Lent 2026 - Reading #17 - Fortitude
Reading
The Letter to the Hebrews offers one of Scripture's most powerful exhortations to fortitude: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted" (Hebrews 12:1-3). The author continues: "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed" (Hebrews 12:11-13). Here Scripture gives fortitude its Christological center: we endure because Christ endured. Our courage is not bootstrapped from our own resources but drawn from the one who has already walked the hardest road and emerged victorious.
Reflection
Seventeen days into our Lenten pilgrimage, Scripture places before us the great cloud of witnesses and the figure of Christ himself. We are more than halfway through Lent's first half, and the virtues we have been cultivating, prudence, justice, and now fortitude, are beginning to form a coherent picture of the person God is calling us to become. Today, the Letter to the Hebrews grounds our courage in the one place it can truly be sustained: in Christ. The image of the race is powerful. A race is not a moment of inspiration but a sustained effort. It requires pacing, endurance, the ability to push through the wall when your body and mind scream to stop. Lent is such a race. And the secret of finishing well, according to Hebrews, is not willpower but vision, "looking to Jesus." Our fortitude is derivative; it flows from contemplating the one who endured the cross itself. There is profound comfort in the honesty of this passage. "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant." The Bible does not pretend that Lenten sacrifice, or any sacrifice, feels good in the moment. But it promises fruit: "the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Today, lift your drooping hands. You are not running alone. The witnesses surround you, and Christ has run ahead. The fortitude you need for today, and for the weeks remaining, is not something you must generate from scratch. It is a gift, offered freely to all who ask.