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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.”
Announcements!
You may have noticed some changes. First, Heritage Self-Defense is now Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble. We feel like this more accurately reflects what we do. Second, our Sunday worship Service is now called Holy Eucharist instead of Holy Communion. Why? Because back when Fr. Mitch was a deacon, he was only able to present Holy Communion of the Reserved Sacrament (using pre-consecrated hosts provided by his bishop). But now that he’s been elevated to the priesthood, Fr. Mitch is able to perform a more traditional Holy Eucharist service.
Apologies from Fr. Mitch for the livestream crash of Holy Eucharist last week morning — technical difficulties — we’ll do better going forward.
Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble: Another expansion of your “get on top IQ.” Yeah, I know, learning sweeps isn’t exactly a giant sizzling steak on the martial arts menu. But you need to be an expert at getting off the bottom. In self-defense, when you are on the ground you lose maneuverability, visibility, ability. That is, you can’t run, gravity augments your attacker’s strength and weakens yours, and you can’t turn your head and see 360 degrees. Practice these 7 moves solo and with a partner until you have them down pat. Looking for a 100% free mind-body-spirit martial arts program? Join the martial arts club in Richmond, VA or click here to sign up for the Heritage self-defense distance learning program!
Heritage Fitness: Constitutionals — we’ve been doing them since 2009, 15 years strong, and they’re still the twice/week prescription for foundational fitness. Twice a week, come hell or high water, knock out a constitutional (“CNL”). You won’t regret it — I promise. What’s a CNL? 7 calisthenics, 25 reps each, back to back, with as little rest as possible, with a target time of <20 mins. This week’s CNL is a modified version of Mark Hatmaker’s original Gladiator, a warrior fitness program that Mark no longer advocates (and neither do I). Mark and I have both gone 100% “old-school,” accentuating quality over quantity (that is, form and pace over repetitions).
Pace: Positive/concentric movement (against gravity) = 1 second, negative/eccentric phase = 3 to 4 secs, total rep time = 4 - 5 secs.
Reps: 25 of each
The Modified Gladiator
Push-up (w/ Up and Down Dog)
Hindu Squat
Back Bridge
Crunch
Pull-ups
Stick Rotations
Jump Squats
Don’t know these exercises? Ask me in the comments and I’ll shoot a video.
Want more old-school training tips, or a free fitness coach to help develop an old-school fitness program that suits your specific needs and goals? Click here to sign up for one of our free programs!
Heritage Wildwood Outdoor Skills: The Three Rules of Three.
You can survive:
3 hours in extreme temperatures
3 days without water
3 weeks without food
Toward that end, if you find yourself stuck in a survival situation,
Secure shelter first. Protect yourself against a sinking boat, deflating raft, falling or rising temperatures, incoming tides, approaching wildfires or storms, and so on.
Get a fire going. If temps are going to be low enough to threaten hypothermia, fire is part of the shelter equation (temps as high as 50F can cause hypothermia if your clothes are wet). Plus, you’re going to need fire in order to boil water for drinking and to signal for help. Gather what you need to start, build, and maintain a fire. Bank coals and use caution — burning down your shelter or starting a forest fire will seriously hurt your survival chances.
Find water. After you get your shelter and fire tucked in, then begin to find and secure a water source.
Find food. Only after you have secured and water should you begin searching for food.
Interested in a free outdoor skill training program? Click here to sign up!
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 Sunday, 4/13/24 – Father Mitch
Readings: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19, Ps 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9, 1 Jn 2:1-5a, Lk 24:35-48
Luke 24:35-48 World English Bible Catholic Edition
They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
36 As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
37 But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
42 They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 He took them, and ate in front of them. 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.”
45 Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. 46 He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
The ancient stories of the Greeks, Romans, and Vikings, the sacred tales of India and China, and all of the pre-Christian religions, contain magic weapons, transformations from human to animal and from animal to human, gods with animal heads and multiple arms, elves, fairies, and so on. Their stories explain how the everyday world emerged out of magical powers and events.
The Bible stories are the opposite. In our religion, miraculous things mostly look like ordinary things. The sacred emerges out of the mundane in the same way that a seedling emerges from the soil, or rain falls from a cloud – naturally.
In the stale and dusty myths of the pagan religions, the world used to be magical but has somehow become tired, boring, and very unmagical. In the Christian version of history, with the birth of Jesus, the miraculous emerges into and out of the ordinary filling all of heaven and earth with enchantment and glory.
Look here – there are a million bushes in the desert, each one indistinguishable from the next. But one of these ordinary bushes is engulfed in a strange fire which does not burn it up; and out of it God's voice calls forth to Moses and explains the destiny of God's chosen people. The instrument of baptism which welcomes new believers into the company of the faithful is just ordinary water. David slays Goliath with a common, everyday rock. Samson's superhuman strength is bestowed not by magic, but by keeping a sacred vow to abstain from drinking alcohol and cutting his hair. At the wedding in Cana, Jesus turns ordinary water into ordinary wine.
This theme continues when the risen Son of God appears alive, yet tethered to reality by his wounds; inside a locked room, but yet very solid; immortal, but hungry for a bite of food. And on the road to Emmaus, he travels unrecognized, only appearing within the most mundane of activities -- during a simple meal of bread and wine. God is revealed to us through the everyday. The bread and wine on the altar may be indistinguishable from any other bread and wine, and the words of the priest and congregation may not have any visible affect upon them. But the ordinary-seeming bread and wine are most assuredly the miraculous Body and Blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ.