Toward Easter - Daily Readings & Meditations for Lent 2025 - Day 43 / Spy Wednesday

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What does true fortitude look like? As we stand at the threshold of the Sacred Triduum, this meditation on Spy Wednesday explores the profound strength demonstrated by Christ during His Passion—not through resistance or escape, but through patient endurance.

Drawing from Isaiah's prophecy and St. Luke's Passion account, we contemplate how Jesus maintained remarkable self-mastery amid excruciating suffering. "There is no movement of revolt in Jesus. He does not try to escape. We find in Him no word of hatred toward his persecutors." This challenges our modern understanding of strength, especially for those of us conditioned to equate fortitude with fighting back.

The reflection wrestles with a crucial spiritual question: When should we patiently bear our crosses like Christ, and when should we actively resist injustice? This tension becomes particularly relevant within the Church, where obedience to spiritual authorities must sometimes be balanced against other responsibilities. As St. Teresa of Avila reminds us, "If one would attain to liberty of spirit and not be always in trouble, let him begin by not being afraid of the cross and he will see how our Lord will help him to carry it."

Through examining Christ's perfect example—facing the most unjust punishment in history without revolt—we're invited to reconsider what spiritual strength truly means. Perhaps real fortitude lies not just in knowing when to fight, but in having the wisdom to discern when patient endurance transforms suffering into redemption. Join us as we prepare our hearts for the sacred days ahead, learning to pray with sincerity: "Help me not to recoil when faced with the cross, and teach me to carry it with generosity."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Sancte.
Sancte, amare morti.
Decadast nos In teis per averum.
Good morning everyone on thisSpy.

(00:34):
Wednesday in Holy Week.
We're on the last day beforethe beginning of the Sacred
Triduum, the beginning of thethe sacred uh triduum.
Today we will be talking aboutthe virtue of fortitude, and the
reading and meditation is fromport easter by father patrick
trodek.

(00:54):
You can find it in thedescription below and you can
find these meditations onyoutube, rumble and all the
audio podcast apps.
So we're going to get started.
I'm going to throw up an imageon screen so you just listen.
There won't be anything towatch.
And here we go.

(01:15):
Wednesday and Holy Week theVirtue of Fortitude From the
book of Isaiah 53, verses 3-5.
Despised in the most abject ofmen a man of sorrows.

(01:37):
Surely, he hath borne ourinfirmities.
He was wounded for ouriniquities and by his bruises we
are healed.
The Church has us read today,for the third time since Sunday,
the account of the Passion.

(01:58):
Today that, according to StLuke, she also gives us large
extracts from the Passiondescribed in advance by the
prophet Isaiah.
In this beginning of Holy Week,the Church wants to touch our
heart in placing before our eyesall that Jesus endured in order

(02:18):
to save us.
The account of the Passionmakes us know not only the
intensity of the sufferings ofour Lord, but also the mastery
over Himself that he maintainedin the midst of the most painful
and the most humiliatingoutrages.
There is no movement of revoltin Jesus.

(02:39):
He does not try to escape.
We find in Him no word ofhatred toward his persecutors.
He displays heroic fortitude,particularly in rising up after
each one of his falls, in spiteof his state of total exhaustion
, or again in pronouncing hisseven words on the cross,

(03:04):
although each time he has topull himself up to take his
breath, which sets offunspeakable suffering in him.
Lord Jesus, by thine enduranceamidst so many sufferings, thou
hast merited for me the grace ofresignation and patience in
each one of my own trials.

(03:24):
Help me not to recoil eitherone faced with the cross, and
teach me to carry it withgenerosity and confidence every
day of my life, in order toshare one day in thy glory in
heaven.
In our prayer from FatherGabriel, st Mary Magdalene,

(03:44):
divine Intimacy, volume 2, page139.
In the name of the Father andof the Son and of the Holy Ghost
, amen.
I come to thee, jesus, to seekin thy divine strength a support
for my weakness, for myinfirmity, divine strength, a

(04:07):
support for my weakness, for myinfirmity, in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of theHoly Ghost, amen.
Our first thought for the daycomes from St Teresa of Avila.
If one would attain to libertyof spirit and not be always in
trouble, let him begin by notbeing afraid of the cross and he

(04:32):
will see how our Lord will helphim to carry it, how joyfully
he will advance and what profithe will derive from it all.
And our second thought of theday comes from St John Vianney.
Our good God reaches out hishand and gives his grace to

(04:55):
those who ask for it.
We can triumph with the graceof God, which is never refused
to us.
And we have two resolutions forthe day the first to draw

(05:20):
strength in prayer so as to keepour patience in trials, and the
second to work particularly onself-mastery in every domain.
And that is the reading fortoday.

(05:44):
Like I said, tomorrow begins the, the triduum, with Maundy
Thursday, holy Thursday, um.
So tomorrow we will beconcentrating on the mass, the
Eucharist and the priesthood,since they're all instituted, um
, on Maundy Thursday.

(06:05):
Instituted on Maundy Thursday,friday, good Friday.
We'll be talking about theprice that Christ paid for our
salvation, and Holy Saturdaywe'll be talking about hope.

(06:25):
But today was about fortitudeand this um, this meditation, I
think, is difficult for a lot ofus.
Not that we don't have um, um,you know, I think a lot of us
think of fortitude as as kind ofcourage, right, um, the

(06:52):
strength to, you know, endurehardship, which it is, of course
.
But I think when we think of we, especially as those of us who
are american, um, we don't oftensee it as enduring hardship

(07:14):
with like patience andresignation.
Um, you know, in our world, and, like I said, especially as
Americans, I think a large partof our nature as a people is a

(07:38):
spirit of resistance, spiritalmost of revolution.
You know, when we have toendure hard things, we often

(08:01):
initially, at least immediately,think of how do we fight
against this right.
And this happens both insideand outside of issues, you know,
in the church.

(08:22):
And it's really hard to tellwhen something is a trial that
we should endure with justpatience and resignation and
fortitude, and when something isa trial, you know, which we

(08:49):
should fight against.
And I think this is especiallytrue within the church because,
you know, because we do have areal duty of, of obedience.
That that you know.
Know that duty is there, uh, inregard to you, know the

(09:14):
hierarchy, but at the same time,you know that duty does only go
so far, and I don't think itgoes as far as many claim it
does, but also it goes fartherthan others claim it doesn't, if
you understand what I mean.
And I don't know where thatmiddle ground is and we've
talked about that before inthese meditations, but that also

(09:38):
applies to then.
How do we deal with trials andchallenges and sufferings, and
challenges and sufferings, onceagain, especially within the
church?
When should we just facesomething with patience and
resignation, and when should wefight against an injustice?

(10:01):
Like Father says here help menot to recoil either one face
with the cross and teach me tocarry it with generosity.
You know so.
So when do we do that and whendo we?

(10:21):
When do we fight againstsomething I don't know?
I don't know, I don't know.
It's something I struggle witha lot.
Actually, I don't know what theanswer is.
I don't know where the middleground is.
You know, I'm not sure.

(10:42):
I mean, there is nothing.
The most unjust thing thatcould have ever ever happened
happened to Christ, a God, youknow, god himself being killed
by the very people he was saving.

(11:02):
You cannot get more unjust thanthat was saving.
You cannot get more unjust thanthat.
And yet, as the meditation says, there was no movement of
revolt in Jesus, no, trying toescape, no word of hatred.

(11:25):
So when do we, when should weemulate christ and when should
we, like I say, fight, you know,fight against an injustice
happening to us or others,especially when the person or

(11:46):
persons committing thatinjustice are are spiritual
fathers, are shepherds?
I don't know, I don't have theanswer, um, but it's something
that I'm going to think aboutand pray about a lot this week,
I think you know it's somethingthat I'm going to think about
and pray about a lot this week,I think you know, especially

(12:09):
when you have, uh, a new Bishopcoming down on, you know, the
entire archdiocese of Detroitand their, their Latin masses.
Um, you know, do you fightagainst that?
If so, how do you even fightagainst that?
Or do you endure with the, thepatience and fortitude of Christ
?
I don't know what the rightanswer is there.

(12:31):
I wish I did, but.
But yeah, so today is byWednesday.
Tomorrow begins the Triduum,but yeah, so today is by
Wednesday.
Um, tomorrow begins the triduum, so I hope you have a good,

(12:53):
good day here.
I hope you prepare for thetriduum and tomorrow we will
come back and we will discussthe mass, the Eucharist and the
priesthood.
So have a good day, everyone,and I'll see you again tomorrow,
thank you.