Back in the day (also known as B.C. – “Before Convent”), in my middle-school years, I think I took just about every magazine quiz that was ever put in front of me: personality quizzes, guy quizzes, fun quizzes, celebrity quizzes, relationship quizzes, fashion quizzes…you name it! I thought they were fun…ridiculous, but fun.
So today I present before you a Lenten Prudence Quiz! Read the questions, keep track of your answers, tally the score…you know how these things work. Let’s find out just how prudent we are! Just don’t forget to be honest with yourself – don’t choose the answers you “should” choose, pick the answers that most accurately describe your thoughts or actions in the given situation.
Prudence Quiz
1. You hear about a great ministry that your friends are involved in and it sounds right up your alley. You are very excited about it and want to get involved with it. However, you are committed to a ministry already, you are active in household, you are taking a full load of classes and you are trying to get a regular prayer schedule down. Do you think:
a. The Lord will provide for me! I am doing His work and aren’t we supposed to put others before ourselves anyway?
b. I have a lot on my plate already. If I do too much I will spread myself too thin and not be able to give of myself or be present very well at the things I have already committed to doing. I will hold off for right now.
c. Like St. Therese said, “I choose all!” I can just pull long nights and early mornings. I can handle it.
2. You are crazy busy with homework (it’s one of those weeks) and you have a meeting in 15 minutes. Do you:
a. Stop now and get ready to leave.
b. Try to do one more thing before you have to leave.
c. Finish what you are doing because “it will only take a second” and end up walking in late to the meeting.
3. You and your beloved are finally getting to spend an evening together after a crazy week of concentrating on class work. You decide you want to hang out just the two of you. Do you:
a. Reserve a common room, turn on lamps instead of the overhead lights, sit close and “talk.”
b. Read Theology of the Body together at his house with no one else around.
c. Go to the nearest coffee shop and talk at a quiet little table in the corner.
4. You just had a confrontation with someone and you are still upset about it. Your face is red and your emotions are seething. Do you:
a. Immediately go to the Chapel, vent to the Lord and pray for the grace to calmly approach this person again and talk things out once your emotions settle.
b. Run to the nearest household sister or friend, asking for her prayers for this situation and end up telling her the whole thing, getting all riled up again (AKA: disguising and justifying the need to vent as a “prayer request”).
c. Shove the confrontation down and repress all the emotions that go a long with it, bottling them up and then biting the head off of the next person who does the slightest thing wrong.
5. As a Lenten sacrifice you decide to fast on bread and water on Wednesdays. However this Wednesday you have clinical all day and the following day you have a test. Do you think:
a. Our Lady of Medjugorje tells us the best fast is on bread and water! It has to be the most powerful, therefore I will do it – there are so many souls that need prayer and sacrifice! She will help me!
b. If Jesus can die on the cross for me, I can die to myself and stick this one out. Plus I can just wait until midnight, eat and then pull an all-nighter studying.
c. I will do a different type of fast this Wednesday. I will give up my coffee (which will pinch just as much as bread and water) so that I can give my best to the people in the hospital. And my brain will function better if I eat healthy so I can focus on studying.
6. You are in the caf sitting with a group of your friends. Suzy starts to gossip about John and Melanie. Do you:
a. Sit quietly; not participating in the conversation and inwardly wishing and praying Suzy would stop.
b. Interject with positive attributes that John and Melanie have, hinting politely that you do not approve of the conversation.
c. Getting up and leave the table.
7. Midterms are nearing the bend. You know you have a heavy load and papers to boot. But the thought of it overwhelms you to the point of paralysis. In that moment do you:
a. Get on Facebook or call a friend; something to take your mind off the stress
b. Suddenly remember you are weeks behind in your sitcom and tell yourself that you will take the rest of the evening off and start fresh tomorrow, promising yourself you’ll work really hard all day.
c. Divide and conquer. Look at all you have to do, take a part of it and get to work on it. You know that if you do a little over a period of time it will cut down on the stress in the long run.
Now Tally Your Score:
1. A=2 points, B=3 points, C=1 point
2. A=3 points, B=2 points, C=1 point
3. A=1 point, B=1 point, C=3 points
4. A=3 points, B=2 points, C=1 point
5. A=2 points, B=1 point, C=3 points
6. A=1 point, B=3 points, C=2 points
7. A=1 point, B=1 point, C=3 points
Here’s Your Scoring:
17-21 points: You’ve got stamina girl! You’ve built up your prudence virtue muscles! If this was kickboxing you’d be an instructor!
12-16 points: You’re taking a stroll around the park. Pick up the pace and put a little energy and drive into your prudent practices! You can do it!
7-11 points: You are a prudence couch potato! Time to get up and start exercising those virtue muscles! Try taking your Catechism of the Catholic Church to Adoration and praying over passages 1788, 1805-06, 1835, and 1906. Call on the Holy Spirit to help you internalize what you read and then begin to live it!
-Sr. Elizabeth, TOR
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