Let your majesty not lose courage. I am at your service to go and fight this Philistine. (1 Samuel 17:32)
Goliath, apparently, was a very big man. David, the shepherd boy, tells the king, Saul, to have courage. Very often, one man standing up in courage can affect many others, giving them courage as well. Oftentimes, it comes down to one man who turns the tide. In this case, it is David, the youthful shepherd, who is brave enough to fight Goliath. The Philistine army is staring down Israel’s army in a deadlock. For forty days, Goliath comes out everyday to taunt the Israelites to send out a warrior who would fight in Israel’s place. Without experience or even a suit of armor, David accepts the challenge.
David has fortitude. It comes in handy when there is a “difficult good” to achieve. Oftentimes, we are challenged with situations, which present obstacles to our achieving some good that we desire. We need fortitude to overcome any difficulties that stand between the desired good and us. Israel wants to defeat their enemies. The Philistines have insulted the God of Israel.
Sometimes, situations in our life call for “aggression” or “attack.” Our fear might be telling us to run away and hide, but fortitude helps us not to be overcome by these emotions. We still might feel the fear, but we don’t act on it. We do what is right. Anger, the most often misunderstood passion, can help us to achieve the good. We see an injustice or someone getting cheated, and we get angry. This anger can help motivate us to do something, to wake us up from a “sleepy passivity.”
Sometimes, in a given situation, there is nothing that we can do. All we can do is endure the hardship. This is the second mode of fortitude: endurance. Joseph Pieper writes, “In the world as it is constituted, it is only in the supreme test, which leaves no other possibility of resistance than endurance, that the inmost and deepest strength of man reveals itself.” Prudence must guide our efforts. We have to have a just cause in order to truly have fortitude. Oftentimes our anger can be rooted in pride in wanting to win an argument, or we simply get caught up in polemics and each side becomes entrenched in their positions. When there is no more action to be taken, endurance proves the “genuine character” of fortitude. (Joseph Pieper) The suffering that we endure will purify us and probably reveal the justness of our cause. If our fortitude was about an unjust cause, we probably will not be willing to suffer much for its sake. We need a certain detachment and interior freedom to discern when we have to do something. Our endurance can purify us and help us to make a better determination of what we are to do.
What was the source of David’s courage? Goliath was around nine feet tall. David was a youth; he had no experience. He was a shepherd and not one of Saul’s soldiers. In fact, he was a kind of waterboy for the troops. He would bring things from home up to his brothers who were fighting. He wasn’t even big enough to wear Saul’s armor for the fight. Think of the pressure he was under. His success or failure would determine the fate of Israel’s army.
David’s courage came from his faith in God. He might have had an eye on the possible reward by Saul for his bravery, but apparently Goliath must have been pretty intimidating because for forty days, not a single soldier stepped forward. David had experienced God’s strength and protection before when he was shepherding. He tells Saul that on many occasions, while shepherding his flocks, he fought off wild animals, and that it was God who delivered him from these beasts. He looked at his past and saw how God was always with him.
This is true for all of us. God is always with us, especially in the difficult moments of our life. This strengthens our faith to look back and see that God never abandons us but sees us through the different crises we experience.
David gathered five stones from the riverbed. Goliath had a heavy suit of armor, a big spear and a shield bearer. David found his security in the Lord and not in human might. He used the simple and familiar to glorify the Lord. It took one stone. “…I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted. Today the Lord shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head.” David’s faith has given him a confidence against the philistine. He actually runs up to Goliath to engage him in battle. This kid has fortitude! And boldness, for he cuts off the head of Goliath with the philistine’s own sword and brings the head back to Saul. Not bad for a shepherd (but of course this shepherd has faith).
We also have modern day examples of the boldness of faith. Our own Mother Angelica took on the “Goliath” of the modern media to provide a Catholic channel amidst so many ungodly entertainments. It is truly a faith that can move mountains, when we see Mother on cable systems right alongside channels that promote a culture divorced from Christian values.
Mother Angelica has no education beyond high school; no special training in film or television; no money of her own; she lives in a cloister; she has suffered from physical ailments most of her life and yet she has created a Catholic network that feeds many people around the world. Raymond Arroyo quotes her in his book, Mother Angelica, as saying “When the Lord acts with me, there’s always a leap of faith, the leap of faith that says yes or no. And at that point, the question is: Do you recognize the providence of God?” (p. 199)
In the late 70’s, Mother was recording videotapes of her spiritual lessons at a local network affiliate. That particular network was airing a blasphemous miniseries on the life of Christ. She challenged the station manager to remove the movie from the air. He replied, “But do you think God cares what we do down here?” Mother responded, “Yes, He cares, and I care.” (p. 145) With barely any money in the bank, she and the sisters turned their garage project into a television studio. “And what if you fail?” one doubter asked Mother. “Then I’m going to have the most lit-up garage in Birmingham.” (p. 146)
When Mother started the shortwave radio, she went to Rome following an inspiration. She figured that was the place to do it because that is “where the languages are”. Without a plan or even an appointment with someone in Rome, she flew there. While in the hotel room, she figured that she would need land, so they went out looking for it. After many twists and turns of providence, she wound up building the facility outside of Birmingham atop one of the mountains in St. Clare County.
Mother Angelica’s missionary zeal comes from her love for Jesus. It comes from her faith in Him that makes her “willing to do the ridiculous in order to do the miraculous.” So many voices today are simply a “resounding gong”, “a clanging symbol” devoid of a real love for Christ. Even within the Church, many voices are irrelevant to people’s lives because these voices lack spirituality, a deep relationship with Lord. Mother has fed us because she gives us the food that she gets from Jesus. Her sufferings made her totally dependent on God. Her dependence on the Lord yielded a bountiful harvest that has fed many.
Mother gives us courage. As David faced Goliath, she cares that God is attacked and mocked. As David tended his sheep, she sees the spiritual hunger of people that is even more intense than a physical hunger and does something about it. We see the difficulties that she overcame in her personal life and in running the network, and we are encouraged to do the work that the Lord has entrusted to us. Let us not lose courage when we have so many witnesses around us, who trusted in the Lord.
by Fr. Mark Mary, MFVA
