VirTrue - Helping Man Grow in Truth and Virtue

The Virtue of Deliberation (Deliberatio) a Part of Prudence - VirTrue Episode 33

🎧 Intro You are being trained every single day to stop deliberating. Not accidentally. Systematically. You open your phone, and within seconds, you are absorbing: * outrage * headlines * political tribalism * AI assistant summaries * clips without context * emotionally charged commentary * strangers speaking with absolute certainty about things they learned six minutes ago And slowly, almost imperceptibly, your soul begins losing the ability to weigh things carefully. You begin reacting before understanding. Or maybe you go the opposite direction. Maybe you have become trapped in endless hesitation. You replay conversations in your head at 2:00 AM like your brain is running courtroom footage for a trial nobody else remembers. You overthink decisions. You endlessly research. You seek advice from twelve different people, hoping one of them will finally remove uncertainty completely. Modern people are drowning in information and starving for practical wisdom. And that is exactly why the virtue of Deliberation matters. Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice, and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to. I’m your host, Jethro Higgins. Today on VirTrue we’re going to talk about Deliberation, or Deliberatio, which Hugh of St. Victor includes on the Prudence branch of the virtue tree, St. Thomas Aquinas will help us with the precise moral language needed to understand the virtue clearly. This episode continues the Prudence branch we have already begun cultivating: * Memory * Intelligence * Foresight * Counsel Because Deliberation is where all of those virtues begin working together inside the soul. This is where practical reasoning happens. This is where wisdom stops being theoretical and begins preparing for action. And frankly, this is one of the places where modern culture is becoming deeply malformed. Quick reminder, the VirTrue app BETA is underway. Paid subscribers receive early access and help shape the direction of the platform as we continue building tools that help cultivate virtue. Visit socialcatholic.substack.com [http://socialcatholic.substack.com] to support this work and help us continue building resources to help you grow in truth and virtue. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. 📖 Virtue Description Deliberation is the disciplined process of weighing possible actions before making a judgment. It is the interior labor of practical reasoning. Deliberation examines: * motives * duties * circumstances * consequences * competing goods * and possible outcomes before choosing how to act. Remember from last week when we highlighted that St. Thomas Aquinas says: “To take good counsel and to judge well belong to prudence.” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q.51, A.3) Prudence is not merely possessing information. It is knowing how to think rightly before acting. And those are not the same thing. You can listen to theology podcasts for ten years, own seventeen books with highlighted passages you never finished, and still make absolutely catastrophic decisions in your marriage, friendships, finances, or spiritual life. Because wisdom is not trivia. Wisdom is rightly ordered action. At first glance, Deliberation can sound almost identical to Counsel, which we discussed in the previous episode. Because Counsel already involved: * inquiry * seeking wisdom * slowing down * avoiding impulsive action But these virtues relate to one another in the same way other virtues throughout VirTrue have related to one another. In the Charity season, we discussed Compassion as the inward movement toward another’s suffering, while Mercy was the outward action that flowed from it. In the Hope season, we discussed Contrition as the interior sorrow for sin, while Confession carried that repentance into concrete action. Counsel and Deliberation relate in much the same way. Counsel opens the soul to inquiry. It recognizes: “I need wisdom before I act.” Deliberation performs the actual work of weighing the matter itself. It asks: “Now that I have sought wisdom, what action is truly right?” This is why the virtues of Prudence build upon one another. Memory recalls the lessons of the past. Intelligence understands the present situation clearly. Foresight sees where possible actions may lead. Counsel opens the soul to guidance and inquiry. And Deliberation weighs all of those realities together before judgment is made. This is the interior courtroom of prudence. This is where practical wisdom is formed. Aristotle discusses this extensively in Nicomachean Ethics, especially in Book VI, where he distinguishes between theoretical reason and practical reasoning. Because moral virtue is not merely about possessing knowledge. It is about acting virtuously within particular circumstances. The virtuous man doesn’t just feel strongly. He reasons rightly. He weighs matters honestly. He seeks the true conclusion. And then he acts. That is why Deliberation belongs not merely to intellectual virtue, but to moral virtue. The purpose is not endless analysis. The purpose is right action ordered toward God. ⚠️ Vice of Deficiency: Inconsideration (Inconsideratio) Definition Inconsideration is the failure to sufficiently weigh what ought to be considered before acting. Why it fits The inconsiderate person does not properly examine: * consequences * motives * circumstances * duties * or moral realities before forming judgment. This vice corrupts practical reasoning itself. Aquinas treats inconsideration as a species of imprudence because prudence requires careful consideration before judgment is formed. The inconsiderate person: * reacts before understanding * judges before examining * condemns before discerning * speaks before thinking And if we are being honest, you have probably experienced this yourself online. You see something outrageous. Your emotions spike immediately. Your brain starts writing the comment before you even finish examining the matter. Modern culture constantly trains you toward inconsideration. Social media rewards immediacy. Outrage spreads faster than truth because outrage does not require deliberation. The algorithm does not reward prudence. It rewards emotional certainty. The inconsiderate person confuses immediacy with wisdom. What it looks like * impulsive moral judgments * reacting from headlines * emotional decision making (not engaging the rational apetite) * refusing reflection * acting before gathering facts * assuming confidence equals competence Or as the internet might put it: “Read zero articles. Saw half a headline. Became an expert immediately.” That is inconsideration. 🔥 Vice of Excess: Vacillation (Vacillatio) Definition Vacillation is the corruption of deliberation through endless instability and inability to settle into judgment. Why it fits The vacillating person endlessly oscillates between possibilities. He: * reopens settled questions * endlessly second-guesses * fears commitment * delays action perpetually Unlike the inconsiderate person who never weighs the matter sufficiently, the vacillating person weighs it forever. You have probably felt this too. You replay decisions repeatedly in your head. You endlessly research. You ask for advice from multiple people, then start over because none of the answers completely removed uncertainty. This vice often disguises itself as intelligence or carefulness. But underneath it is usually fear. Fear of: * responsibility * imperfection * consequences * commitment * failure The vacillating soul desperately wants certainty before action. But prudence rarely operates with absolute certainty. It operates with sufficient judgment. At some point: * inquiry ends * judgment forms * action begins Otherwise, deliberation collapses into paralysis. That’s why next week’s virtue will be alacrity, or promptness. This process of deliberation should lead to prompt action. What it looks like * analysis paralysis * obsessive optimization * constant second-guessing * endless research without commitment * reopening decisions repeatedly * consuming educational content endlessly without transformation The vacillating person remains permanently at the crossroads. 🧍 My Life [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life] This podcast is actually a good example of this virtue playing out in real life. I had the idea for both the podcast and the VirTrue app for nearly eight years before I finally acted on it. Part of that delay was prudence. I wanted to fully deliberate on the virtue model I was building from. I wanted to finish my Master’s degree in Theology. I wanted greater clarity. Better structure. More preparation. More certainty. But eventually I realized something uncomfortable. Some of my “deliberation” was no longer prudence. It was fear disguised as preparation. I could always find: * one more thing to study * one more improvement to make * one more conversation to have * one more reason to wait God eventually allowed me to enter a season of profound suffering that forced me to stop endlessly circling the runway and finally take action. And honestly, I think many modern people live there permanently. We have become a culture defined by failure to launch. We deliberate endlessly because commitment feels dangerous. I see myself in the deficiency here too though. Shoot first and ask questions later when I see something that upsets me. I like to jump into debate, and that sometimes overshadows my ability to approach the topic through reason. 🌍 The Secular Perspective Modern culture simultaneously destroys and imitates deliberation. On one side, you are constantly being trained toward inconsideration. Everything around you pushes you toward: * instant commentary * instant outrage * instant tribalism * instant certainty You are expected to react immediately to events you barely understand. People will even shame you for not taking a strong stance the same day something perceived as outrageous happens. And because digital culture moves at incredible speed, thoughtful practical reasoning begins to feel unnatural. Silence feels suspicious. Careful inquiry feels weak. Deliberation itself starts feeling socially dangerous because the crowd demands emotional certainty immediately. At the same time, modern culture also produces endless vacillation. You are drowning in: * ai assistant tools * educational content * podcasts * productivity systems * self-help frameworks * tutorials * commentary * endless competing opinions And yet many people have never felt more incapable of decisive moral action. It’s such a toxic pairing. The demand for immediate responses coupled with a paralyzing incapability to take a decisive moral stance. This pattern is weaponized by people of every ideology. Your hesitation becomes the evidence that you have the “EVIL” opinion. Without deliberation: * courage becomes recklessness * intelligence becomes manipulation * conviction becomes fanaticism * freedom becomes chaos Prudence teaches you to: * deliberate honestly * judge rightly * act courageously * trust God with the outcome 🌟 Example Saint: St. John Henry Newman Lived: 1801–1890 From: London, England Mission: Theologian, preacher, educator, convert, defender of conscience rightly formed by truth If there is a saint who embodies Deliberation ordered toward truth, it is St. John Henry Newman. Newman was not converted through emotional impulse or social pressure. His conversion came through years of disciplined inquiry, practical reasoning, historical study, theological reflection, prayer, and painful honesty. He carefully weighed: * Scripture * Church history * Apostolic succession * doctrine * authority * conscience * and the claims of the Catholic Church before finally concluding that he could no longer remain where he was. What makes Newman extraordinary is that his deliberation did not end in endless analysis. It ended in action. He followed truth even when it cost him: * reputation * career * friendships * status * security * and public approval That is deliberation perfected through prudence. Not reacting emotionally. Not remaining trapped in endless uncertainty. But weighing carefully, judging honestly, and acting courageously once the truth became clear. Why he fits Deliberation ordered toward truth Newman spent years carefully examining competing claims before reaching judgment. Resistance to inconsideration He refused emotional reaction, intellectual tribalism, and shallow certainty. Resistance to vacillation Once his conscience reached judgment, he acted despite enormous personal cost. Practical reasoning rooted in reality His faith was not sentimentality. It was disciplined inquiry ordered toward truth. Conscience formed through deliberation Newman reminds us that conscience is not self-expression. It is the soul’s obligation to conform itself to what is true. As Newman famously said: “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” St. John Henry Newman reminds us that prudence is not merely gathering information. It is honestly seeking the truth, judging rightly, and then having the courage to act when the truth demands change. 💬 Tell Me What You Think Which vice do you struggle with more? Inconsideration? Or vacillation? Do you react too quickly? Or do you endlessly weigh possibilities without ever committing to action? Share your thoughts with me in the comments, and continue the conversation. Like, share, and subscribe. Help us spread virtue. And visit socialcatholic.substack.com [https://socialcatholic.substack.com] to support this work. 🙏 Act of Deliberation O my God, You have given me reason so that I may seek truth and act according to wisdom rather than impulse. I reject haste, emotional reaction, and judgment formed without reflection. I reject fear, endless hesitation, and the paralysis that refuses to act once truth is known. I resolve to deliberate honestly, seek wisdom humbly, judge rightly, and act courageously according to Your will. I choose not merely to gather knowledge, but to conform my mind and will to what is good, true, and beautiful. Grant me the grace to deliberate well. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 🙏 Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. ⚔️ Go out and fill the world with virtue, Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

VirTrue: Counsel (Consilium) a Part of Prudence

🎧 Intro Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice, and adopt the virtuous life we are all called to. I’m your host, Jethro Higgins. Today on VirTrue we’re going to talk about Counsel, or Consilium, which is a sub-virtue of Prudence according to the tradition inherited from Hugh of St. Victor and developed by St. Thomas Aquinas. This episode continues our journey through the integral parts of Prudence, following Memory, Intelligence, and Foresight. Quick reminder, the VirTrue app is currently in BETA testing. We need your feedback to help make it exactly what you need to grow in virtue. For a limited time, paid subscribers will receive early access to help shape the direction of the platform as we continue building tools to help people grow in virtue. Visit socialcatholic.substack.com to start a paid subscription both to support our work AND to get early access to the VirTrue app. 📖 Virtue Description Counsel is the habit of seeking right judgment before acting. It is the disciplined willingness to deliberate well. Prudence is often misunderstood as instinct, intuition, or quick decision-making. But St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that prudence is deeply connected to careful consideration. The prudent person does not rush headlong into action simply because they are confident. They pause. They examine. They deliberate. They seek counsel. St. Thomas Aquinas says: “To take good counsel and to judge well belong to prudence.” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q.51, A.3) Prudence is acting with Wisdom. It isn’t about knowing things; it’s about knowing how to deliberate well. The prudent man does not simply react. He slows down long enough to ask: * What is true here? * What is good here? * What leads toward God here? That process of honest deliberation is what Aquinas calls Counsel. And most people skip it entirely. Some rush ahead before the process of inquiry is complete. Others become trapped in endless analysis and never act at all. But prudence requires both: * good deliberation * and decisive action Counsel is a bridge between ignorance and wise action. A man with memory may remember the past. A man with intelligence may understand the present. A man with foresight may see the future trajectory. But without counsel, he may still act foolishly because he never slowed down long enough to deliberate well. Counsel requires humility because good deliberation often begins with admitting: “I may not see this clearly.” This is why counsel naturally involves other people. Scripture says: “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22) The prudent man does not assume every thought in his head is wisdom. He tests them. He questions himself. He seeks guidance from: * Scripture * Tradition * Wise mentors * Legitimate authority * The accumulated wisdom of the Church Counsel is not hesitation for its own sake. It is ordered deliberation directed toward action. The purpose of counsel is not endless discussion. The purpose of counsel is right action. This is also why counsel requires courage. Once deliberation is complete, action must follow. A person who seeks advice forever without acting has not perfected counsel. They have distorted it. ⚠️ Vice of Deficiency: Precipitation (Praecipitatio) Definition Precipitation is inordinate haste in decision-making that cuts short proper deliberation and inquiry. Why it fits St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Precipitation is a vice directly opposed to counsel.” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q.53, A.3) The precipitate person rushes to conclusions before judgment is fully formed. They: * Skip deliberation * Refuse inquiry * Ignore counsel * Act before understanding Precipitation is not merely speed. It is disordered speed. The problem is not acting quickly when circumstances require it. The problem is bypassing the process prudence demands. The precipitate person mistakes immediacy for wisdom. What it looks like * Making major decisions impulsively * Reacting emotionally before understanding * Correcting others publicly without context * Refusing guidance because “I already know” * Spiritual decisions made without discernment * Acting on outrage before investigating facts * Mistaking confidence for competence 🔥 Vice of Excess: Indecision (Indecisio) Definition Indecision is excessive deliberation that prevents timely action. Why it fits Counsel exists for the sake of action. The indecisive person becomes trapped in perpetual deliberation. Unlike the precipitate person who cuts inquiry short, the indecisive person never allows inquiry to end. He: * Needs one more opinion * One more article * One more conversation * One more reassurance He mistakes endless analysis for wisdom. This vice often disguises itself as carefulness. But underneath it is usually fear. Fear of: * Failure * Responsibility * Commitment * Consequences The indecisive person wants certainty before acting. But prudence rarely works with certainty. Prudence works with sufficient judgment. At some point, deliberation must end and action must begin. What it looks like * Paralysis over important decisions * Constant second-guessing * Endless research without commitment * Delaying repentance or vocation * Reopening settled questions repeatedly * Seeking advice mainly to avoid accountability The indecisive person lives permanently at the crossroads. 🧍 My Life At the risk of creating a pattern for this season, I struggle with both vices when it comes to counsel. Gathering the right amount of counsel is challenging for me. If I’m in a deliberating mindset, I can spin my wheels quite a bit waiting for the perfect answer to reveal itself, but I can also suddenly lurch out of that mindset into an action-oriented mindset. A classic example is during test-taking in school. When I got to the long-form questions, I would often deliberate for a long time on one question, then panic that I wasn’t managing my time well and quickly and decisively answer the remaining questions. This isn’t a case of time management, though. Another example is that I can move forward rather quickly with tasks where I feel like I have all the information I need, but when I don’t feel that confidence, I can switch into learning mode where I begin to seek counsel that extends far beyond the information needed to act decisively. This Podcast is actually a good example of this. I had this idea for both the podcast and the VirTrue app for 8 years before I took action. I wanted to be sure I had fully deliberated on the virtue model I was using, and I wanted to finish my Master’s degree in Theology, and and and... I found an endless number of needs that had to be fulfilled before I could take action. It was only when God allowed me to enter a period of great suffering that I surrendered to this idea he had been placing on my heart for almost a decade. He used my suffering to pull me out of endless deliberation and counsel seeking. An area of counsel seeking that I have excelled at in my career has been in user testing. I worked on a number of Catholic apps over the course of my career, and User testing really helped me to see the immediate value of getting feedback and adjusting your thinking accordingly. I’m in this phase with the VirTrue app right now. 🌍 The Secular Perspective Modern culture suffers from both extremes simultaneously. On one side, we glorify precipitation. “Trust yourself.” “Move fast.” “Disrupt everything.” The fastest reaction often wins. Social media rewards immediacy, not deliberation. Nobody gains influence online by saying: “I need time to think about this.” Modern media trains people to react before understanding. Outrage arrives faster than a well-measured response. At the same time, modern culture is drowning in indecision. We have endless information and almost no wisdom. People delay: * Marriage * Children * Career decisions * Conversion * Commitment Because modern life trains us to believe there is always a slightly better option waiting around the corner. We’ve become a culture defined by our failure to launch. Consumer culture has made commitment feel dangerous. Counsel as a virtue cuts through both errors. It teaches us to: * Deliberate honestly * Seek wisdom humbly * Act courageously * Trust God with the outcome The prudent person neither rushes blindly nor stalls endlessly. He seeks counsel, judges well, and then moves. 🌟 Example Saint: St. Charles Borromeo Lived: 1538–1584 From: Milan, Italy Mission: Archbishop, reformer, servant of the “Counter-Reformation,” which is actually the true reformation. What the protestants did was a rebellion, not a reformation; reformation occurs from within, without leaving. Rebellion breaks away from the main body. If there is a saint who embodies Counsel ordered toward prudent action, it is St. Charles Borromeo. Charles Borromeo became one of the great leaders of the Church during and after the Council of Trent. The Church faced enormous confusion: * Corruption * Weak formation * Poor clerical discipline * Political pressure * Doctrinal instability Many recognized the problems. Few knew how to address them prudently. Borromeo did. Why he fits Counsel ordered toward reform He carefully implemented the reforms of Trent instead of reacting recklessly. Deliberation before action He gathered clergy, held synods, listened carefully, and studied problems deeply before acting. Resistance to precipitation He did not reform through chaos or emotional reaction. Resistance to indecision Once judgment was reached, he acted decisively and courageously. Counsel during crisis During the plague in Milan, many leaders fled. Borromeo stayed, organized relief, cared for the sick, and prudently guided his people through disaster. He neither ignored danger nor surrendered to panic. That is prudence perfected through counsel. St. Charles Borromeo reminds us that wisdom is not passive. It listens carefully, judges honestly, and then acts courageously. 💬 Tell Me What You Think Share your thoughts with me in the comments, and continue the conversation. Do you struggle more with precipitation or indecision? Do you rush ahead without deliberation, or delay endlessly waiting for certainty? Like, share, and subscribe. Help us spread virtue. And visit socialcatholic.substack.com to support our work. 🙏 Act of Counsel O my God, You have given me reason not merely to think, but to deliberate wisely and act rightly. Guard me from the recklessness that rushes ahead without seeking truth, and from the fear that delays action until opportunity has passed. Teach me to seek counsel with humility, to listen without pride, and to judge without selfishness. Help me to receive wisdom from those You have placed in my life, and to test every decision against what is true, good, and beautiful. Grant me the courage to act once prudence has spoken, and the trust to leave the outcome in Your hands. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 🙏 Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the precious blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. ⚔️ Go out and fill the world with virtue, Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

VirTrue: Intelligence (Intelligentia) a Part of Prudence

🎧 Intro Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice, and adopt the virtuous life we are all called to. I’m your host, Jethro Higgins. Today on VirTrue we’re going to talk about Intelligence or Understanding, which is a sub-virtue of Prudence. This is our second episode in the Prudence season, following last week’s episode on Memory. Quick reminder, we are building the VirTrue app to help you grow in virtue. If you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll be among the first to get access to the BETA. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, visit socialcatholic.substack.com and join us. Your support keeps this work going. 📖 Virtue Description Last week, we talked about Memory, the faculty that stores our experiences so that prudence has raw material to work with. But having a warehouse full of material means nothing if you can’t read what’s written on the boxes. That’s what Intelligence does. Intelligence, or Intelligentia, is the capacity of the intellect to penetrate to the heart of a matter, to see through the surface of a situation and grasp its essence, its first principles, and its true meaning. It is what the tradition calls practical intelligence, the ability to read reality rightly and act on it. This is not about being smart. This is not about IQ scores or academic degrees. IQ measures your capacity, but intelligence is about what you do with the capacity you have. Individuals with low IQ through humility and diligence can possess the virtue of intelligence. Intelligence as a sub-virtue of prudence is about perception. It is the ability to look at a situation and understand what is actually happening. Not what appears to be happening. Not what you wish were happening. What is actually, truly going on. Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues. It is often translated as practical wisdom, the habit of discerning the right course of action in the concrete circumstances of life. It is not merely a practical skill. It is a moral virtue that shapes the whole character of a virtuous person. Aristotle recognized this in the Nicomachean Ethics, where he distinguished five intellectual virtues: art, scientific knowledge, practical wisdom, philosophic wisdom, and understanding. Intelligence, understanding, is one of Aristotle’s intellectual virtues. It serves as the perceptive foundation that practical wisdom depends on. No account of virtue is complete without it, because virtue involves not just good habits but the capacity to see clearly what the good requires. St. Thomas Aquinas places Intelligence as the second integral part of prudence, immediately after Memory: “By intellectus is meant not the intellect itself, but a right estimate of some first principle that is taken for granted: thus we say that someone ‘understands’ the first principles of demonstrations. Now in matters of action, the first principles are those things that are taken as certain.” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q.49, A.2) Memory gives you the data. Intelligence gives you the ability to read the data correctly. Without intelligence, you’re like a man holding a map upside down. He’s got the map. He’s got eyes. But he can’t read what’s in front of him. This matters enormously in the moral life. You can have all the facts and still misread the situation entirely. A father sees his son struggling but misses the cause. A friend hears your problem but solves the wrong issue. A leader sees agreement when the room is actually filled with fear. These are failures of intelligence, not failures of knowledge. You can memorize everything and still miss the meaning. Intelligence is what allows you to move from information to insight. This is why Christ taught in parables. Understanding requires penetration beneath the surface. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The Pharisees had memory. They lacked intelligence. They knew the law, but did not understand it. Memory tells you what has happened. Intelligence tells you what is happening now. Together, they prepare prudence. Intelligence is not cleverness. It is ordered toward truth. It requires intellectual humility. You must be willing to let go of your assumptions and receive reality as it is. ⚠️ Vice of Deficiency: Dullness Definition Dullness is the failure of the intellect to penetrate beyond the surface of things. It is not ignorance. It is the inability or unwillingness to grasp the deeper meaning of what is already in front of you. Why it fits Intelligence reads meaning beneath the data. Dullness leaves the data unread. A person can have facts, experiences, and information, but fail to extract meaning. This makes prudence impossible at the point of perception. What it looks like * Taking everything at face value * Hearing a parable as just a story * Repeating relational failures without seeing patterns * Reading Scripture as history but not instruction * Sitting through a homily and gaining nothing * Confusing being informed with being wise * Asking what happened but not what it means Dullness is not stupidity. A person may be brilliant in worldly matters and still be dull in moral understanding. 🔥 Vice of Excess: Cunning Definition Cunning is the disordered use of keen understanding to achieve one’s ends through manipulation, deception, or devious means rather than through truth and honest action. Why it fits Intelligence serves truth. Cunning serves self. The cunning person sees clearly, but uses that clarity for advantage. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: “Astutia is a sin against prudence... the man of astutia uses means that are not true but only apparent, and feigned for the purpose of obtaining his end.” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q.55, A.3) The cunning person reads people like a predator reads prey. Scripture shows this in Genesis: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” Cunning sees truth, then twists it. What it looks like * Reading a room and steering it for personal gain * Exploiting insecurities * Twisting arguments instead of answering honestly * Using theology to win arguments * Manipulating behavior patterns * Framing lies in partial truth * Strategic deception in politics or business The world praises cunning. But it is intelligence corrupted. 🧍 My Life In grade school, I often did not complete reading assignments. Before class, I would gather just enough information from classmates to pass tests perfectly. This likely falls into cunning. It also reveals that intelligence and memory are distinct. I lacked the memory of the material, but could read people and situations to succeed. ADHD often leans toward this excess. The mind solves problems instead of storing information. This can affect evangelization. Winning arguments is not the goal. Winning souls is. If intelligence is used to dominate rather than guide, it pushes people away from truth. 🌍 The Secular Perspective Our culture is drowning in information and starving for understanding. We confuse access to facts with understanding. Social media rewards speed, not depth. We skim headlines and think we understand. This produces dullness. At the same time, those with real understanding are often rewarded for using it manipulatively. Advertising, politics, and media systems are built on cunning. We are outsourcing understanding to machines. But understanding is a faculty of the human soul. When we outsource it, we weaken it. Our culture talks a great deal about emotional intelligence. The ability to read and manage feelings. But emotional intelligence without moral ordering is just another tool. It can serve empathy or manipulation equally well. What the tradition calls intelligentia goes deeper: perception ordered to truth, not merely to social effectiveness. Modern educational systems measure students by information retention and test performance, not by whether they are becoming wise. We are not cultivating good minds in the sense the tradition intended, minds that penetrate to the essence of things. We produce graduates with character strengths on a résumé but no formation in the soul. Virtue theories have experienced a revival in recent decades. Julia Annas argues in Intelligent Virtue (Oxford University Press) that virtue is not rule-following but a deep, practiced understanding that shapes action. Mortimer Adler spent a lifetime insisting that Aristotle’s virtue ethics, the connection between virtue and happiness, was not an academic curiosity but the most urgent question any person could ask. These books and articles represent a growing secular recognition that something essential has been lost. Our culture has also become morally dull. We describe moral realities in shallow terms to avoid truth. Intelligence refuses to stop at the surface. That is why the world resists it. 🌟 Example Saint: St. Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) Lived: 1891–1942 From: Breslau, Germany Mission: Philosopher, Carmelite nun, martyr St. Edith Stein embodies true intelligence. Why she fits Penetration to essence She read the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila and immediately recognized truth Understanding ordered to truth She pursued truth even when it cost her everything Humility before truth She submitted her intellect to God in Carmel Understanding in suffering She recognized the meaning of her suffering and embraced it She said: “Come, let us go for our people.” Her intelligence led to surrender, not pride. 💬 Tell Me What You Think Share your thoughts in the comments and continue the conversation. Like, share, and subscribe. Visit socialcatholic.substack.com to support this work. 🙏 Act of Intelligence O my God, You have given me the gift of understanding not merely to accumulate knowledge, but to penetrate to the truth of things as they truly are. I will not settle for the surface. I will not accept appearances when You have called me to see with clarity. Grant me the humility to receive truth even when it challenges my assumptions, and the courage to act on what I understand even when it costs me. Guard me from the dullness that refuses to look deeper, and from the cunning that would use understanding for selfish gain. Let my intellect serve truth, and truth alone. Sharpen my mind, steady my judgment, and help me to see in every situation, every person, and every moment what You would have me see. With Your grace, let my understanding serve my prudence, and my prudence serve my salvation. Amen. 🙏 Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. Go out and fill the world with virtue, Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

VirTrue: Memory (Memoria) a Part of Prudence

🎧 Intro Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice, and adopt the virtuous life we are all called to. I’m your host, Jethro Higgins. Today on VirTrue we’re going to talk about Memory, which is a sub-virtue of Prudence. This is our first episode in our new season on the cardinal virtue of Prudence, so make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss what’s coming. We are creating a VirTrue app to help you grow in virtue. The BETA version of the app will be available for testing soon. We will be extending an invitation next week to all of our paid subscribers to test the VirTrue app for free. This is one of the many perks of being a paid subscriber. I look forward to hearing from you on the functionality of the app. Your feedback will help set the direction of the app moving forward, but you have to be a paid subscriber to gain early access in this exclusive testing phase. If your your listening from somewhere other than SubStack then you can visit socialcatholic.substack.com [http://socialcatholic.substack.com] to subscribe that’s social catholic dot substack dot com. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported publication. To receive new episodes and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. 📖 Virtue Description Most people think of memory as a mental filing cabinet. You put things in, and you pull things out. But memory is not just a storage system. It is a moral faculty. It shapes how you act, what you choose, and whether you are capable of growing in virtue at all. Memory, as a sub-virtue of Prudence, is the capacity of the intellect to retain and recall past experiences, lessons, and truths for the purpose of guiding present action toward the good. Without memory, prudence is impossible. You cannot choose well today if you have forgotten what happened yesterday. St. Thomas Aquinas places memory as the first integral part of prudence. Drawing on Cicero and Aristotle, he explains that prudence requires experience, and experience is built entirely on memory: “Prudence requires the memory of many things. Hence memory is fittingly set down as a part of prudence.” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q.49, A.1) This is why Aquinas insists that the young, no matter how intelligent, struggle with prudence. It is not because they lack reason. It is because they lack the accumulated memory of consequences, patterns, and outcomes that only time can provide. But memory in the moral life is not merely the passive recollection of facts. It is an active faculty. The virtuous person does not just remember what happened. He remembers what it meant. He connects the past to the present and draws from his experience the principles that should govern his next decision. This is what separates memory from mere data retention. A computer stores data. A prudent man stores wisdom. The difference is that memory ordered to virtue does not just recall events. It recalls the moral significance of events. It asks: What did I learn? Where did I go wrong? What worked? What was God doing in that moment that I could not see at the time? Memory is also the faculty that preserves gratitude. A person who forgets the blessings of God becomes prideful, because he begins to believe that everything he has came from his own effort. A person who remembers rightly lives in humility, because he can look back and see the hand of God at work in places where he was too blind or too stubborn to notice at the time. This is why Scripture places such weight on remembrance. The entire liturgical calendar is an act of memory. The Eucharist itself is an act of memory. “Do this in remembrance of me.” Christ did not ask us to merely understand the theology of the Last Supper. He asked us to remember it. To return to it. To let the memory of His sacrifice shape how we live today. Memory also serves as a guard against repeated failure. If you cannot remember why you fell, you will fall again. If you cannot remember what temptation looked like last time it arrived, you will not recognize it when it returns. The nightly examen is a discipline of memory. You review the day. You recall where grace was present and where you failed. And that memory becomes the raw material for tomorrow’s prudence. I use the Saintmaker Catholic Planner [https://www.sojolk8trk.com/FBQCTK/2776JRX/] for this, and it is incredibly beneficial. Without memory, there is no growth. There is no learning from mistakes. There is no moral continuity. The soul without memory drifts from one moment to the next without accumulating the wisdom it needs to choose well. Memory anchors the soul in truth. It keeps the past alive so that the future can be better. ❌ Vice of Deficiency: Forgetfulness (Oblivio) Definition Forgetfulness is the failure to retain or recall the experiences, truths, and moral lessons that are necessary for prudent action. Why it fits Memory preserves the raw material of prudence.Forgetfulness discards it. The forgetful soul does not learn from experience because it does not retain experience. It approaches each situation as though it were new, making the same errors again and again because the lessons of the past have been lost. This is not simply a matter of mental capacity. Many people forget because they never paid attention in the first place. They moved through their experiences without reflection, without the nightly examen, without asking God what He was teaching them. Forgetfulness is often the fruit of a life lived on the surface. What it looks like * Repeating the same mistakes without recognizing the pattern * Approaching confession with the same sins month after month without examining why * Forgetting the blessings God has given, leading to ingratitude and pride * Failing to learn from previous mistakes in relationships, work, or spiritual life * Neglecting promises, commitments, or duties because they simply slip away * Living reactively rather than reflectively The forgetful soul says, “I don’t know why this keeps happening to me.”The soul with memory says, “I know exactly why this keeps happening, and I know what I need to change.” 🔥 Vice of Excess: Curiosity (Curiositas) Definition Curiosity is the disordered appetite for knowledge that is not necessary for moral or spiritual life. Why it fits Memory retains what is useful for prudence.Curiosity overwhelms it with noise. Instead of remembering what matters, the curious mind hoards everything. It fills itself with trivia, novelty, and distraction, mistaking information for wisdom. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: “The desire to know the truth about creatures, if it be directed to a good end, namely the knowledge of God, is praiseworthy. But if it be directed to evil or if it be not directed to some useful purpose then it is a sin.” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q.167, A.1) What it looks like * Endless scrolling through content without reflection * Accumulating knowledge to win arguments rather than grow in virtue * Pursuing novelty instead of depth * Filling silence with noise instead of contemplation * Knowing many things but failing to act wisely * A full mind and an empty prayer life The curious mind says, “I need to know more.”The prudent mind says, “I need to use what I already know.” 🧍 My Life I have an ADHD mind, so remembering things like where I put my glasses and wallet can be outside of my reach. I expected to lean hard into deficiency on this virtue. But as we’ve seen, there is so much more to virtue than the retention of facts. ADHD actually leans me more toward excess here. The mind seeks stimulation and can get caught in cycles of curiosity. The nightly examen, especially with journaling [https://www.sojolk8trk.com/FBQCTK/2776JRX/], has been incredibly helpful for me. It orders memory toward what actually matters instead of the noise. We also protect our children from negative curiosity by limiting screen exposure. They spend time in imagination, in real experience, and in disciplined habits that build true memory. A well-developed memory is also powerful in the workplace. It allows you to apply past lessons to future success. 🌍 The Secular Perspective Our culture has outsourced memory to machines. We do not remember. We store. We photograph everything and remember nothing. We bookmark wisdom and never revisit it. We are now outsourcing not just memory, but judgment. We are asking machines not only for answers, but for insights. But insight belongs to the human intellect. A culture without memory is a culture without roots. G.K. Chesterton called tradition “the democracy of the dead.” Memory is how we give them a voice. Without it, we become easy to manipulate. The Church remains one of the last defenders of memory through liturgy, tradition, and sacrament. Our faith calls us to remember, not just for ourselves, but for a world that has forgotten. 🌟 Example Saint: Pope St. John Paul II Lived: 1920–2005From: Wadowice, PolandMission: Witness to the power of memory in the moral life John Paul II understood memory as resistance. He lived through Nazi and communist attempts to erase identity and history. He remembered what the world tried to destroy. Why he fits Memory as resistanceHe preserved truth under oppression Memory for personsHe remembered individuals deeply and personally Memory as prophecyHe called the Church to remember its past honestly Memory and identityHe revived tradition and truth for a modern world He said:“We do not live in a sealed world. The memory of the past must accompany us to the future.” 💬 Tell Me What You Think Share your thoughts with me in the comments, and continue the conversation. I will use your thoughts in future episodes when we invite guests to speak about this virtue. 🙏 Act of Memory O my God, You have given me the gift of memory not merely to recall what has passed, but to learn from it, to grow in wisdom, and to recognize Your hand at work in my life. I will not allow the lessons You have taught me to be buried under distraction or indifference. I will remember Your blessings and not grow proud. I will remember my failures and not repeat them. I will remember Your mercy and not despair. I will remember Your law and not stray from it. Guard my mind from the forgetfulness that leads to folly, and from the curiosity that clutters my soul with what does not matter. Help me to retain what is true, recall what is good, and build each day upon the wisdom of days past. With Your grace, let my memory serve my prudence, and my prudence serve my salvation. Amen. 🙏 Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. ⚔️ Go out and fill the world with virtue, Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Theological Virtue of Faith (Fides) - VirTrue Episode 28

🎧 Intro Welcome to VirTrue, where we work together to turn away from vice and grow in the virtues that lead to life everlasting through Jesus Christ. I’m your host, Jethro Higgins. Today we are talking about the theological virtue of Faith, one of the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity. This is our season finale. Over this season, we’ve explored the virtues that form the foundation of the Christian life, and today we arrive at the supernatural virtue that makes all the others possible. Without faith, the moral life collapses. Without faith, the intellectual virtues drift into pride. Without faith, even good works lose their direction. Faith is the beginning of eternal life in your soul. This episode completes our journey through the first three of the seven virtues, which are called Theological Virtues, and prepares us to begin the cardinal virtues: Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice. Together, we are building a full framework for adult faith formation rooted in the Catholic Church, divine revelation, and the wisdom handed down through centuries of Christian theology. If VirTrue has helped strengthen your Christian faith, please consider becoming a paid subscriber and help others grow in virtue. The Social Catholic is listener-supported. Your support helps us continue building resources for Catholic adult faith formation, virtue ethics, and the restoration of lively virtues in modern culture. 📖 What Is the Theological Virtue of Faith? Most people today think faith means believing something without evidence. Others treat faith like emotional optimism, blind loyalty, or wishful thinking. But that is not what the Catholic Church teaches. Faith is a supernatural virtue infused into your soul by God’s grace. It is not manufactured by emotion. It is not built on preference. It is rooted in divine revelation. What is faith according to St. Thomas Aquinas? Aquinas teaches in harmony with the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Faith is a habit of the mind, whereby eternal life is begun in us, making the intellect assent to what is non-apparent.” For St. Thomas Aquinas, faith is not irrational belief; faith is a stable habit in your soul. It perfects the intellect and orders your mind toward truth. You believe not because you want something to be true, but because God has revealed it, and God can neither deceive nor be deceived. This is why faith differs from opinion. Opinion changes with culture. Faith rests on God. Faith is stronger than human certainty because it is grounded in divine truth. Hugh of Saint Victor described faith as: “A certainty of the mind about absent things, placed above opinion and below knowledge.” Faith is above opinion because it rests on revelation. But it is still below the perfect knowledge we will possess when we stand before God in eternal life. Faith is the beginning of life everlasting already alive within you. It anchors your soul in reality. It orders your human acts toward truth. It directs your life toward Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Authentic faith cooperates with the grace of the Holy Spirit rather than emotional impulse. Faith is participation in the life of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If faith collapses, everything else begins collapsing with it. Faith is the foundation of the theological virtues. Faith, hope and charity rise and fall together. 🌿 Sub-Virtues Flowing From Faith The virtue of faith produces ordered Christian living. True belief changes how you think, act, worship, love, and suffer. These lively virtues help form the Christian life according to divine revelation and the teachings of the Catholic Church. ✨ Chastity (Castitas) [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/virtue-of-chastity] Chastity orders the desires of the flesh according to reason and divine revelation, integrating body and soul so that love becomes a true self-gift. ✨ Continence (Continentia) [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/virtue-of-continence] Continence restrains disordered desires, strengthening the will and ordering human acts toward truth and virtue. ✨ Religion (Religio) [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/virtrue-religion-religio-a-part-of] Religion renders to God the worship due to Him, forming a life of prayer, sacrifice, reverence, and fidelity to the Catholic Church. ✨ Reverence (Reverentia) [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/virtrue-reverence-reverentia-a-part] Reverence recognizes the presence of God and the dignity of what He has made, including the saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary. ✨ Obedience (Obedientia) [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/virtrue-obedience-obedientia-a-part] Obedience submits the will to rightful authority, recognizing that all authority ultimately flows from God. ✨ Decorum (Decorum) [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/virtrue-decorum-decorum-a-part-of] Decorum orders outward behavior so your life reflects what you claim to believe. ✨ Affection (Affectus) [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/virtrue-affection-affectus-a-part] Affection orders the emotional life so love supports reason and faith instead of undermining them. ❌ Vice of Deficiency: Unbelief (Infidelitas) Unbelief is not confusion. It is not intellectual struggle. It is not honest questioning. Unbelief is the refusal to assent to divine truth revealed by God. As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: “Unbelief is a sin consisting in resisting the faith.” Unbelief resists divine revelation. It rejects the knowledge of God. It says: “I will not accept what God has revealed.” Definition Unbelief (Infidelitas) is the willful refusal to assent to divine truth revealed by God. ❌ Vice of Excess: Gullibility Gullibility is disordered belief. It goes beyond divine revelation and begins inventing meaning where God has not spoken. Instead of receiving truth, it rewrites truth. You see this constantly today: * conspiracy driven Christianity * distorted readings of Scripture * emotional spirituality detached from theology * false private revelations * self-made versions of Christ * spiritual movements disconnected from the Catholic Church This is one reason the modern world swings between superstition and unbelief. Gullibility replaces authentic faith in God with self-created belief. It confuses emotional excitement with revelation from the Holy Spirit. It turns theology into self-expression. Definition Gullibility is the disordered readiness to believe what is unproven or not revealed by God, leading the intellect beyond truth. 🧍 My Life [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life] I’ve always had strong faith. I’ve struggled with doubts. I’ve struggled with fear. But I’ve never truly struggled with unbelief. In my younger years, I leaned more toward gullibility. I chased private revelations. I wanted hidden knowledge. I wanted deeper insights before I was fully grounded in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the wisdom faithfully handed down through Christian theology. There was pride in that. A desire to be first. A desire to master the knowledge of God instead of humbly receiving it. My professor Sean Innerst once said: “If you find yourself breaking new ground in theology, that should set off warnings in your head.” That stayed with me. Faith is not about inventing truth. Faith is about receiving divine revelation and conforming your life to it. Not redefining Christ. Not remaking morality. Not reshaping the Gospel around modern comfort. Receiving truth. Living truth. Trusting God enough to obey Him. 🌍 The Secular Perspective Modern culture is built on selective belief. People claim to value truth, but redefine reality to fit desire. This is why our culture simultaneously embraces gullibility and unbelief. We reject divine revelation while believing endless ideological fantasies. We reshape Christ into our own image. We create counterfeit versions of Christianity that justify vice instead of confronting sin. This fractures the witness of the Catholic Church. It weakens Christians faith. It creates confusion instead of conversion. When truth fragments, unbelief spreads. When truth is restored, faith becomes possible again. Trent Horn addresses this powerfully in Counterfeit Christs, showing how modern culture continually recreates Jesus according to political ideology, personal desire, and cultural trends rather than divine revelation. False Christs produce false gospels. False gospels produce spiritual confusion. And spiritual confusion eventually produces unbelief. 🌟 Example Saint: St. Thomas Aquinas Doctor of the Church Lived: 1225–1274From: ItalyMission: Defending and systematically explaining the truths of the Catholic faith St. Thomas Aquinas stands among the greatest intellectual minds in human history. He united faith and reason without confusing them. He ordered philosophy beneath divine revelation. He defended the truths of the Catholic Church with extraordinary clarity, precision, and humility. He did not invent truth. He clarified truth. That distinction matters. Aquinas reportedly dictated to multiple scribes simultaneously while composing different theological works at the same time with astonishing coherence and precision. Yet near the end of his life, after experiencing a profound mystical encounter, he said: “All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.” That is the humility of authentic faith. Faith does not grow by endlessly searching for novelty. Faith grows by conforming yourself more deeply to truth as revealed by God through His Church. 💬 Tell Me What You Think If this episode helped strengthen your understanding of faith, hope and charity, please like, share, comment, and subscribe before moving on. Your engagement helps more people discover Catholic virtue ethics, adult faith formation, and the pursuit of lively virtues in everyday life. The Social CatholicGrowing in Truth and VirtueBy Jethro Higgins Visit socialcatholic.substack.com and subscribe to receive every new episode of VirTrue. If you become a paid subscriber, you help us continue building resources that strengthen virtue, confront vice, and restore Christian formation in modern culture. 🙏 Act of Faith O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths that the holy Catholic Church teaches, because you have revealed them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. Amen. 🙏 Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the precious blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. Go out and fill the world with virtue. Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]