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1.5.5 – Superbia, Humilitas, and Justice

I have been young, and now am old;
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or His children begging bread.
He is ever giving liberally and lending,
and His children become a blessing.
Depart from evil, and do good;
so shall you abide for ever.
For the Lord loves justice;
He will not forsake his saints.
The righteous shall be preserved for ever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall possess the land,
and dwell upon it for ever.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.

– Psalm 37:25-31

I once heard that the Psalms are the most tear-soaked pages of the Bible. This wouldn’t surprise me in the least: the Psalms are the most approachable content in the Bible (meaning more people have probably read them) and the content is rawly relatable (in many of them, David is lamenting – expressing sorrow over both his sins and the situation they placed him in – which cradles the grief-stricken reader). Point being, if you’re looking for a place to non-committally dip your toes in the water with the Bible, the book of Psalms is your best bet.

With my ogling over King David’s writing out of the way, let’s begin.

Justice Calls Upon Humility

Fairness requires having and understanding all of the facts available. It also does well to understand that there are going to be missing pieces, however small, and that those missing pieces may form the metaphorical grain of rice that tips the scale.

In other words, we have to accept that even doing our very best, we might very well get the verdict very wrong.

Still, justice mandates that we try. We must try, and we must try to compensate for the information we don’t know. In order to do that, we need to accept that there is information we don’t know, and from there we can assess the best way to compensate for the shortfall. The process can only start when we have the humility to be honest about the situation so that we can properly address it.

Justice requires honesty, and honesty requires humility.

Previous understandings of humility may still pose a stumbling block. In lieu of returning to the post on humility, here’s a summary: humility is recognizing that humans are both great and greatly flawed, none better than another, and each with amazing talents as well as shortfalls. It’s seeing reality in its proper perspective.

Humility means nothing other than complete honesty about yourself. A genuinely humble person will be able to see both good and bad, both virtues and faults, both gifts and failings in herself. Since God loves you anyway, there is no virtue in making yourself out to be better than you are – and none in making yourself out to be worse.

– L. William Countryman, Good News of Jesus

In short, we need humility to properly assess fairness. Without gauging whether or not we’re on the right track, we can’t know if we’re on any track at all. Stay grounded; it gives us the baseline to walk uprightly forward.

Humility Slays Pride

Pride is another sin of excess. (I’m sensing a theme here.) In proper amounts, confidence is a good thing. When we are properly confident in our abilities, we can use them to help others. However, if we claim confidence in our abilities but wrongly so, it can lead to ruin.

That’s where humility and justice come in.

Humility calls for an honest assessment of ourselves, and justice demands fairness in the assessment. Using these virtues as tools, we can accurately determine our skills – strengths and weaknesses alike – and figure out the best path forward. In figuring out the best path forward, we not only choose our path, but we also prepare ourselves for what we are going to face – making it more likely that we will succeed.

By Defeating Pride, Humility Aids Success

Simple example from daily life (which I only recognized because I stopped to look around for it, even though it has been visible for reflection for a few years at this point). Are you an artist? A budding artist? A totally non-artist willing to have fun with art?

With respect to visual art, I absolutely fall into that final category. (Reference: slayer picture above.) Now the fun question: have you ever done one of those painting classes?

I have. I’ve gone with friends a couple of times. They’re a lot of fun! I highly recommend them if you like to have fun and can be light-hearted about the experience.

The first time I went, for that first half-hour, I painstakingly attempted to copy the teacher verbatim, stroke for stroke, breath for breath. I wanted the picture to be perfect. After about half an hour, I noticed that I wasn’t having much fun, that I was practically ignoring my friends in my efforts, and that I was getting flustered and frustrated and was only a hair away from seriously upset.

We had only painted a few strokes, but because I follow directions well, I thought that meant I could paint it perfectly the first time. What an ego! And, as I mentioned, it got in the way of everything else.

I let go of perfection, and the rest of the event was fun, playful, and friend-filled.

I took the lesson to my second round. Good thing, too: we were painting Starry Night, and there’s no way I’m Van Gogh. I realized as we were getting our paints that I didn’t want to be: I wanted to use different colors. And to try something slightly different with the moon. And to include more blatantly what I saw in the original painting as a ship stuck on top of the mountain.

I even painted the edges!

We not only had a lot of fun, but I enjoy the painting I walked away with. It’s not a Van Gogh; it was never really intended to be. Because I knew I couldn’t precisely copy the master, I took what he did, learned from it, and made it my own and to better suit my tastes. I still like the painting for both the memories and as well as the image itself. It still tickles me to see the ship on the top of the mountain and the beautiful orange swirls in the night.

Humility let me accept my skills and style and adapt them to make something worth smiling at while it hangs on the wall.

Some ask if swallowing your pride is conceding defeat. I don’t think so. Humility is a sign of inner strength and wisdom.

– Haemin Sunim, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down

Humility helped me to win on all fronts: great experience, playful time with friends, more fun with the painting itself, and a painting that I actually enjoy. (Meanwhile, the one I kept trying to get “perfect” is nowhere to be found.)

Know Thyself – Conquer Pride

Pride essentially breaks down into not knowing who we are in the grand scheme of things. We’re imperfect – that’s part of the nature of our humanity. Our imperfections are part of what make us beautiful. We are able to choose right or wrong, and every time we choose right is an enormous victory. Meanwhile, any time we choose wrong is an opportunity and prompting to lean on God because we were never meant to do this without Him.

Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.

– Aristotle, Politics

We are fallible, we are flawed – but we are also God’s beloved creation. There is balance in this truth. Humility helps us to know that we are but specks of sand in a desert compared to time, the absolute, and the Almighty. Simultaneously, there is no despair when we know God’s love for us.

Summary

Humility and justice travel hand-in-hand. Justice relies on humility to use correct data to arrive at an accurate result. Meanwhile, a rational perspective on an absolute scale – such as comparing oneself to Jesus during his years on Earth – has justice feeding into humility. Who are we, in all fairness, compared to the King of Kings?

Pride doesn’t stand a chance against humility and justice. When we’re honest with ourselves about our strengths and our weaknesses, we can properly assess a way forward and not get caught up in our own self-perceived grandiosity because, on a universal scale, we are dust. Talented, thoughtful dust, but dust nonetheless.

Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother.

– Zechariah 7:9

Further Reading

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1.5.4 – Justice, Human Cardinal Virtue

Αλλ’ η Δίκη γαρ και κατά σκότον βλέπει.
(The eye of Justice sees even in the dark.)

– Sophocles, Oedipus
Justice can find you under the covers, too.
(I hereby nominate this for best headline ever.)

What is Justice?

Justice – the condition of being morally correct or fair

– Cambridge dictionary

It’s pretty simple: justice is fairness, and doing justice is doing the right thing in the circumstances. Sometimes it’s easy to figure out what’s right, fair, and just, like finding the way home when there’s only one road and it’s a straight shot to a visible structure. Sometimes, though, the best you can do is just the next right thing. Even figuring that out can be difficult, but there are resources to help us get better at determining the next right thing.

Trying to do what is right is important, both for us individually and for society at large. Can you imagine a country running well if more people were in prison than were free? What would happen if we could no longer trust the judicial system? This is what would happen: the country would crumble.

A republic cannot succeed, till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.

– Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle

Justice is Absolute With Absolutely All of the Facts

In a lot of ways, justice is black-and-white: something is either just, or it’s not. However, we live in a pretty grey world; it can seem just to take a certain action one moment, but then more information comes in and that exact same action is clearly unjust and maybe even immoral.

Gavel and its sounding block – this judge gets a generous target.

For example, let’s say you’re in charge of a child who is outside playing. The kid comes inside and is covered in dirt and debris with grit under every fingernail. Generally, the reaction is to run some warm water, add bubbles, and scrub-a-dub-dub in the tub. That makes sense – unless that child is allergic to water. In that case, it would certainly be better to go the Elphaba route and wash with oils instead.

The same can be said for justice. Maybe we have a defendant who admits to being at the scene of the crime at the time of a murder, who was found holding the murder weapon, and who had a motive for wanting the victim dead. This scenario is as close to a slam dunk as most prosecutors can hope for! The jury is sent away to deliberate, everyone expecting to quickly move into sentencing, when someone bursts into the courtroom yelling at the defendant for trying to steal the glory for the kill. (Criminals aren’t generally known for their smarts.)

May the Court justly decree…

Justice in Everyday Life

Justice means that we appreciate and respect both God and other people, whether that’s honoring the Sabbath or honoring the dignity of the human person in all of its stages.

– Fr. Ben Bradshaw

Just like in court (probably even moreso), it’s not always easy to figure out what is right. However, there are a few guiding principles that can help us when we’re struggling with that question. It boils down to one big question: how can we respect everyone involved?

Ο αδικών του αδικουμένου κακοδαιμονέστερος.
(He who commits an act of injustice is in worse condition than he who suffers it.)

– Democritus

Justice and fairness is ultimately respecting the dignity of all persons involved and allowing them to accept the consequences of their actions. (Sidenote: consequences has a generally negative connotation, but the consequences of baking well are delicious baked goods – it can be positive or negative.) As a result, justice is not only fair, it is also loving: justice permits people to choose according to their will, to decide their own destiny rather than determine it for them.

In the same vein, we must also grant a quick mention to mercy: sometimes it is easier for all parties for mercy to be granted than for the full brunt force of justice to swing hard. Mercy deserves its own post, but it is worth mentioning here because sometimes mercy helps everyone involved to heal.

Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.

– Saint Thomas Aquinas
Divine Mercy Sunday is the first Sunday after Easter.

Summary

Justice is fairness, doing the right thing even though it may not be the popular thing. To properly know how to proceed justly, we must have all of the facts. It’s also important to consider mercy to respect the dignity of people because mercy itself is sometimes justified.

What do you think? How have you handled being the hand of justice? Have you struggled with justice, either that which you imposed or that which was imposed upon you? How do you work mercy into the equation? Let us know in the comments!

He has showed you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

– Micah 6:8

Further Reading

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1.5.3 – Humilitas to Fend Off Superbia

Humilitas – humbleness; humility (Bee); lowness (position/rank); shortness; submissiveness

– Latin-Dictionary.net

Sidenote: Does anyone know what the “Bee” reference is up there next to humility? I couldn’t figure it out, so please let me know your thoughts on that annotation!

Other translations include humble, grounded, and “from the earth” as it is a derivative of the word humus which translates to earth, ground, or soil.

But What Does It Mean to Be Humble? What is Humility?

Humility – quality of having a modest or low view of one’s importance

– Lexico

The word “low” here carries with it a negative connotation, but it’s not meant that way. Rather, the intent is to demolish the pedestal one may put oneself on – the pedestal for better or worse effect – to gather a realistic picture. Modesty isn’t about demeaning the self but about recognizing the value of others.

There’s a whole world out there to appreciate!

Humility… centers on low self-preoccupation.

– Wikipedia

So humility isn’t about depreciating yourself or thinking that you’re not enough. Rather, it’s about knowing that others have value. Or, as one evangelical puts it:

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.

– Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life

How Is Humility Implemented?

The general notion is recognizing the inherent value in all humans regardless of who they are. Regardless of whether it’s one of the cool kids, someone you know in passing, or someone you prefer to avoid, every person inherently has dignity and should be treated with respect.

I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.

Albert Einstein
As attributed by his colleague Leopold Infeld in Quest: and Autobiography

To reiterate, this means you, too. We are called to not only treat others with respect, but ourselves as well. We human beings, created in the image and likeness of God, are worthy of dignity. As a result, we are called to treat others and ourselves well.

What Humility Is Not

Humility is an outward expression of an appropriate inner, or self regard, and is contrasted with humiliation which is an imposition… of shame upon a person.

– Wikipedia

We are not called to humiliate anyone – ourselves included. God doesn’t want any of His beloved children living in shame – including you, your obnoxious coworker, or even your grade school bully. (Yeah, that’s right – even them!) Instead, humility is to recognize that we’re all on equal footing as people, that God loves all of us equally, and that God wants all of us to play kindly with each other and return to Him.

Short Story on Humility

New England (and most of the United States) was treated to a hefty snow storm the past few days. In some parts of the country, the getting-to part of Thanksgiving feasts was delayed; in my region, the returning-to-normalcy was delayed. And it’s the first snow of the season that we expect to stick!

Yay! Snow!

I drove back from my visit a day and a half early, then hunkered down in my room for the next… erhm, approximately 50 hours. (I left in short spurts, basically restroom and kitchen runs.) Last night, I decided that I was going to wake up early to clean the driveway. And then, it hit me: I’ll clean off all of the cars! I’ll make life so much easier on my housemates!

We got eighteen inches of powder. I was in the driveway within fifteen minutes of waking up – just enough time to make tea for when I came back inside – and shoveling away. Shovel, shovel, shovel. It’s a great work out and, other than the bending, I was enjoying it thoroughly.

I finish the driveway and run in for some water – not tea as my workout demands I consume something cool – and hear someone clearly concerned: she needs help. Nothing major on my part, just time consuming – driving her to an appointment. I help out with that, then get back to shoveling, working on the path to the driveway and a space for house pups. Just as I remembered that I had another car to clean off, I straighten my back, and it rebels.

Oooooof.

Nothing else is happening without a shower. So I break for a shower and breakfast, but I’m physically exhausted, so as much as the shower helped my back, my body still wants nothing to do with moving. The last car isn’t happening.

I keep thinking that it’s happening, but it’s clearly not. And that car, it just so happens, belonged to the person I asked to help with the pick-up of the person I dropped off because the appointment ran much longer than expected. And even when I was frustrated at having to ask for help, I forgot. And even if I hadn’t, I physically wouldn’t have been able to: I’d spent myself on everything else without the forethought of cleaning off the cars is probably more important than making sure the dogs have room to roam.

Covered in fluff.

My friend didn’t expect me to clean off her car for her, but I expected it of myself. So when she was telling me that she forgot to account for time to clean off her car, I felt my ears droop because I should have done that. I spent two solid hours shoveling, and instead of being content with what I was able to do, I was thinking I should have done more.

Why? I’m not a super hero. Why didn’t I set a more realistic expectation of what I should have been able to do? Probably a mix of enthusiasm, the desire for a lofty goal, and pride. Thankfully, unbeknownst to her, my friend put it back in perspective in the way she relayed the situation as part of a larger scene with several moving variables.

Regardless, I’d have saved myself from a fair bit of self-frustration if I’d had the humility to simply set a more manageable goal, or even just to plan out the order of the work flow so the critical parts would still be complete even if I had to stop early.

Summary

Humility is about recognizing the value of others, not by demeaning ourselves, but by seeing each one of us as creatures of the Divine Creator, a beloved child of God. We are all worth dignity and respect, and we should take the time to recognize the value of others.

[A humble man] will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

– C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

What do you think? How have you seen humility in yourself or others? Let us know in the comments!

Further Reading

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1.5.2 – Superbia: Hubris

Superbia – pride; insolence; arrogance; haughtiness

– WordHippo

Pride is often considered the most dangerous of the deadly sins because it easily leads to any (or all) of the others. But what is it? Can we have good, fuzzy feelings about our accomplishments without being sinful?

What Constitutes the Deadly Sin of Pride?

Pride is the excessive love of one’s own excellence.

– New Advent

Just as we discussed earlier with respect to lust, pride is sinful when it’s in excess. Appreciating your own self-worth is fine, but it should be done in moderation and with due respect to the One who made you. You are extraordinarily valuable and loved; so is everyone else God created. Recognize your own worth, but keep it in check.

Sinful pride – not a good answer to the ‘greatest weakness’ question in interviews.

Most of us have met these people or those who won’t say it aloud but they make you feel like you’re lesser because they’re greater. Some people do mean it. Heuristically, however, I’ve found that eager confidence often comes off as hubris, so reminder: we should reflect on our own actions, or help friends understand how they come across if they ask, but it’s improper to condemn the actions of others because we don’t know their minds.

Pride: the Gateway Sin

Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.

– Proverbs 16:18

– Wait Up: If It’s the Worst Sin, Why’s It In the Middle?

Good question! Pride falls in the middle of this series because I ordered it based on the virtues, not on the sins. Oddly enough, the baddest sins aren’t directly tied to the goodest virtues. I hypothesize that this is because even the slightest virtue can handle the gravest depravity because virtue is with God – the same way it only takes the faith of a mustard seed to move mountains.

– How Does Hubris Lead to Destruction?

Pride is a gateway to the other sins. By thinking so much of ourselves, we may think ourselves invincible. In thinking that nothing can harm us, we may do things we shouldn’t do – like sin. It goes back to original sin entering the world in Genesis: Eve ate the apple because she thought she knew better than God.

Hey look, there’s a way out!
… Or a way in to trouble…

– Line Drawn Between Hubris and Reason

We may think that we know what’s best for ourselves, better than our friends, our family, our wisest advisors, and even God Himself.

Sometimes we do know better than the advice offered; people know about different things based on the experiences they’ve had. For example, I have a dear friend whom I would delightedly take investment advice from as he’s an enthusiastic hobbyist who does rather well for himself; however, I probably wouldn’t ask for marriage advice as he’s not married. That’s not pride; that’s a reasoned assessment of skill.

A clear maneuver of pride would be dismissing his investment wisdom out of hand because I know better simply because I’m me. He’s done extensive research over years; I’ve read Little Book of Bull Moves circa 2010. The book was a great introduction, but it’s an introduction, and it’s almost a decade old. (This is quite dated for investment advice when considering milliseconds matter to the point one author wrote a novel about it.) Suffice to say, I’m no expert.

But if I’m all about myself and I can’t be wrong, that won’t matter. I could lose every penny I ever had investing poorly and it wouldn’t be my fault, it’d be the fault of the market, or bad luck, or malfeasance. If I’m proud, the problem can’t be me – perish the thought! – because I’m too awesome to make a mistake. But I lost so much! Someone must be to blame!

… And then anger sets in. And probably envy aimed at whomever got away with my money. And greed was likely in the mix when making the original decision.

Oh. Look: that’s easily three more deadly sins.

Is Self-Harm the Only Problem with Pride?

– No Room at the Inn

Unfortunately not.

The problem is there’s no room for anyone else.

Therein lies the problem, doesn’t it? We’re called to love God and to love His creation, but pride prevents us from doing just that because there’s no more room – because we don’t make space and time in our lives to love others. Pride is a problem because there’s no love left for God or neighbor.

This harkens back to our discussion on envy. God is a jealous god, and He wants our love both for Himself and for His creatures. Sinful pride prevents us from loving others, and loving others constitutes the first and second new commands Jesus gave to us (as recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

– Where is Pride in the Bible?

Pride prevents us from doing what we are called to do – to love God and love each other. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the Bible has a few choice things to say about the topic. Specifically, God calls us to cast off our pride and return to Him. Check it out:

God abases the proud,
but he saves the lowly.

– Job 22:29

Again:

Toward the scorners he is scornful,
but to the humble he shows favor.

– Proverbs 3:34

And again:

He gives more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

– James 4:6-7, 10

– Ray of Hope

If we accept that pride is a problem, how do we identify it in our own lives? If pride has been the way we’ve been operating for years, how can we even tell what it is? We can ask friends for help, but even they won’t know for certain.

Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down, below the surface of the average conscience, a still, small voice says to us, “Something is out of tune. ”

– Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss Analytical Psychologist

While others may be able to lend a helping hand to get you started, they can’t determine anything for you. Self-reflection and listening to your inner guiding tuning fork is the only (non-divine interventionist) way of figuring out if pride is getting in the way.

Summary

Pride is self-love excessive to the point of blocking others out. It isn’t being content with work we completed or being excited at executing a great performance; rather, pride is a problem when it hinders our lives, our relationships with others, and our obligations. Like anger, it can trigger other sins and set off a chain of events.

Have you had any run-ins with pride recently? How to you keep yourself in check, or reign yourself back in once you’ve realized you overstepped? Let me know in the comments!

Further Reading

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1.4.5 – Luxuria, Castitas, and Prudence

O simple ones, learn prudence;
O foolish men, pay attention.
I, wisdom, dwell in prudence,
and I find knowledge and discretion.
…
The wise of heart is called a man of discernment,
and pleasant speech increases persuasiveness.
Wisdom is a fountain of life to him who has it,
but folly is the chastisement of fools.
The mind of the wise makes his speech judicious,
and adds persuasiveness to his lips.

– Proverbs 8:5, 12 and Proverbs 16:21-23

Prudence Renders Wisdom

What did we learn this week?

I learned a lot, least of which neither being the close relationship between prudence and the other cardinal virtues nor the difficulty in writing research posts over a holiday week spent with family. (Pro tip: working when staying in a hotel is easier than when staying on site. Also, TIL: my Dad is still learning because he doesn’t know everything. … Yup, stunned silence – that shocked me, too.)

Returning to the topic at hand, we discussed lust, chastity, and prudence.

Lust is unbridled desire. It’s a deadly sin because lust is necessarily excessive, harming people and our relationships both with people and with God when we surrender to it. Desire itself is good and natural, but anything in excess is necessarily bad.

Chastity is for all stages of life. Why? Because it adapts to our stage in life: single persons are chaste if they refrain from sex entirely whereas married persons are chaste if they are faithful to their spouses both by not having extramarital sex as well as having marital sex. Chastity fends off lust by recognizing the respect due ourselves and others and holding on to hope.

Prudence is forethinking, reasoning the best course of action based on goals. It requires knowledge of what we want in the long term and assessing the best routes to achieve those priorities. Prudence is the charioteer of the virtues because it enables us to make the right decision regardless of which sin we’re dealing with.

Onward and upward!

Wisdom Renders Prudence

It’s a feedforward cycle. Parallel to the one referenced earlier when discussing hope, prudence renders wisdom, and that wisdom in turn renders prudence. Each gives rise to the other, and using either strengthens its partner.

Partner?

Yes, the two are partners. Prudence is a tool that is best used when well equipped with the proper informtion. Given the right information, you can assess when it’s worth it to take a risk and when the dice aren’t in your favor and the payout isn’t good enough to chance it. The more wisdom one has, the more prudence one is able to exercise in determining the best decision.

Prudence is not the same thing as caution. Caution is a helpful strategy when you’re crossing a minefield; it’s a disaster when you’re in a gold rush. … Prudence is foresight and far-sightedness. It’s the ability to make immediate decisions on the basis of their longer-range effects.

– Randy Traeger

Prudence is weighing the scales and thoughtfully reasoning which way is best with respect to the long term goals. Simply taking the safest road isn’t always best, sometimes that’ll put you three days late for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but risks need to be calculated, it’s better to arrive three days late than not make it at all.

What Does Prudence Have to do with Chastity?

Remember my comment about prudence having a lot to do with the other virtues? In particular, it has a close relationship with temperance. Prudence especially is a tool I use with respect to fending off a number of different sins, including lust. When anything ever gets heated, I ask myself if I’m willing to deal with the consequences, particularly if a child results and the person I made that child with doesn’t want a kid. I’ve also pondered a metric I heard recently: only go so far as you’d want your future spouse to go. What would I want to tell my future spouse? What would I worry would be too far to speak?

Prudence guides the answer to these questions. For some, sex may seem to be nothing special. However, science says otherwise: sex bonds people together chemically, resulting in emotional attachment which grows with each session of intimacy. There’s a lot of data on the topic; check it out!

Chemically, sex builds and maintains a permanent bond. How many people other than your spouse do you want to have a permanent bond to? Do you want your spouse thinking about someone else when you’re together? These questions go back to the risk-benefit analysis: what you give up and what you stand to gain by waiting is part of the pre-decision assessment.

I wish I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.

– Ernest Hemmingway

Is it prudent to have sex with anyone other than one’s spouse? The data tends toward no, but given the nature of the question, it’s technically inconclusive. (Will we ever get straight answers about who is the favorite child? I totally win, for the record – but I’m waiting on the science to back it up.) As for me, I don’t enjoy gambling; I’d much rather stack the deck in my favor.

Prudence Recommends Chastity, and Chastity Counters Lust

That’s the run down: the cardinal virtue suggests the principal virtue which counters the deadly sin. Don’t die by sin; set goals and prudently search them out!

Prudence directs theoretical activity (whose end is truth) toward the investigation of certain truths; however, prudence cannot tell theory what to find.

– Cambridge dictionary

Pro tip: when driving, look a fair distance up the road, specifically into the lane you’re driving in. Your eyes can see more beneath your target zone than above it – much more than most people realize – and having that spot to aim for helps you get there… just like in other real life scenarios.

Summary

Think ahead! Know what your aims are, and take care to reach them. Don’t let the short term trip you up; instead, know where you’re going and make decisions to help you get there.

What do you think? Have tips on prudence, chastity, or dealing with lust? Let me know in the comments!

He who keeps his mouth and his tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.

– Proverbs 21:23

Further Reading

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1.4.4 – Prudence, Human Cardinal Virtue

Nullum numen habes si sit prudentia.
(One has no protecting power save prudence.)

– Juvenal

What’s with all the qualifiers?

Human, Not Theological

Our first three virtues were theological virtues: love, hope, and faith are all divine, relating directly to God. Meanwhile, all human virtues are based on the theological virtues – distilled from them, if you will – and are therefore indirect links to God.

Regardless of the nature of the virtue, it helps us pursue God by arming us with good habits and dispositions. Human virtues are “perfections” of the mind. These virtues help us to govern ourselves, our passions, and our conduct reasonably and faithfully. The human virtues are the human side of the virtue bridge, connecting us to the divine virtues and thus to God.

A bridge has two sides.

– Elsa, Frozen II
This bridge connects our human side to God’s divine side by connecting human virtues to the theological virtues.

Like the theological virtues, we strengthen our “virtue muscles” by exercising human virtues; unlike the theological virtues, human virtues are not a direct gift from God through Grace. In contrast, human virtues are an outgrowth of habit. However, human virtues can take on supernatural nature via sanctifying grace, granting it a dual (natural and supernatural) nature.

Cardinal

The cardinal virtues are special human virtues. The word “cardinal” means “of the greatest importance; fundamental.” It comes from the Latin “cardo” which means “hinge.” The cardinal virtues are fundamental in that all other human virtues hinge on them; they are pivotal because all other human virtues are derived from them.

What is Prudence?

Prudence – the quality of being prudent; cautiousness.
Prudent – acting with or showing care and thought for the future

– Oxford dictionary, prudence and prudent
Bringing lunch on a flight from Denver to Boston was quite prudent: we were in the air from 11:30 am to about 5 pm (both times local), and the meal was better (and much cheaper) than what was available on the flight.

Something that irritates me: dictionaries defining terms using their base word. If we understood the base word, we’d probably surmise the definition of the word itself. As circular logic is frustrating, I included both the definitions for prudence and prudent so we’re not spinning in a theoretical hamster wheel. (And this is common practice; I checked several other dictionaries, all of which used prudent in the definition.) I digress.

Basically, prudence is planning ahead: rather than indulging in the immediate, prudence weighs the costs relative to the benefits before making a decision on how to move forward. Maybe it’s all benefits and it’s a go-go-go; maybe there’s a mix and it’s a difficult decision; maybe there are a whole lotta negatives and the only benefit is the indulgence itself. Prudence is looking at the cost-benefit analysis and making the best decision with the facts at hand.

Prudence means we are not controlled by our emotions.

– Father Ben Bradshaw

With prudence, similar to sensing which decisions are better or worse for us to make, we recognize good and evil for what each is, and we make decisions based on all of the available information. It’s not excluding emotion, rather it includes it as a piece of information amongst all the rest. Whether a certain decision will make you happy in the short term is a factor, but so is whether you’ll likely regret the decision tomorrow.

Swimming? Can be done as the lake isn’t iced over, but that would certainly be imprudent without the proper warm gear.
Benefit: mad props. Cost: likely hypothermia.

Prudence Follows Priorities

Maybe your top priority is to provide for your family; maybe you don’t have anyone to provide for and instead you’re focused on advancing in your career; or maybe you’re a retired empty-nester whose pride and joy is a local charity you volunteer at. Whatever your priorities, prudence helps make the best of any decision.

If you’re looking to rocket to the top of your career, it might mean taking a job halfway across the continent or even on the other side of the planet. Maybe that will take you away from everything you know and everyone you love, but you know you want to take the position for the growth opportunities. It may mean delaying progress toward that goal of sailing across the globe because there’s nowhere to practice in the new locale, but you’re willing to sacrifice that dream for this one.

In contrast, if your growing family is your top priority, taking that position may be imprudent because it will disrupt your family. Or perhaps it would take you away from your parents when it’s critical for you to be nearby. Priorities are different for different people, and they change over time as well.

When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to molest [the apostles] and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycao′nia, and to the surrounding country; and there they preached the gospel.

– Acts 14:5-7

The apostles weren’t afraid of dying for the gospel; most of them were martyred, and Paul even wrote he knew his death was imminent because of his preaching in one of his letters encouraging to press on in the faith. In this passage, the apostles fled because they still had work to do, and they were prudent to see it done. Later, they didn’t flee, standing up for Jesus even when they knew it would cost them their lives: it was time to pass the torch. When they prepared the next generation to continue the work of spreading the Good News, the only thing left to do to complete their testimony was committing their deaths to the gospel through martyrdom.

Summary

Prudence is reasoning out a plan in accordance with priorities for the future. It’s using right reasoning and proper judgment to decide the next move and anticipating the moves thereafter. Prudence is doing the right thing in the short term to benefit the long term.

What do you think? What’s your experience exercising prudence? How do you handle making difficult decisions? I’m eager to read your advice in the comments!

Prudence is the virtue by which we discern what is proper to do under various circumstances in time and place.

– John Milton
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1.4.3 – Castitas, Principal Virtue of Purity and Chastity

Castitas – purity; morality; chastity

– Wiktionary

WordHippo’s top translation for the term castitas is “control.” This speaks a lot to our nature as humans: we all have desires that need to be controlled, regardless of their nature. There is even a French phrase for the ideation of one’s own destruction: l’appel du vide, literally translated to the call of the void. For the approximately half of us who have experienced this phenomenon, we know that certain impulses should be rejected out of hand.

Reigning back in, castitas is a virtue in Latin which translates to chastity or purity. Let’s dig in.

What is Chastity? What is Purity?

Chastity – the state or practice of refraining from extramarital, or especially from all, sexual intercourse
Purity – freedom from adulteration or contamination; freedom from immorality, especially of a sexual nature

– Oxford dictionary, chastity and purity

The definition for purity is much better here because it’s more precise for the discussion today. Specifically, the definition for chastity is non-descriptive whereas the one for purity gives us more of a guidepost. (I even went to re-order the definitions to properly emphasize the helpfulness, but I’m struggling with them being out of alphabetical order…)

When we talk about the virtue of castitas, we’re talking about defeating lust, particularly defeating treating people like objects of desire rather than like humans made in the image and likeness of God. Essentially, we’re talking about embracing the state we’re at in life, and treating others with the respect that is inherent to the dignity of their personhood.

Chastity – a Moving Target?

The “rules” for chastity depend on what one’s state in life is – sort of. There are a bunch of “rules” within the Church, but (lucky me) I don’t have to learn any of those and can keep to the simple version:

Only have sex with your spouse.

If you’re married, only have sex with your spouse; if you’re unmarried, you don’t have a spouse, so refrain from sex. Simple, right? Except not, because we (and others) misuse words and get bogged down with all sorts of things, including misunderstandings, excuses, and rationalizations. Many of us conflate “chastity” with no sexual intercourse, but that’s not the case when there’s a segment of the population that’s married.

Chastity means not having sex if you’re not married and only having sex with your marital partner if you are married. There are all sorts of rules which boil down to giving yourself fully to your spouse because one’s body belongs to one’s spouse when married. Chaste spouses have sex with each other. Chaste spouses do not have sex with other people, or only participate for their own gratification. Chaste spouses love each other fully, including through sex.

Simply, we are called to full union with God, and sometimes we’re called to share that union with one other person through the sacrament of marriage. This union is sacred – whether or not it is shared with another human. When sharing it with another person, it is to be shared exclusively with that other person. When not married, this union is not to be shared at all: God is the only one to Whom we are meant to give our all.

Marriage is unending, total and complete, like the rings exchanged over the vows.

Marriage is full and complete love, total self-giving. That’s what we’re called to with God: full and complete, total self-giving love.

Why, Though?

It’s not just for the sake of righteousness itself. It helps us to be our best selves.

“Only the chaste man and the chaste woman are capable of true love. For chastity frees their association, including their marital intercourse, from that tendency to use a person.”

– Pope John Paul II

Am I a sucker for a great Saint Pope John Paul II quote? Why, yes, yes I am. He offers a great deal of wisdom and explains things in an easily understandable way that doesn’t cheapen the answer or make light of the inquiry. For example, right here, he includes the goal, the route, and the reason for the means easily.

Goal: true love.
Route: chastity.
Reason: chastity frees a person from the tendency to use others.

Chastity is like anti-fog spray for diving goggles: it helps us to see the whole of the person instead of the distorted view of what that body can do for us. This helps us with our relationship with other people and the world at large because it grounds us in the heart knowledge of sonder: that everyone is a unique person with a vivid life all their own. When we experience sonder, respect for another person as a person is the next logical step. Otherwise, respect for others may take leaps and bounds to rationalize.

When we apply the anti-fog, it doesn’t just work underwater, but whenever we’re using the goggles. The goggles are more than just how we look at our spouse or potential mates, but how we view the world. Chastity helps us in recognizing the humanity of people; impure acts lead to objectification of others, seeing them for the purpose of achieving our own gratification, putting up roadblocks to empathy and easing the pathway to abuse.

This doesn’t just impact how we see potential mates, but how we view everyone – including ourselves and those close to us. Akin to the concept that untrustworthy people find it difficult to trust others, the spiritually “dirtier” we get, the “dirtier” we assume everyone else is. We assume ourselves to be the norm, regardless of whether or not that assumption is based in reality.

To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted.

– Titus 1:15

If we want to practice giving others the benefit of the doubt, if we want to be able to look on the bright side of dark situations, we need to stretch that muscle. Castitas is that muscle. The more we practice purity and chastity, the more we strengthen the muscles of believing in reaching for the light, and the more we’re going to seek and find the light.

No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel, but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

– Jesus in Luke 11:33-36
Let your liiiiiiiiiiiiight shine for all the world to see!

It’s never too late to seek the light, either. David, best known for his battle with the giant Goliath, started strong but faltered hard when he came into his kingship. He’s known as a lecherous king, arranging the death of a man after committing adultery with the man’s wife to cover up the affair and then steal her. But, David repeatedly returns to God. Broken as he was, God used David to show us that we can always return to Him.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love;
according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.

Psalm 51: 1-2, 10

Summary

Chastity and purity aids us in keeping to the straight path not for its own sake, rather, because it helps us see the path. How we interact with the world has an impact on what we see in the world, including how we treat ourselves and others and how much of the truth we can see.

What do you think? Any helpful hints or tips on staying pure in the world today? Please let me know in the comments!

Further Reading