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Mettle Maker #384
What’s the weekly mettle maker? Training tips and educational information in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? According the American Heritage Dictionary, mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.”
Jesus cleansing the temple
Heritage Self-Defense: Is it permissible for Christians to defend themselves? I am an Old Catholic priest who has been teaching martial arts for over 35 years. Despite the fact that neither my seminary, my bishop, nor my fellow church members have ever voiced concerns about a conflict between my clerical and martial pursuits, I struggled with the issue of Christian self-defense all the way through seminary right up until putting the final period on this article. I wrote it primarily for me. But I hope that it will also assist other Christians looking for a resolution to the question of Christian self-defense and serve as an adequate defense against those who think it is inappropriate for a priest to practice and teach self-defense classes.
Interested in American Rough and Tumble martial arts with a spiritual center? Join the martial arts club in Richmond, VA or click here to sign up for the Heritage self-defense distance learning program.
Heritage Fitness: New science on longevity. Watch the video on the right. I’m not saying we should all be disciples of Dr. Peter Attia. His diet and fasting stuff is sometimes a little extreme. But I do think that he advocates some really good ideas and presents science-based concepts, like Zone 2 cardiovascular exercise (walking and rucking are great examples), resistance training, and so on. Need a free fitness coach to help you build a program that suits your specific needs and goals? We’re a 501c3 charity! Click here to sign up for our distance learning fitness program!
Heritage Wildwood: Merry Christmas! Get a free download of the Heritage Wildwood distance learning program textbook! The textbook for the Heritage Wildwood distance learning program is The Wildwood Workbook, cover picture on the left. It contains dozens of effective, real-world drills and activities that will deepen your appreciation for the natural world and prepare you for a variety of survival situations.
To download a free copy, click this link and use coupon code NM95U. Coupon good until 1/1/24.
Looking for a comprehensive adult outdoor skills program? Click here to sign up for the Heritage Wildwood distance learning program!
Holy Communion is LIVE on YouTube every Sunday at 10 am EASTERn. Click HERE to watch live. To view and print a copy of the program for holy communion, CLICK HERE.
Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, Sunday 12/17/23 – Father Mitch
Readings: Is 61:1-2A, 10-11, Lk 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54, 1 Thes 5:16-24, Jn 1:6-8, 19-28
John 1:6-8, 19-28 World English Bible Catholic Edition
6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light.
19 This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”
21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
22 They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’* as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24 The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”
26 John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.” 28 These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
In my evangelization work I encounter people judge God and his church by a few Christians they perceive negatively. “This or that Christian is a real stinker,” they say. “I wouldn’t want to be associated with any God or religion that produces people like that.” I also speak to fellow Christians who refer to themselves as Calvinists, Lutherans, Wesleyans, Thomists, and so on – Christian groups, philosophical divisions, and denominations named after fallible, mortal men.
Both of these are different quicksands in the same swamp. It’s perfectly alright to look up to people with admirable qualities. And it’s also good to be conscious of the faults and errors in ourselves and others. Whether they are admirable or reprehensible, confusing people with God is a trap. Against God, dispersions cannot be cast. To be crystal clear, when I say that we cannot cast dispersions against God, I don’t mean that we are unable to try. People try all the time. What I mean is that they are attempting the impossible.
The first Vatican Council defined God as, “the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, Infinite in intellect and will and in all perfection.”¹ God is perfect. And his goodness is so great that it is indescribable. Therefore, if what you are describing is imperfect or in any way worthy of criticism, what you’re describing isn’t God. It’s something else. If you’re going to point toward God, you’re going to need to point higher – all the way up to the Highest Possible Good.
For example, if someone says, “God is evil because of this or that,” this person is mistaken – either about the nature of God, or about the “this or that.” God is infinitely perfect and indescribable. As a technical matter, it is impossible to find imperfection in God because he is, by definition, perfect. But it is also true that God inspires people to do good, and that whenever we turn our backs on God, evil soon follows. How then are we to reconcile the relationship between God and his representatives?
The way forward is embodied in St. John the Baptist. Revered beyond all other teachers of his day, the Mandaeans and Sabeans not only admired him above all others, but tried to say he was the final prophet or even the messiah. The Pharisees accused him of claiming the same. But St. John was equally clear with everyone – both to those who wanted to revere him and to those who accused him of misrepresenting himself. He declared that he was not Elijah returned, and he proclaimed, “I am not the Christ.”
When asked who he was, he replied that he was just a lone man crying out to those in the wilderness – to everyone lost in a wasteland of aimlessness, sadness, depression, isolation, loneliness, and feelings of godforsakenness. He was clear with everyone that he was just a man, announcing that one greater than he was coming – Jesus Christ, the Son of God, perfect, indescribable, above all criticism and reproach.
Brothers and sisters when our fellow Christians make mistakes, and our leaders stumble, don’t let that shake your belief in Jesus Christ. When others point to the imperfect people in our midst, don’t let them use that lever to drive a wedge between you and God. Don’t let it shake you. Because God is perfect. And the minute you begin to conceive of something that God is, or does, represents or stands for is imperfect, realize that the error is not in God, it is in your mistakenness. God is perfect. Let us worship him.
* 1:23 Isaiah 40:3
¹ The Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Council Concerning the Catholic Faith and the Church of Christ. A.D. 1870. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.v.ii.i.html