Pray It Off 3/3/11 Fortitude and Temperance in Weight Loss

Fortitude*

Cardinal Virtue

The virtue of fortitude, or courage, is firmness of spirit, steadiness of will in doing good despite obstacles in the performance of our daily duty. It suppresses inordinate fear and curbs recklessness. Because fortitude also moderates rashness, it is the special virtue of pioneers in any field.

Fortitude is the obverse of temperance. Where temperance limits inordinate desire for major pleasures such as food and drink or the marital act,
fortitude limits inordinate rashness and fear in the face of major pain that threatens to unbalance human nature.

Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues; the others are prudence, justice, and temperance.

Gift of the Spirit

The gift of fortitude brings to those who have it a dauntless spirit of resolution, firmness of mind, and indomitable will to persevere with a quiet faith in God’s providence that overcomes all obstacles. It also brings courage to persist in the practice of virtue despite trials, illness, persecution or external failure. A Catholic who becomes fervent in God’s service will soon be condemned by the world, but the gift of fortitude will sustain him as he walks toward the Cross.

Fortitude is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The others are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

*http://www.secondexodus.com/html/catholicdefinitions/fortitude.htm

Temperance*

Temperance is the virtue that moderates the desire for pleasure. It regulates every form of enjoyment that comes from the exercise of human volition, and includes all those virtues, especially humility, that restrain the inordinate movements of our desires or appetites.

In particular, temperance is the obverse of fortitude. Where fortitude limits rashness and fear in the case of major pain that threatens to unbalance human nature, temperance limits inordinate desire for major pleasures. Since pleasure follows from all natural activity, the most intense pleasure follows from the most natural activities, particularly the pleasures of food and drink, and of the marital act.

Temperance is one of the four cardinal virtues; the others are prudence, justice, and fortitude.

Temperance is also is one of the seven capital virtues. The others are humility, liberality, brotherly love, meekness, chastity, and diligence. They are called capital because all the virtues we strive to practice are said to flow from these seven capital virtues. Temperance is opposed to the capital sin of gluttony.

*http://secondexodus.com/html/catholicdefinitions/temperance.htm

Fortitude and Temperance Cardinal Virtues
By Scott P. Richert

Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues. As such, it can be practiced by anyone, since, unlike the theological virtues, the cardinal virtues are not, in themselves, the gifts of God through grace but the outgrowth of habit.

Fortitude is commonly called courage, but it is different from what much of what we think of as courage today. Fortitude is always reasoned and reasonable; the person exercising fortitude is willing to put himself in danger if necessary, but he does not seek danger for danger's sake.

The Third of the Cardinal Virtues:

St. Thomas Aquinas ranked fortitude as the third of the cardinal virtues, because it serves prudence and justice, the higher virtues. Fortitude is the virtue that allows us to overcome fear and to remain steady in our will in the face of obstacles. Prudence and justice are the virtues through which we decide what needs to be done; fortitude gives us the strength to do it.

What Fortitude Is Not:

Fortitude is not foolhardiness or rashness, "rushing in where angels fear to tread." Indeed, part of the virtue of fortitude, as Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., notes in his Modern Catholic Dictionary, is the "curbing of recklessness." Putting our bodies or lives in danger when it is not necessary is not fortitude but foolishness.

A Gift of the Holy Spirit:

Sometimes, however, the ultimate sacrifice is necessary, in order to stand up for what is right and to save our souls. Fortitude is the virtue of the martyrs, who are willing to give their lives rather than to renounce their faith. That sacrifice may be passive—Christian martyrs do not actively seek martyrdom—but it is nonetheless determined and resolute.

It is in martyrdom that we see the best example of fortitude rising above a mere cardinal virtue (able to be practiced by anyone) into a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit. But it also shows itself, as the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, "in moral courage against the evil spirit of the times, against improper fashions, against human respect, against the common tendency to seek at least the comfortable, if not the voluptuous."

Fortitude, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, also allows us to cope with poverty and loss, and to cultivate the Christian virtues that allow us to rise above the basic requirements of Christianity. The saints, in their love for God and their fellow man and their determination to do what is right, exhibit fortitude as a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit, and not merely as a cardinal virtue.

Temperance, as the Catholic Encylopedia notes, "is concerned with what is difficult for a man, not in so far as he is a rational being precisely, but rather in so far as he is an animal." It is the control of the desire for pleasure.
In this sense, as Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., notes in his Modern Catholic Dictionary, it corresponds to fortitude, which restrains our fears, physical as well as spiritual.

The Fourth of the Cardinal Virtues:

St. Thomas Aquinas ranked temperance as the fourth of the cardinal virtues, because it serves prudence, justice, and fortitude. The moderation of our own desires is essential to acting rightly (prudence), giving each man his due (justice), and standing strong in the face of adversity (fortitude). Temperance is that virtue which attempts to overcome the human condition that "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mark 14:38).

Temperance in Practice:

When we practice the virtue of temperance, we call it by different names, depending upon the physical desire that we are restraining. The desire for food is natural and good; but when we develop an inordinate desire for food, we call that the vice of gluttony. Likewise, the inordinate indulgence in wine or other alcoholic beverages is called drunkenness, and both gluttony and drunkenness are combated by abstinence, which is temperance applied to our desire for food and drink.

Similarly, we receive pleasure from sexual intercourse, but the desire for that pleasure outside of its proper bounds--that is, outside of marriage, or even inside marriage, when we are not open to the possibility of procreation--is called lust. The practice of temperance regarding sexual pleasure is called chastity.

Temperance is primarily concerned with the control of the desires of the flesh, but
when it manifests itself as modesty, it can also restrain the desires of the spirit, such as pride. In all cases, the practice of temperance requires the balancing of legitimate goods against an inordinate desire for them.

PHOTOS: flickr.com, returntomanliness.com