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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.”
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.
Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble: Solo training training on the cheap: the 99¢ DIY training arm. Get yourself a pool noodle from the discount store and tape on a bungee cord just long enough to reach around your heavy bag or floor bag. Snap it on and voilà! Does it resist like a real person? Nope. But you you can practice your technique and your body mechanics.
Things You Can Do With Your 99¢ DIY Training Arm
Use it as a slip stick
Practice your grappling maneuvers
Outside Wristlock, Top Wristlock, 2-on-1 Russian, Gooseneck, Muffle, Double Wristlock, Whizzer, Master Lock, etc. to infinity
Practice your wrestling holds
Top Wristlock, Muffle, Double Wristlock, Shark Fin, Bicep Slicer, Figure 4 Arm Scissors, etc. to infinity
Ultimately though, you can’t learn to fight by training solo. You need training partners! Looking for a 100% free mind-body-spirit martial arts program and some help starting a club in your home town? Join the martial arts club in Richmond, VA or click here to sign up for the Heritage self-defense distance learning program!
SIX AWESOME CONSTITUTIONALS - CLICK HERE!
Heritage Fitness: Last week we reminded you that we’ve been doing constitutionals since 2009, 15 years strong, and we still think they’re the twice/week prescription for foundational fitness. Here are six of our favorites — click the pic on the right!
Don’t know these exercises? Sounds like you need a fitness coach! Hmm..I wonder who could help you with that?
Oh yeah, I almost forgot!
Want 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: Spring edible: Lamium purpureum a.k.a. Purple Deadnettle. Great in salads or as a cooked vegetable — and available virtually everywhere for free! You know what else is free? The Heritage Wildwood distance learning 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, 4/28/24 – Father Mitch
Readings: Acts 9:26-31, Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32, 1 Jn 3:18-24, Jn 15:1-8
John 15:1-8 World English Bible Catholic Edition
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. 2 Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
8 “In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.
Jesus says, "You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you." (John 15:8). To what word is Jesus referring when he says, “the word I spoke to you”? Since at least 1582, the year of the revision of the Douay-Rheims Bible, it has been believed that Jesus is referring to John 13:10, "Someone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.”
This is all rather confusing until we think of what it was like to bathe in Jesus' day. For us, bathing involves going to the bathroom, washing up, and toweling off. Why would someone who has bathed need to have his feet washed? But in Jesus' day, there was no indoor plumbing. For thousands of years, a full bath was something that might be undertaken once a week or even once a month. After bathing, either in a public bath or in a body of water, it was necessary to walk home in your sandals. No matter how clean you were, there was always a little dirt on your feet that you’d need to clean off, if not when you got home, certainly before climbing into bed for the night.
This is an analogy for what happens after baptism. We wash away our sins, accept Jesus Christ, and emerge clean from the bath. But as we walk through the world as missionaries, evangelizing, serving, giving of ourselves, trying to be Christ-like, we encounter negativity, obstructions, and pushback. Anger and discord are everywhere. Just trying to find news and entertainment that’s not filled with immoral messaging is a struggle. And this fallen world sometimes forces difficult choices. It’s hard to observe the sabbath, for example, when the rest of the culture wants to treat Sunday like any other day off work. A dusty film of accumulates on our feet as we walk about in this fallen culture, working, shopping, playing, and so on.
In Matthew 10:14, Jesus says to his apostles, Whoever doesn’t receive you or hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.” We have to let go of the accumulated grime and negativity, to repent of our mistakes and be forgiven. We need to gather with our brothers and sisters and wash each other’s feet. In John 13:14, he says, “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is equating the pruning with the washing. That’s why in today’s reading he says, “You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” At the end of the day, our brothers and sisters in the church wash us clean, renew our cleanliness, and strengthen our faith. Our clergy and our friends in the faith trim away the dead wood to keep us healthy and strong.
More and more people in the world today believe that they can go it alone. They turn toward private expressions of faith or lack thereof. How often have you heard someone say something like, “I’m a spiritual person, I’m just not into organized religion”? According to experts, the self-improvement market in the U.S. is worth over $13 billion, “fueled by growth in personal coaching services, self-help books and audiobooks, and self-help apps.”¹
But Christianity stands opposed to the idea in every way. Our most sacred ritual, the Holy Eucharist, is an act of communion. We are charged to come together. To wash each other’s feet. To prune away the dead wood. To renew one another in Christ Jesus.
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