Verbum Dei UK

Praying with the Virtues.....

Praying with the virtues is about growing in the fullness of Christian love. The virtues are like different ingredients for a life that is whole and fruitful, or like different muscles that work together so that a limb may function. Praying on the different virtues gives an opportunity for the Spirit to give us light on how we can grow specifically in practically living our faith.

Prudence is not the most glamorous of the virtues...the word has come to be used as ‘caution’ or ‘calculating’ and smacks of business negotiations.. Prudence the virtue is much more, it is ‘sound judgement’ and describes the use of our reason to make thoughtful and prayerful evaluations of our daily realities that can enable us to make faith based loving decisions and actions.

Prudence is one of the cardinal virtues, which means that it is an essential foundation for other virtues to build on.

Monday

‘Be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves’ Matthew 10:10

In this reading Jesus combines two images rather surprisingly, serpents and dove. But the surprise is in order to shake our ideas about goodness-often we subconsciously think being good is a rather passive and accommodating attitude to life and that approaching a situation with faith and prayer, means not using our minds as well. To be cunning though is about having a strategy, being alert to find the best way through a situation, with the encouragement to be harmless, be people centred, at the same time. This instruction comes after Jesus saying that he is sending us out into the world like sheep among wolves, in other words life is both complex and at times conflictive. To be prudent then is to use our whole selves, mind and heart, faith and reason to actively seek the good. Lord, give me the gift of Prudence, and show me where I need to wake up my mind and heart to seek your will...

Tuesday

‘You must all think of what is best for each other and for the community’ 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22

In this reading Paul encourages his community to think and pray, the two things go together, to pray constantly and also ‘to think before you do anything’. That our thoughts be open to the inspiration of the Spirit and that we use our minds and experience fully. To really think and pray about what is best we need the motivation to make the effort, and this is often what is most difficult(!) but precisely in prayer God can give us the motivation of his love, to have the horizon that my actions have an impact in many people. Sometimes we think of doing the right thing in terms of reacting to different situations that come up in life. But as this reading inspires us developing prudence is also about actively looking for what can help others grow, to be actively building God’s Kingdom. What we actually do depends on what we are aiming towards, where we want to reach, so we need God to enthuse us with his goals. Lord show me how to pray thoughtfully and think prayerfully...

Wednesday

‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it’ Luke 14:26-33

People often value spontaneity because it seems more authentic, but we know that that is not always the case, our spontaneous actions can also be based on whims... spending time thinking about something does not mean that what we actually end up doing is not sincere. In this reading Jesus tells two interesting stories which are about being able to follow through our plans, which is often an important issue, we can have a really good idea, but actually bringing it to fulfilment is the real challenge. Jesus tells two stories about someone taking on a project (building a tower, going to war) and how they take time to consider first if they have resources to go through with their plan. In both stories, the person ‘sits down’ to consider: to really look at something from all angles, to try and look realistically into the future we need to ‘sit down’, to stop, to take a step back. This is a simple but important lesson. We need to stop, to make time to be prudent in our decisions. Jesus’ story though teaches us more. Both stories are about people having enough resources to follow through their projects, about being sensible on a human level, but the moral that Jesus draws from the story is a paradox, that to be able to follow through in the ‘project’ of following him we need to leave everything. In other words, the ‘resources’ that make all the difference, in this case, are total trust and wholeheartedness. This is where prudence goes beyond normal common sense, because it counts on the mysterious reality of God’s limitless grace. Lord, help me to make decisions that count on you and your provident love...

Thursday

‘The bridegroom is here go out to meet him...’ Matthew 25:1-10

The parable of the 10 bridesmaids or virgins, sometimes can seem a bit puzzling. Five of them are wise or sensible and the other five are described as foolish, the sensible ones come prepared with oil for the lamps and the others only bring lamps. When the Bridegroom suddenly arrives only the five who were prepared are allowed into the wedding banquet. I have often heard comments about this reading, why didn’t the sensible ones share what they had with the foolish ones; it doesn’t seem very loving of them. But the point of the story is not about sharing... there are opportunities in life which are limited, sometimes we will only be working or in contact with someone for a short time, the opportunity to love them, to make a difference to that person is then, and afterwards perhaps they won’t be in our life anymore. That’s why being ready and prepared to take advantage of life’s opportunities is part of being prudent. Whether it’s having prayed about someone to be more aware of their needs, or whatever preparation it is, or having resolved with God our own issues that might get in the way of sharing with them. There are some realities that can’t be readily passed on from person to another, journeys that need to taken personally with God, this is the ‘oil’ that each bridesmaid needed to find for themselves. Lord help me to be prepared to love.

Friday

‘The Apostles and elders met to look into the matter’ Acts 15: 5_21

This story about the Early Church discerning how to receive converts from non Jewish backgrounds is really fascinating. It shows that many times in life we can’t just depend on what we’ve always done to make decisions, our personal life of following Christ and our life as a community is always bringing new situations and we need to discern, to seek God’s will. What is interesting is that they pray, they reflect on what they have seen and heard as signs of God’s action, they refer to scripture... All these things are ways of living and growing in prudence. Lord help me to recognise the new situations before me and to resolve them with your help.

© Verbum Dei 2010

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