Fortitude calls us to demonstrate Joseph’s silent strength

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Dec 21, 2025

4th Sunday of Advent

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122125.cfm

Isaiah 7:10-14   Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Romans 1:1-7    Matthew 1:18-24

So far in our Cardinal Virtue homily series, we have heard about Temperance - the regulating of our desires and appetites for created goods.  Next was Prudence - The ability to discern the true good and the right means to achieve it.  Last week was Justice - giving each person their due and fulfilling duties to God, others, and society. This week, we will discuss the Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude. 

Let’s start right off with what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says in paragraph 1808:

Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of 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." 

The Catechism never says it will allow you to not have fear, but when you do have fear, fortitude helps you overcome it.

Of course, the first thing that popped into my head was in Star Wars, when Luke tried to lift his spaceship out of the swamp using the force and failed, claiming it’s too big. Yoda scolds Luke, saying,

Size matters not. Look at me; judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? And well you should not.

Well, Yoda is right, the virtue of Fortitude is not made stronger by going to Planet Fitness and pumping iron.  This virtue is strengthened by prayer and reaching out to the Holy Spirit for guidance and help.  This virtue grows most with true love of Jesus, and we can see that in our Scripture readings today.  We see three main men today: Ahaz, Paul, and Joseph.  Two illustrated extreme, but different types of Fortitude, and one failed miserably.  

Ahaz looked to his own power and not to God, so if you guessed Ahaz as our failure today, then you guessed right! In our reading from Isaiah, Ahaz was told to trust in God, and if he did, the oncoming army would not destroy the city.  God said he would give Ahaz a sign, but Ahaz didn’t want the sign; he wanted to trust in himself and perhaps try to ally with another nation.

Let’s look at some of Ahaz’s deeds:

• He allied with the pagan king of Assyria 
• Created a pagan altar just like the king of Assyria had
• Because of the pagan altar, Ahaz desecrated the true temple with sacrifices to the gods of Damascus on this new altar 
• He moved the altar of the Lord to the side to make way for this pagan altar
• Ahaz removed the royal entryway of the temple and the Sabbath canopy as well.  He also destroyed the temple furnishings
• Ahaz also sacrificed some of his VERY OWN children to these pagan gods.

I won’t go into too much detail about Paul. I think we are familiar with his writings and the fact that, after his sinful persecution of Christians, he had a change of life and turned to God, demonstrating his great Fortitude.

Lastly, Joseph, who quietly followed the will of God and is never quoted in scripture.  Joseph trusted and followed God’s will even when it was hard.

Let’s look at some of Joseph’s accomplishments:

• Scripture tells us he was a righteous man
• He sought to divorce Mary quietly so as not to subject her to a trial and the death penalty.
• He listened to the Angel of God and took Mary, the Mother of God, as his wife.
• He named the child Jesus as the angel instructed.
• He became the foster father of the Son of God!
• Joseph protected Jesus and Mary and again listened to an angel and went to Egypt when he found out Herod was looking to kill the Christ child.

What about us? Fortitude, for us, doesn’t have to be on such a grand scale as helping to raise the Son of God or martyrdom.  For us, it is simply facing life's difficulties with steadfastness, not just in great deeds, but in daily perseverance.  It can be choosing what is difficult but right; over what is easy yet wrong.  It’s our daily struggle in resisting temptations.  Our Fortitude calls us to the foot of the cross when we are suffering, staying by God’s side when enduring hardship.  Fortitude calls us to stand up for and respect life in all its stages, even as our society preaches a culture of death. Fortitude calls us to stand up for the marginalized, the poor and the destitute. 

Sometimes, especially for me, Fortitude calls us to demonstrate Joseph’s silent strength as a spouse and parent, always following the will of God.

Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance towards Fortitude this week to help us live out the words of Pope Leo:

Here is the secret of the movement of the human heart: returning to the source of its being, delighting in the joy that never fails, that never disappoints. No one can live without a meaning that goes beyond the contingent, beyond what passes away

Stay humbly focused on the goal: Eternity in Heaven

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Oct 26th, 2025

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102625.cfm

Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 Luke 18:9-14

When I pray, I always thank God for making me the most humble person that I know. The top dog, number one when it comes to being humble, more humble than everyone else!

Now, of course, we know that kind of prayer contradicts itself; if you think you are the most humble, then you are very far from humility and are more prideful than humble. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins, and humility is one of the 7 virtues. Yes, there are sins that are deadly and sins that are not so, mortal and venial sins. This is in scripture and can be found in 1 John 5:16-17

If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. … All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.

A deadly sin, or mortal sin, requires the sacrament of confession to get back to the graces of God. The reason for this is explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1855:

Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.

Further on in Paragraph 1861, the Catechism tells us:

It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices forever, with no turning back.

That took a dark turn, didn’t it, but I try to preach what the Holy Spirit tells me to, and the Holy Spirit is reminding us that we must remain aware that we have lost some sense of sin of late in modern society, and we need to get it back. Influences such as secularism, the decline of religious influence, and our wrongdoing are sometimes shrugged off as I’m not hurting anybody or the harm is to others and there is not much thought of offending God. We need to be aware of how we offend other humans, but we also need to be aware that our sins offend God. We need to remember that our sins are our sins, and they don’t become less severe because we aren’t murderers or adulterers. I may have done this, but at least I didn’t do what THAT person did! We are inclined to judge ourselves based on people we think are less than we are, but who are those who are above us and judging us in the same manner? Are we the Pharisee or the tax collector? Our disposition must be one of humility, like the tax collector. Our prayer must be made in humility! The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2559:

When we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought," are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God."

Well… terribly uplifting homily, isn’t it? There is hope, there is the rest of the story! Jesus died for us to open the gates of Heaven when we enter our eternity, and within his church and through the priesthood, Jesus gave us the sacrament of Confession. Confession cleans the slate, gives us a fresh start, and opens up the graces of God to be received by us again. St. Paul knew his journey into eternity was coming up when he wrote:

I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on, the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.

Do we long for the Lord’s appearance? Do we realize we are fighting a battle against evil, against Satan? It is indeed a competition, not against our fellow humans but against all evil, especially pride. We must race to win. We must race humbly! If we have strayed off the course and are in danger of losing, then head to confession to get back on track - it’s a sacrament that we must take advantage of as often as necessary, especially when we fear we are in the state of mortal sin! We must stay focused on the goal: eternity in Heaven. Saint Vincent de Paul tells us:

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.

I am the gate for the sheep

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Aug 21, 2022

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082122.cfm

In late June I was walking around the grounds of my work and noticed an area coned off.  In the middle of it was a piping plover sitting on a nest with three eggs.   Later in July I was walking around that same area and noticed, what appeared to be a very injured plover adult.  It was making a racket and wriggling around upside down with its wings out as if it were hurt.  I also noticed three very small plovers sitting motionless in the nest.  If the adult were to die then so too would the chicks.  I went to check on the adult to see if I could help that poor plover and as I got closer it got up and ran quickly away from the younger plovers then proceeded to lie upside down as though injured again.  The adult was trying to get me, a perceived predator away from its chicks, it was using itself to pull me away from them.

Seeing this made me think about how Jesus is like that to us.  He is pulling us away from any dangers, sacrificing himself so that we remain safe, we just have to trust in Him and do as He says.  Jesus is the way to eternal peace, happiness, and joy in Heaven:

"Lord, will only a few people be saved?" He answered them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.

For the piping plovers I know one of the chicks was not strong enough as there were only two around the adults after a couple of weeks.  

Of course, there are minor differences between piping plover parents and Jesus Christ.  Ok, MAJOR differences.

First, God instilled into the parent plovers the instinct to protect their young in this manner, it’s programmed into their brains to do this.  God has instilled into us His own image and God has done this out of love - a perfect love - agape love, and with that love, sometimes comes discipline and we must accept both!

"My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges." Endure your trials as "discipline";

God treats you as sons.

Second, the plover's parents are protecting them to keep them from injury and death, the end of the line for them. Since humans are the only part of creation God gave a soul to our death isn’t the end of the line for us.  Jesus isn’t protecting our bodies from physical death as we are all sure to pass from this Earth, instead, he is protecting us from spiritual death.  Jesus wants every single human soul to be with God the Father in Heaven.  Jesus died for every sin of every soul from the beginning of time to the end of time to help us gain that eternity in Heaven.

A third difference is that when a predator is near, the plover chicks were supposed to ball up, be still, and do nothing as the parents try to draw that danger away from them.  When we feel threatened or troubled by things in life we should do the exact opposite, we should run to Jesus, and pray for help and protection to get us through this trial. We must strive to enter through the narrow gate.  Jesus is that gate! Sometime this week read and meditate over the Gospel of John chapter ten.  It begins with:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, a whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.

And then verses 7-9:

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

How do we enter the narrow gate?  How can we be one of the few?  Here are some suggestions.

Get to Confession:  confess your sins regularly to a priest. Write it as a monthly event on your calendar so you don’t forget.  I need to do this myself, I’m every other month or even an every three-month confession guy myself.  I need to fix that for sure!  After a good confession, all you’re sins are forgiven and you are given a clean slate!

Read your Bible: Read and study the scripture and learn from the scripture!  We try to have a scripture study here every season.  The last one on the Biblical Roots of the Mass was awesome. Studying scripture and the Catholic faith is better with others as we can learn from them as well.  

We should also remember our baptismal roles as Priest, Prophet, and King:  The Catechism of the Catholic Church talks about this:

The anointing with sacred chrism, perfumed oil consecrated by the bishop, signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit to the newly baptized, who has become a Christian, that is, one "anointed" by the Holy Spirit, incorporated into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king.

So you are probably thinking - “So Deacon, How do we fulfill that role”?  We heard the major way to do that in today’s Responsorial Psalm:

Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

Our role as Catholics doesn’t end when we walk out of Church right after the dismissal.  There are options to what we can say after the final blessing.  Things like:

Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord

or

Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life

So remember this, when we leave Church today our job as Priest, Prophet, and King isn’t over, it’s just begun.  

As St. Augustine said:

Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.

Fear not!

December 15, 2019

Third Sunday of Advent
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121519.cfm


I’m going to start today by reflecting on the Theology of A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Seriously, bear with me as I explain.  I was reading a blog about this and it touched upon something I bet not many of us noticed.  I certainly never noticed it after watching it yearly for over 50 years.  When Linus is on stage, explaining what Christmas is all about to Charlie Brown and the others, there is a moment that is very subtle but says a lot.  As Linus says the words: 

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy…

The moment Linus says “fear not” he drops his blanket.  Linus never drops his blanket, remember the exchange when his sister Lucy tells him:

And get rid of that stupid blanket! What's a Christmas shepherd gonna look like holding a stupid blanket like that?

And to that Linus replies:

Well, this is one Christmas shepherd who's going to keep his trusty blanket with him.

The thing that gets Linus to let go of his trusty blanket is when he states that line from Luke talking about the good tidings of old where the savior that they had long awaited had finally come!

In the first reading the prophet Isaiah tells us:

Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense, he comes to save you.

He comes to save you.  Yes, you, not just me, not just that person sitting beside you, not just those of us serving here on the altar.  He comes, also to save that person in your family who is not here with you today.   This salvation is for all!  This Sunday is called Gaudete Sunday.  Gaudete means rejoice.  Yet we seem to live in a world filled with anxiety, darkness, and fear.  Why?  

One of the reasons is we seem to focus more on our earthly security blankets.  These cannot be trusted.  My major security blanket is stability.  I do not like change at all, I am “one Christmas shepherd who's going to keep his trusty stability with him” you could say.

I’ve been at my “starter” job for 30 years.  I’ve been in my first starter home for about 25 years now.  I've had my starter wife for 30 years!  Seriously though, I really probably shouldn't kid about the sanctity of marriage and I have indeed been happily married for all those years.  But anyway, I need that stability, that lack of change.   This fear of change almost kept me from the diaconate.  I knew my life would change, I’d have to take four more years of classes, I’d have to do well in those classes and then, who knows?  This fear brought darkness and anxiety.  I turned to the light of Christ to dispel that darkness!  I turned to prayer.  I turned to more time in adoration.  I turned to scripture.  These things became, for me,  the light that got me through that darkness to illuminate the truth of what God really wants me to do.

I remember when I was younger (but still probably older than I like to admit) I had a terrible fear of darkness.  My mind would conjure up all sorts of terrible nasty things that lived in that darkness.  Back then all it took was a light, any light, to dispel those unseen boogymen back to a place they couldn’t bother me and my fear would disappear.  You see, darkness has one weakness.  Light.  When in a dark room all you need to do is light a candle and the darkness is gone.  The darkness has no power over that candle, the candle, once lit cannot be beaten by darkness for that darkness ceases to exist.  We need to let Christ be that light that dispels darkness for us.  What dark areas of our life do we need to shed light on this final week of Advent?  

We must always remember that we are preparing to once again celebrate the coming of Christ, of God, of the word becoming Jesus the flesh.  It is kind of a big deal and is the best news to come to us while here on earth.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 522 states:

The coming of God's Son to earth is an event of such immensity that God willed to prepare for it over centuries. He makes everything converge on Christ: all the rituals and sacrifices, figures and symbols of the "First Covenant". He announces him through the mouths of the prophets who succeeded one another in Israel. Moreover, he awakens in the hearts of the pagans a dim expectation of this coming.

Prepare ye the way indeed!  Confession is a great way to allow us to prepare for this awakening.  Maybe spend an hour or more in adoration over the next couple of weeks meditating on scripture such as Luke chapter 2.  Put aside the shopping, the last minute hurried preparations and really discover the true meaning of Christmas so we aren’t asking what Charlie Brown had to shout out on that stage:

Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

It’s about the humble beginnings of the birth of the man that came to earth to reverse the fall of Adam and grant us all salvation.  All we need to do is accept that gift and cherish it.  The birth of Christ is indeed the greatest gift we will ever receive at Christmas.

It’s what St. Athanasius meant when he said:

“He became what we are so that He might make us what He is.”