Traditionally, the four virtues are called “cardinal” – from the Latin word for “hinge.” These four – prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude (also called courage) – are considered the chief capacities that enable one to live a moral life. These virtues empower Catholics to live lives that imitate Jesus.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, virtues “dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love.” Of the cardinal virtues, St. Thomas Aquinas declares that courage is the necessary condition of every virtue as it provides the strength of will needed to exercise any virtue consistently. Courage is the willingness to do what is right despite obstacles, frustrations and fear.
A common denominator in people of moral action is courage. St. Thomas Aquinas holds that courage is not the absence of fear. Rather, it is the ability to overcome fear. It is the strength of character to persevere in doing the right things despite being afraid.
Courage is not a Superman virtue. You don’t need courage if you’re invulnerable, impervious to harm or without risk. Courage presupposes our vulnerability. Courage is necessary precisely because we can be harmed by doing what is right.
Courage also is necessary because we can be wounded, or worse, in doing the right thing. We need the inner determination and resolve to act in the face of fear, to act despite knowing we can be hurt in the pursuit of good.
Of the cardinal virtues, St. Thomas Aquinas stresses the importance of courage. Without courage we cannot be consistently moral or good. We can succumb to fear – the fear of being judged disloyal; the fear of losing the approval of family and friends; the fear of being fired; the fear of threatening letters, emails or tweets; the fear of loneliness or abandonment; the fear of being hurt or injured; or even the fear of being killed.
African American author Maya Angelou writes, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”
She also laments that while many of us have empathy, or the ability to understand and respond to the pain of another, “we may not have enough courage to display it.” Without courage, we cannot be kind, true, merciful, generous or honest, especially if doing so puts us at risk.
Fear is an important instrument of control. Fear keeps us from being our best selves, our true selves. Moral courage is the willingness to take a potentially costly moral action simply because it is the right thing to do. It is acting despite the personal consequences because of the harm that can be prevented or the good that can be provided for others. Moral courage is what turns moral conviction into moral action.
What distinguishes courageous people is not necessarily their beliefs but their willingness to act on their beliefs in the face of opposition, ridicule, danger and fear. Being afraid is part of the human condition. Courage enables us to translate our moral convictions into action, despite being afraid.
As Christians, we believe that courage is a gift of the Holy Spirit. I am inspired by the courageous folks who do what is right and who stand for truth despite enormous pressures. I pray for a greater infusion of courage in our public leaders, my friends and family, and in all people of good will who work for the common good, the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized.
Through our baptism, we all are called to holiness and to have the courage to be living saints. To be Christians, we need to acknowledge that we have active parts in God’s ongoing story. We need to know our actions, or our failures to act, have consequences. We cannot simply wait for a better world. We must be courageous and take responsibility for effecting the changes necessary to bring our world closer to God’s heavenly home.
Courage translates our moral convictions into moral actions. May God bless your moral actions.
“Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.” (1 Chronicles 28:20)