Where Courage Steps In

For most of us, talk of courage brings to mind highly dangerous situations, such as a criminal assault, wartime combat, a terrorist attack, or a natural disaster. But there is another side of courage that is less outwardly dramatic but is still highly dramatic in substance. That side of courage is the courage of how to live. George Weigel's recent bestseller captures this aspect with the book title The Courage to Be Catholic. Fr. Benedict Groeschel even has a book called The Courage to Be Chaste.

In Luke, when Jesus gives his famous saying that a lit lamp is not to be hidden under a bed, he goes on to make the cryptic statement that "to anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away" (Lk 8:18). What is it that one has or does not have to begin with?

Some commentators seem to focus on our generosity in communicating our faith to others. Certainly, the immediately preceding statement of not hiding the lit lamp justifies that interpretation. But we can add more.

What we can add is that this cryptic statement is a call to courage. Fundamental courage in our lives is a deep attitude, a matter of faith, not just of rapid responses to emergencies. Are we generous in our appraisal of our circumstances? Do we see new opportunities and openings when others see just danger?

If we see only dangers, then what little courage we have will dissipate. We will retreat into a siege mentality. If we have generous faith, then courage will grow. And that bold courage will enrich us. We will receive more.

An example from my brief criminal law practice comes to mind. I once had as a client an older, greying tall man with distinguished bearing. He had spent many years in prison but had recently been released. Almost immediately, he was back in trouble due to his addiction. It seemed to some of us that he almost welcomed getting arrested again. It seemed as if he was eager to return to the prison routine he had grown accustomed to over the years. Some speculated that he was an example of an "institutionalized" prisoner who felt comfortable only when he was back in prison.

Now that seems quite astonishing to most of us for whom a prison stay would be a horrible nightmare. But maybe a lot of us are like that man. We have trimmed our hopes, invested in pessimism, and see only danger everywhere. For Christians, that attitude is highly problematic because it comes close to despair.

We don't have to consult the commentators to know that Jesus preached a radical trust in divine providence. In the passage noted earlier, he seems to imply that the greater that trust the more we will receive. The old prisoner did not have that trust and turned his back on the world outside of prison. Only God knows what he could have been. It can't hurt to compare ourselves to the old prisoner and see if we too have retreated from too many opportunities.

In the film The Passion of the Christ, my favorite line is when Jesus, carrying the cross, meets his Mother and says to her, in the midst of an unfolding disaster, that he makes "all things new." Now that is courage. In the far less traumatic circumstances that most of us face, we should have the courage to see how He makes all things new so that "more will be given" to us. Otherwise, we will lose what little we have.