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Mettle maker #487: Truth and Unity
The modern mind has been infected with a kind of deep gnosticism. That is to say that, since the start of the Reformation, the material and spiritual have been increasingly teased apart and separated. There are now only two kinds of truth, neither of which is objective. There is material truth: that which can be quantified by science and its instruments — and there is subjective truth: personal opinions.
But there was, in ancient times, a way of seeing that presupposed that conceptual separation of the material from the spiritual was a grave error. The heresy most railed against by the church fathers was Gnosticism. Body, mind and spirit, insisted Irenaeus and others, cannot be teased apart. They are all one. The ancients understood that there was no conflict between science, philosophy, religion, and practicality. They arrived at objective truth, insofar as that is possible, by searching for the things that are true in a non-dualistic way. True now and true forever. True practically (body), true intellectually (mind), and true spiritually (spirit). .
Rough ‘n’ Tumblers, as we discussed last month, are “bowtie barbarians.” We have one foot in high falutin’ ideas and in-the-weeds details, but we are also the kind of folks who are out in the woods gettin’ dirty. And as polite, kind, decent, and loving as we are, we can fight like bobcats when evil enters our front door.
A Rough ‘n’ Tumbler should never auger into a hole and lose sight of the forest for the trees.
Which is why I was so frustrated with myself the other day when I realized (as I do every few years) that I had gotten so hyper-focused on getting everything done that I’m doing nothing perfectly. I have forced my martial arts and fitness training into a kind of “tacklebox of time” which has drained out most of the spontaneity and half of the fun. Efficiency is a nice idea. But that’s just focusing on material output (body) without consideration of the consequences of boredom (mind) and enrichment (spirit).
How embarrassingly gnostic of me.
Your assignment this week is to do what I did: contemplate, meditate, and cogitate on these things and take action as needed — both in your training habits and in your life more generally.
Body, mind, and spirit are one!
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Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent, 12/7/25 – Father Mitch
Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Romans 15:4-9, Matthew 3:1-12
Matthew 3:1-12 World English Bible
1 In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2 “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make the way of the Lord ready!
Make his paths straight!”*
4 Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him. 6 They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! 9 Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
11 “I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.† 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
My friends, what is a baptism? It is something that comes from outside ourselves. We seek it because we cannot cultivate it. If we could grow our own food and raise our own animals, we wouldn’t need to go to the market. In a similar way, we turn to Jesus Christ to feed us with His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. In a similar way, our brethren in the church can baptize us in water, which is a great blessing, but our human bodies and actions can only get us so far. We can place the bread and wine on the altar, but only God can make them become the Body and Blood of Christ; we can sprinkle or immerse the believer in baptismal waters, but only Jesus Christ can fill us with the Holy Ghost.
I beg of you: let the words of Isaiah wash over you like baptismal waters. They are some of the most beautiful, promising, and miraculous words ever written. In resplendent and stirring language, Isaiah foretells the coming of Christ in all his glory. Using poetic imagery, he describes the perfection that, in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ will bring about in the world.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze.
Their young ones will lie down together.
The lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole,
and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
9 They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea.
We cannot work miracles of this kind. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing we can do. Listen carefully to the words of Isaiah: “A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. The LORD’s Spirit will rest on him.” (Isaiah 11:1-2). Hear this: “The LORD’s Spirit will rest on him.” We can pray that, just as the Spirit of the Lord rests on Jesus Christ, the Root of Jesse, the Spirit of the Lord will rest on us through baptism.
We can, if you will, imitate John the Baptist. We can turn our backs on the distractions of this world, simplify our lives, and go those desolate places in the wilderness of sin where other strugglers like us are begging to be led to the baptismal waters of the River Jordan. St. John the Baptist says, “I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
Let us pray that the Spirit of the Lord, the fire of Pentecost, will rest on us. Let us pray that we too will bear fruit; that, receiving the gifts of the Holy Ghost, we will as much as humanly possible, judge not by the sight of our eyes nor decide by the hearing of our ears, but judge the poor with righteousness, decide with equity for the humble of the earth, and have righteousness and faithfulness as a belt around our waist.
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* 3:3 Isaiah 40:3
† 3:11 TR and NU add “and with fire”