The Virtue of Prudence: What Kind of Christian Are You?
Without the virtue of prudence, life quickly gets out of control. When we’re not focused on ordering our lives, disorder and imbalance creep in. For Christians, this can spell trouble in our life of faith. Our lives may superficially look like Christian lives, but without prudence, there will always be something missing. Being able to honestly examine our lives and identify exactly how we’re imbalanced can help us strengthen this vital virtue.
Assuming that you are like most of us and need to strengthen prudence in our life, what kind of Christian are you? Below you’ll find four descriptions of an unbalanced Christian life. This is not a formal list, and certainly not an exhaustive one. But hopefully, it will help you think about your life and identify where you need to restore some balance.
So, what kind of Christian are you?
The Superhuman Christian
While it’s true that Jesus gives us a share in the Divine Nature through grace, His intention is not to make us into superhuman demigods. But an easy trap for Christians to fall into is the belief that a Christian needs to tackle every problem in the world for Christ. The superhuman Christian is focused on activity. There is always so much to do! And if we’re doing it for Christ, it must be necessary.
The problem of the superhuman Christian is that they see themselves as the saviors of the world rather than giving that role to Jesus. Of course, Jesus chooses to bring grace to the world through His Body, the Church. And it’s easy to see that much of the Body is not doing its share. But it’s not up to faithful Christians to make up for the lack of others.
How can you use the virtue of prudence to regain balance if you are a superhuman Christian? The key to finding balance in your life is to acknowledge God’s sovereignty. The evil and need in the world and in the Church do not catch God by surprise. He is still in control. And more important than getting all of the work done is converting the hearts and minds of His followers who don’t share your passion for serving the world and the Church. As Saint Theresa of Calcutta famously said, “God has called us not to be successful, but to be faithful.”
The Shallow Christian
The shallow Christian has convinced himself that he is doing everything a good Christian should, but he has not allowed Christ to truly enter into his heart. They share the busyness of the Superhuman Christian, but usually, avoid anything that requires too much effort or sacrifice. Shallow Christians live shallowly, perhaps not doing any great evil but not doing any great good either. They avoid sacrifice, penance, and discipline. Yet, on the surface, the shallow questions seem to be living a truly holy life. They come to Mass. They participate in Church events. They attend the fundraisers. They give the impression that they are very involved in the faith.
The problem with shallow Christians is that for all of their activity and appearance, they don’t enter into the true relationship of Christianity. They avoid the conversion of heart or the rigors of love.
How can shallow Christians find balance? If you are a shallow Christian, you need to embrace true conversion of heart and mind that Jesus calls us to do. Conversion requires supernatural prudence so the Holy Spirit can give you sensitivity and sorrow for your sins and the passion to change.
The Nice Christian
The nice Christian thinks that the greatest sin a Christian can commit is to offend someone or to make someone uncomfortable. In their desire to be nice, these Christians are willing to sacrifice truth and morality. For example, some Catholics say that the differences between denominations don’t matter. What’s important is that we all believe in Jesus. But would these Catholics be willing to sacrifice the Holy Eucharist, most of the Sacraments, and the magisterium of the Church for the sake of unity? Nice Christians are also hesitant to tell anybody that their behavior is sinful. They see calling out a sinner as judgmental and mean. They instead adopt a philosophy of “accompaniment” that calls for accepting a person’s sin as part of who they are.
The problem with the “nice” Christian is that what they think of as “loving” others is ineffective pleasantness rather than true charity. Being “nice” means taking the path of least resistance. It isn’t the path that Jesus showed us in the Gospel. Jesus directly faced opposition to the truth, even to the point of insulting those leading others astray. The Early Church Fathers and saints throughout history modeled their own boldness after Jesus’ example.
The virtue of prudence calls us to the greatest good rather than to an inferior good. Niceness is an inferior good to true charity and truth. Authentic love means willing the good of the other. Truly loving someone often means leading them to a good that they don’t at first recognize. This can require us to be firm and bold in our proclamation of the truth.
The Future Christian
The future Christian is someone who is always focused on the future – on “someday.” This attitude often begins when we are discerning our vocation in our youth. We get used to thinking “what does God want me to do in the future?” Then we start thinking, “someday God will give me my mission. Someday God will fix the Church. Someday God will bring justice to the world.
The problem with the future Christian is that he misses what God is doing in his life in the here-and-now. Instead of asking only what God wants me to do in the future, I should also ask how God wants me to serve now. Often He will show His will for our future by guiding our present actions. Instead of waiting for God to fix the Church or to bring justice to the world, we should ask how He wants us to serve His Kingdom now.
While prudence is the virtue of making plans to attain good in the future, it also calls us to immediate action in the steps to get there.
The Social Justice Warrior
Social justice has become increasingly important in the Church. This increasing importance is in part because increased industrialization and urbanization in the 20th century created more problems with justice. The danger is that our focus has shifted from the good of the Kingdom of God to the good of the kingdom of the world. For example, I once asked members of the pastoral council of a parish what Jesus’ main purpose, mission, and message was. Their response was “care for the poor.”
Jesus didn’t die to care for the poor. He died to save us from our sin. His main mission was to fulfill the Covenant by bringing us into full communion with God through grace. To focus only on what Christians can do to make the world a better place is to miss the greatest good that God offers us through Jesus.
The Virtue of Prudence Brings Balance
When we take the time to examine our lives, to make plans to choose the best possible good and to allow the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds, we can avoid these imbalanced expressions of Christianity. We can choose to focus on being rather than doing. We can choose to enter more fully into the relationship of Christianity and to embrace the process of conversion rather than just going through the motions of Catholic life. You can exercise true charity and defend the truth instead of being blandly “nice” and tolerant. You can seek God’s will in the here-and-now instead of always focusing on the future. We can work for the Kingdom of God rather than focusing only on secular concerns. When we choose these greater goods of being a disciple of Jesus, we live more powerfully in the life of grace and our lives become filled with goodness and balance.
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