FORTITUDE

The dictionary meaning of fortitude is the strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with courage. Fortitude also helps us cope with difficulties and overcome our limitations.

When someone has fortitude it means that they have emotional power or reserves and the ability to withstand adversity. People who have fortitude are described in an admiring way for their courage and this word comes from the Latin word fortitudo, meaning “strength.” Fortitude is also 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. Fortitude is commonly used when consoling a bereaved person, friend, colleague and family member. As a consolatory word, it gives the briefed some kind of strength. It is usually said in a form of prayer” May God give you and your family the fortitude to bear the loss” and believe it or not this prayer often calms the bereaved at that moment knowing, that some persons are supporting them with prayers and wishing them well in their moment of grief.

Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues and this virtue helps us to cope with difficulties and overcome our limitations. For Christians, the model of fortitude is Christ himself, He provides us with a constant example which is going to the extreme of giving up his life for love of us.

Fortitude is also the gift of the Holy Spirit which helps us to overcome our fear and also willing to take any risks and ready to stand up for what is right in the sight of God, even if it means accepting rejection, verbal abuse, or even physical pain and death.

Saint JoseMaria once said in one of his daily texts that” No man, whether he be a Christian or not, has an easy life. To be sure, at certain times it seems as though everything goes as we had planned. But this generally lasts for only a short time. Life is a matter of facing up to difficulties and of experiencing in our hearts both joy and sorrow. It is in this forge that man can acquire fortitude, patience, magnanimity and composure. And in Friends of God point 77, he said that “the person with fortitude is one who perseveres in doing what his conscience tells him he ought to do. He does not measure the value of a task exclusively by the benefit he receives from it, but rather by the service he renders to others. The strong man will at times suffer, but he stands firm; he may be driven to tears, but he will brush them aside. When difficulties come thick and fast, he does not bend before them”.

These were words written many years ago but which today are what we are witnessing. The whole world is burdened with so much difficulty; people are undergoing different degrees of pain. There is suffering everywhere, hunger, joblessness and all manner of pain and in the midst of all of that, we remain strong, patient though, we are sometimes driven to tears but we are still smiling, praying and hoping that the pain will come to pass soon and that, we will persevere. This show of boldness can only be possible because of the virtue of fortitude.

 Let us take a cue from some persons mentioned in the bible such as that of the brave young queen Esther. We also read about St. Joseph.  “let us ask him to for fortitude of spirit in order to bring Christ into all these human realities. With faith we see the example of his life, which gives us a picture of Joseph as a remarkably sound man who was in no way fearful or different about life. On the contrary, he faced up to problems, dealt with difficulty situations and showed responsibility and initiative in whatever he was asked to do”