Prudence

Prudence is the virtue that discerns, in each circumstance, the true good and the right means of reaching it. It is right reason applied to action: where the other virtues will the good, prudence finds how to accomplish it here and now. The Latin word prudentia comes from providere, “to see ahead”: the prudent man looks further than the moment, weighs the consequences and orders his acts to their end. The Greeks called it phronēsis (φρόνησις), the discernment of one who knows how to act. Wisdom ranks it among the four virtues that carry the upright life. “she teaches self-control and prudence, justice and courage.” Wisdom 8:7

To see before acting

Prudence begins with the look. Before willing, it examines; before acting, it weighs. The discerning man is not led by the first impression: he considers where his steps lead. “The simple believes everything he is told, but the prudent watches his steps.” Proverbs 14:15 Christ himself takes the image of one who reckons before undertaking. “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down to work out the cost and see whether he has enough to see it through to the end?” Luke 14:28 To foresee thus is the mark of a reason that governs instead of being swept along.

To deliberate, to judge, to command

The prudent act unfolds in three moments. Man first deliberates, seeking the possible ways and taking counsel; he then judges which is best; he finally commands the will to accomplish it. This last act is the chief one: prudence does not stop at reflection, it passes to execution, otherwise it would be a knowledge without effect. It thus joins the sight of the end and the choice of the means, and this is why it requires at once the experience of the past, attention to the present and foresight of the future.

Prudence, then, is wounded as much by haste as by cunning: to act without weighing, to refuse the counsel of the wise, is already to fail it. “Do nothing without reflection, and you will not have to repent after the deed.” Sirach 32:19 The haste that skips judgment stumbles. “Zeal without discernment is worth nothing, and whoever hurries his steps stumbles.” Proverbs 19:2

The charioteer of the virtues

Prudence drives all the other moral virtues. Each aims at a good, but none finds its just measure of itself: it is prudence that fixes, in the concrete, the point where justice truly renders to each his due, where fortitude holds without rashness or cowardice, where temperance uses goods without excess or refusal. Tradition therefore calls it the auriga virtutum, the charioteer of the virtues, the one who leads them. There is thus no true moral virtue without prudence; but the reverse is true as well: a disordered heart judges badly, for the passions distort the gaze. Prudence presupposes the other virtues as much as it leads them.

This guidance does not order the acting of each alone: it also governs the household and the city. Whoever answers for others, the father, the pastor, the one who commands, owes them that right judgment ordered to the common good. Christ calls wise the servant who provides for his own in due time. “Who then is the faithful and wise steward whom the master will put in charge of his household to give them their ration of grain at the proper time?” Luke 12:42

False prudence

There is a cleverness that is not prudence: cunning, which seeks good means in the service of a bad end. It has the appearance of wisdom and is its opposite. The tempter wears it from the beginning. “The serpent was the most cunning of all the animals of the field.” Genesis 3:1 This prudence of the world, wholly turned toward interest and calculation, God foils. “the wisdom of this world is folly before God. For it is written: He catches the wise in their own cunning.” 1 Corinthians 3:19 True prudence serves the good, and the good alone. “I want you to be wise about good, and uncompromised by evil.” Romans 16:19

Paul gives it its deepest name. Where the text says “the craving of the flesh,” the Greek has phronēma tēs sarkos (φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός) and the Latin prudentia carnis: the “prudence of the flesh,” a shrewdness wholly turned toward self. “the craving of the flesh is death, whereas the aspiration of the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6 Hostile to God, it reckons everything except its last end.

Shrewd as serpents

Christ asks of his own a prudence without deceit, joined to uprightness. “So be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16 He unites what the world separates: the keenness that knows how to discern and the simplicity that does not deceive. Christian prudence joins the clear gaze that discerns and the uprightness that harms no one: it advances toward the good without letting itself be turned aside.

A prudence that rests on God

Human prudence has its limits, for man sees neither the whole of the present nor anything of the future. And so true prudence begins by not trusting itself alone. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he himself will make your paths smooth.” Proverbs 3:5-6 It is sought in prayer, where God gives to whoever asks the light of judgment. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all generously.” James 1:5 To this virtue answers the gift of counsel, by which the Holy Spirit leads the soul from within in the choices that reason alone could not settle (Isaiah 11:2).

The prudence of the children of God

All prudence is measured, in the end, by its end. To provide carefully for the affairs that pass away while neglecting one’s salvation is to turn prudence into folly. Christ notes, not without irony, men’s application to the goods that pass away. “the children of this world are shrewder in dealing with their own kind than the children of light.” Luke 16:8 True prudence watches and keeps itself ready for the coming of the Lord, like the virgins who had foreseen the oil. “the wise ones took, along with their lamps, a supply of oil.” Matthew 25:4 It listens to the word and puts it into practice, building on rock. “everyone who listens to the words I have just spoken and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on rock.” Matthew 7:24 To order one’s whole life to God, one’s last end: this is the highest act of prudence.