Fruits of Prudence (09/18/2026)

“We need to do something to build community in our parish.” The women present at the meeting considered options and came up with offering root beer floats after church to encourage parishioners to linger, socialize, reach out, connect. And then the call went out for helpers who materialized. I was amazed that weekend at how well the Spirit hovered over the crowd as laughter filled the air, as members stood and visited as they consumed their floats. It was amazing.

“We need to be there for the families of our parish who are grieving.” And so I put out an email to the women of the parish about an upcoming funeral for a parish member and asking for help with donating salads and desserts and volunteering to set up, prepare the meal, serve, and clean up. And before long, all the needs had been filled with women happy to help and grateful for an opportunity to help in a meaningful way. And the day of that first funeral luncheon, all the women who labored together agreed that the Spirit had been with us, guided us, and gifted us all at the same time.

Both of these situations demonstrate prudence: the discernment of the current reality followed by action intended to address the needs presented by the current reality. God writes straight with crooked lines. Prudence is a virtue not practiced often enough by those of us who are on our way in faith, hope, and love. We see the world and hopefully recognize the evil afoot and the real needs that must be addressed. It is not sufficient for us to simply pray to the LORD to fix it. We are reminded in today’s gospel (Luke 8:1-3) that we are called to be part of the solution. We must pray to the LORD for discernment and for guidance, but as St. Augustine wrote, “God provides the wind; man must raise the sail.”

The world can be a mess. Sin abounds and is observable in the suffering of so many. It is not our world in that we were created for life with our LORD and that is our destination; however, our way is through this world and how we live, how we act. When we see a need, we need to act prudently. We are the agents of the LORD’s loving kindness in this place and for our sisters and brothers. What can we do to address the situation?

What we can do is as varied as the myriad of problems that plague our reality. We can volunteer our time at a food bank, we can make a donation of food items weekly, we can help the elderly woman in our block with a ride to the doctor or a meal, we can volunteer to share our faith with the younger members of our faith community for an hour a week, we can take a meal to the family whose child is being treated for cancer, we can attend the city council meeting and speak up for funding for the senior center, we can attend the school board meeting and speak up for better communication and partnership between staff and parents. Oh, can’t we see, there is so much we could do.

As we continue on our way, as we seek to bring Christ to others and others to Christ, let us embrace our roles as agents of the LORD’s loving kindness and commit to using prayerful discernment to read the current reality of the world and to seeking the LORD’s guidance in using our resources including our lives to bring the LORD’s love to bear on this world’s reality. Let us refuse to settle for simply saying, “It’s sad.” Let us act as if we know to the core of our being that the LORD is with us and become workers for the Kingdom here on earth.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.