XXXI — FORTITUDE

Presence of God. — Teach me, O Lord, to act manfully, trusting in You.

Meditation

1 — “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence” (Mt. 11:12). Good resolutions and good desires are not enough to become saints; they must be put into practice. It is precisely in this practical carrying-out that the greatest difficulties are met, and so souls often stop discouraged, or even go backward on the road they had begun. These are weak souls, frightened by toil, effort, and struggle; souls in whom the virtue of fortitude is lacking, or at least deficient. This virtue is precisely what makes us capable of facing and bearing any difficulty, hardship, and sacrifice we may encounter in fulfilling duty.

Such difficulties and sacrifices will never be lacking, because while “wide is the gate and broad the way that leads to perdition ... narrow is the gate and strait the way that leads to life” (Mt. 7:13-14). Therefore, just as it would be an illusion to pretend to find the path of good easy and comfortable, so it would be an illusion to think we can walk it without steady exercise of fortitude. Indeed, the more a soul aspires to greater perfection, the more it must be strong and courageous, since greater difficulties it must face.

When Jesus wished to praise the Baptist, He said: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed shaken by the wind?” (Mt. 11:7). No, John was not a weak man shaken by the winds of hardship, but a strong one who, to defend God’s law, did not fear to incur his king’s displeasure and courageously faced martyrdom. Elsewhere, speaking of victory over evil and the devil, Jesus drew the portrait of the strong man: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own court, his goods are in peace” (Lk. 11:21). It is the image of the soul that possesses fortitude: well armed, no struggle, temptation, or obstacle frightens it; rather, amid all this, it remains secure and peaceful because it draws its strength from God Himself.

2 — “His Majesty,” writes St. Teresa of Avila, “wants courageous souls, and is very much their friend, provided they walk in humility, always distrusting themselves” (Life 13, 2). Christian fortitude is not rashness nor presumption in one’s own strength; it is founded on God and on the great gifts He has bestowed on man. If man is nothing by himself, he is great in what God has made and given him, in the lofty dignity conferred on him: in the natural order, he has been set over the governance of the world; in the supernatural order, he has received the sublime vocation of child of God, called to share his life and eternal beatitude.

To reach this end, grace has been given to him: not only supernatural life and light, but also divine strength, infused precisely to heal nature’s weaknesses, to strengthen the will, and make man capable of fulfilling all duties of his vocation. In Baptism, together with the other infused virtues, he received fortitude, a participation in divine strength, deposited in his soul as a seed capable of developing to full perfection. In the natural and supernatural gifts received from God, and in the lofty dignity to which man has been raised, lies the foundation of Christian fortitude. If we are weak, it does not come from insufficiency of divine gifts, but from our insufficiency, from not having traded enough with the talents of nature and grace given us. And if we are strong, the merit is not ours but God’s, who made us so.

The Christian is humble in his strength because he knows it does not spring from himself as from its own source, but from gifts God has given him. He remains always dependent on God, both in considering his nothingness and his greatness, both in his humility and in his fortitude. This is why, though the Lord loves courageous souls, He wants them humble and always distrustful of themselves. Hence the Holy Spirit says: “Act manfully, and let your heart take courage; trust in the Lord” (Ps. 26:14).

Colloquy

“O eternal God, You saw the frailty of our human nature, how weak, fragile, and miserable it is; and therefore You, supreme Provider, who have provided for your creature in all things, gave us as remedy the rock and strength of the will to sustain the weakness of our flesh. This will is so strong that neither devil nor creature can conquer it unless we consent, unless free will, placed in our hands, agrees.

“O infinite Goodness, and whence comes such strength in the will of your creature? From You, supreme and eternal Strength, for it shares in the strength of your will. Thus we see that our will is as strong as it follows yours, and as weak as it departs from it; for You created ours in likeness of yours, and therefore in yours it is strong.

“In our will, eternal Father, You show the strength of your will; for if You have given so much strength to a little member, what shall we esteem your own strength to be, O Creator and Governor of all?

“It seems to me that this free will You gave us is fortified by the light of faith, because in that light it knows your will, which wills only our sanctification. So the will, strengthened and nourished by holy faith, gives life to our actions; and therefore neither true will nor living faith can be without works. Faith nourishes and feeds the fire of charity, because it shows the soul your love and tenderness toward us and thus makes it strong in loving You” (St. Catherine of Siena).