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Image: Tabernacle shrine in Taisten. Christ on the Mount of Olives by Wolfgang Sauber
Pope Francis’ Cycle of Catechesis. Vices and Virtues. 14 Fortitude
Saint Peter’s Square – Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Psalm 31:1-24
In thee, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame;
You are my rock, my stronghold; for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me,
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord!
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today’s catechesis is dedicated to the third of the cardinal virtues, namely fortitude.
Let us begin with the description given in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.
It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life.
The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions” (1808).
This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about the virtue of fortitude.
Here, then, is the most “combative” of the virtues.
If the first of the moral virtues, that is, prudence, was primarily associated with man’s reason;
and while justice found its abode in the will,
this third virtue, fortitude, is often associated by scholastic authors twhti what the ancients called the “irascible appetite”. Ancient thought could not imagine a man without passions: he would be a stone.
The passions are not necessarily the residue of a sin. must be educated,
The passions must be channeled,
Passions must be purified with the water of baptism, or better with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
A Christian without courage, who does not use own strength to good, who does not bother anyone, is a useless Christian.
Let us think about this! Jesus is not a delicate, ascetic God, who does not know human emotions.
On the contrary.
(1) Faced with the death of his friend Lazarus, he breaks down in tears.
(2) His passionate spirit is evident in some of His expressions, such as when He says: “I have come to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” (Lk 12:49);
and when he was confronted with the trade in the temple, He reacted with force (cf. Mt. 21: 12-13).
Jesus had passion.
But let us now look for an existential description of this important virtue that helps us be fruitful in life.
The ancients – both the Greek philosophers and the Christian theologians – recognized a twofold development in the virtue of fortitude: one passive, the other active.
The passive nature
The first is internal.
There are internal enemies that we must defeat, which go by the name of fear, anxiety, anguish, guilt:
all the forces that stir within us and in some situations paralyse us.
How many fighters succumb before they even begin the challenge!
Because they are not aware of these internal enemies.
Fortitude is first and foremost a victory against ourselves.
Most of the fears that arise within us are unrealistic, and will never come true.
So, it is better, then, to invoke the Holy Spirit and face everything with patient fortitude:
One problem at a time, as we are able, but not alone!
The Lord is with us, if we trust in Him and sincerely seek the good.
Then in every situation we can count on God’s providence to shield and armor us.
The active nature
And then there is the second movement of the virtue of fortitude, this time of a more active nature.
In addition to internal trials, there are external enemies, that is the trials of life, persecutions, difficulties that we did not expect and that surprise us.
We can try to predict what will happen to us, but reality is largely made up of unpredictable events, and in this sea our boat is sometimes tossed about by the waves.
Fortitude then makes us resilient sailors, who are not frightened or discouraged.
Fortitude is a fundamental virtue because it takes seriously the challenge of evil in the world.
Some pretend that it does not exist, that all is well, that the human will is not sometimes blind, that dark forces that bring death do not lurk in history.
But it is enough to leaf through a history book, or unfortunately even the newspapers, to discover the heinous deeds of which we are partly victims and partly perpetrators: wars, violence, slavery, oppression of the poor, wounds that have never healed and continue to bleed.
The virtue of fortitude makes us react and say “no”, an emphatic “no” to all of this.
In our comfortable Western world, which has watered everything down somewhat,
which has transformed the pursuit of perfection into a simple organic development,
where there is no need for struggle because everything looks the same,
we sometimes feel a healthy nostalgia for prophets.
But disruptive, visionary people are very rare.
What we need is someone who can wake us up from the soft place in which we have lain down and make us resolutely repeat our “no” to evil and to everything that leads to indifference.
“No” to evil and “no” to indifference; “yes” to progress, to the path that moves us forward, and for this we must fight.
Let us therefore rediscover the fortitude of Jesus in the Gospel and learn it from the witness of the saints. Thank you.
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Summary of the Holy Father’s words
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis on the virtues, we are now considering fortitude, which the Catechism defines as “the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good”.
With the help of this virtue, we are strengthened in our daily efforts, sustained by grace, to resist temptation and to overcome all obstacles to living fully our new life in Christ.
Those obstacles may be internal, such as fear, anxiety or guilt, or external, such as trials, tribulations or persecution.
Cultivating the virtue of fortitude enables us take seriously the reality of evil and actively combat all forms of injustice in the world around us.
May the example of fortitude and perseverance shown by Jesus and the saints encourage us in our journey of Christian faith and confirm our trust in the risen Christ’s definitive victory over sin and death.
