Virtues in general must act with that firmness which fortitude bestows (II-II, Q, cxxiii). For that culture perversely insists that acting out our desires, whatever they may be, is a mark of “authenticity,” while chastity is demeaned as repression or a dishonest betrayal of one’s self. Virtue of bravery in facing difficulties, especially in overcoming the fear of consequences in doing good. A student deciding to run for a student council office against more popular kids. A student standing up in front of a class to give an oral report. A student, evening after evening, sitting at a desk doing boring Spanish language drills and memorizing vocabulary and verb tenses in order to master that language. Losing one’s life in this context means being willing to endure the fear or pain, whether it is physical or mental, and offering it up to God as a sacrifice, just as Christ himself did, just as the martyrs did in following him. Living chastely—living what John Paul II called “the integrity of love”—is not easy for anyone in our licentious culture. Lucas can be for us a model of the virtue of fortitude. Each of the 4-week schedules provides a list of core learning tasks to accomplish as well […] Your efforts at fidelity bespeak deep faith, a powerful hope, and authentic love. Is being courageous the same as being big and strong? George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington, D.C.’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies. Discussion Questions:. For example, to be honest requires courage, especially when telling the truth is difficult. You also know that lies like that come from the source the Lord called the “father of lies” (John 8:44). For this action, Private First Class Lucas was awarded the Medal of Honor, the youngest Marine to ever receive it.[1]. The courage we ask for, and the courage we practice, is the courage to live the way God wants us to live and become the person he wants us to be. He has an extensive background in teaching, school administration, character education, and curriculum development. The saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” refers to this virtue. Catechism of the Catholic Church: “The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom , understanding, counsel, fortitude , knowledge , piety, and fear of the Lord.” [CCC 1831.] Do you see yourself as courageous or cowardly? Film Focus: The conclusion of a four-video series of the cardinal virtues, this video explores the virtue of courage or fortitude as one which is accessible for everyone with the assistance of God’s grace.. For example, too much courage is foolhardy and could get you killed. Traditionally, the seven Christian virtues or heavenly virtues combine the four classical cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and courage with the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. It is what, as Christians, we must always have in mind in order to make our actions acceptable for eternal life. Open the doors to Christ!” Your courage should inspire every Catholic to a similar fidelity, and to the mutual, prayerful support that helps sustain the integrity of love. He qualified as a sharpshooter and then as a heavy machine-gun operator. What are the four cardinal virtues? They may have to put up with freezing cold and burning heat, gnawing hunger and parching thirst, prolonged lack of sleep, clothing so filthy it has to be cut off them and burned, extreme physical exertion and exhaustion, constant noise, and the unrelenting threat of imminent death. The word fortitude comes from the Latin word fortis, which means strength. Courage is one of those virtues necessary to living a good life. First Things depends on its subscribers and supporters. And among them, there are no more courageous Catholics than you, the men and women of “Courage.” Against fierce cultural and social pressures, you … Quick to act when the lives of the small group were endangered by two grenades which landed directly in front of them, Private First Class Lucas unhesitatingly hurled himself over his comrades upon one grenade and pulled the other one under him, absorbing the whole blasting force of the explosions in his own body in order to shield his companions from the concussion and murderous flying fragments. Courage also known as bravery, fortitude, will, and intrepidity, is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Unlike Aristotle, Aquinas’ courage is about endurance, not bravery in battle. The Virtue of Courage in Entrepreneurship: Engaging the Catholic Social Tradition and the Life-Cycle of the Business Volume 16, Issue 1 Michael J. Naughton and Jeffrey R. Cornwall Courage: Standing up for what is right, even in the face of pressure. This is especially troubling since courage is the virtue that underpins all other virtues. Courage . Working with the grace God makes available to you, you offer a crucial and often cruciform witness to the Church, especially to those who imagine that “their” truth is truer than Christ’s. Chastity. 1808 Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. Learn how your comment data is processed. A virtue is a habit that perfects the powers of the soul and disposes you to do good. Are you strong in facing pain or soft and shrink from it? Those who suggest otherwise are theologically ill-informed, politically motivated, or both. By his inspiring action and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice, he not only protected his comrades from certain injury or possible death, but also enabled them to rout the Japanese patrol and continue the advance. Can we be full human beings or can we really live our Catholic faith without fortitude? There are many exemplars of the cardinal virtue of courage in the Catholic Church today: Catholics in Hong Kong who risk their lives and livelihoods in defense of religious liberty, free speech, and freedom of association; French Catholics who brave Islamist murderers to practice the faith; young men preparing for a priestly vocation that may land them in jail for “hate crimes” because they preach the gospel; campus ministers who push back against political correctness in order to evangelize; parents who insist that Catholic schools be “Catholic” in more than name; teenagers who won’t be bullied into denying Christ by their peers. A follower of Christ facing disapproval, hostility, or even violence for just being a Christian. He places his discussion within the context how the virtue of courage was understood in Greek and Roman culture and how that understanding was transformed by … Jack was unknowingly but voluntarily stepping into a hell on earth. 12:1). Think of these examples: A tiny but important way I live the virtue of fortitude just before going into the confessional is making a quick plea to Our Lady to give me the courage to confess my sins. There are many exemplars of the cardinal virtue of courage in the Catholic Church today: Catholics in Hong Kong who risk their lives and livelihoods in defense of religious liberty, free speech, and freedom of association; French Catholics who brave Islamist murderers to practice the faith; young men preparing for a priestly vocation that may land them in jail for “hate crimes” because they … This is one reason why we should honor and respect our men and women in uniform and all veterans. And so on. Thomas Aquinas considers courage a virtue through the Christian virtue of mercy. You are St. Paul’s “earthen vessels” (2. Courage is … It would have been helpful (and professionally competent) if the Vatican press office had clarified this point before the media herd of independent minds declared what the pope was said to have said to be a possible first step toward a Catholic affirmation of so-called “gay marriage.” It was no such thing, because such a thing is impossible. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. In time of war, a deserter could be executed, so this was a very serious offense. In 1945, stationed on the cushy Hawaiian Islands, Jack walked out of camp and boarded a troop transport headed for the South Pacific. Justice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacklyn_H._Lucas, This Week’s Top Resources For Summoning More Fortitude – Genuflect, Answering a World of Lies with the Fifth Advent Candle, A Countercultural View About Women in the Church, Religious Life – A Gift to the Church and Society, Divine Mercy and the Illumination of Conscience, Eugenics in America: The Legacy of Sanger and Gates, A Man, His Wife and Their Newborn Baby Are the Essence of Humility, How to Conduct a Daily Examination of Conscience, Bayes and Blueberries; or, Say “No” to Algebra. Jacklyn Lucas showed tremendous courage in being willing to sacrifice his life for his friends. In the Marines, Jack did just fine. But precisely because certain parties further confused things by spinning and politicizing what the pope was said to have said, it’s important to recall two Catholic realities. He also writes screenplays, TV pilots, novels, and non-fiction books and articles. These were adopted by the Church Fathers as the seven virtues. Grace, which is God’s intervention, bolsters a person’s soul, providing the necessary oomph to do the right thing.. cloud of witnesses” (Heb. There are 6 classes of virtues that are made up of 24 character strengths: Wisdom and Knowledge. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 10:38-39). Miraculously, Lucas survived. And among them, there are no more courageous Catholics than you, the men and women of “Courage.” Against fierce cultural and social pressures, you strive—with the help of grace, your pastors, and each other—to live the Catholic ethic of human love even as you experience same-sex attractions. As it’s now clear that the pope’s comments were cut-and-pasted by an agenda-driven filmmaker, this episode was another reminder that media reports of Catholic matters should always be taken with a grain of salt; ditto for the hysteria that too often characterizes the Catholic blogosphere. For the rest of his life he would set off metal detectors in airports due to the 200 pieces of shrapnel still in his body that the twenty-one surgeries he endured couldn’t remove. What are some good virtues? Anyone willing to contemplate death and any person facing death-come-near either because of an illness, an injury, violence, or old age. As I point out in The Next Pope: The Office of Peter and a Church in Mission, the pope is not an oracle and every papal utterance is not magisterium. (4) Fortitude as one of the gifts from the Holy Ghost is a supernatural virtue, and passes beyond the Aristotelian range. Here is a true story about a man who lived the natural virtue of fortitude to a heroic degree. … We are truly surrounded by a “great . There is a time to dig trenches, and there is a time for frontal assaults. And among them, there are no more courageous Catholics than you, the men and women of “Courage.” Against fierce cultural and social pressures, you strive – with the help of grace, your pastors, and each other – to live the Catholic ethic of human love … They can experience misery which we can only imagine. The Marines would suffer approximately 25,000 casualties, including almost 7,000 killed. The Cardinal Virtues, Part 4: Courage. Fortitude comes from the Latin word, fortis, which means strength. Courage is a natural virtue which Saint Augustine did not consider a virtue for Christians. 2) Temperance – moderation "Physical courage" is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death. Your email address will not be published. But even though fortitude is the preeminent military virtue, all of us need it. Humanity. He claimed to be seventeen. As his official citation recounts. Fortitude. Join the conversation and make a contribution today. According to Catholic beliefs, the divine grace is offered to the soul, because without God’s help, humans can’t do good on their own. It is one of the cardinal virtues. 4:7), and like all of us, you sometimes stumble on the journey to holiness. Soldiers in combat need fortitude more than any other virtue. Just as importantly, you do not treat chastity as an ecclesiastical “policy issue” and you do not lobby within the Church for a change in “policy,” because you know that what is at stake here is truth: a truth that makes for happiness, genuine friendship, and, ultimately, beatitude. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. A young person moving away from home for the first time or an immigrant arriving in a new land. Thomas Aquinas understood that courage is the form of all the virtues, for to practice any virtue consistently takes the firmness of character that comes with courage. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Please continue to take up the challenge that St. John Paul II issued on October 22, 1978: “Be not afraid! They have to keep going no matter what, enduring hardships and taking initiatives. suddenly ambushed by a hostile patrol which savagely attacked with rifle fire and grenades. Second, nothing that Pope Francis was reported to have said changes the Catholic Church’s teaching on the ethics of human love, on what constitutes marriage, and on who may marry. Fortitude is the virtue of courage in the face of danger and toughness in the face of pain. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. Like most small-town boys of his time, he hunted and could handle a shotgun and rifle. But fortitude as a gift of the Holy Spirit also shows itself, as the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, "in moral courage against the evil spirit of the times, against improper fashions, against human respect, against the common tendency to seek at least the comfortable, if not the voluptuous." Comments are visible to subscribers only. Too little courage and you avoid healthy risks and are seen as a coward. On the other hand, are you reckless or foolhardy, putting yourself in situations you should not be in, doing things that you rightly ought to be afraid of? Aristotle’s 12 virtues: 1) Courage – bravery. Even though Jacklyn Lucas had what sounds to us like a girl’s first name, he was not effeminate. Teach Young Catholics About Being Brave with Our Virtue Lesson About Courage Unit Study. It is designed to be used daily, over the course of a month. [1] Adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacklyn_H._Lucas, accessed January 27, 2018. Many of you were upset by what Pope Francis was reported to have said, in a documentary film, about civil unions for same-sex couples and related matters. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. . Jacklyn Lucas lived the natural virtue of fortitude to a heroic degree but we have to go even further. Let me suggest that it is the ability to choose the point that lies between cowardice and recklessness in any circumstance. This lesson celebrates the virtue of courage and is intended to help Catholic kids practice and live their faith in a real way. Although he only stood 5 feet 8 inches tall, he weighed a muscular 180 pounds. Some of the best things that have happened to me have happened because with the help of grace I acted with some courage or endured some hardships. Kevin, Overview of the Virtue of Courage. "Moral courage" is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement. His weekly homiletic lectionary-based blog is, Copyright © A.D. 2018 Catholic Stand | Powered by Astra. Thanks, The true virtue of courage is guided by reason; it moderates and directs our fears and reckless urges. But this virtue is not about physical strength, it is about the strength of will, the strength of character, and strength against fear. Cor. As virtues render a man and his work good, the principal field of this virtue concerns itself with what most of all opposes it: danger of death. In order to stay strong, to do what is good, we need the third cardinal virtue, known alternately as fortitude, courage, or bravery. It is one of the cardinal virtues. Their lives are marked by long periods of intense boredom interrupted by brief moments of complete terror. The English words fort and fortification come from this same root and mean stronghold or place of strength. Physical courage is one important dimension of the virtue of fortitude. Marc, Pingback: This Week’s Top Resources For Summoning More Fortitude – Genuflect, Pingback: VVEDNESDAY EXTRA II – Big Pulpit, Your email address will not be published. First, informal remarks by a pope to a filmmaker do not constitute an expression of the papal teaching office. Too little modesty and you become irritating and boastful. Are there any particular angels or saints I should call on for strength (call on not as a substitute for therapy or medication, but as a supplement for normal care)? A father getting out of bed every morning to go to work no matter how lousy he feels. Fortitude is the virtue of courage in the face of danger and toughness in the face of pain. Contraceptives Hurt Women and Millennials May Agree. His commanding officer listed him as a deserter and put up a reward for his capture. Kevin and his wife have seven children. The year was 1942 and America was at war. In fact, the word “virtue” comes to us from the Latin word for courage, which serves as an etymological reminder that each of the virtues is inseparable from courage — prudence included. He has a MA in English literature from San Francisco State University and a MA in Theology with an emphasis on Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles College and Seminary. Fortitude is a virtue that harnesses both impulses in the right place and time. The Next Pope: The Office of Peter and a Church in Mission. One such virtue, I expect, that none would object to is the virtue of courage. It is necessary for us in both our natural and supernatural lives. So, brave men and women of “Courage,” thank you for your witness. There are many exemplars of the cardinal virtue of courage in the Catholic Church today: Catholics in Hong Kong who risk their lives and livelihoods in defense of religious liberty, free speech, and freedom of association; French Catholics who brave Islamist murderers to practice the faith; young men preparing for a priestly vocation that may land them in jail for “hate crimes” because they preach the … Required fields are marked *. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Be of good courage and let us fight bravely for our people, and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what seems good to Him.” In the area of religion, the secret of courage is: “I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” Responsibilities are no longer burdensome if one realizes that the Divine works in us. Cross daily in order to be honest requires courage, especially when telling the truth difficult. 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