Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. Prudence deals with immediate situations and the meansneeded to guide a person through them in right and reasonablefashion. Experience serves a person here, and experience isrecorded in memory. Hence, memory belongs to prudence.
2. Understanding, not as the faculty of intellect or mind,but as a knowledgeable grasp of things, is manifestly necessary forprudent action. Hence, understanding pertains toprudence.
3. Docility, or readiness to be taught, makesexperience fruitful. A stubborn and opinionated person is never aprudent person. Docility serves prudence, and thus belongs toit.
4. Shrewdness, not in an ugly sense as lowcraftiness, but as the quick and ready estimate of what is suitablein a situation, belongs to prudence as a quasi-integral part.
5. Reason, not as the thinking mind which guidesthe will, but as the right use of that mind, is clearly a part ofprudence.
6. Foresight, or the clear view of how futurecontingencies may bear upon the present occasion, or may depend onhow the present situation is met, is a part of prudence.
7. Circumspection stands to present action as foresightstands to future contingencies. It sees what is suitable here andnow in existing circumstances. Hence circumspection is aquasi-integral part of prudence.
8. Caution looks to avoid evil, especially evil that wearsthe mask of good. Hence, caution pertains to prudence.
"Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars."
Thomas á Kempis
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"Whom do you seek, friend, if you seek not God? Seek him, find him, cleave to him; bind your will to his with bands of steel and you will live always at peace in this life and in the next."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"He who wishes to be perfectly obeyed, should give but few orders."
St Philip Neri
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