Attack and Endure
One
Two Ways of Being Brave
We’ve seen that the virtue of fortitude, of courage, means overcoming our fears for the sake of the greater good. It means doing the right thing, even when we really, really don’t want to. But there are two ways to do this.
There are two ways to pursue the good, despite the risk and the hardship involved. One is by actively attacking some evil. And the other is by clinging to the good, no matter what: to attack or endure.
Two
Courageous Attack – Righteous Wrath
Sometimes, courage makes use of the passion of anger, which gives us the energy and the drive to actively attack some source of evil.
This is the first act of courage, courageous attack, also called “Righteous Wrath” (sounds like the name for a heavy metal band, doesn’t it?)
Attack does not mean that it is your job to fix or condemn all the people and problems you see. Attack means to eliminate any evil that is under our authority or within our control. We see Jesus live out this courageous attack when he cleansed the Temple with the whip.
Most importantly, righteous wrath is supposed to be directed at our own sins. It’s what gives us the strength to take action in cutting out sinful behavior and the temptations, the near occasions that lead to sin. It takes courage to attack the root of our own personal evil. It takes courage to pluck out the eye or cut off the hand that causes us to sin – which means to root out of our lives anything that’s a source of temptation. We need the energy of anger for that, we need that feeling, “You know what? I’m fed up with this. I don’t want to commit this sin anymore. I’m cutting the occasion for this sin right out of my life.”
Another way fortitude expresses itself is in courageous speech that counteracts falsehood and depravity.
Righteous wrath makes us speak out against injustice. It gives us the courage to say, “Hey, watch your language” when someone misuses Our Lord’s name. Or “That’s inappropriate” when someone makes a filthy joke. Or maybe just “That’s not true” when someone repeats a slur against the Church.
That takes courage. And those acts of fortitude bring us closer to God and peace and happiness.
Three
Endurance – the true test of Fortitude
We should do all we can to attack evil, to change bad things when we can. But what do we do when we can’t change or fix things? That is when we endure cheerfully. What is required is a persistent pursuit of the good in endurance. In fact, endurance is the supreme test of fortitude, since when you’ve run out of other options, fortitude still enables you to hold your ground and persevere through any oppressing hardship.
So, ask yourself, what hardship is present in your life that just won’t go away? Is it some addiction you can’t break? Some disappointment you can’t get over? Do you have some kind of chronic problem? Are your family relationships or your friendships always strained? Is there something you’ve never been good at? Are you depressed? Can you not figure out what to do with your life? What’s the problem you just can’t fix, no matter how hard you try?
Because that difficulty is the opportunity for you to become brave.
So, will you persevere in doing the good in spite of whatever problems continue to weigh on you?
Let’s say you can’t manage to stop a certain vice: will you keep going to confession and keep trying to do better? If so, that’s fortitude.
Maybe you’re in a marriage that’s terribly unhappy, deeply unsatisfying both to you and your spouse. Will you stick it out, continue trying to love your spouse and children, and ask God for the graces to bring peace into your family? If so, then you are proving your courage, and the Lord won’t let that courage go to waste.
Four
Patience
When we talk about endurance, the supreme test of fortitude, we also have to talk about the virtue of patience. Patience is what makes you able to endure cheerfully. Because the truth is, you’re not really brave unless you can endure cheerfully. Fortitude isn’t a virtue for downcast, pessimistic, broken people.
Patient, persevering people aren’t the ones who say, “Yeah, you know what, I don’t even care anymore, so whatever.”
As opposed to giving up and entering a state of dejection, “to be patient means to preserve cheerfully and peacefully in spite of the difficulty or suffering endured.
Courage isn’t an attitude for sad, weak people, but rather for the strong and joyful. What motivates patience, like what motivates all the virtues, is the desire for union with God.
So, there should be an optimism that characterizes our endurance, since we who believe in heaven and God’s final triumph over history know that, “What’s worth having is worth fighting and suffering in endurance for.”
Five
Dying on the Right Hill
When we talk about these two acts of fortitude, attack, and endurance, we have to remember that sometimes we are called to take a stand and sometimes we aren’t.
We have to pick our battles. And there’s a real sense in which there are three tragic mistakes that you want to avoid.
You can’t die on every hill.
You want to avoid “dying on the wrong hill.” This is where you make some great sacrifice, take some big stand, on an issue that isn’t important. You speak out aggressively, you risk or lose some significant benefit or some worthwhile position, for no good reason. That’s a sad waste of a witness. It’s a waste of courage.
But another tragic mistake is when you don’t die on the right hill.
When God offers you a chance for true heroism, to take a stand, make a sacrifice on behalf of truth and goodness… and you let that opportunity pass you by.
That’s a sad waste of an opportunity. We were made for heroism, and to miss your opportunity to be a hero, to be courageous, is to miss your opportunity at living the life you were meant to live.
So how do you know the right hill to die on from the wrong one? There’s no formula, just prayer and prudence.
When there’s some crisis, and you’re not sure whether to attack and be bold or simply be quiet and endure, immediately turn to Jesus and ask him. Say, “Lord, give me the prudence to know when I should attack an evil, and when I should patiently cling to the good.”
Then our courage will be guided by the Holy Spirit, who will lead us in all truth.
Then pray the serenity prayer, which does a nice job connecting prudence and fortitude, “Lord, grant me the grace the change the things I can change, to accept the things I can’t, and the wisdom to know the difference.”