Spirituality of the Religious Life According to St. Stanislaus Papczyński 76 directress” (moderatrix).141 The Marian Founder links the virtue of prudence to an aptitude for proper actions, the goal of which is “doing good and avoiding evil”. In his opinion, in order to call a human action “an act of prudence,” it must contain the following elements: 1) To consider that the goal of your whole life is, naturally, serving God and doing things that are pleasing to God, as well as attaining heavenly happiness and also to consider the end of virtue in every action and every [f.170r] occupation. 2) To ponder the means of attaining that aim by observing the divine laws; to ask for God’s light to discern his will in any action, to undertake extraordinary prayers for this intention, and also to anticipate every work, especially of great importance, by attentive reflection, consultation, and the advice of others, not relying only on oneself. 3) To weigh out and properly differentiate things brought for consultation; separating the useless from the useful, the evil from the good, the more important from the less important. At the same time, it is necessary to consider one’s own status and vocation, as well as the scope of one’s virtues and graces. 4) To choose better and more appropriate things for the attaining of the goal for which we strive. 5) With authority, to impel the will and the other powers of one’s soul to efficaciously comply in order to accomplish the things that have been chosen and accepted. As the Sage testifies: “A wise man is strong: and a man of knowledge, stout and valiant” (Prv 24:5). Wherefore, he not only assesses and chooses rightly, but also firmly brings into effect the good that he has assessed and chosen. 6) And perhaps the last action of prudence is to deem the prudence of the world as carelessness and its wisdom as foolishness, and to hold on for dear life to the love of God as the Polish saying goes.142 Among the other virtues that the Marian Founder qualifies as pertaining to the spirituality of the religious life and making their appearance at the illumination stage, a special place belongs to the virtue of resignatio143, identified sometimes by a 141 IC, Meditation XIII, p. 1. 142 IC, Meditation XIV, pt. 3 143 In the opinion of A. Derville, the term resignatio pursuant to spirituality appeared in Latin in the Middle Ages. Its meaning was borrowed from legal language. Cf. A.
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