Episode Transcript  

One

The Nature of Fortitude

The third Cardinal Virtue is fortitude, or courage, or bravery. This is the virtue that enables us to overcome our fears and to do the right thing even when we have strong feelings against it.

Fortitude prompts us to take action, or stay the course, even when we’re threatened by significant suffering and loss. Because we know that the good we’re clinging to and pursuing is more important than the good we’re risking.

Two

Fortitude is about overcoming fear in order to do the right thing. Fear is the fear of losing some good thing like our health, a relationship, our work, but at its root, it is the belief that without it we cannot be happy, because we have made it too important, and that is why we fear its loss.

Now, the primary human fear is the fear of death, because death represents the loss of every created good. Which is why Our Lord says that no one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friend. Because in laying down our lives, we are laying down all earthly goods at our disposal.

So to be really brave, we can’t be dominated by a fear of death. If we are, then as the book of Hebrews says, we will be kept in slavery to the devil all our lives. But if we are willing to die and lose all earthly goods for the right cause, then we should be willing to lose some earthly goods for the right cause too.

To really be brave, we have to look around at everything we care about, family, friends, job, reputation, health, financial security, and we have to ask God to give us the grace so that, if need be, we can do the right thing, even if it means letting go of the things that matter deeply to us. Because that’s what courage means.

Three

Not fearlessness

We said that fortitude is about overcoming fear in order to do what is right. But that doesn’t mean the brave person is without fear. In fact, if someone were truly fearless, it would not be a sign of courage, but of a lack of love. Because fear arises from love: we fear losing what we care about. Which means that if a person had no fear at all, it would suggest he loves nothing. And that is not a virtue, it is a vice.

No, what makes a person brave is not that he has no fears, but that his fears, like his loves, are rightly ordered. It is virtuous to love some things more than others, and therefore to fear losing them more, because they are greater goods. For example, I should fear losing my marriage more than my job, because it is far more important than any job. Courage, then, is the willingness to hold fast to greater goods even at the cost of lesser ones. Ultimately, we are willing to be faithful to God even if it means losing everything else.

In this way, courage is the readiness to sacrifice lesser goods for the sake of greater ones. At the end of the day, courage is an expression of prudence, and prudence says to prioritize what matters most.

Four

Loving Most that which is Best

So if you want to be brave, you have to start by figuring out your priorities. What matters most? What do you fear losing the most? What do you love the most? The answers to those questions should all be the same. The answer to all those questions should be God. He is, objectively, the most important thing there is. The best thing. So, you should love Him the most. You should fear losing Him the most.

That’s why Scripture says that “the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord.” It could also say that the beginning of courage is fear of the Lord. Because you can only be prudent and brave if you prioritize God above all things. That will make you fear losing Him the most. And that will make you willing to sacrifice everything for Him, if need be. Which is the summit of the virtue of fortitude.

Again, examining our fears reveals what we love. So what do you fear most? Do you worry most about success in your work? Your finances? Your children’s future? Your marriage? Your reputation? Your health? Whatever you fear losing most is what you love most. And if that is not God, then your loves are out of order, and you will struggle to be truly brave. But if you love God above all, desire union with Him more than anything else, and fear above all offending Him, then your loves are rightly ordered. And that is the beginning of wisdom and the beginning of courage.

Five

Ordering your fears, ordering your loves 

Virtue is having your loves in the right order. And fortitude is the willingness to sacrifice lesser goods for the sake of greater ones. We should love created things, our lives, our children, our friendships, our work, and the material goods God has given us. It is good to love these things, and it is right to fear losing them. If we didn’t, it wouldn’t be courage, it would be a lack of appreciation. But true happiness and salvation are found in God alone. Created goods will eventually fail us or pass away. God will not. The people in our lives cannot save us, and we cannot save them. But God can.

So, however much we love created things, we must love God more. And however much we fear being separated from any creature, we must fear being separated from God above all. When our loves and fears are rightly ordered, we will know what to hold onto and what to let go of. And when sacrifice is required, we will be ready. That is courage: the willingness to sacrifice lesser goods for the sake of the greatest Good, and in doing so, to find true happiness for ourselves and for those we love.

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