Mary: The Missing Key to Courage
Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.—Jn 19:27 Even though Sacred Tradition outside Scripture proposes some accounts of Apostles having wavering courage after Pentecost (for example, the famous story of St. Peter fleeing Rome under persecution as Christ appears to him to say Quo Vadis? at which point Peter returns to Rome to be crucified) we know that for the most part, the pre-Pentecost Apostles have numerous failures in courage whereas the post-Pentecost Apostles have nearly unchecked success in their cooperation with the Holy Spirit's gift of fortitude as 11 of the 12 of them approach [...]