VirTrue - Helping Man Grow in Truth and Virtue

About VirTrue - Helping Man Grow in Truth and Virtue

VirTrue is a journey into the truth of who man is and how he’s meant to live. The root of “virtue” is vir—Latin for man. Before virtue meant moral excellence, virtus meant manliness, valor, strength. We can make it mean that again. As Christians bringing truth to the world, let’s model what a real man ought to be—not vicious, but virtuous. Let’s dive in together, and let iron sharpen iron. socialcatholic.substack.com (https://socialcatholic.substack.com/s/virtrue-grow-in-virtue?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Jethro Higgins

Category

religion & spirituality · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Sept 2025

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

53 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   The Virtue of Oath-Keeping (Jurisjurandi Observatio) a Part of Justice - VirTrue Episode 53

   What is your word worth? We make solemn commitments throughout our lives. In marriage, in religious vocations, in public office, and even in our everyday responsibilities. But what happens when honoring those commitments becomes costly? What if someone with greater earthly authority demands that we betray them? And what happens when we become so attached to the words of a promise that we forget the justice it was meant to serve? A virtuous person does not simply keep every promise without question. He understands what he has promised, why it matters, and what justice requires. And that’s why Oath-Keeping matters. Intro Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to. I’m your host Jethro Higgins, and today on VirTrue we’re going to be talking about Oath-Keeping. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, become a paid subscriber today! Virtue Description Definition: Oath-Keeping is faithfully fulfilling solemn commitments made before God, according to reason and justice. The Latin Jurisjurandi Observatio literally refers to the observance of an oath. Conrad of Hirsau describes this virtue in connection with preserving a publicly established law through a sworn obligation. The emphasis is on honoring the responsibility created by the oath. An oath differs from an ordinary promise because it invokes God as witness. St. Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 89 Aquinas identifies three necessary conditions for a proper oath: * Truth: We must speak truthfully and intend what we swear. * Judgment: We must swear with discretion and sound reason. * Justice: The obligation must be morally lawful. An oath does not make an evil action good. The Catechism, paragraphs 2150–2155, similarly explains the seriousness of invoking God’s name and the moral responsibilities associated with oaths. Scripture — Matthew 5:37 (NABRE) Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Christ teaches that truthfulness should characterize our ordinary speech. Our word should be trustworthy even when we are not under oath. Oath-Keeping belongs to Justice because we owe others what we have rightfully promised, and we owe God reverence when we invoke his name. Vice of Deficiency — Perfidy Definition: Deliberately betraying a just oath or solemn obligation for personal advantage or to escape its demands. Perfidy is more serious than simply forgetting a promise. The perfidious person knowingly violates an obligation that remains just and binding. Consider a public official who swears to uphold the law but accepts a bribe to ignore it. Or a person who enters a solemn commitment with every intention of abandoning it once it becomes inconvenient. In both cases, the person benefits from the trust established by the oath while refusing the responsibility it creates. Scripture — Ecclesiastes 5:3–4 Ecclesiastes warns against making vows to God and failing to fulfill them. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and fail to keep it. Perfidy destroys trust because it separates our words from our actions. The virtuous person understands that an oath creates a real obligation, not merely an expression of present intentions. Vice of Excess — Formalism Definition: Excessive attachment to the outward requirements of an oath while disregarding the reason and justice that give it moral legitimacy. Formalism mistakes the form of an obligation for its purpose. A person can become so determined to fulfill the exact words of an oath that he commits an injustice in the process. Scripture — Mark 6:22–28 King Herod swore to give Herodias’s daughter whatever she requested. When she demanded the head of John the Baptist, Herod was distressed, but he ordered John’s execution because of his oath and the guests who had heard it. Herod treated the obligation of his oath as more important than the commandment against murder. Aquinas addresses this principle in Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 89, a. 7: an oath to do something unlawful must not be fulfilled. Formalism can also appear in less dramatic circumstances when someone insists on the exact wording of a commitment while disregarding its just purpose. The distinction: Perfidy abandons a just obligation. Formalism clings to an obligation in a way that violates justice. Observance of an Oath requires us to honor what is rightfully binding without elevating an oath above God’s moral law. My Story When I was a kid my uncles got really big into the organization Promise Keepers. The importance of keeping your word was always a big deal in my family. That commitment to being true to your word really stood out when I entered the professional workforce. I have a tendency toward the excess here. Idon’t want to step away from work until the job is done even if I’m after hours, and cutting into family time. My wife also struggles with this excess. I used to give her a hard time because she would bring work home when we were not yet married and work all night long on her bed. After marriage, I really began to embody this vice. I remember multiple times when we lived near D.C. I would stay up on my computer until 1 or 2 A.M., trying to make sure something urgent my boss requested would be finished by morning. But my family life is sacred, and regularly working into the morning became a toxic trait for me. Leaving DC helped. That environment champions setting your family aside for long hours making progress at work. I thought I was keeping my oath to work AND to my family, bringing in the money that our family needed through my diligent work, but what I really was doing was trading an excess in oath-keeping at work for a deficiency in oath-keeping at home and convincing myself that the family always needed me to sacrifice my time with them for them. Work-life balance isn’t the right word for it either. Avodah is the right way to think about our commitments to work and to family. Our work is ultimately to serve God, and if it stops doing that, we need to make adjustments. The World We live in a world where commitments are often treated as temporary arrangements. Political leaders swear oaths of office. Spouses exchange marriage vows. Religious and clergy undertake solemn obligations. These commitments are not merely ceremonial. They establish responsibilities that continue after the excitement of the ceremony has worn off. But the opposite error is also possible. Organizations and institutions sometimes demand unquestioning loyalty to commitments even when fulfilling them would violate conscience or justice. An oath does not transfer our moral responsibility to someone else. Aquinas reminds us that an oath must remain subject to truth, judgment, and justice. We need people who keep their word, but we also need people who understand why their word matters. Example Saint — St. John of Nepomuk c. 1345–1393 St. John of Nepomuk was a priest in Bohemia during the reign of King Wenceslaus IV. He served the Church during a period of serious conflict between royal and ecclesiastical authority. According to Catholic tradition, the king demanded that John reveal the contents of the queen’s confession. John refused. He understood that his priestly obligations came from God and could not be overridden by a king’s command. He was eventually tortured and thrown into the Vltava River, where he died. Historical sources connect his martyrdom to a dispute involving ecclesiastical authority, while the account of the confessional seal belongs to the later devotional tradition. Why he fits St. John did not regard his priesthood as merely a title or position. His vocation carried sacred responsibilities that had to be fulfilled even when doing so threatened his life. The administration of the sacraments, including preserving the seal of confession, was part of those responsibilities. His example illustrates how fidelity to a solemn vocation requires both courage and a proper understanding of authority. The king could command many things, but he could not legitimately command a priest to violate God’s law. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, become a paid subscriber today! Act of Virtue — Oath-Keeping O my God, You are the source of all truth and justice, and You have called me to be faithful to the promises I make before You. I will honor the solemn commitments I have undertaken, even when fulfilling them requires sacrifice. I will not betray a just oath for personal gain, convenience, or fear of suffering. Nor will I allow loyalty to an oath to lead me away from Your divine law. Grant me the wisdom to discern what is just, the courage to fulfill my obligations, and the humility to recognize that no human promise can stand above Your will. May my word be trustworthy, my commitments righteous, and my actions faithful to You. Amen. Closing Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the precious blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. Go out and fill the world with virtue. Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Other Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe (https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   13 Oct 2026

   The Virtue of Law (Lex) a Part of Justice - VirTrue Episode 53

   We live in a world that talks constantly about justice, equality, freedom, and love. But what happens when our understanding of justice becomes little more than granting everyone permission to do whatever they desire? We call it compassion when we affirm someone’s choices, even when those choices are harmful. We call it freedom when we remove restraints on our passions. We begin to believe that loving someone means never telling them they’re wrong. And then comes the reaction. Seeing the disorder that results, others defend moral standards with such severity that they forget the people those standards are intended to help. They condemn sinners, drive struggling people away, and mistake ruthless enforcement for righteousness. One side offers love without law. The other offers law without love. Yet genuine love wills the good, and genuine law directs us toward that good. The Christian is called to uphold what is right while loving those who struggle to attain it. And that’s why Law matters. 🎙️ Intro Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to. I’m your host Jethro Higgins, and today on VirTrue we’re going to be talking about the virtue of Law. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, become a paid subscriber today! If you are a free subscriber, please consider upgrading to support this work. ⚖️ Virtue Description — Law (Lex) Law is the habit of willingly conforming our actions to rightful order for the common good. * Law is the first virtue in our season of Justice. * Justice renders to each person what is due. Law establishes and preserves the rightful order through which justice can be practiced. * We’re examining Law as a virtue within the person, rather than merely a body of rules. * A person can obey every rule without possessing the virtue of Law. St. Thomas Aquinas defines law as an ordinance of reason for the common good, established by one responsible for the community and promulgated (ST I-II, q.90, a.4). This establishes several important principles: * Law must be governed by reason. * Law must serve a genuine good. * Law must be ordered toward the common good. * Mere commands issued according to someone’s desires do not necessarily constitute rightful law. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1950, teaches: “The moral law is the work of divine Wisdom.” God’s law directs man toward his proper end. Law is therefore connected to our happiness, our perfection, and our ultimate union with God. Aristotle, in Nicomachean Ethics II.1, explains that legislators attempt to form virtuous citizens through habituation. Aquinas expands this in ST I-II, q.92, a.1: * The proper effect of law is to lead people toward virtue. * Repeated good actions can help form good habits. * Someone may initially obey because he fears punishment. * Obedience can eventually become voluntary and even delightful as virtue develops. Aquinas explicitly distinguishes obedience motivated by fear of punishment from obedience proceeding from reason and virtue. This gives us a historical foundation for discussing external compliance. New Advent External compliance is particularly interesting in the VirTrue model. * The person who rejects law openly acts against rightful order. * The person who reluctantly complies performs the right external action without necessarily possessing the corresponding virtue. * The virtuous person recognizes the good toward which law directs him and willingly chooses it. External compliance can resemble the mean between opposing vices without actually attaining the virtue. St. Augustine’s treatment of the Old and New Law, taken up by Aquinas, helps explain why the interior disposition matters. The Christian life requires the grace that enables us to fulfill God’s commands in charity. The Catechism teaches in CCC 1965–1966 that the New Law fulfills the divine law and is principally the grace of the Holy Spirit working through charity. CCC 1972 explains that the New Law moves us to act from love rather than fear. Vatican Jeremiah 31:33 (NABRE) expresses God’s promise: “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts.” Psalm 119:97 (NABRE) expresses the disposition of someone who loves God’s law: “How I love your law, Lord! I study it all day long.” Aquinas explains in ST I-II, q.26, a.4, that love involves willing the good of another. This gives us the relationship between law and love: * Reason recognizes the good. * Law directs our actions according to rightful order. * The will chooses the good. * Our passions must be governed by reason. * Charity perfects our actions by directing them toward love of God and neighbor. St. Paul expresses this beautifully in Romans 13:10 (NABRE): “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Law teaches us what love requires, and love teaches us what law is for. 🔻 Vice of Deficiency — License License is allowing desire, freedom, or misplaced compassion to escape the rule of reason and rightful order. “Love” without law. License rejects the authority of rightful order whenever that order conflicts with our passions. This can manifest in two ways. * Personal desire: I want something, therefore I should be free to pursue it. * Misplaced compassion: I want another person to feel loved; therefore, I refuse to judge whether what he desires is actually good. Both are failures to subordinate the passions to reason. The first makes personal freedom the highest good. The second makes feelings of compassion the measure of morality. In Judges 21:25 (NABRE), Scripture describes a society without a governing moral order: “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” License confuses the ability to choose with the rightness of a choice. St. Paul warns in Galatians 5:13 (NABRE): “But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.” * Freedom must be directed toward the good. * The passions are good aspects of human nature, but they require the governance of reason. * Compassion is a good passion, but compassion without right judgment can lead us to encourage what harms another. * Affirming someone’s desires does not necessarily mean willing his good. Christ’s encounter with the woman caught in adultery illustrates this distinction. In John 8:11 (NABRE), Jesus tells her: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.” Christ offers mercy while directing the woman away from sin. Genuine charity requires both. License is particularly dangerous because it can disguise itself as love, compassion, freedom, and justice. 🔺 Vice of Excess — Rigorism Rigorism is ruthlessly applying standards without willing the good of the person whom the law is meant to serve. Law without love. Rigorism frequently begins with a legitimate concern for moral truth. * The law may be entirely correct. * The sin may be objectively serious. * The person may genuinely require correction. * Justice may demand consequences. The error arises when defending or enforcing the standard becomes detached from love. A rigorist can accurately identify wrongdoing while failing to will the conversion and salvation of the wrongdoer. * Demanding perfection from people still struggling toward virtue. * Treating weakness as though it necessarily indicates defiance. * Correcting others to condemn rather than restore them. * Placing burdens upon people without helping them carry those burdens. * Driving struggling sinners away from the Church rather than helping them overcome their sins. Christ condemns this behavior in Matthew 23:4 (NABRE): “They tie up heavy burdens [hard to carry] and lay them on people’s shoulders” The verse continues by condemning their unwillingness to help bear those burdens. And in Matthew 23:23 (NABRE), Christ identifies what has been neglected: “the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity.” Rigorism mistakes the defense of the law for the fulfillment of the law. Aquinas explains in ST II-II, q.120, that the general wording of a law may sometimes fail to account for circumstances affecting its just application. This provides a connection to Equity, which we’ll examine later in the season. But Rigorism concerns something broader than exceptional legal circumstances. Even when a law unquestionably applies, the person enforcing it must still will the good of the person subject to it. * Pastoral care does not require compromising moral truth. * Charity sometimes demands firm correction. * Mercy does not eliminate justice. * The purpose of correction is to restore the person to the good. Rigorism fails because its application of law is no longer properly directed by charity. 🏡 My Story * In my own life, I have struggled with rigorism. * Most of my adult life I have been trying to soften my approach. * I have maybe given myself license at times, but more so my concern has been with others. * This connects a bit with my story for Fortitude. * Growing up in a city that was constantly hostile to my faith caused me to feel like rigor would protect my faith. 🌎 The World The modern world frequently presents a false understanding of equality and justice. False justice gives everyone License. True Justice gives everyone his due. * Freedom is increasingly understood as freedom from moral restraint. * Equality becomes an obligation to affirm individual preferences. * Compassion is confused with permitting people to pursue harmful desires. * Moral objections are sometimes treated as violations of personal freedom. * The passions become the practical measure of right and wrong. Yet justice requires an objective understanding of what is actually good for the human person. Without that objective standard, we cannot adequately determine what one person owes another. This false justice produces a reaction. People who recognize the resulting disorder may become increasingly severe in their defense of moral standards. This is especially relevant within the Church. * We see the world celebrating sin. * We rightly recognize the danger. * We defend the Church’s moral teachings. * We become impatient with people who are still struggling against habitual sins. * We begin treating sinners as enemies rather than souls in need of conversion. A culture of License can provoke Rigorism, and Rigorism can reinforce the perception that moral law is opposed to love. Both distortions fail to recognize the proper relationship between law and charity. We see the same problem in families, parishes, politics, and public discussions of morality. * Parents who permit everything because they want their children to feel loved. * Parents who demand obedience without concern for their children’s formation. * Communities that refuse to recognize destructive behavior. * Communities that exclude struggling people rather than helping them grow. Neither extreme forms people in virtue. The answer to License is not law without love. It is Law perfected by love. ⛪ Example Saint — St. Alphonsus Liguori St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696–1787) * Born near Naples, Italy. * Trained as a lawyer and practiced law before becoming a priest. * Founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists. * Became a bishop and one of the Church’s great moral theologians. * Declared a Doctor of the Church and named patron of confessors and moral theologians. Why he fits St. Alphonsus lived during a period of significant debate over moral theology, particularly between laxist and rigorist approaches. * Lax approaches could minimize moral obligations. * Rigorist approaches could impose excessively severe judgments and burdens upon consciences. * Alphonsus sought a sound application of moral principles rooted in truth, conscience, and pastoral charity. His experience ministering to ordinary people, especially the poor and spiritually neglected, deeply influenced his theology. He recognized that many penitents were genuinely struggling to overcome sin. * Abandoning moral standards would leave them without proper guidance. * Excessive severity could discourage repentance and drive them toward despair. * Faithful pastoral care required helping them understand and pursue the good. Alphonsus taught confessors to uphold Catholic moral doctrine while treating sinners with patience, charity, and understanding. His moral theology is particularly associated with an approach that avoided both laxism and excessive rigor. He also personally struggled with scrupulosity, giving him an intimate understanding of the burdens an excessively fearful conscience can impose. Pope Benedict XVI emphasized Alphonsus’s ability to hold together God’s moral law, human conscience, freedom, and pastoral charity. St. Alphonsus illustrates the virtue of Law because he understood that moral law exists to direct people toward their true good and ultimately toward God. He refused to excuse sin through License or discourage conversion through Rigorism. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, become a paid subscriber today! If you are a free subscriber, please consider upgrading to support this work. 🙏 Act of Virtue — Law O my God, I will examine the places in my life where I allow my desires or feelings to escape the rule of reason, and where I impose standards on others without sufficient charity. Help me to recognize the good toward which your law directs me, to subordinate my passions to right reason, and to embrace your commandments willingly. Give me the courage to uphold the truth, the patience to accompany those who struggle, and the charity to will their good in everything I think, say, and do. Teach me to love your law and to fulfill it through love of you and my neighbor. Amen. 🕊️ Closing Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the precious blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. Go out and fill the world with virtue. Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Other Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe (https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   6 Oct 2026

   The Virtue of Fortitude (Fortitudo) - VirTrue Episode 52

   There are moments when we know exactly what we ought to do, but doing it comes with a cost. Maybe speaking the truth will cost us a friendship. Maybe keeping a promise means accepting hardship. Maybe defending someone will make us unpopular. Maybe following God’s will means giving up something we desperately want to keep. Fear enters the picture because something valuable is at stake. And fear itself isn’t evil. There are things we ought to fear. Suffering hurts. Danger is real. Death is an evil of this world. The question is what happens when fear meets something worth suffering for. Do we retreat? Do we charge forward without thinking? Or can we remain firm enough to do what reason tells us is good? Every virtue we’ve covered this season has prepared us for that moment. And that’s why Fortitude matters. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new episodes and support our work, become a paid subscriber today! 🎧 Intro Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to. I’m your host Jethro Higgins, and today on VirTrue we’re going to be talking about the virtue of Fortitude. Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues, alongside Prudence, Justice, and Temperance. Throughout this season we’ve worked through the virtues that prepare the soul to remain firm when pursuing the good becomes difficult. Now we arrive at the virtue that gathers them together. Fortitude. 🟡 Virtue Description Fortitude is firmness of soul in pursuing and defending the good despite fear, suffering, danger, or death. Aquinas explains Fortitude through two human passions: fear and daring. Both have their place. Fear recognizes danger. Daring moves us toward something difficult despite that danger. Fortitude brings both under the rule of reason so that neither controls us. Christian Fortitude does not require us to become fearless. There are things we should fear. We should recognize real dangers and take them seriously. Walking knowingly into unnecessary danger isn’t courageous simply because we’re unafraid. At the same time, fear cannot be allowed to determine whether we do what is right. Fortitude allows reason to judge the good and gives us the firmness to act accordingly. Aquinas teaches that the principal act of Fortitude is endurance. Sometimes courage requires advancing against an obstacle. Often it requires remaining where we ought to be when pressure is pushing us away. Augustine connects this endurance directly to love. Fortitude bears difficulty for the sake of what is loved. For the Christian, that ultimately means God. We endure because there are goods worth suffering for, truths worth defending, promises worth keeping, people worth protecting, and ultimately a God worth giving everything for. 🌳 The Sub-Virtues of Fortitude Throughout this season we’ve examined seven virtues that strengthen the soul for Fortitude. * Rest — Requies: Rest restores the strength necessary to continue difficult work and reminds us that our strength ultimately comes from God. * Stability — Stabilitas: Stability roots us where reason has determined we ought to remain instead of allowing difficulty or changing circumstances to uproot us. * Tolerance — Tolerantia: Tolerance bears a present burden that cannot rightly or immediately be removed without allowing hardship to drive us into resentment or surrender. * Constancy — Constantia: Constancy keeps us directed toward the good when obstacles and distractions attempt to pull us away. * Fidelity — Fidelitas: Fidelity keeps us true to God, our promises, and our rightful commitments when keeping faith becomes costly. * Perseverance — Perseverantia: Perseverance sustains good action through the passage of time until the work reaches its proper completion. * Magnanimity — Magnanimitas: Magnanimity gives us the courage to attempt great things worthy of the gifts God has given us while recognizing God as the source of every good. Together these virtues prepare the soul to pursue and defend the good when doing so becomes difficult. 🔻 Vice of Deficiency — Timidity Timidity is allowing fear to keep us from pursuing or defending the good. Timidity should not be confused with simply experiencing fear. Fear is natural, and sometimes fear is reasonable. A dangerous situation ought to produce some fear. A father should fear harm coming to his children. A person facing serious illness can reasonably fear death. A Christian facing persecution does not become courageous because he suddenly stops recognizing the danger. The problem begins when fear is given authority it should not have. Aquinas describes Fortitude as moderating fear according to reason. Timidity allows fear to exceed that proper measure. We know something is right, but we’re afraid of what it might cost. So we remain silent. We avoid the difficult conversation. We compromise. We leave someone undefended. We refuse a responsibility because failure is possible. We abandon a good work because continuing has become painful. The timid person may understand perfectly well what ought to be done. Fear simply becomes stronger than his willingness to do it. Christian courage doesn’t require the disappearance of fear. It requires us to refuse to let fear decide whether we will do the good. 🔺 Vice of Excess — Audacity Audacity is allowing daring to carry us into danger beyond what reason or the good requires. Daring is necessary for Fortitude. Without daring, we would never confront danger at all. Daring helps the soldier advance, the martyr confess the faith, the parent protect a child, and the Christian undertake difficult work. But daring also needs to be governed. Aquinas identifies excessive daring as a vice opposed to Fortitude. Audacity occurs when daring begins to outrun reason. We take risks that serve no worthy purpose. We seek confrontation when patience would accomplish more. We put ourselves or others in unnecessary danger. We mistake intensity for courage. We may even begin seeking opportunities to prove how daring we are. The audacious person can look courageous because daring is highly visible. Dramatic action attracts attention. Fortitude asks a different question: What does the good actually require? Sometimes the answer requires daring action. Sometimes it requires standing still. Sometimes it requires waiting. Sometimes it requires enduring. Daring serves Fortitude only when reason directs it toward the good. 👤 My Life (https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life) I’ve never been one to err on the side of timidity. I’m much more likely to need to be reigned in from being overly daring and audacious. Growing up in a town like Eugene, Oregon, a good Christian will get swallowed up if they don’t have some fortitude, or even an excess of it, in this regard. Most of my friends and acquaintances from church are pretty audacious. We, as a small community of faith, definitely err on the side of excess when it comes to fortitude. Until I started exploring the virtues in more depth for this podcast, I really didn’t anticipate sub-virtues like “rest” and “stability” being part of fortitude. I was expecting things like physical fitness, protection of others, or rhetoric. I’ve lived my life misunderstanding what the virtue of Fortitude really calls us to. I thought I was being courageous when I argued with heretics and stood up against bullies, and while that’s partially true, it doesn’t really get at what Fortitude is really asking of us. 🌎 The World Our culture loves visible courage. We celebrate the person who takes the risk, confronts the enemy, challenges authority, or refuses to back down. Those things can require tremendous Fortitude. They can also be acts of Audacity. At the same time, some of the greatest acts of courage happen quietly. Remaining faithful to a marriage during a difficult season. Raising children when you’re exhausted. Admitting that you were wrong. Defending someone who cannot defend themselves. Refusing to participate in something you know is wrong. Continuing a good work after the excitement has disappeared. Praying when God seems silent. Standing beside someone who is suffering when you cannot fix what is happening to them. Fortitude is measured by our faithfulness to the good, not by how dramatic our actions appear. Most of us will never face a battlefield. All of us will eventually face something that makes faithfulness difficult. Those ordinary moments are where Fortitude is formed. ⚜️ Example Saint — St. Joan of Arc Why she fits St. Joan of Arc may be one of the most recognizable images of courage in Christian history. A teenage peasant girl entered the affairs of kings, rode with armies, endured battle, was wounded, captured, imprisoned, interrogated, condemned, and eventually burned at the stake. But her greatest example of Fortitude isn’t simply that she rode into battle or won military victories. Her life shows us the whole structure of Fortitude we’ve explored this season: Rest — She returned to prayer and the sacraments, drawing her strength from God. Stability — She remained rooted in her calling as her circumstances changed dramatically around her. Tolerance — She bore wounds, imprisonment, humiliation, and mistreatment without surrendering the good. Constancy — She held her course through distractions, political opposition, interrogation, and setbacks. Fidelity — She remained faithful to God when that faithfulness cost her freedom, reputation, and ultimately her life. Perseverance — She continued over time through battles, wounds, delays, capture, imprisonment, and trial. Magnanimity — An obscure teenage peasant accepted an extraordinary calling while recognizing that its greatness came from God. And finally, Fortitude. Joan’s greatest act of Fortitude was not winning a battle. It was remaining faithful when she could no longer win. When the army was gone, when her freedom was gone, when political support was gone, and when even her life was about to be taken from her, she remained oriented toward God. The battlefield gave us the famous image of Joan’s courage. The prison and the stake revealed its deepest character. St. Joan of Arc, pray for us. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new episodes and support our work, become a paid subscriber today! 🙏 Act of Fortitude O my God, strengthen me with the virtue of Fortitude. Order my fear so that I may recognize danger without abandoning the good, and govern my daring so that I never seek danger apart from reason. Give me strength to pursue what is good, defend what is true, endure what must be suffered, and remain faithful when following You becomes difficult. May I never turn away from You because of fear, suffering, danger, or death. Through the grace of Jesus Christ, strengthen me to remain faithful to You until the end. Amen. ✝️ Closing Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the precious blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. Go out and fill the world with virtue. Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Other Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe (https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

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