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Quinquagesima Sunday

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Quinquagesima Sunday Quinquagesima Sunday - Fortitude In the name of the Father… I have spoken previously about the Beatitudes articulating progress in the spiritual life, i.e., progress in charity. St Augustine paired each Beatitude with a Gift of the Holy Ghost.1 Drawing on this, the first Beatitude of the Poor in Spirit was characterized by humility, i.e., the disposition to be conformed to God’s measure, and Fear of the Lord relating to God’s transcendence and our indigence.2 Endurance being the greater part of fortitude, the second Beatitude of the meek had the notion of stability, characterized by patience and the Gift of piety which disposes to be formed by superiors and tradition.3 The third Beatitude of mourning was characterized by the Gift of knowledge whereby we judge rightly about creatures which can be a snare, and penance whereby we make good for past sins.4 St Augustine’s explication of the Beatitudes drew on his own experience: proud, he was disdainful of divine authority; a rhetorician and philosopher, he was derisory toward the simplicity of the scriptures; carnal, he was entangled in sins of the flesh. The first three Beatitudes pertain to a well-ordered love of self. Noting that the first effect of virtue is to draw us away from evil, St Thomas discerns Our Lord warning against false notions of happiness - possessions, power and pleasure - obstacles to attaining true happiness. The fourth Beatitude - blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied - introduces the well-ordered love of neighbor, for justice pertains to the common good. This Beatitude retains, however, a reference to self. Rightly ordered to God, neighbor and other creatures - his lower powers being subject to reason and reason to God - Adam was created in state of Original Justice, which state he was to transmit to his progeny. Destroyed by his sin, however, he passed on rather Original Sin, a corruption of human nature.5 The fourth Beatitude, then, speaks not only of external but also internal righteousness. If we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, we must have a well-ordered love of self. Following Isaiah’s enumeration, Augustine assigns the Gift of fortitude to the fourth Beatitude. He writes: In the fourth stage there is labor, where vehement exertion is put forth in order that the mind may wrench itself away from those things in which, by reason of their pestilential sweetness, it is 1 St Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount, Bk 1 2 XVIII Sunday after Pentecost – Spiritual Poverty; Resumed IV Sunday after Epiphany – Humility and Fear 3 XI Sunday after Pentecost – Meekness and Piety; XII Sunday after Pentecost – Patience 4 V Sunday after Pentecost – Blessed are Those who Mourn; VI Sunday after Pentecost – The Virtue of Penance 5 ST Ia Iae 82 – Original Sin as to its Essence; ST Ia Iae 85, 1, c entangled. Here, therefore, righteousness is hungered and thirsted after and fortitude is very necessary, because what is retained with delight is not abandoned without pain.6 Augustine refers to his past entanglements and struggles to be free: the righteousness he strives after is internal. Then introducing the note of intensity, he continues: Fortitude corresponds to those hungering and thirsting: for they labor in earnestly desiring joy from things which are truly good and in eagerly seeking to turn away their love from earthly and corporeal things… bravely contending for salvation.7 From his own experience, Augustine knew the problems lying ahead: anyone [who] encounters difficulty in these toils, and advancing through hardships and rough ways surrounded with various temptations, and perceiving the troubles of his past life rise up on this side and on that, [might become] afraid lest he should not be able to carry through what he has undertaken.8 That is, one striving after righteousness might recoil at the work involved and fall away. Augustine recalled here a biblical image: For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish.’9 The pursuit of holiness cannot be begun half-heartedly: we must be prepared to overcome any obstacles in the way. St Thomas explains that this comes from the Gift of fortitude: Man's mind is moved by the Holy Ghost in order that he may attain the end of each work begun and avoid whatever perils may threaten… [S]ometimes it is not in a man's power to attain the end of his work or to avoid evils or dangers… [T]he end of all good deeds and the release from all perils [is everlasting life]. A certain confidence of [attaining] this is infused into the mind by the Holy Ghost who expels any fear of the contrary… [T]o give confidence of overcoming all dangers… belongs to the [Gift of] fortitude.10 This confidence is a participation in the final security of heaven, where the Gifts of the Holy Ghost - including fortitude - remain. Thomas observes: The gifts have not the same acts in heaven as on the way… [there] they exercise acts in connection with the enjoyment of the end… the act of fortitude there is to enjoy full security from toil and evil.11 In heaven we will enjoy perfect freedom from all dangers: on earth, the Holy Ghost inspires us with confidence to overcome them. 6 St Augustine, op. cit., Ch 3 (§10) 7 Idem., Ch 4 (§11-12) 8 Idem., Ch 18 (§55) 9 Lk 14:28-30 10 ST IIa IIae 139, 1, c & ad 1um 11 Ibid., ad 2um St Augustine continues: But who would venture to enter upon labors so great, unless one who is so inflamed with the love of righteousness, that, as it were utterly consumed with hunger and thirst, and thinking there is no life for him till that is satisfied, he puts forth violence to obtain the kingdom of heaven? For otherwise he will not be able bravely to endure all those things which the lovers of this world reckon toilsome and arduous, and altogether difficult in getting rid of bad habits. Augustine recalls a second biblical image: The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and men of violence take it by force.12 Not just by overcoming obstacles, the fourth Beatitude speaks of progress in charity only by intensity: inflamed… utterly consumed… puts forth violence… hunger and thirst. On the threshold of Lent, Quinquagesima Sunday brings us to Jericho and the start of the ascent to Jerusalem. In Our Lord’s time, this steep and difficult ascent was beset with difficulties: recall the thieves in the parable of the Good Samaritan. It was an ascent which required fortitude. Even more so does the moral ascent from vice to virtue which advances… through hardships and rough ways surrounded with various temptations… the troubles of past life ris[ing] up on this side and on that, an ascent on which we must… bravely endure all those things which the lovers of this world reckon toilsome and arduous, and altogether difficult in getting rid of bad habits. Not just a Lenten, this is a life-long ascent in pursuit of righteousness, progress in charity. His Passion looming, the Lord knew no restraint: he set his face toward Jerusalem.13 St Augustine spoke of intensity. In Lent, as we ascend with the Lord and approach Jerusalem, we learn of the Jews’ increasing rancor toward him, their determination to be rid of him. After Our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he cleansed the Temple,14 prompting the apostles to recall the words of the Psalmist: Zeal for your house has consumed me15- not only for bricks and mortar, but even more so for the flesh and blood which is the Temple of the Holy Ghost wherein - thirsted for - righteousness, charity, must reign. The culmination of Our Lord’s physical ascent must find analogy in our moral ascent. During Holy Week, we relive again the intensity of the conflict: the envy of the Jews, and what Fr Garrigou-Lagrange calls the characteristic virtue of the Savior - zeal. 12 Mt 11:12 13 Lk 9:51 14 Mt 21:12-13 15 Jn 2:17 .
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