7 Days of Virtue; Day 3 – Fortitude
Think of virtues like your muscles. You work your muscles out so that they can perform for you when needed. Virtue is the same way. You practice, work on the virtue and then, when the time comes, the virtue is there and ready.
Day 3 of the 7 Day Journey through the Virtues: DAY 3 – FORTITUDE.
Fortitude is also called COURAGE. This is a great virtue… very manly! Fortitude ensures firmness in difficulty. It is a resolve to resist temptations. The opposite of fortitude is timidity (cowardice) –> don’t be a coward. Courage helps us to persevere in everyday life. Courage moderates our fear and it helps us live for something great in our lives. There are 3 sub-virtues of Fortitude:
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Magnanimity: means “Greatness of Soul”. Being Magnanimous means that we don’t shrink from greatness. Be especially careful not to fall into vanity when thinking about Magnanimity; it is an easy trap to fall into. Being Magnanimous is incredibly manly!
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Patience: Endurance of difficulties through Joy and Peace.
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Perseverance: Determination. Makes us persist firmly to carry through.
Fearlessness and Rash-boldness are counterfeit vices, meaning that they may appear to be courageous, but are actually vicious. When a man is fearless, he doesn’t give death or evil their due respect. When a man acts out of rash-boldness, he takes on something that he shouldn’t. Be careful to protect against these.
Man up!
