You're probably asking what the Church-a-thon has to do with Holy Week let alone the virtue of fortitude. One reflection from the pilgrimage sums it all up? I've always wondered why Christ got up from a fall while carrying the cross.
Why not just die lying there? Getting up doesn't seem to make things any better. He just has to prolong his agony. Yet, he was a man on a mission - a mission of love. He wouldn't rest until he had given all he had.
Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. John 13:1
Fortitude is a virtue that can be considered a kind of firmness of spirit that allows us to pursue and obtain a difficult goal even when it's dangerous. But it's also a gift of the Holy Spirit that gives us strength in practicing virtue, rids us of mediocrity, makes us courageous before enemies and obstacles, enables us to suffer with patience and joy, and gives us heroism in the great things and the small things.
We need fortitude whether it be a pilgrimage to thirty Churches, our daily cross, the pilgrimage of our lives, or an incredibly difficult sacrifice like Christ made on the cross.
3 simple steps to forming fortitude
1) Fulfill your duties with perfection no matter how difficult.
2) Rather than asking God to take away your cross, ask for the strength to carry it.
3) Voluntarily and faithfully practice self-denial to become more like Christ.
No back to the Church-a-thon and how I formed just a little more fortitude while praying for all of you!
5:10: Waking up... late.
Beep, beep, beep! The obnoxious noise finally ended as I hit the snooze button. Wait, we're already late. We're supposed to leave in 10 minutes. There is no way that is going to happen!
