MEDJUGORJE UPDATE: HOLY FORTITUDE

MEDJUGORJE UPDATE: HOLY FORTITUDE

 ...according to theologians the human soul requires virtue in order that it may achieve and persist in any good work...as the apostle has told us we as Christians must work out our salvation with fear and trembling...in due course in order that we achieve this adjuration of the apostle we need to concentrate on the attainment of virtue...now of the four cardinal virtues of fortitude, justice, temperance, and prudence this verse will deal with the importance of fortitude in a summary manner...

 ...if one wishes to be good and to rest in God and have God be one’s final cause it follows that an appeal to reason is necessary..since God making man in his own image has supplied man with the tools of reason exercised through the intellect and freedom of will....now in order to bring one’s work in accordance with reason one must remove the disinclination of the will to follow  a precept that is in accord with reason...in MEDJUGORJE we see proponents are disinclined to follow a reasonable judgement of a Church authority...and so the work here requires the removal of this obstacle or difficulty...now this requires Holy fortitude of the mind....

 .since in general Holy fortitude removes any adversity or obstacle which withdraws a soul from acting without reason...and so fortitude is mainly concerned with removing the fear associated with placing one’s will in the hands of an accomplished authority(local Ordinary) and in taming one’s will from the temptation to be daring and reckless hence acting in an illogical unreasonable manner...this is how fortitude works in conjuction of the virtues to keep us in the straight path...

 ...since fortitude denotes a firmness of mind and patience in adversity the opposite of this virtue is obstinancy which affixes the will and the intellect to unreasonableness...and this we see happening in MEDJUGORJE...it is indeed unreasonable to vouchsafe one’s prerogative over and above a regular Ordinary in good standing and to vault oneself over a Vatican decree...if  we see that holy fortitude removes the obstacles that cause the will to act without reason then we may say that in MEDJUGORJE among its proponents the virtue of Holy fortitude is lacking in this respect...however we see some in MEDJUGORJE who out of ignorance, passion or quest for a great reward unwittingly display  some semblance of fortitude in their outward pious exercises ..and this contrary to the virtue of Holy fortitude is a kind of spiritual concupiscience ...a lust after spiritual goods..or spiritual gluttony...self -serving insouciant niggardliness...we may safely say that interiorly this virtue of Holy fortitude is lacking at MEDJUGORJE in general....

 ..if one is engendered of fortitude they will have  patience and accept what the Bishops say & the courage to walk in the faith of the fathers of the Church otherwise being obstinate.. slave to wrath and rancor brought about by the  inflamed irascible passions divorced of reason....faith without reason is blind (religious fundamentalism)...

 

..let us see what the saints have to say about the virtue of Holy Fortitude.....

 

"What shall I say of fortitude, without which neither wisdom nor justice is of any worth? Fortitude is not of the body, but is a constancy of soul; wherewith we are conquerors in righteousness, patiently bear all adversities, and in prosperity are not puffed up. This fortitude he lacks who is overcome by pride, anger, greed, drunkenness, and the like. Neither have they fortitude who when in adversity make shift to escape at their souls' expense; wherefore the Lord saith, 'Fear not those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.' In like manner those who are puffed up in prosperity and abandon themselves to excessive joviality cannot be called strong. For how can they be called strong who cannot hide and repress the heart's emotion? Fortitude is never conquered, or if conquered, is not fortitude."

 --St. Bruno.

"They say, "God told me", or "God replied to me". And yet most of the time they are talking to themselves."

 "The soul that journey's to God, but doesn't shake off its cares and quiet its appetites, is like someone who drags a cart of dirt uphill."

-St. John of the Cross

 

"In the same way that a powerful medicine cures an illness, so illness itself is a medicine to cure passion. And there is much profit of soul in bearing illness quietly and giving thanks to God."

-St. Amma Syncletica

The nothing keeps silent, the nothing does not want to be, the nothing suffers all. The nothing does not impose itself, the nothing does not command with authority, and finally, the nothing in the creature is practical humility.

--Saint Angela of the Cross Guerrero

 

"There is no sin or wrong that gives a man a foretaste of hell in this life as anger and impatience."

--St.Catherine of Sienna

 

"It is certain that the love of God does not consist in this sweetness and tenderness which we for the most part desire; but rather in serving Him in justice, fortitude, and humility. His Majesty seeks and loves courageous souls."

-St. Teresa of Avila

 

.....................amen