Okely-dokely
Hey diddly ho, neighbor!
Chick-chick-a-chick-ah!
Mmm-owmp-owmp
Chick-chick-a-chick-ah!
Ok, here we go.
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension Presents.
I think I heard somewhere; someone told me that
MMA as a sports fan base is growing faster than any other sport at the moment.
I'm not sure if that's true,
but that is a statistic that I heard somewhere. Whether it's reliable or not is
irrelevant. Um, what is relevant is it's real, and it's here, and people want to know as a Catholic Christian
can I participate in or
support
Mixed Martial Arts; can I be a fan of UFC? Great question!
In order to answer this I want to start with a couple things. One
Do I think that as a culture we are a little bit too comfortable? Yes.
Do I think as a culture we need some more discipline? Yes.
Do I think as a culture it would be good if all of us knew how to defend ourselves?
Absolutely.
Do I think as a culture that every person in our culture should know how to fight? Yep, I do.
I don't know if that's that's just my personal Father Mike opinion.
Do I think as a culture, we should all know how to be trained in and know how to use guns? I do.
Now,
clarification: I do not think that all of us should be made to fight. I don't think all of us should use guns.
but there's a huge difference between
being a victim because you did not know how to defend yourself and
knowing how to defend yourself but choosing to
turn the other cheek. One is weakness, the other is strength.
Again, huge difference between "I didn't know how to defend myself and so I was a victim",
the other one is "I know how to defend myself,
but I chose in the name of Jesus to turn the other cheek".
One of the many witnesses of Our Lord
is that he had absolute power, right?
As God himself, he could call upon legions of angels.
He could himself, with a glance,
destroy the Roman Army.
But he had the power to do it;
yet he had the will to submit.
No one took his life from him,
he laid it down freely.
Do I think that Mixed Martial Arts as entertainment is a good thing? And the answer is no.
Do I think that Mixed Martial Arts as an entertainment is anything a Christian can be part of or can watch?
The answer is just a really clear "no";
because while knowing how to fight, while knowing those skills, while having a certain strength is noble,
there is nothing that is noble
about dominating someone or beating another human being into submission for someone else's entertainment.
In fact, it's the exact opposite of highlighting the dignity of the human person.
Mixed Martial Arts as entertainment does nothing other than subjectivise and strip the dignity of every human being.
And for what?
For my entertainment.
For my viewing pleasure.
Because I thought it was so cool,
how that other man jumped on the other man's chest
and just started punching him in the face until he tapped out or passed out.
Now, keep this in mind: I think martial arts is pretty phenomenal;
but there is a massive difference between martial arts
as a discipline, as a noble endeavor, as an honorable way to conduct yourself;
and in Mixed Martial Arts as entertainment.
I think about this story Saint Augustine recounted in his book "Confessions",
he had a friend — Saint Augustine's problem was lust, right, one of his problems was lust —
he had a friend whose problem was violence.
And his friend was a convert to Christ,
he was obsessed with the gladiator arenas.
And at one point, he and some of his non-Christian friends were walking by an arena,
and they said, "Let's come on in, let's go, let's go watch,"
and he was like, "I'm not gonna go, I'm not gonna go".
They said, "No come in, you're gonna love it!"
And he said, "Fine, I'll go. But I'm not going to look".
He went in and, not gonna watch, he went in and he kept his eyes down like knowing "I know what happens here.
I know what they're doing right now.
I know as a Christian
I don't want any part of it."
but he said there was a moment when the crowd cheered in such a way
that he knew what was going on.
And he wanted to see it with his own eyes in the arena.
And he looked up and it was in an instant
that, what Augustine called the "bloodlust" returned to him
and he was cheering the victimization.
He was cheering the dominance.
He was cheering the violence of one human being against another human being,
just as much as any non-Christian who was there in that arena.
Now if that's me, if that's you, if that's us:
if we want to say "I'll be entertained by violence from one human being to another human being,"
then I think we just need to reassess what it is to be a follower of Christ. It's not to be weak.
It's not to not know how to defend yourself,
it's not to not know how to fight, it's not to not be disciplined;
but it is
to say "I will not
watch one human being dominate, or beat into submission, another human being for my entertainment".
There's just no room for that in the life of the Catholic Christian.
If I just ruined your day, I apologize. But it's the truth.
From all of us here at Ascension Presents, my name is Father Mike.
God bless.