Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

Sam , in The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

We will encounter things in life that will cause us to be really afraid.  Sudden unemployment, a life-altering choice, a sudden illness, or the prospect of physical pain, fear is a fact of life in a fallen world. I heard a priest comment once that the temptation in the Garden of Even may have begun with an event like that. Somehow Eve lost heart and made wrong choices after that.

How do we stare these difficulties in the face and not lose heart? By practicing the virtue of fortitude.

What is fortitude?

Fortitude is the moral virtue that makes us firm in difficulties and constant in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to fight temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. Fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. “The Lord is my strength and my song.” “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Fortitude is the ability to choose what is right even when everything inside us and outside us tells us to run away. It is the ability to stand firm in doing good in the face of danger and potential suffering.

Fortitude flows naturally from faith, hope, and charity. When we believe the promises of God (faith), and have confidence not in ourselves but in the strength of Christ (hope), and we are motivated by love (charity), we will find ourselves filled naturally with the virtue of fortitude.

Most of us don’t have to face any real danger everyday. But there are still ample opportunities for fortitude.

Before our eyes, a once great civilization, built on the bedrock of a shared faith, is falling into ruin. The tyranny of relativism attacks all that is good, beautiful and true. Those say that fornication is bad are cancelled. Those who say homosexual marriage is ugly are cancelled. Those who say science doesn’t support multiple sexes are cancelled.

Poverty is everywhere. Bullying is rampant and anonymous. Kids have access to porn. The family is crumbling. Radical Islam is on the rise. The collapse of marriage is celebrated. The list goes on and on. Enough to make us shudder to think what kids today will grow up in.

A fish living in a polluted stream cannot just jump out of it. What the fish can do is find a cove where it could work with other fish to keep that cove clean. This requires that the fish trust each other.

Jordan Peterson points to courage as a key to facing the problem of trust. In a lecture that has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Youtube, he begins by asking: Why should we trust people?

A naive person believes that everyone is trustworthy. But, if he gets bitten, he might decide to no longer trust anyone. But then he can not close deals, he cannot get anything done. That fish is all by itself.

So, how do you trust? Peterson says, “Not because you’re naive, and not because they couldn’t betray you, and not because you don’t know that they could betray you, but because if you hold out your hand in trust then you’re inviting the best part of that person to step forward, and that won’t happen unless you take that initial step. And that’s courage, not naivete.”

Hold your hand out, inviting the best part of people to step forward. We take the initiative. That’s courage, not naivete.

We can face those assaults by taking that first step to invite the best part of our collaborators to step forward. Now, more than ever, fortitude is needed among men, especially Catholic men. We are called to stand firm and recognize that, no matter how black things may seem, “there is good in this world, and it is worth fighting for.”

Before closing, all this brings to mind memories of the Lord of the Rings.

While the movies are not entirely faithful to the books, they do capture several key elements Tolkien was trying to convey —- one of which is the fortitude and perseverance of the humble hobbits.

One of the key moments takes place in The Two Towers. After a long journey, Sam and Frodo are finally about to enter Mordor. They are tired, discouraged, and afraid of what awaits them. In addition, the Nazgul are hunting the two hobbits relentlessly.

Frodo, bearing the burden of the ring, is on the brink of giving up and turning for home. Sam too, is tired and afraid, but unlike Frodo, he possess an inner strength—fortitude that propels him to keep pressing on. He reminds Frodo exactly why they can’t quit.

Sam: It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t.

(Q.C. 230506)