I — COURAGE

Presence of God. — O Lord, make me a strong and courageous soldier in your service.

Meditation

1 — The more a soul loves the Lord, the more courageous it will be in undertaking for love of Him any work, however arduous it may be. Fear of fatigue, suffering, and risk is the great enemy of fortitude: it paralyzes the soul and makes it retreat before duty. Courage, on the contrary, propels it forward, making it face anything in order to remain faithful to God. In this sense, courage leads one to embrace even death, even martyrdom, when necessary in order not to fail in duty. Martyrdom is the highest act of Christian fortitude, an act not required of all, yet one that should not be excluded from our horizon.

Every Christian is, so to speak, a martyr in potency, in the sense that the virtue of fortitude infused in Baptism and Confirmation makes him capable, in case of need, of sacrificing even his life for love of God. And though in fact not all Christians are called to render this supreme witness to the Lord, all must live as courageous soldiers, accustoming themselves never to desert — neither in little nor in much — their duty through fear of sacrifice.

It is true: the virtue of fortitude does not exempt us from fear and dread, which invade our nature before sacrifices, dangers, and especially before the danger of death. Yet fortitude — like all virtues — is exercised by the will; therefore it is possible to perform acts of courage despite fear overwhelming the sensitive part. In these cases courage has a twofold role: it conquers fear and faces difficult duty. Such was the supreme act of fortitude performed by Jesus in the Garden of Olives when, despite the anguish of his humanity, He accepted to drink the most bitter chalice of his Passion. By uniting ourselves precisely to this act of the Savior, we shall find strength to embrace every sacrificial duty.

2 — Even one who is naturally timid can become courageous by grace; but we must not pretend grace will act without our cooperation. The virtue of fortitude has been given to all Christians, and in this sense it is an infused virtue; but it belongs to us to put it into practice through exercise, and in this sense it must become an acquired virtue. So it is, moreover, with all theological and moral virtues infused into the soul together with grace: they are capitals that bear fruit only if we know how to invest them with good will.

As one becomes humble by acts of humility, so one becomes strong and courageous by acts of courage. It is not in our power to avoid sensible fear, which, deriving from temperament, we undergo despite ourselves; but it is in our power to keep it from invading the will and paralyzing our movements. We must therefore react energetically, throwing ourselves in God’s name into doing what we must, without stopping to reason with fear. “Many souls say: I have no strength to make such a sacrifice. But come, let them make efforts! God never refuses the first grace which gives courage to act; after that, the heart is strengthened and one goes from victory to victory.” One must decide to act despite the alarms and fears of nature.

This is particularly necessary in circumstances where, whether through physical weakness or deprivation of sensible support from grace, even the smallest difficulties seem mountains and everything frightens us; for if we waited to act only when we felt courage, we would never accomplish anything. “What does it matter,” said the Saint of Lisieux to a novice, “if she has no courage, provided she acts as if she had it?” (CR). Acts of courage performed without feeling strong are purer and more supernatural: purer because they leave no room for pride, more supernatural because they are based not on resources of nature but solely on grace. On the contrary, acts of courage performed from natural disposition very often remain merely human acts and become easy bait for self-love. Therefore one who is naturally strong must accustom himself not to trust in his own strength, but to lean on God and his grace, without which all human strength is extreme weakness.

Colloquy

“O Lord, God of hosts, who in your Gospel said: ‘I have not come to bring peace, but war,’ give me strength and weapons for the combat. I burn with desire to fight for your glory, but I beg You, strengthen my courage. Then with holy King David I shall be able to exclaim: ‘You alone are my shield; it is You, Lord, who train my hands for battle.’

“O my Jesus, I will fight for love of You until the end of my life, and my sword shall be love.

“My impotence must not discourage me; when in the morning I feel without courage and without any strength to practice virtue, I must consider this a grace, because You teach me that this is precisely the moment to lay the axe to the root of the tree, counting only on your help.

“Where would my merit be if I fought only when I felt courage? What does it matter if I do not have it, provided I act as though I had it? O Jesus, make me understand well that if I felt too weak even to pick up a single stitch of thread and yet did it for love of You, I would merit far more than if I performed a considerable action in a moment of fervor. Therefore, instead of being saddened, I must rejoice in seeing that You, by letting me feel my weakness, give me occasion to save a greater number of souls” (St. Therese of the Child Jesus: Prayer; Letters; Counsels and Reminiscences).