MEDJUGORJE UPDATE: HOLY
PRUDENCE
...of the four
cardinal virtues one may see that the exercise of holy prudence in all
circumstances is essential for anyone to proceed on the paths of
holiness....and so from Augustine to Aristotle to Boethius and Lombard we are told
that without prudence a person undermines every action they undertake and in
the end what one thought to be a good is rendered a bad out of the utility of
acting without right reason....
...prudence itself as
defined by Aristotle in summary ...recta ratio agibilium..or..RIGHT REASON
APPLIED TO PRACTICE...may be rendered towards an intellectual habit which aids
us in discerning what is a virtuous course of action and what is not...in a
sense Holy Prudence is a light to the reason..and as Jesus was described by
John the evangelist as a light of which the darkness knew it not...we see when
we apply the light of Jesus to a mortified will and a tamed intellect we
proceed more efficiently in the paths of beneficence...
According to the
Catholic Encyclopedia ...
Prudence, therefore, has a directive
capacity with regard to the other virtues. It lights the way and measures the
arena for their exercise. The insight it confers makes one distinguish
successfully between their mere semblance and their reality. It must preside
over the eliciting of all acts proper to any one of them at least if they be
taken in their formal sense. Thus, without prudence bravery becomes
foolhardiness; mercy sinks into weakness, and temperance into fanaticism
...indeed in
MEDJUGORJE we have naive young converts to the paths of spirituality who
without the aid of holy prudence have fallen into fanaticism and foolhardiness
since they believe against the spiritual fathers that disobedience to a Vatican
initiative and a local Ordinary’s directives is a logical and prudent venture
of the reason...however if it were not for two thousand years of magisterial
discernment and Vatican directive there would be no edifice on which to stand
and so we see that ignoring such an appeal to reason is rash, negligent and
thoughtless…and so it follows we see such traits emergent among the proponents
of MEDJUGORJE….
Sins against prudence
fall into two categories those from defect namely rashness, negligence and
thoughtlessness… and sins of excessive appetite which transgress a reasonable prudential
disposition..sins of excess include imprudence of flesh and emotion,
astuteness, and undue solicitude about the temporal future which causes one to
neglect provisions required for an eternal state of the soul…
...imprudence a defect of foresight in regards to the
practical order of creation…..
Rashness: implies
someone who has deliberated and made a decision without due consideration of
the ramifications of such a decision…and so we see in MEDJUGORJE people have
decided that belief in an apparition justifies disunity in the mystical body of
the Church…
Negligence: does not
allow a mind time for deliberation…as we are told when we buy a car for instance
to take practicality into consideration and not do purchase based on emotion
however in MEDJUGORJE people have not done this…and in the long run have made a
bad purchase spiritually by selling their soul to presumption and
division..instead of operating on unity and mercy and filial charity….
Objurate imperious Astuteness: if
astuteness implies one who through devious trickery aims at misconstruing
absolute directives and tries to find loopholes to procure their own
prerogatives then we see this occurring in MEDJUGORJE…many people seek to
deviously subvert Church policy in order to push their own agenda..an appeal to
conscience as a guide or an appeal to justification that the Church says it is
not wrong to visit such a place however
if one weighs all the details in the balance as one should before proper
deliberation is made then one must say that to follow seers over a Church built
on two thousand years of trust and hope and charity is indeed a precipitous and
dangerous stake of one’s faith and mind….
Undue Solicitude for
temporal condolence..we see this occurring in a great conflux at MEDJUGORJE..people
feel good and so they follow this feel good feeling however the feel good appears justified by a call to pray and fast confess and adore (scrupulosity) yet it ignores the Gospel message of generosity...if we do not give of ourselves..we will not receive..as Jesus said he who gives his life will save it and he who keeps it will lose it..
as scripture tells...
Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die,
[25] Itself remaineth
alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life
shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life
eternal.
John 12:24
...Jesus is here speaking of holy obedience ..;poverty of spirit...and mortification of the will..it is a spirituality of generosity rather than scrupulosity...of which the Peligians are known..
... indeed if one is disobedient to Church
directives and magisterial decrees then such a person is outside the Church
spiritually they have set themselves at odds they in effect have become tiny
islands unto themselves…and are not in union with Christ and his shepherds…..indeed
the Vatican has told us that no claims on the supernaturality of the visions
may be made in a public manner which calls for further Church study if
necessary..as it stands it can not be proven by the Church that these visions
are manifest supernature and so indeed may be preternatural or an artifice of
men…yet we see all over the world wide web that Mary is appearing..indeed this
is against prudence it is rash ..it is an appeal to foolishness..and so it goes
the Church is seen by the world as a foppish collection of clowns who seek to
curry their carnival appetite through a theatre of the absurd as it is
portrayed in MEDJUGORJE…..
…..let us see what the
saints have to say about the virtue of PRUDENCE….
It is not good (prudent) to load ourselves with many
spiritual exercises: it is better to
undertake a little, and go on with it; for if the
devil can persuade us to omit an exercise once, he will easily bring us to omit
it a second time, and, more easily still, a third, until all our pious
practices will, at last, melt away.
-St. Philip Neri
Prudence must precede every action which we undertake;
for, if prudence be wanting, there is nothing, however good it may seem, which
is not turned into evil.
-St. Basil
There are two sorts of prudence, the one human, the
other Christian. Human, carnal, or worldly prudence is that which has only
worldly prosperity in view, and is indifferent about the means, provided it
attains its object. Christian prudence takes Eternal Incarnate Wisdom for its
guide in every thought, word, and work. It is regulated in every emergency, not
by fatuous, glimmering light of its own, or by worldly judgment, but by the
maxims of faith.
-St. Vincent DePaul
-the topsy turvy world- peter breugel the elder
[14] A
fool shall be filled with his own ways, and the good man shall be above him. [15]
The innocent believeth every word: the discreet man considereth his steps. No
good shall come to the deceitful son: but the wise servant shall prosper in his
dealings, and his way shall be made straight.
[16] A
wise man feareth and declineth from evil: the fool leapeth over and is
confident. [17]
The impatient man shall work folly: and the crafty man is hateful. [18]
The childish shall possess folly, and the prudent, shall look for knowledge.
-Douay Rheims Bible , Proverbs
14:14-18
Let everyone who has
the grace of intelligence fear that, because of it, he will be judged more
heavily if he is negligent. Let him who has no intelligence or talent rejoice
and do as much as he can with the little that he has; for he has been freed
from many occasions of sin.
- St. Bridget of Sweden
…………amen………….
