Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. Carnal prudence or prudence of the flesh issham prudence. It is not a virtue, but a vice which wears the maskof prudence. It is the vice of a person who regards fleshly goodsas the chief end of existence. It is a sin, for it is a fundamentaldisorder in a person, and one that is the person's ownfault.
2. To hold carnal goods as the complete end of existencewould be a mortal sin. But prudence of the flesh hardly ever goesto such extremes. Commonly, it is an inordinate estimate of theimportance andvalue of some particular carnal good, andstands opposed to some special kind or variety of prudence. Andusually it is a venial sin.
3. When a man uses trickery, or counterfeits honesty, whenworking for an end, he is guilty of craftiness. This is aspecial sin against prudence, distinct from carnal prudence butlike it in masking itself as true prudence. St. Gregory includescarnal prudence and craftiness under the title of worldlyprudence.
4. Craftiness is chiefly in the tricky mind of the craftyman; it is a quality of his plans and projects. But when plan orproject is carried out in fact, then it appears asguile.
5. Guile may take the form of words or deeds. When itappears in deeds, it has the special name of fraud.
6. We are divinely instructed to rely upon God, and not tobe overanxious about material things; we are not to beover-solicitous, for this is a kind of worldly prudence, and nottrue prudence. In St. Matthew (6:31) we read: "Be notsolicitous, therefore, saying what shall we eat, or what shall wedrink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?"
7. Nor are we to be over-anxious about the future, for weread (Matt. 6:34): "Be not therefore solicitous for tomorrow;for the morrow will be solicitous for itself."
8. Carnal prudence, craftiness, guile, and fraud are sinsof false prudence. And yet they are essentially contrary tojustice. Their source is the chief of sins againstjustice, that is, covetousness. Although these sins areimprudences, they are called the "daughters ofcovetousness."
"It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provision for things to come."
Thomas á Kempis
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"The supreme perfection of man in this life is to be so united to God that all his soul with all its faculties and powers are so gathered into the Lord God that he becomes one spirit with him, and remembers nothing except God, is aware of and recognises nothing but God, but with all his desires unified by the joy of love, he rests contentedly in the enjoyment of his Maker alone."
St Albert the Great
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"Try to turn your heart from the love of things visible and bring yourself to things invisible. For they who follow their own evil passions stain their consciences and lose the grace of God.
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Thomas á Kempis
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