What is the gift of fortitude

In extreme cases fortitute encourages us to face adversities with the most appropriate response, curbing unreasonable fears over temptation to lash out blindly. Along with courage in everyday life it helps in overcoming obstacles and/or enduring that which can't be changed.

Essentially it's the spiritual gift of self-confidence that submits mastery of self to become the instrument of the Holy Spirit working in cooperation with the spirit. In doing so we have God as our strength and us as the one enduring. Like a good habit by which we can live righteously.

RoseforChrist said:

What exactly is the gift of fortitude and courage?

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C. S. Lewis writes: "Fortitude includes both kinds of courage -- the kind that faces danger as well as the kind that 'sticks it' under pain. 'Guts' is perhaps the nearest modern English. You will notice, of course, that you cannot practise any of the other virtues very long without bringing this one into play."

RoseforChrist said:

What exactly is the gift of fortitude and courage?

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People can train themselves to be courageous without Christ. But true courage that stands the test of time can only come from intimacy with the Lord. We see that in Acts 4:13 where Peter and John, though illiterate and ordinary, spoke with confidence and courage and the world realized that these men were with Jesus. God bless you child .

I took the word fortitude to be like in the case of Joshua where God had to tell him he was old, because he didn't feel it. (Genesis 13:1, Genesis 14:10-11)

RoseforChrist said:

What exactly is the gift of fortitude and courage?

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In the Catholic Church Fortitude is one of the Four Cardinal Virtues (along with Prudence, Temperance, and Justice). I like how the Catechism describes it best:

Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. "The Lord is my strength and my song." (Psalms 118:14) "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

RoseforChrist said:

What exactly is the gift of fortitude and courage?

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Everything good is a gift from God, but these two in particular are ones that often require a lot of effort on our part to unwrap. The Lord told Joshua several times to be strong and very courageous. At the end of 1Sam David "encouraged himself in the Lord" when all seemed lost and even his own men wanted to kill him. Whenever things were very scary in the Gospels, Jesus tells people to "fear not, only believe", whether it's to the father of the daughter who died, or the disciples out on the sea who thought they had seen a ghost. Jesus made an appearance in a vision to Paul when he was up against a lot of opposition at Corinth, to tell him not to fear (acts 18.9; cf 1Cor 2.3). And He told John the same thing in Revelation when John "fell down as dead" in His presence.

So it seems to me courage and fortitude work something like faith and wisdom. Sometimes they are an outright gift of the moment. But normally they are something we must make a decision to grab onto and not let go of, as a response to God's truth and grace. In this last case we are very much actively co-laboring with God, not passive recipients of a gift.