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What’s the weekly mettle maker?

Training tips and educational info in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? Mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #471: Morsels

Practice your hacksaws. Yes, there are three different kinds of hacksaws — the strike, the cram, and the grind. Check out our most recent video on the right for more details. March up to your heavy bag, get out your floor bag or your grappling dummy, and get to work!
The Lent of St. Michael started on the 15th and is in full swing. Better late than never — start late and finish strong. Click here to find out how to join in this devotion.
The new quarterly newsletter drops this coming Wednesday — watch your email box! Not signed up to receive it? Click here.
Yours truly and and newly-promoted Green Bandana Alex (congratulations by the way!) are heading to Midwest Combatives Camp 2025 in Cincinnati Sept 13 and 14, 2025. If you’d like to join us, the camp is only $100 and several Hatmaker-affiliated instructors will be there. Want to attend an affordable camp and have a chance to train with Mitch and Alex? See details below to register. If you decide to go, email Mitch at mitch@heritageartsinc.com and let him know so that he can reach out and coordinate.
Lots of new sign-ups in the distance learning program. Could it be that this crazy project, now in its 16th year, could be about to take flight? The struggle is the way! See my homily below for more on this subject.

Onward and Upward!

Have you heard about our free distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

Holy Eucharist 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 Eucharist, CLICK HERE.

Homily for the Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time 8/17/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10, Psalm 40:2, 3, 4, 18, Hebrews 12:1-4, Luke 12:49-53

Luke 12:49-53 World English Bible

Jesus said, 49 “I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled. 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. 52 For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” *

When Jeremiah spoke God’s truth, those who heard his prophecies were divided. Some heeded his prophecies. Others thought he should be put to death. King Zedekiah was weak and allowed the prophet to be lowered into a pit to die. But then the king was persuaded to rescue Jeremiah. Instead of executing the prophet, King Zedekiah seeks and accepts Jeremiah’s counsel. The king’s change of heart ultimately saves the city and many lives. Changes of heart – receptiveness to God’s word – are great and remarkable. But changes in heart can easily reverse themselves, and faith can wax and wane like the phases of the moon.

This is why, in our reading from the book of Hebrews, we are pointed toward the example of Jesus Christ. We should “consider how he endured such opposition from sinners” so that we might not “grow weary and lose heart” in our “struggle against sin.” He reminds us that, like Jesus, we might have to shed blood in our resistance against sin.

When Jesus says in our gospel reading that he came to set fire to the earth, he is speaking of the Pentecost fire, the fire of the Holy Ghost. When he says he comes with division rather than peace, he means the violence of discernment, the battle to determine what is right and what is wrong. Jesus wants us to be “fired up” – he wants lively debate in the public square, in households, and within ourselves. Yes, he even wants us to be divided against ourselves, our inner father against our inner son and our inner daughter against our inner mother.

When I lost my faith and got wrapped up in occult and New Age practices, it was like being stuck in Jeremiah’s muddy cistern. But by the grace of God I remained divided. I was never fully comfortable where I was. I struggled. It was, in a spiritual sense, like a father struggling with his young son. Eventually, I had a change of heart. Eventually the son triumphed over the father – the new me overcame the old me – and I was reborn in Christ. Christ, the true King, lowered his rope into the cistern and lifted me out of the darkness and mud.

In Revelation 3, the Lord says, “15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth… 19 Be zealous therefore, and repent.”

The pull toward lukewarm complacency is a spell of the evil one. Don’t go with the flow. Don’t grow tepid and weary and surrender to sin. Burn hot with the fire of the Holy Ghost.

The struggle is the way!

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* 12:53 Micah 7:6