Transcript Lecture XV: The Virtue of Prudence and Justice

Lecture XV: The Virtue of
Prudence and Justice
Spiritual Theology (THE 390)
August 2, 2011
I. The Virtue of Prudence
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Prudence is infused into the practical
intellect for right concrete action in
view of supernatural end
 it is a fulcrum for all other moral
virtues
 it points out the just mean for all
moral actions
 without prudence no virtue can
become perfect
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Importance
 Helps one to avoid sin
 Judges what should be done to grow
in sanctification
 Assists in the apostolate
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Vices opposed
 Imprudence
 precipitation
 acting without attention to proper
steps and proper deliberation
 inconsideration
 a spurning of making a judgment or
no attention to it
 inconstancy
 the abandoning of a good judgment
because of some difficulty
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Negligence
 A failure to even command the
action
False prudence
 carnal prudence
 craftiness
 guile
 fraud
 lack of confidence in divine
providence

Method of Progress
 Beginners – the virtue of prudence is
often lacking in the young due to a
lack of experience and the
predominance of emotions over
reason
 avoid sins that are opposed to
prudence mentioned above
 Practice referring all actions to the
ultimate end – ask the question:
“Quid hoc ad aeternitatem?”

Advanced Souls
 seek God’s glory
 practice choosing the greater
good
 intensify practice of self-denial
and mortification
II. The Parts of Prudence

Integral Parts (elements which are required
for the perfection of a given virtue)
 Memory of the past – one must learn
from experience
 Understanding of the present – to judge
the morality and/or fittingness of a given
act in the present
 Docility – willingness for the
inexperienced to accept the counsel and
advice of the experienced
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Sagacity – ability to act rightly in an
urgent situation where no time is
available
Reasoning power – ability to give required
deliberation and consideration when time
affords opportunity
Foresight – need to judge means in view
of end
Circumspection – take into account
special circumstances surrounding a given
act
Precaution – consideration of possible
obstacles exterior or interior to oneself
due to weakness, etc.
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Subjective Parts (species or divisions
of the virtue)
 personal prudence – governance of
self
 social prudence – governance of
others
Potential Parts (annexed or related
virtues)
 Good counsel – advises concerning
apt means for action
 Common sense – judge according to
common laws
 Perspicacity – ability to apply higher
principles in the absence of a law
III. The Gift of Counsel

Definition

Gift that perfects the operation of the
virtue of prudence, operating under the
impulse of the Holy Spirit.
 The gift often commands actions that
could never be explained by human
reason, even by reason with light of
faith
 The gift of Counsel is especially needed
when there is need for an immediate
judgment and no time for deliberation

Effects
 Preserves one from the dangers of a
false conscience
 Provides solutions to difficult and
unexpected situations
 Inspires superiors with the most apt
means in the governance of others
 Increases one’s docility to legitimate
superiors

Opposed Vices
 precipitation – the acting on one’s
own judgment instead of waiting on
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
 tenacity – attachment to one’s own
judgment
 procrastination – not acting when
the Holy Spirit is prompting and thus
losing the grace

Means of Growth
 Cultivate a profound humility
 this places one dependent upon
the Holy Spirit
 avoid haste in proceeding with a
decision
 listen in silence to the voice of God
 have docility to ecclesiastical
superiors through whom God speaks
IV. The Virtue of Justice

Justice Itself
 Definition
 Supernatural habit which inclines the
will constantly and perpetually to
render to each one what is due in the
strict sense
 it perfects the will
 it always involves reference to
another, strict obligation, and exact
adequation
 it prepares the way for peace, the
tranquility of order

Parts of Justice
Integral Parts
 refraining from doing evil to
one’s neighbor
doing the required good to one’s
neighbor
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subjective parts
 legal justice (inclines one to
render to society it’s due in view
of the common good of that
society)
 Distributive justice (inclines one
in charge to bestow things in
their proper proportion
according to dignity, need, etc.)
 commutative justice (inclines
one to render to another
individual what is his due)

potential parts
 religion – cult due to God
 piety – duties towards one’s
parents
 observance,
 gratitude – benefits received
dulia, obedience – obligations
towards a superior
 vindication
– just punishment
 truth, affability, liberality – with
social relations
 equity – ability to depart from
the letter of the law in order to
preserve the law’s spirit

Means of Progressing in Justice
 Negative Means
 avoid all injustices, however slight
 avoid unnecessary debts and pay
existing debts promptly
 treat another’s possessions as
one’s own
 protect and defend the good name
of others
 avoid any kind of preference of
persons or human respect

Positive Means
 rendering our neighbor his due –
commutative justice
 judge in favor of society or
organization, etc. as a whole in
making decisions
 be solicitous to fulfill one’s
obligations to the law of society
V. The Virtue of Religion

Definition
 the virtue which inclines man to give
to God what is due Him as first
principle
 it is the most excellent of the
virtues derived from justice
 its material object is the internal
and external acts of worship

Acts of Religion
 Internal
 devotion – promptness of will to
give itself over to the service of
God
 by definition it must be
rendered to God and not to His
creatures
 devotion to saints is really a
veneration of God in them
 the virtue of devotion resides in
the will
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prayer – resides in the intellect predominantly
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External
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adoration
sacrifice
offerings
vows
oaths
adjuration
invocation of name of God
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Sins opposed to Religion
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By excess
 superstition
 rendering to God what is
unworthy of Him
 rendering to man what should
be rendered to God
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By defect
 tempting God
 perjury
 sacrilege
 simony
VI. The Virtue of Piety

Definition

A supernatural habit inclining one to
render one’s parents, country, and those
related to these the reverence and service
required
 material object – acts of honor,
reverence, etc. given to one’s parents,
country, or those related to these
 formal object – as secondary principle
of one’s being

Sins against virtue of piety
 They are special sins which need to
be declared in confession
 Excess
 excessive love for one’ parents or
country to disrespect of rights of
others, including God
 Defect
 impiety – neglect of duties toward
one’s parents, country, or relations
VII. The Gift of Piety

The gift of piety is a supernatural habit which
causes a filial love for God as Father and a
sentiment of universal brotherhood with all
persons as children of the same Father
 resides in the will
 considers God as Father who has engendered
supernatural life in us
 venerate all men insofar as they are related to
God, children of the same Father, thus our
brothers and sisters
 it perfects justice
 world and creation are seen as the “House of
the Father”
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Effects of Gift of Piety
 gives a filial tenderness toward God
the Father
 “we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (cf. Rom
8:15-16)
 gives filial abandonment to the
Father (“Into your hands I
commend my spirit”)
 gives vivid awareness of the divine
Paternity within the Trinity,
generating the Son
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allows us to see in our neighbor the
image of the Son of God and to weep
with those who weep (cf. Mt. 25)
to love all persons and things that are
related to the Fatherhood of God and
His family
B.V.M.
Saints and angels
Souls in purgatory
Pope
Priests
Churches and holy objects
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Vices Opposed to the Gift of Piety
 Hardness of Heart – an ill-regulated
love of ourselves causing us to be
unaffected by offenses toward God
and His family
Means of Progress
 Cultivate the spirit of adopted sons
of God
 beg for the gift of spiritual
adoption and its awareness (cf.
Dom Marmion)
 do all in order to please your
Heavenly Father
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Cultivate a spirit of universal brotherhood
and embrace the entire world with such
love
 “there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave
or free” (Gal 3:26-28)
Consider all things as pertaining to the
“House of God”
 Eg. St. Francis of Assisi
Cultivate a spirit of complete
abandonment to the Father
 Trust and recognition of Divine
Providence
 Sacrament of the Moment
VIII. Virtue of Observance

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Definition
 honor - owed to all persons of
excellence
 obedience – owed to those who
have jurisdiction over us
Honor
 Saints – dulia
 Mary – hyperdulia
 Joseph – proto-dulia
 God – latria
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Obedience
 virtue by which one’s will is prompt
to carry out the commands of a
superior
 religious superior
 parents
 civil authority
 employer
 pastor
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formal motive
 authority representing God
 This is often lacking, and when
it is, there is only material
obedience and not formal
obedience. Then there is no
real virtue of obedience.
 Eg. grumbling and interior
resistance, affection for superior
of disordered nature, and mere
reasonableness of command
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classical divisions of obedience
 mere external execution
 internal submission of will
 submission of intellectual judgment
Other elements important to obedience:
 necessity to see Christ in Superior
 ability to give reasons humbly against a
given command
 Obedience is the prosperity of religious
communities and its lack the downfall
of communities
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Characteristics of Obedience
 spirit of faith – see superior as
representing God
 conviction of command – infallibility of
obeying and knowing will of God for me
 offered for love of God – sacrifice my
will and difficulty of obeying
 promptness – not making Jesus wait
 complete submission (total surrender)
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spontaneity and joy – even anticipating
the desires of the superior
humility – not drawing attention to
one’s sacrifice encountered in obeying
magnanimity – gives the strength of
martyrs
universality – to obey any and all
superiors at all times
perseverance – to remain faithful in
obedience in sickness and health, no
matter what cost to me
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False Obedience (Royo, 459-460)
 Routine or mechanical obedience –
like a robot without any interior
devotion
 legal obedience – just a
minimalization of following the
letter of the law
 critical obedience – command is
done but superior is criticized
 paralyzed obedience – lax
communities when obedience is
not exacted
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pseudo-mystical obedience – one
invokes obedience to God (Holy
Spirit) in order to be disobedient
to a superior
camouflaged disobedience –
inducing superior to change
command
paradoxical obedience – pretense;
imposing my will on superior
pharisaical obedience – act
without submitting one’s will
spirit of opposition – caucus
against superior, warring factions
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egoistic obedience – motivated so
as to win the esteem or affection
of the superior
spirit of murmuring – unwilling
acceptance of the will of the
superior. The act is carried out
with grumbling
half-hearted obedience – doing
the task sloppily
slothful obedience – neglecting the
fulfillment of the command;
needing to be told numerous times
before accomplishing it