XVI — THE GIFT OF FORTITUDE

Presence of God. — O Holy Spirit, who know my weakness, make me strong with your divine strength.

Meditation

1 — Alongside the gift of fear, under whose influence the soul places itself entirely in God’s hands with the sole desire never to be separated from Him, there is the gift of fortitude, whose task is to strengthen it and make it ever more courageous in divine service.

As it advances in spiritual life, the soul must proceed less by its own initiatives and more by God’s: it must let itself be led by the Holy Spirit. Yet here too its activity is needed; this activity consists in docile and prompt adherence to divine motions. The gift of fortitude gives it strength always to say yes to inspirations and invitations of the divine Paraclete, to accept and will all that He does for it and in it.

Thus this gift helps and perfects the virtue of fortitude, which, despite our good will, remains weak and too often still fails, especially before demands of a more perfect spiritual life. If courage is needed to remain faithful, even at cost of grave sacrifices, to God’s law and duties of one’s state, and to bear patiently all life’s difficulties, perhaps even greater courage is needed to follow the Lord’s action in our soul, not to be frightened by trials through which He leads us, and to follow faithfully impulses of the Holy Spirit — sweet and gentle Master, yet at the same time exacting, because He cannot lead us to holiness without asking everything.

And precisely here we especially experience our weakness: we sense what God wants from us, perhaps see it very clearly, and yet cannot do it, we lack strength. This is the great torment of a soul of good will not yet mature; it is the condition of human weakness which actual grace and infused virtue of fortitude can greatly improve, but cannot heal to the depths because they act through our limited faculties. Direct intervention of God Himself is needed, and God intervenes by putting into act the gift of fortitude.

2 — The virtue of fortitude and the gift of fortitude have the same object: to make us strong in spiritual life; but they differ in mode of operation. Virtue acts in us through our efforts, sustained indeed by grace, yet still human efforts. Therefore, though supernatural, it must adapt to our human way of acting and thus always bears our limitations.

The gift, however — like all gifts of the Holy Spirit — is supernatural not only in itself but also in its mode of acting. Instead of being put into act by us, as with virtue, it is put into act by God Himself. Through virtue, we with good will supported by grace try to acquire fortitude and become strong. Through the gift, the Holy Spirit interiorly strengthens us, communicating something of his omnipotence, his infinite strength.

Between strength acquired by our efforts and strength infused by the Holy Spirit there is a difference similar to that between a beginner’s work and an artist’s — rather, the difference between man’s capacity and power and God’s capacity and power. “You shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem” (Acts 1:8), Jesus told the Apostles. Those poor men full of fear, who had lacked courage to accompany Jesus to Calvary, after descent of the Holy Spirit became strong as lions, capable of facing any danger and even death.

This tells us how necessary the gift of fortitude is. Without it we would always be wavering, uncertain, inconstant. Yet the Holy Spirit wants us to dispose ourselves to receive this gift by exercising virtue. Our efforts, repeated with humility and constancy, are in themselves a silent invocation of the gift of fortitude. Through effort we spread the sails of our soul to the Holy Spirit’s breath. It belongs to Him to choose when to blow; but He will not blow in us if He does not find us disposed to receive his impulse — that is, if He does not find us applying ourselves to virtue.

Colloquy

“O eternal God, You are strength and You give strength to the soul so that it becomes so strong that neither devil nor creature can take away its strength unless it wills. And it never wills when clothed in your will, because only its own will weakens it. O eternal God, inestimable Love, your creature is wholly kneaded with You, and You with it by creation, by strength of will, by the love with which You created it!” (St. Catherine of Siena).

“Veni, Spiritus fortitudinis, robora me! Come, Spirit of fortitude, and make me strong! Grant me the gift of fortitude to face difficult and grave things with courage and bear them with patience, overcoming every obstacle. I greatly need this gift because I am small, weak, and tire quickly like children. But You do not grow weary or tired, and your wisdom is unsearchable. You give strength to the weary, and to those who fail You increase vigor. Youths grow weary and faint, young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in You shall renew strength, take wings like eagles, run without labor, walk without fatigue” (cf. Is. 40:28-31).

“O Holy Spirit, sustain me and I shall become strong with your strength. If You are my strength and my salvation, what shall I fear? I cannot sustain myself by my own strength, but I can do all things in You who strengthen me. If You help me, despite my weakness I shall overcome temptations, not stop before obstacles, accomplish great works, and, invigorated by your strength, bear suffering with patience and joy.

“O Holy Spirit, with all my heart I invoke this gift of yours. Make it render me generous, intrepid, lover of sacrifice, virile, desirous and resolute in tending toward perfection with a true spirit of totality” (Sr. Carmela of the Holy Spirit).