopted son or daughter of the Heavenly Father. Being a son or daughter of the King of the universe makes you a prince or a princess of the Kingdom of God. This is not humanistic feel-good drivel, either. Your status in the Kingdom has real implications. Saint Paul constantly warns us in his epistles to behave in a way that truly reflects the Kingdom of Jesus. We are ambassadors for Jesus. When people see how we act, they associated our behavior with Jesus and His Church. We need to live up to the great dignity of our office. Rather than being a burden, Saint Paul encourages us to see this as an honor and a blessing.

Third (and most importantly) is who God calls us to become. Our Heavenly Father calls us to cooperate with the grace won for us by Jesus and the working of the Holy Spirit within us to become saints. We are called to grow in holiness. To become holy means more than doing good things. It means to internalize goodness.  Growing in holiness should be the main project of our life, and the virtue of prudence is an important part of this process. Nothing is more important than “working out our salvation” (Philippians 2:12). Becoming the person God intends us to be so we can give glory to God is the purpose of our life. That means that holiness is the only way we will find fulfillment and happiness in this life or in the next.

Your Next Action Step

If you’d like to learn how to grow in holiness, receive specific strategies for cooperating with grace and growing in virtue, and get support and encouragement along the way, then I invite you to discover the joy of learning and living your faith with From the Abbey . The opportunity below will help you take your next step. Check it out!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.