VirTrue: Memory (Memoria) a Part of Prudence

Descripción

🎧 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 Virtue of Alacrity (Alacritas) a Part of Prudence - VirTrue Episode 34

You already know what you should be doing. That’s the uncomfortable part. Most people are not suffering from a total lack of knowledge. They are resisting moving toward those goods. You know you should: * pray * repent * apologize * begin * finish * commit * speak * act * obey And yet your soul drags itself toward those goods like a teenager being asked to unload the dishwasher. Not because the good is unclear. But because you feel like you are going to lose something if you act. Modern culture has made this even worse. We live in a civilization simultaneously addicted to frantic motion and allergic to meaningful action. People will spend six hours consuming: * productivity content * educational resources * self-improvement podcasts * motivational videos * immersive learning systems * personalized learning platforms * endless intellectual commentary to avoid thirty minutes of actual obedience or diligence to a task. We move constantly. But we rarely move toward what is truly important. And that is why the virtue of Alacrity matters. 🎧 Intro 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 Alacrity, or Alacritas, which Hugh of St. Victor includes on the Prudence branch of his virtue tree, while St. Thomas Aquinas helps us understand the relationship between promptness, prudence, obedience, charity, and movement toward the good. This episode continues the Prudence branch we have already begun cultivating: * Memory * Intelligence * Foresight * Counsel * Deliberation Because once prudence has: * remembered rightly * understood clearly * considered the repercussions * sought wisdom * weighed the matter well to reach a judgment one final question remains: Will you move? Alacrity is the soul’s joyful readiness to act once truth is known. And unlike the emotionally sterile definitions found in dictionary entries, the Christian understanding of Alacrity is not merely about quickness or cheerfulness. It is about moral movement. It is about becoming the kind of person who eagerly moves toward what is good, true, and beautiful once prudence has judged rightly. Quick reminder, the VirTrue app BETA testing is underway. Paid subscribers will receive early access and help shape the platform's direction as we continue building tools that cultivate virtue, uproot vice, and strengthen every branch of your VirTrue tree. Visit The Social Catholic [https://socialcatholic.substack.com] to support this work and help us continue building resources ordered toward wisdom, moral excellence, practical reasoning, virtue ethics, and rightly ordered love. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. 📖 Virtue Description The virtue of Alacrity is promptness and joyful readiness in the pursuit of the good. It is the soul moving quickly because it loves what is right. This is important: Alacrity is not recklessness. It is not hyperactivity. It is not impulsiveness. The alacritous person does not move quickly because they are emotionally reactive. They move quickly because prudence has already done its work. St. Thomas Aquinas repeatedly speaks about promptness in relation to virtue, obedience, and charity. The virtuous soul does not merely obey eventually. It becomes ready to move toward the good with eagerness. That is why Alacrity belongs on the Prudence branch. Because prudence without movement eventually becomes sterile. You can: * seek counsel forever * deliberate endlessly * gather information continuously * consume theology content constantly and still never obey. At some point: * judgment ends * movement begins This is why Alacrity follows Deliberation so naturally. Deliberation asks: “What is the right thing to do?” Alacrity responds: “Let’ss begin.” The truly prudent person doesn’t just arrive at right conclusions. He acts upon them with readiness of soul. Aristotle speaks repeatedly in Nicomachean Ethics about virtue as a golden mean between opposing extremes. And Alacrity fits beautifully within the moral virtue tradition because it governs how the soul moves toward the good once prudence has judged rightly. Because virtue is not merely knowing the good. Virtue is becoming the kind of person who enthusiastically and consistently moves toward the good. This becomes painfully visible in modern life. Many people today possess enormous amounts of: * information * opinions * educational content * theological knowledge * intellectual formation but remain spiritually immobile. The modern world mistakes awareness for transformation. But the Christian life is not merely about recognizing truth. It is about conforming yourself to it through action. ⚠️ Vice of Deficiency: Torpor Definition Torpor is sluggishness of soul that resists prompt movement toward the good. Why it fits The torpid person often knows exactly what should be done. That is what makes this vice so dangerous. This is not ignorance. This is resistance. The torpid soul: * delays obedience * postpones action * drags itself toward duty * hesitates after judgment * waits endlessly for perfect conditions Torpor often disguises itself as: * exhaustion * caution * preparation * “Not being ready yet.” But underneath it is usually an unwillingness to move. The torpid person says: “Eventually.” The alacritous person says: “Now.” Not because he is reckless. But because he loves the good more than comfort. What it looks like * delaying repentance * procrastinating difficult conversations * avoiding vocation * postponing prayer * endless preparation without beginning * spiritual hesitation * failure to act once the truth is clear And honestly, modern culture almost trains us into torpor. We consume: * productivity systems * educational resources * personalized learning * immersive learning tools * self-improvement content without ever allowing truth to become action. The soul becomes spiritually sedentary. Not because it lacks information. But because it resists movement. 🔥 Vice of Excess: Impetuosity (Impetuositas) Definition Impetuosity is excessive or ungoverned eagerness that outruns prudence. Why it fits The impetuous person moves before the soul is fully governed. Unlike the torpid person who refuses movement, the impetuous person cannot remain measured. He: * rushes into action * confuses urgency with wisdom * mistakes emotional intensity for conviction * treats movement itself as virtue This vice is especially common in modern activist culture. Everything becomes: * immediate * urgent * emotionally charged * performative The impetuous person believes: “If I feel strongly, I must act immediately.” But prudence governs action. The alacritous soul moves promptly AFTER wisdom has judged rightly. The impetuous soul moves because movement itself feels emotionally satisfying. What it looks like * emotional overreaction * reckless activism * impulsive decision making * burnout cycles * dramatic commitments without endurance * treating busyness as holiness * constant urgency without stability The impetuous person often appears energetic. But energy and virtue are not the same thing. A wildfire also moves quickly. That does not make it ordered. 🧍 My Life [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life] I often mention my ADHD in the “my life [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life]” section mostly because it has been and occasionally still is a significant struggle for me to overcome, but it is also often times a benefit as well. That is the case with Alacrity. There are two common behaviors with ADHD that interact with the virtue of alacrity, and the dependency on whether you act virtuously or with sluggish vice is enthusiasm. ADHD minds are actually capable of prompt, joyful action when the question of why is sufficiently answered. That is where last week’s virtue of deliberation comes into play. In order to motivate myself to act with alacrity, I have to deliberate well on why this is an important course of action. If I can see the broader picture and realize how my work will advance something of true value, I can hotwire my brain to jump into action. But if the outcome is obscured or delayed and the result is technically right but not immediately impactful to the “big picture,” it can be incredibly difficult to summon the proper motivation to respond to the task with alacrity. I use other strategies when I’m not really feeling the motivational energy. I can make the task a game, I can give myself some kind of reward for achieving success, but oftentimes I resort to the sure-fire way to generate the appropriate motivation, last-minute panic. Nothing sparks action like the surge of adrenaline and dopamine that comes from the last minute. I may have had some impetuous tendencies as a youth, and those tendencies may rear their head on occasion, but my struggle lies in managing my motivation and hacking my brain out of the sluggishness of torpor, and into the virtue of alacrity. 🌍 The Secular Perspective Modern culture lives at both extremes simultaneously. We saw some of this in earlier virtues this season. On the one side, we behave very torpidly. People endlessly delay: * marriage * children * vocation * commitment * conversion * responsibility We talked about this from the standpoint of deliberation and foresight as the belief that there is always a slightly better option waiting around the corner. But at a deeper level, our culture isn’t moved by what is good, true and beautiful anymore. We want cheap, powerful, and satisfying instead, and when we fail to see those kinds of motivations, we are sluggish in our response. Consumer culture has turned commitment into a threat. People fear closing doors on opportunities more than they fear wasting their lives. At the same time, modern culture glorifies impetuosity. Everything is: * urgent * immediate * reactionary * emotionally amplified Social media rewards immediate engagement, not prudence. The first to act wins, and from a media standpoint, there really isn’t a downside to acting impulsively. The same 5 news agencies are still driving our public discourse, regardless of the fact that their information is always fast and wrong. Modern media forms souls that either: * never move * or: * move constantly without direction The prudent man does neither. He: * seeks wisdom * deliberates honestly * judges rightly * and then acts with joyful readiness Alacrity is not frantic movement. It is disciplined eagerness toward the good. Areas in US government that could use some alacrity: * The Powerful people caught up in the Jeffery Epstein scandal. * The UAP/UFO release of information * Term limits for Congress * 82% of Americans support the requirement to show ID when voting, but that statistic is over a year old, and nothing has changed. * Insider trading in Congress. We’ve known for decades that they are doing it and that it is wrong, but no one is taking action. * Nigeria, Christians have been systematically executed for years, and no one is doing anything about it. 🌟 Example Saint: St. Francis Xavier Lived: 1506–1552 From: Navarre, Spain Mission: Missionary to India, Japan, and Southeast Asia If there is a saint who embodies the virtue of Alacrity ordered toward God, it is St. Francis Xavier. Francis Xavier’s life was defined by joyful readiness in the service of Christ. When called to mission, he went. Not eventually. Not once conditions became comfortable. Not after securing stability and certainty. He moved. Francis Xavier traveled across: * India * Malacca * the Moluccas * Japan enduring: * disease * exhaustion * poverty * persecution * danger * and isolation because the love of God had made his soul ready for movement. What makes Francis Xavier such a perfect example of Alacrity is that his energy was not chaotic. It was governed by obedience and charity. He was not merely busy. He was ready. Why he fits Promptness toward the good Francis Xavier responded immediately when God placed mission before him. Resistance to torpor He did not delay obedience waiting for comfort or certainty. Resistance to impetuosity His zeal remained governed by obedience, prudence, and mission. Love in motion His life demonstrates that true love moves toward sacrifice willingly. Missionary readiness Francis Xavier reminds us that holiness is not merely knowing what God asks. It is becoming eager to do it. As St. Francis Xavier wrote: “I am more and more convinced that the earth belongs to those who suffer.” St. Francis Xavier reminds us that prudence is not complete when truth is merely understood. Prudence reaches completion when the soul joyfully moves toward the good. 💬 Tell Me What You Think Do you struggle more with: * Torpor * or: * Impetuosity? Do you resist movement toward the good? Or do you rush ahead faster than prudence can govern you? Share your thoughts with me in the comments and continue the conversation. Like, share, and subscribe. Help us continue to spread virtue by doing all the things the search and social algorithms like! The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. 🙏 Act of Alacrity O my God, You have revealed what is good, true, and beautiful, and I resolve to move toward it with readiness of soul. I reject spiritual sluggishness, hesitation, and the false comfort that delays obedience. I reject reckless zeal and movement ungoverned by wisdom. I choose to act promptly when prudence has judged rightly, and to pursue Your will with eagerness rather than reluctance. I resolve not merely to admire the good, but to move toward it courageously and without delay. Grant me the grace to accomplish what I now will before You. 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]

2 de jun de 202648 min

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]

26 de may de 202651 min

VirTrue: Memory (Memoria) a Part of Prudence

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