Fortitude
P. 224 I. The virtue of Fortitude combines in itself a number of admirable qualities, strength, vigour, endurance, intrepidity, self-sacrifice. It is a virtue that is required in all circumstances of difficulty or discouragement; and therefore it must be constantly employed in the exercise of every virtue. It is thus a Cardinal Virtue and a constituent of the spiritual atmosphere in which all our actions are performed. Consider how much we need it. Life is a long struggle between the forces of good and evil both within us and without us. We have a certain innate attraction towards evil, circumstances incline us to it, obstacles in the way of goodness are many and great. In addition we are weak and inconstant and easily cast down. We want some special help against ourselves and our external enemies, a source of strength that we can draw upon on critical and unexpected occasions. Without this we shall be utterly incapable; our natural fortitude is insufficient for the conflicts of the supernatural life; we shall faint on the way, and fail to accomplish the great purpose of our lives. God grants us the infused virtue of Fortitude; and by means of it the weakest have become strong enough to do the work of heroes, and to triumph over the combined forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Consider your timidity, easiness of temper, shrinking from suffering, incapacity for sustained effort, readiness to be misled, and ask God to endow you with this wonderful gift.
II. Consider Our Lord s life. With all His meekness and humility, His going like a lamb to the slaughter, and His submission to a human weakness at the grave of Lazarus and in Gethsemani, His whole life was marked by indomitable energy, indifference to danger, intrepid courage. There is no note of soft melancholy in His sorrows, no lack of decision in critical junctures, no sign of breaking down in His terrible task. He faced His enemies day by day, He spoke His mind without concealment, He carried out His work without regard to consequences. He was silent before His judges, but He did not quail before them. As a criminal sentenced to execution, He spoke before Caiphas and Pilate, to the women of Jerusalem and the thief on the cross, with the calm authority of Judge of the living and the dead. Fortitude is the note of the chief followers of Christ, of Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, even women and children. They first overcame weakness and passion, and then they triumphed over persecution and death. Imitate this. Train yourself to fortitude in your own soul on the ordinary occasions of life, and then you will be capable of great deeds if God should demand them of you.
III. The supreme exhibition of Fortitude is the endurance of martyrdom for the sake of Christ. The tortures and ignominies inflicted on the noblest children of the Church and the losses she has suffered in their death, are to her not memories of bitterness but of glory. The continual advance and undying strength of religion are due under God to the spirit of martyrdom that is for ever vigorous. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. Unceasing persecution is one chief condition of her life. It causes the weak and decadent members to drop off, it elicits all the active virtues of the strong, it turns into supernatural channels the energies which otherwise might be expended on natural objects, it encourages the wavering by the sight of glorious deeds, and it purchases triumphs for God and truth at the price of blood. Few are called upon to face the quick pang of death for Christ; but many have to suffer the less brilliant but perhaps more meritorious martyrdom of life, with its longer agony, and its constant sting of petty annoyance, of cruel spite, contempt and calumny. Such in some measure must be the lot of all in every class of life, who are faithful to conscience and God. Pray for those so tried that they may come forth purified from the furnace.
All for Jesus, all for Mary.
Such shall be our password gentle reader.
Til next time.
