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Get your tickets now for the 1st Annual Heritage Arts Campout
Event starts at 4 PM on Friday 10/13/23 and runs through noon on Sunday 10/15/23. Martial arts, fitness, outdoor skills, and spiritual development — for just $25/ticket. CLICK HERE for all the details.
Mettle Maker #362
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.”
Fitness and Self-Defense combo: Want to get your blood pumping with some practical fitness? Even people who aren’t into martial arts per se like to hit the heavy bag, right? Well, why not try pounding on a floor bag or sand bag? Set a timer for 4 rounds of 2 minutes each, no breaks, and run through this 8-minute beauty: 2 mins of Tackles to ground ‘n’ pound, 2 mins of Bottom Scissors squeeze and hit, 2 mins of Squeezes (arms and legs!), and 2 mins of Scarf Hold Switches. Now that’s what I call practical fitness and practical martial arts! Want to learn more old-school fitness and martial arts material? Need a Rough ‘n’ Tumble coach so you can learn more practical self-defensey sort of stuff? Need a fitness coach to help you design a training program that works for you? Click here to participate in one of our free programs!
A selection of edible flowers that I dried and sealed for future use.
Wildwood outdoor skills: Edible flowers make superlative herbal teas. Grow them, pick them while fresh, and dry them in your dehydrator (or the old-fashioned way — on racks in a a cool, dry, well ventilated place). Use them within a couple of weeks, or package them with a vacuum sealer and save them for winter. Nasturtium is my current favorite — so peppery! Want more inspiration, and education, regarding outdoor skills? Click here and sign up for the 100% free Heritage Wildwood distance learning program!
Holy Communion is LIVE on YouTube every Sunday at 9AM EASTERn. Click HERE to watch live. To view and print a copy of the program for holy communion, CLICK HERE.
Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sunday 7/2/23 – Father Mitch
Readings: 2 Kgs 4:8-11, 14-16a, Ps 89:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, Rom 6:3-4, 8-11, Mt 10:37-42
Matthew 10:26—33 World English Bible Catholic Edition
37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. 38 He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me. 39 He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
40 “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.”
Brothers and sisters, what usually passes for peace is something like a momentary compromise, a negotiated ceasefire between combatants. Open argument stops, but the parties continue to disagree fundamentally. Fighting stops, but beneath the surface there is still anger and hatred. But a truce isn’t peace.
There may be periods of time when no rockets pass between Israel and Palestine, but there is no peace. There are no Chinese troops currently invading Taiwan, and there is no bloodshed at the 38th parallel between North and South Korea at the moment, but there is no peace between these nations. They’re not presently killing each other, but there are a great deal of people on both sides who would like to be. That’s not peace.
Parents lay down the law and the kids may go along. But behind bedroom doors, there’s plenty of grumbling on both sides. Husbands and wives often disagree but bite their tongues and turn a cold shoulder. Discontent continues to simmer. Frustration keeps bubbling. That’s not peace either.
Peace only comes when people talk honestly, discuss openly, and solve truly. All of the old tit-for-tat, Hatfield-vs.-McCoy games have to be given up. Truth has to be the highest ideal for all the negotiants. This is why Jesus says that “He who loves father or mother…son or daughter, more than me isn’t worthy of me.” At some point during these discussions, one or both parties must give up on “my country wrong or right.”
Each side must forfeit petty grievances, give up on pride, and surrender their avenging will. They must make a sacrifice. A sacrifice. Don’t you see? This is why Jesus says, “He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me.” That’s how you make peace here and now. And that peace is far greater, an order of magnitude greater, than a mere truce or cease-fire. It’s a laudable goal. We should always strive for peace. But there is an even greater Peace – a capital “P” kind of Peace – that’s an order of magnitude greater even than that: the Peace of Christ.
The Peace of Christ only inheres when we surrender our lives to Christ. Jesus says, “He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” We have let him take control. To find peace between nations and families, we must sacrifice our petty jealousies, indictments, and vendettas. But to find the Peace of Christ we have to sacrifice our whole selves. We have to get beyond the uneasy peace inside our heads and hearts. We must stop rationalizing our lusts, compromising with our sins, holding onto our egos. The Holy Spirit says in Revelation 3:16, “Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.”
God spits out the half-hearted truce-maker. He spits out those seek to justify their internal, petty dictators and make deals with the devil. Let’s not settle for truces, uneasy peaces, or temporary cease-fires – in the world or in ourselves. Let us seek the true Peace of Christ.