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Chapter 10. The Gift of Fortitude

Labor as a good soldier of Jesus Christ 2 TIM. ii. 8.

The third and last of the three gifts of the Ho.y Ghost which perfect the will is the gift of fortitude.

We have already drawn, at least in outline, what is the gift of holy fear, and have seen that it is a filial fear of losing God, a fear of sin, and a fear of the occasions >f sin, because it is by sin and by its occasions that we may fall from God. Likewise we have drawn out what is the gift of piety. We have seen that it is a filial piety, that is, the love of sons, together with a veneration which springs from love, and the obedience which springs from that love and veneration.

ind now, thirdly, the gift of fortitude or strength, of courage, of force, of endurance, is necessary to per feet the will. For if the will be soft, shrinking, inconstant, and cowardly, it can never hold out under suffering. The words of the Apostle, " Labor like a good soldier," may be also translated " Endure hardness;" that is, bear pain, rise up against difficulty, accept grosses, suffering, privation, hardship, whatsoever may eome in the way of duty. Fortitude, therefore, is of two kinds: there is an active fortitude and a passive (302)

(coixi v)

fortitude. The gift of fortitude is what we commonly call courage. We see it in perfection in the soldier saints of the Old Testament, ir. Josue, in Gedeon, in David, in the Maccabees. They were wha* the world calls heroes, what the Church calls saints. And in al! the history of the Church there is a multitude of sol diers and warriors who have led armies, and endured all hardships, dangers, and wounds, and, at the sam< time, have walked with God in purity, and humility and charity. This is the active fortitude, but is not thu perfection of fortitude. The perfection of fortitude ia in its passive character. It is to be seen in the life and Passion of our Blessed Lord. The Son of God, Who never lifted His hand but in benediction, nor stretched it out but to be nailed to the Cross, is the perfect pattern of fortitude. In Him fortitude and courage were made perfect. There was never fortitude like His in the thirty-three years of His mental sorrow in the midst of this sinful and dying world. There was never fortitude to be compared to His submission in the agony of Gethsemani; never courage comparable to His endurance in that long night of pain before His crucifixion, never was there patience in man comparable to His in the three hours of anguish on the Cross. The courage which shows itself in action may be little more than the energies of nature, and nature has a certain satisfaction in putting out its latent power; but the fortitude which is shown in suffering is, I may say, contrary to nature. All our nature rises against it, and it demands an energy of will, of self-constraint, of self-subjugation, which is altogether not of nature but of grace. There-tore, as I have said, fortitude is necessary to perfect the will. It is necessary also to perfect the holy fear of which I spoke, and even the piety of sons; and for this reason. Fear without fortitude degenerates into timidity and cowardice. Piety without austerity — and austerity is a part of fortitude — degenerates into emotion, excitement, and weakness. And therefore, to sustain and perfect holy fear and filial piety, fortitude is vitally necessary, because it gives to the character strength, force, endurance, courage, and perseverance.

Active fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtue^ and belongs to the order of nature. But the fortitude of which we are speaking is a gift of the Holy Ghost.

Now before we go further let us clearly understand what are the four cardinal virtues. We ought to understand what they are, and why there are four, and not more than four. A little reflection and it will stand to reason. The four cardinal virtues are prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance. They are the excellences of the soul, and are related to the reason, the will, and the passions. Prudence is the excellence of the reason, and justice is the excellence of the will in actior; forti. tude is the excellence of the will enduring pain, and temperance is the excellence of the will in controlling the passion for pleasure. Therefore these four cardinal virtues are founded in the nature of the soul itself. They mutually perfect each other. Fortitude is necessary to perfect prudence, justice, and temperance; and fortitude is the excellence of the will by which the other cardinal virtues are matured and made perfect. For example: a man ought to be ready to endure, to suffer, to lose or to sacrifice everything, rather than act contrary to prudence; because in acting contrary to prudence he is acting contrary to reason, and reason in eludes the conscience. He ought also in like manner to be ready tn suffer or endure anything rather than act contrary to justice, for justice is the duty which we owe to our neighbor. And, further, we ought to l>e ready to endure anything rather than to act contrary to the equities which we owe to our neighbor — that is, to the finer and more delicate duties of justice — where our own interests draw us the other way. Once more: a man ought to be prepared to suffer anything rather than indulge his love of pleasure so as to soften to debase, to imbrute himself; that is to say, it is fortitude which perfects temperance. Fortitude therefore belongs, as a cardinal virtue, to the excellence of man in the order of nature; but it is not to be found in its perfection without the assistance of grace.

The gift of fortitude is not only what I have described; it is the ripeness and the supernatural perfection of that which begins in nature. It is, therefore, to be defined in this way. Fortitude is a gift of the Holy Ghost, strengthening the soul against pain and fear, and supporting the soul in fulfilling every duty, not according to the light of nature only, nor only according to the Ten Commandments, but according to all the higher works of perfection which come from the gift of counsel.1

There are five chief times in which, unless we exercise the gift of fortitude, we shall be in danger of losing

God and eternal life. We will take these five as ex amples; for they will contain everything else.

  1. The first great peril by which the perseverance of the soul in grace is threatened is the time of temptation. Just as in the time of battle a soldier need* courage, so it is in that moment that a Christiai man needs the gift of fortitude. Courage does not cor sist in underrating danger, or despising the powers of th« enemy. Those that despise their adversaries are almost always defeated. True courage looks danger in the face, measures its true stature, and without fear goes out to meet it. So it is with spiritual temptation. We are all surrounded by it; we all carry it within us. And a man that does not know that he is surrounded by temptation, and that he has it within him, is like a man who is walking unconsciously into the midst of fire. We have every one of us personal temptations of various kinds. We have our circumstantial temptations attaching to our lot in life; we have our private and domestic temptations in every path of duty. And unless we have fortitude to overcome these temptations, they will overcome us; one or th e other is inevitable. If we have not courage and strength to bnrse them under our feet, they will in the end bruise us under their power. Our character is the result of this conflict. And therefore the gift of fortitude, first of all, is to measure the whole of our danger; to realize the presence of the tempter; to know him fo be a fallen angel, excellent in strength, surpassing in intelligence, of supernatural craft and subtlety, and of a diabolical malice. He is not an enemy to despise, he is not an enemy to undervalue. Cowards laugh at danger in order to get up their courage or concea]

their fear; bra\e men are silent and look clanger in the face. The gift of fortitude, in making UF look at the strength and subtlety of the tempter, makes is mistrust our own strength. It will make us to know the meaning of these words: " He that thinketh himself to stand., let him take heed lest he fall;" and while it inspires us with a great mistrust of our own power, it fills us with a great confidence in the presence and the protection of God. Though our eyes are not open to see the mountain full of the chariots of fire, as the prophet saw when he opened the eyes of his servant, yet we know this: that round about every faithful son of our Heavenly Father there are the twelve legions of angels, which the Son of God in His Passion would not call to His own aid. The gift of fortitude, therefore, springs from a confidence in God, from a knowledge that God is round about us. Whatever our temptation may be, if it comes upon us in the unrelenting violence of sorrow after sorrow, assault after assault, as it did of old upon Job, who was stripped of his children and of all that he had, smitten from head to foot with sore disease, separated from men, sitting upon his dunghill, upbraided by all who knew him, reproached even by his friends; still in the midst of all temptation he had confidence, not in himself, but in God; like him we may say: " Though He kill me, yet will I trust in Him."* Patience overcame, and in the end he was sevenfold rewarded. Saint Paul, as he tells us, had a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him, lest he should be exalted by the spiritual favors he had received; and in the conflict of that temptation he besought the Lord thrive that it

•JobTiii. 15.

20S THE GIFT OF FORTITUDE.

might depart fiom him; but the answer came, " My grace is sufficient for thee.5r* His cry was not heard, nor was his prayer granted; and yet it was more than answered, for the grace of God was perfected in his weakness. So it will be with your temptations. If you walk in the furnace like the three faithful sons of Israel, there is a fourth ever with you, and He is the Son of God. To you the words of the prophet will be fulfilled: " When thou shalt pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not cover thee; when thou shalt walk in the fire thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flames burn in thee.f

  1. Now another time of need is mortification of seir. A saint has said, " If I had one foot in heaven, and should leave off to mortify myself, I should be lost." We shall never see the kingdom of heaven if we do no* mortify ourselves. Our whole salvation is made up ot these two things — mortification and sanctification; that is. the slaying of the old man that is within us, and the perpetual renewing of the soul by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. But our sanctification is exactly in the measure of our mortification. Like as the thermometer tells the measure of heat or cold, so our sanctification goes onward or backward, just in proportion as we mortify ourselves. Our tempers, our passions, our inward temptations, our pride and vanity, the self-love> and the jealousies, and the multitude of inward faults of which we are conscious, will master us little by little unless we master them. Why, then, is it we see so few people persevering in anything like a life of solid piety? I wiR tell you at once. It is from their want of fc rt i * 2 Cor. xti. 0. f iMios xliii. 2 tude in mortifying their faults. It is tl.eir softness which makes them give up denying themselves; and from that softness come inconstancy, wavering, hesitation, a slackened step, and at last a looking back; tnd "he that putteth his hand to the plough, and looketh back,, is not fit for the kingdom of heaven."* We live in soft days. Who is there now that fasts? Fasting meana taking no food until sunset. We have introduced I know not what relaxations; and our Holy Mother the Church, because she is benign with a maternal pity upon the culpable weakness of her children, rathsr than try them too sharply, gives them all manner of indulgence. Why, to this very day the people of Israel, three times in the year, in great solemnity, taste no food from sunrise to sunset — a bitter and sharp rebuke to us, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. We are told that "My physician says I cannot fast." Let me ask you: do you believe it when you hear your neighbor say so? I know you believe it when you say so of yourselves. Why is it we are so ready to believe what t.ie physician saysf Suppose he were to say to us, " You must give up this or that pleasure." We should not do it. But if he says, " You must give up going so often to Mass; or going out so early in the morning; you cannot fast," we believe him on the spot, as if he were an evangelist. Why is this? Because of our softness. Shame upon us. However, it is not only about fasting; but we cannot even abstain. No, not even c n a Friday. No, not one day in the week. To go without meat for one day is dangerous to our health; it makes us ill; it pulls ua down. Why, half the human race never touch * S. Luke ix. CS.

Are we not made up of the same dust of the earth \ It is the corrupt civilization from which we are spiling which has so unnerved our whole being, that we cannot go without meat one day in the seven. Now ask yourselves: do you believe these valetudinarian superstitions? You are prevailed upon, I have no doubt, by the trust you have in your physician, and you readily give way. But would you give way so readily if you had the gift of fortitude in you? Would you he so ready to say, " I know that the Church commands it; 1 know that the saints have practiced it; I know that the greater the saints the severer their fasting; I know that every book I read enjoins it; I know it will be good for me if I do it? " And why then cannot you do it? If I can touch or trouble some of your consciences, I shall not regret it. I feel confident of this: that we have entered into a period of softness, in which the laws of the Church and their sweet severity are being stealthily obliterated from the hearts of men. I will go further. Who is there now that has the courage to live the life of the saints? We read their lives, and admire them. The austerities they practiced in secret; the means they took to subdue their faults; the offerings of self-denial which they made to their Divine Master, no one knowing it but He only; the poverty in which they voluntarily lived; the raiment they wore, which, in its fashion and in its quality, bespoke a willing poverty like His own — all these things we recommend and shrink from. Let us try ourselves a little. Are you willing to be tested? Should you be willing to go out on a bright summers day, at noon, into the midst of one of our thronging streets dressed in a threadbare coat? Are you courageous enough to say grace~at a dinner party? Would you be willing to go to confession in the sight of your Protestant friends? Dear brethren, I am afraid that we are such cowards — we stand in such fear of the world— that we dare not live a life of poverty with any outward token of it, or face the ridicule of practicing our faith openly. If we have faith and piety, we conceal it. It is a good thing indeed to conceal it out of humility; and to pass it unnoticed lest we should be singular, lest we should be tempted to vain-glory: that is not what I am speaking of. But if we deny ourselves, and give our money to the poor; if we stint what we lay out on ourselves, and then are willing to bear the outward marks of poverty, not through any affected singularity, but because it comes by necessity of our state — then we have at least some measure of fortitude. But if we have not fortitude enough even for this, for what shall we be courageous? We are all striving to be dressed in the fashion of the day, so that the world may count us to be its own, and then we call ourselves Christians. I might go on; but this is more than enough on the subject of mortification, though I have more to speak of. Let what I have said suffice: only remember the words of the Apostle, " I chastise my body and bring it into subjection." And why? " Lest after I have preached the Gospel to others I myself should become a castaway."2 Such are the words of an Apostle, converted by a miracle, who had seen the Son of God in His glory. Even he feared lest ii he should cea'se to chastise his body and bring it into subjection, after having preached the Gospel to others, and saved souls without number, he himself should be cast out from the face of God.

  1. And then, once more: What do the words of our Lord mean? " Marvel not, My brethren, if the world hate you.3 You know it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you;"f and "You shall be hated of all men for My name's sake."J Again the Holy Ghost says: "The friendship of this world is the enemy of God."4 Now I wish you to ask yourselves some questions. Does the world hate you? Have you ever had any sensible token of its hatred? What mark has it ever set upon you of hati ng you for the name of Jesus? Are you conscious of this hatred? If not, hear these words of God once more: " All that will live goodly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."! When did you ever suffer persecution? Dear brethren, I will not say you — I will say when did we ever suffer persecution? And therefore, unless we have the enmity of the world against us, we certainly have no sign that the gift of fortitude is in us. Now how does the world show its hatred of us? First, by all manner of false accusation. How did it treat our Master? It called Him gluttonous, and a wine bibber,^ and a friend of publicans and sinners. " This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them."** meaning to say He is one of them. Have they ever said anything of this kind of you? Again, Saint Athana-

1 S Matt xi. 19. ** S. Lukexv. 2 the saint of dogma, the witness of the Holy Trinity, the great doctor of the Incarnation, for fifty long years was cast out, persecuted, hunted to and fro; and for what? For the truth of the co-equality of the Son with the Father — for the truth of the Incarnation of the Word made flesh. Now I ask you, dear brethren, have you ever suffered anything for the truth's sake? And if you were to be tried, if you were to be threatened, it you were to be in danger of losing a situation, a place of trust, a place of lucrative employment, would you stand firm? There have been saints who have been accused of all manner of evil, being all the while innocent as the driven snow; for instance, Saint Vincent of Paul, Saint Francis of Sales. Why were they accused? Because the world hated them. And why did it hate them? Because of their sanctity. Have you ever tasted of false accusation? And if you were to taste it, what would you do? Would you not go up and down, trying to defend yourself! Would you not seek everywhere for proofs to refute the accusation? What did they do? They never opened their lips. They committed their cause to the judgment of God, and waited until He made their innocence as clear as the light, aid their justice as the noonday. The world singles out the best of our Master's servants for its special hatred. If you were to ask the world " Why?" it could not say and in that is fulfills the words of prophecy: " They hated Me without cause."5 As they did with our Lord, so they do with His servants. " If they have called the good man of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of His household. The disciple is not above his Lord, nor the servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be as his master."* Shall I give you one more example? Is there anybody on the face of the earth who is accused, hated, cast out, the butt of the slings and stones, the insults and the contumelies, the violence, and the warfare, of the world, like Pius IX.? See that old man, more than eighty years of age, who for seven-and-twenty years has stood, with the calm inflexibility of an apostle, with the silent fortitude of his Master, against every kind of treason, ingratitude, betrayal, revolution, the forsaking of friends, the triumph oi enemies. If there can be found in the world an example of one who seems to be utterly baffled, beaten, and cast down, it is Pius IX. Everything he possessed is torn from him; the city which was his own sacrilegiously usurped; everything that was sacred about it profaned; and, with the keen irony of those who know how to add insult to injury, laws of guarantees passed for the protection of his sovereign person, — I do not think that upon the face of the earth there is any man whom the world regards as so complete a failure, as Pius IX. And there he is, in the sight of the nations, like a man that is dumb, and cannot open his mouth. What fortitude is required for all this! That fortitude has been tempted to compromises, as our Lord was tempted with the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them, and he spurned them from him. He has been tempted by menace and by threat, which involved the peril of his own life, and he has shown that the Yicar of Jesue Christ, if need be, is ready to die. Everything that sould be used to bring down his great constancy ha* » S. Matt. x. 24, 25.

been tried; but the gift of fortitude is too strong, and he is victorious. There was a correspondence the other day between the weakest man, the most isolated on the face of the earth, and the mightiest sovereign of the hour among men — one who wields powers greater than any other earthly potentate. "Were ever weakness and strength matched face to face in a more unequal conflict? Wait for the end. The whole history of Christianity is but a successive repetition of what we see before us, until it runs up into the great Martyrdom — the Son of God dying on the cross, isolated, cast out, forsaken, defeated, baffled, the greatest failure, as the world would say, the false prophet and the foolish teacher caught at last and hung up high on Calvary between two thieves. The proof that out of divine weakness has come the kingdom of God, through the fortitude of Jesus, is the Christian world. As it was then, so it shall be now. What seems to be failing in the sight of inen, goes forth conquering and to conquer in the patience of the Church.

  1. And once more. Let us come nearer home. Out Divine Lord said: " He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me."* And when a man came to Him and said: " Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest, but suffer me first to go and bury my father;"f that is to say, " Let me go home to my father's house, and while he lives let me tarry with him: when I have laid him in the grave I will come and follow Thee," — our Divine Lord, pitiful as He was, said: "Let the dead bury their dead; come.thou, and follow Me;"{ that is to say, between us and the ser * 6. Matt. x. 87. f Ib. viii. 21. t Ib 22.

vice of Jesus Christ nothing must come. If He ca^ upon as to make sacrifice of everything in life, that sacrifice must be made. The Apostles made it, the dise-iples made it, the first Christians made it. Saint Paul was held in honor, trust, and public repute; he cast all these things from him because he had seer Jesus of Nazareth. All those who became disciples of the Son of God in Jerusalem, one by one were cast off by country and by friends; and accounted as dead but they were willing to lose all things because they knew the words of their Master: " Whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple;"* and " He that will save his life shall lose it, for he that shall lose his life for My sake shall save it."f So it was in the early times and in imperial Home with the sons and daughters of patrician families, and with the members of the senate who became Christians. They were outcast, despised, condemned, counted with the slaves, and the Jews, and the grave-diggers, and the refuse of the people; all the world turned in anger against them, and they were cast off by all who loved them the day before. And have not these same things happened nearer home? In my own experience, I have known men who had all things at their foot — the world and its honors, and its power, and its possessions — and in a moment, when the eye of the Son of God ooked upon them, and the gaze of that Countenance pierced their hearts, they gladly cast everything behind them for the sake of truth, for the love of the kingdom of God, for the salvation of their own souls. Nothing of this world o:>uld hold them back. Father, mo * S. Luke xiv. 27 f Ib. ix. 24.

ther, kindred, home, possessions — all were nothing. Why? Because the light of faith was in them; because holy fear taught them that except they were faithful they might lose God for ever; and because filial piety taught them that unless they had a generous self-sacrificing love for the Master Who gave Himself for them, they might lose Him in the day of His coming. The gift of fortitude filled them with the courage and endurance of soldiers to endure whatever they had to suffer. Ay, but it is not only men who have so endured. We have known young girls, the delicate daughters of luxurious houses, reared and cultured in all manner of softness — we have known them rise up with the courage of confessors for the faith. For the sake of Jesus Christ they have given up everything of this world. The bright, sweet, luring visions of the future, all that hovers before the thought of those who are entering, in the innocence of life, on the path that leads onward — to home, or wealth, or happiness — all these things they forsook. And why? Because they had come to know this: that the Good Shepherd has on earth one fold and no other, and that the voice of His Church on earth is His own voice — the accents of it to the ear are human speech, but the truth that is spoken is the truth of the Son of God. The Son of God, Who speaks by the voice of His Church, was calling them to Himself. And they promptly answered, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth;"6 " Lord, my heart is ready."f And they gave themselves to Him with the courage of confessors, and I may say with the strength of martyrs. What enabled them to do this I

It was the gift of the Holy Ghost; the gift of foiti tnde.

  1. And lastly. We do not live in an age of martyrdom; but we live in an age when every man must bear a martyr's will Now at the moment I am speaking there are bishops of the Church of God fined, threatened with imprisonment, imprisoned and threatened with deposition, and under sentence of pretended deposition. Be it so. Do you think that one such pastor, who has received his consecration from the Son of God, and who, through the Vicar of Jesus Christ, has received the charge of his flock, with the words, " Feed My sheep,"* that one such man will be found who will lay down his pastoral staff at the foot of an imperial throne? Wait till we see it: then \ve will believe it. The whole history of the Church gives the lie to such a slander against the fortitude of the bishops of the Catholic Church. But the man who will prove this must carry the will of a martyr in his heart, for who knows what may be before him? Now, as we are taught, there are three kinds of martyrs. There are those who are martyrs both in will and in deed, like the Apostles, all except one; next, there are those that are martyrs in will but not in deed, like Saint John — he alone among them died a natural death, thirdly, there are those who are martyrs in deed, if you like, but not in will, for they die out of the Church, out of the faith. To what do they bear witness? Saint Cyprian says of such in his day: " They are slain but not crowned — Oocisi sed no-* coronati" Now every man must at least bear in his heart the will of Saint * 8 Zvhu xxi. 17.

John; lie in iv never be called upon to lay down his life, but he must have the will to do it, if he were ever called to bear witness to the faith or to the unity of the Church, or to its divine authority, or to his own pastoral office. Then he must have the will to suffer all things: fines, exile, or imprisonment, violence usque ad 8<mymnis effusionem — even unto blood. And so, dear brethren, it must be with you. For there are three kinds of martyrdoms, as there are three kinds of martyrs. First of all, there is the martyrdom of those who are slain by the sword; secondly, there is the martyrdom of those who willingly give their lives, if need be, in the care of the sick and dying, and in the fever hospital, or in times of pestilence. Theirs is a martyr's will and a martyr's death. The poor priest, the Sisters of Charity and of Mercy, and the like, and many a noble, generous heart, are in more peril in the fever hospital than on the battle field; and yet some have been struck even there in their Master's work, and have given up their life in the midst of the wounded and dying. And, lastly, there is the martyrdom of those who wear themselves out early and late, summer and winter, in weariness and poverty, by broken rest at night, never-ending work by day, in the service of their neighbor, and in the love of the souls for whom Jesus shed His Precious Blood. Such men have fortitude enough to care for nothing, if they may finish their course with joy; and when kind, but not wise, friends tell them that they ought to spare themselves, they remember what their Master said to Peter. Now you may all have that §pirit in you. You may all have a ready will to lay down your life by the bedside of the sick. The poor nuns, the poor priests— whom the world desjises ar-d hates — live all day long in that readiness to die for their neighbor's good. It is in our own lifetime — only the other day, I may say — that a bishop and twenty-seven of our priests gladly gave their lives, struck down by fever, in the towns and cities of the north of England. They came up one by one, each rilling the place of the other; as when a soldier is struck down a man from the rear comes to the front, so they died with the fortitude of martyrs.

Now, dear brethren, the great example of this spirit of fortitude, as I have already said, is Jesus Himself. And He has been followed from the beginning by a line of martyrs. The martyrs of early days you all know. The line has never been broken, though at times the vrorld has ceased for a while to persecute. Now fortitude is tired even more in the foresight of the suffering that is to come than in the actual presence of death. Our great Saint Thomas of Canterbury knew for five years that he would have to lay down his life for the liberties of the Church, and, with that perfect knowledge before him, he inflexibly persevered, and even returned from safety in exile to his martyrdom at Canterburv. Sir Thomas More, the greatest of English lay-men, as Saint Thomas of Canterbury was the greatest of English pastors, knew long before that his fate was sealed. He foresaw that he would be called upon to deny the supreme and divine authority of the Church of God, and to choose between the divine jurisdiction of the Vicar of Jesus Christ and the usurpation of a royal master. And when called on to give his answer he gave it with fortitude and with joy. On the more tug of his first examination at Lambeth he had confessed his sins and received absolution, and the Precious Body and Blood of His Divine Master, to strengthen him for the trial. And as he came back to Chelsea in his boat upon the Thames, there was a radiant joy upon his face. Those that were with him asked why he was so glad. He answered, Ci Because I have gor>e so far now that my weakness can no longer tempt me to go back." In this, too, he was like his glorious predecessor Saint Thomas, who some hours before he suffered, being asked why he was so merry, answered, " A man must be merry who is going to his Master." We need go no further than our own land, and almost our own times, for heroic examples of the gift of fortitude. They are to be found now at this day in the missionaries of the Catholic Church. While we in our every-day life here are reading of marytrs in antiquity, we forget that there are martyrs at this moment in the East, in Corea, and in China. If you will read a book called The new Glories of the Catholic Church, you might believe yourselves to be reading the acts of the martyrs of the first ages. And these martyrdoms have been taking place now, while we have been living our commonplace life of the nineteenth century here in London. I will give you one example. A man and a boy, both converts to Christianity, natives of Corea, were seized and brought before the tribunal; the man was a catechist, the boj was a catechumen, only jist baptized. The man, ii terror, renounced his faith, and the boy, bound to the stake, and scourged until the blood burst from him, and the fiesh was cut from his bones, stood firm. Reproach log the man, he said to him, " You are a man and I * poor boy; you ought to have strengthened me, and I, a poor boy, reproach you for yoni apostasy." Then taking a remnant of his own torn flesh, in indignation, he cast it at the apostate. These are things of our own ay, hardly twenty years ago. And from whence come hese glories of the faith.? From the cardinal virtue of fortitude raised and perfected by the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Now let me sum up what 1 have said.

We have seen, as you remember, that there are three gifts which perfect the will, and four which perfect the intellect. We have finished the first part of our subject, — superficially, I know, but as far as time would allow.

You have seen, in the five examples I have given, that it is this gift of fortitude which sustains us in temptation, which supports us in mortifying ourselves, which enables us to bear the warfare of the world, which inspires us with a generous inflexibility, so as to make us account all things as dross and loss for the sake of Christ. And, lastly, if need be, it inspires us with the will to lay down even life itself for the sake of our Divine Master. Our subject, then, so far, in outline is complete.

All I would say to you in conclusion is this. Ask fur the fortitude to choose the love of God above all things. Say to yourselves, "No, not the world; noi the' things I love best; nor the love of kindred; no) the friends dearest to me; no, neither shame, or contempt, nor the mockery of the world, shall stand between me and the faith of Jesus Christ." Choose God above all things. If you will do this, you will then understand the meaning of the words, "Ye shall be aated of all men for My name's sake." In choosing God you will break with the world, arid, what is more, the world will break with you. But the world can do you no harm. The world cannot hurt you, except in one way: that is, if it can get you to love it. So long as you do not love the world, the world has no power to harm you. If it leaves the mark of its hatred upon you, bless God for it. Thousands and tens of thousands have died in the sight of the one Church, but out of its unity, for fear of the world.

Now the marks of true fortitude are these. They are the very marks which were seen on Jesus Himself. First of all, when He was falsely accused, when He was bound with cords, when He was condemned, He held His peace; there were no revillngs, no reproaches, in. contention. He committed Himself to God, Who judg eth justly and knows all things. So the prophet saia of Him, " As a sheep before the shearers is dumb, He opened not His mouth." And, lastly, rejoice if you share His spirit; for if you have His patience, be suro that every wound, every sorrow, every stigma, inflicted upon you for His sake, will bo not only healed but rewarded. Every wound will be glorified, and every sorrow will increase your eternal joy. If, then, you have the gift of fortitude, presevere to the end. To you these words are spoken: "He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write, for these words are most faithful and true. I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. To him that thirsteth will I give the fountain of the waters of life freely;"* and " To him that shall * Apoc. xx. 5, 6.

overcome, I will give to sit with Me in My throne; w I also have overcome, and am set down with My Fatier in His throne."7

Footnotes

  1. " Fortitude est habitus supernatural is atque infusus, secundnm principia fidei divinseque legis agene et patiens." Dionys. Carthusian, de donis Splr. Sanct. tract, ill art. 16. Oper minor, torn. 1. Cologne, 1532. ↩

  2. 1 Cor. ix. 27 ↩

  3. 1 S. John iii. 13 f Ib. iv. 18. \ S. Mati. xxiv. 9 ↩

  4. S. James iv. 4. | 2 Tim. iii. 12. ↩

  5. S. John xv. 25. ↩

  6. 1 Kings iii. 9. f Ps Ivi. 8 ↩

  7. Apoc. lii. it ↩

Chapter 11 of 18