We’ve been studying together about virtue. Fair question though, is if we are talking about fortitude, who do we consider strong? Who do we consider courageous? The soldier who defends his country in battle, certainly. Any person who risks their life to save someone else’s life, certainly. There are also examples which are less well known, courage. Take the young lady for example, she’s pregnant. She gets pressured by family friends, boyfriend, partner, whatever, to get rid of the baby, for trivial selfish reasons. But she says no, she insists on no. Take the man in the workplace, he’s offered a promotion, more money, an easy career path if he will go against his principles. But he says no, he insists no, against what everyone else is saying to him. It takes courage, newspapers don’t write about that a lot. But this is written in our conscious and most of all, these acts of courage a written God’s book of our life. Today, I wish to pay tribute to all the unknown courageous people, who have the strength to say no to the bad and yes to the good, even when they have to pay a price. Today I wish to pay tribute to those who love truth, seek justice and righteousness, even when they had to pay the price. I want to pay tribute to all of them today by making an effort to teach about this virtue which animated all of them, Fortitude. We will hear what this virtue is. How to obtain it, how to maintain it. The impediments to it, in other words how we might loose it. But first, I think there is a nice story, a true story which illustrates why it’s such an important virtue. For Fr. Nicholas’ complete homily please listen to the Audio.