Fortitude is a crucial virtue for anyone trying to follow the seven virtues. Like the others, it is fundamentally linked to every other virtue so that if you lose this one, the others will disappear shortly afterwards.
Fortitude is mental and emotional strength in when facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation. It means that you stick to the principles you believe in and hold fast to what you know to be true. You must have a strong will because there will be things that will push you away from the virtues you seek to uphold.
Fortitude is another cardinal virtue and thus is something that non-believers and believers alike should put into practice. For believers, it adds resistance to the temptations and trials we will face, as the enemy tends to step things up in this life after we committed our lives to the Will of God. It is through our faith in Jesus that we become enemies of the fallen ones and they will attempt to undermine our faith in Jesus.
The greatest example of mental Fortitude in the Bible is when Jesus was tempted by Satan. Being only a man at this point, though with the Spirit, he was led into the desert and spent 40 days of fasting. Basically, he was going to die soon if he did not eat since that is about how long you can survive without food. Fasting also opens a lot of doors for Satan and his ilk to attack you because you tend to lose a lot of your resistance. So Jesus was tempted by the devil three times and in all three cases He withstood Satan’s assault on his mind and spirit.
As Christians, we have come to appreciate this story, but I doubt that many Western Christians can truly fathom the struggle He must have gone through. This is because most Western Christian hardly ever fast. I admit to having done it only a few times and only for a day or myself.
For non-believers, Fortitude is equally important in that you will face trials yourself, even if they aren’t from fallen angels. Christians, of course, face the same kind of trials as non-believers, but I don’t think fallen angels are all that interested in turning non-believers from Jesus. They may try to use non-believers to serve their own ends, though, but most non-believers don’t understand what is truly happening.
Fortitude enables us to withstand our troubles and ensure that we maintain our principled set of beliefs. When you don’t have this virtue, you will become subject to the will of others, natural or otherwise, and you will lose your sense of identity. Because if there is something you know to be true and are willing to stand up for it, it is one of the signs of individuality.
I can personally attest to witnessing what happens when someone doesn’t have the fortitude to stand up for himself. It is very tragic to witness such a thing and I have nothing but sympathy for someone like that.
Practice Fortitude and stand up for yourself. Fight for the truth you know and you will prosper in the long run. Otherwise you may find yourself lacking in the other virtues, both cardinal and theological.