The Virtue of Prudence: The Best Use of Your Time

As an educator of Catholic adults, by far the greatest frustration I face is lack of attendance at parish programs. Now, I’m not prideful enough to deny that the educational medium (yours truly) may not be attractive enough. But that’s not the reason I hear people give for not attending. Rather, most people say that they are too busy. I also know that our parish is not the only parish facing this challenge. I also know that Catholics have been using this excuse for decades. In fact, it has gotten to the point that Church ministers have begun to make the excuse for parishioners: “I know attendance was disappointing, but we have to understand that people are so busy today.” I even had one person tell me, “I’m just not as into that religion stuff as some people.” That person was a catechist!

What about you? Has busyness kept you from being as involved in your faith?

The virtue of prudence is the habit of choosing the greatest possible good (exercising true freedom) and making a plan to attain it. If we’re allowing the busyness of the secular world to dictate how we use our time, we are not exercising prudence or true freedom.

Warning from a Saint

In his sermon on John 16:16, Saint Alphonsus Liguori offers a warning that Catholics today desperately need to hear. The meat of it is:

We should live only to fulfill with all diligence the divine will; and, should it be necessary, it is better to suffer in temporal things than to neglect our eternal interests.

In other words, we could be doing nothing more important with our time than growing in holiness. Nothing. Saint Alphonsus goes so far as to say that we should not be wasting our time with entertainment and other frivolities. Instead, we should dedicate every moment to prayer, to conquering sin, to learning more about God, and to works of charity. Now, in our entertainment-saturated culture, Saint Alphonsus’ words seem extreme. Is he really calling entertainment a sinful waste of time? How can it be sinful to take a little recreation? Is he really saying that we should dedicate every waking moment to religion? Isn’t that a bit fanatical?

Barriers to the Virtue of Prudence

One problem is that modern Catholic culture has relegated the faith to just another activity among many. Faith is a relationship with God that should permeate every part of our daily lives. Even when we’re busy at work, running with the kids, or making dinner, we should be exercising our vocation prayerfully. If we are living in this way, dedicated times of prayer, learning, and serving will become more important to us.

Another problem is that we have not been taught that we need to develop the discipline necessary to build a spiritual life amidst life’s distractions. Most of us know what we should be doing for our faith, but we put it off. We wait for a better time, a time when we’re not so busy. But that time never comes. To us, Saint

Saint Alphonsus says,

What you can do today defer not till tomorrow; for on tomorrow you may be dead, and may be gone into another world, where you shall have no more time to do good, and where you shall only enjoy the reward of your virtues, or suffer the punishment due to your sins.

Exercising the virtue of prudence means identifying God as the greatest good, and then making a plan to make your relationship with God central to everything you do in your daily life. Exercising our spiritual life means more than just going through a change of attitude. We need to be strategic about training ourselves to be in the Kingdom of God throughout the day.

Are You Living Life to the Full?

This isn’t just a matter of duty, though God certainly deserves our full attention. It’s really a matter of being who God created us to be and finding fulfillment in focusing on the things that matter most. Knowing, loving, and serving God is the meaning and purpose of our life. When we forget that, we fall into meaninglessness and despair.

So the next time you hear an invitation to attend a catechetical event at your parish, or the next time somebody invites you to pray the daily Rosary or to observe a day of fasting and sacrifice, think about what kind of life you want to lead. Taking the time to build your faith will not only lead to greater peace and happiness in this world, but you will also be following the teaching of the Lord to store up treasures in Heaven rather than on earth. On the other hand, if you choose to give in to the secular busy lifestyle you may just be choosing to live a harried, empty life in this world only to find that you miss out in eternity as well.

As Saint Alphonsus warns,

In the midst of these remorses, and of the torturing darkness of death, the dying sinner shall say: O fool that I have been! O life misspent! O lost years, in which I could have gained treasures of merits, and have become a saint! But I have neglected both, and now the time of saving my soul is gone forever. But of what use shall these wailings and lamentations be, when the scene of this world is about to close, the lamp is on the point of being extinguished, and when the dying Christian has arrived at that great moment on which eternity depends?

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that knowing, loving, and serving God is the purpose and meaning of life, and we will not find happiness unless we make Him the top priority of our life. This is easy to understand, but not always so easy to live. That’s why we need to create a “rule of life” – a set of virtues and disciplines – that create the habit of making God the top priority of our life. The virtue of prudence is one of the key virtues.

If you’d like to learn more about building a “rule of life” that fits your life, I invite you to explore the opportunity below to get more involved with From the Abbey. You can learn your faith and get training in how to build the virtues and practices that make up a lay rule of life. Click the button below to get started or to go deeper!

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.

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