Community: Mettle Maker #476 and Holy Eucharist for 9/21/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #476: Community

This past week I went on a little road trip, My first stop was a few hours with the great Dave Durch in Youngstown, OH on Friday. Dave is an actor, stuntman, fight choreographer, director and producer who has both TV and film credits, including Art of Combat, Choice of Disrespect, Turn the Faith, Raptor, Love Finds You in Sugarcreek Ohio, Tomorrow You’re Gone, and more. He has worked with luminaries like Ray Mancini, William Dafoe , Stephen Dorff, Charles Durning, Costas Mandylor, Mia Sara, Tony Sirico, and more, and has produced and directed over 100 martial arts training DVDs. He is President and Head Instructor of Durch’s Advanced Fighting Systems in Youngstown Ohio. Check out his YouTube channel here.

It sure was great seeing Dave and training with him for the first time in twenty years! We even shot a video — see below.

Solo Training Tip: Watch the video below. Then use a bungee cord to attach a pool noodle to your heavy bag and/or floor bag. It won’t complain when you cuff, bang, pound, slap, trapbox, and hubud the living heck out of it.

My next stop was a short visit with some church friends in Fremont. What a great bunch of folks! David, Jackie, Charles, and Derek are the best! Derek drove two hours one way just to have dinner with us. That’s how you know someone is a true friend.

After dinner on Friday, I headed out to Cincinnati, making it to the hotel at 1 AM on Sat. The next morning I attended Midwest Combatives Camp #6 (see photo set above). Hanging out with nice folks — like the guys at Ronin Combatives, Savy Larc, and all the rest, expanding horizons, getting pushed outside your training bubble — these sorts of things are food for the soul, stimulation for the intellect, and rejuvenating for your body. Exploring new places actually hits switches on the cellular level that work like the healing waters of Nimrodel.

And that’s in addition to the valuable martial skills and experience you get. What could be better?

Pssst…have you heard about our free distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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 the Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time 9/21/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Amos 8:4-7, Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8, 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Cf. 2 Corinthians 8:9, Luke 16:1-13,

Luke 16:1-13  World English Bible

1 He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2 He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

3 “The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.’ 5 Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred batos† of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors‡ of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

8 “His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light. 9 I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents. 10 He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”§

 

In today’s Alleluia from 2 Corinthians 8:9 we hear, "Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich."  Our Lord had no gold when he created the universe, and nor did he have any gold after he entered into his creation and walked the earth.  What did he have before that he later lost such that he could transition from wealth to poverty?  Isn't God complete and entire, pure, unlimited and unchanging, lacking nothing?  How then could he be considered "rich" at one point and "poor" at another?

This line of literal thinking is unhelpful.  St. Paul is not being literal.  He is using a linguistic device known as a paradox.  A paradox contrasts opposites in order to disrupt and change our points of view.  In this case, St. Paul is contrasting the conventional definitions “rich” and “poor” to break our frame of reference and show that we should prize the things that are usually despised, and despise the things that this world usually prizes.

In a similar way, Jesus sets up a strange paradox in today’s gospel reading.  First he tells the story of a dishonest steward who, when caught mismanaging his master’s money, doubles down on this dishonesty by using even more of his master’s money to buy himself friends who will perhaps support him after he’s fired.  Jesus gives sarcastic praise to the crooked steward and to the money-worshippers of this world who behave in this way. He says, “His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.”  He adds, “I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents. ”  In this case, Jesus appears to be playing on the word “wise” and using it in the sense of “cleverness” or “cunning.”

But what’s the message?  Fr. Cornelius a Lapide, in his 16th century commentary, explains that,  “The poor, i.e. those whom you have made your friends by the right use of your riches...if they are worthy of heaven, will by their prayers and by a communication of their merits make a way for you to enter therein: but if, on the contrary, they are unworthy of so great a blessing, you will be received into heaven because of your almsgiving, for what is given to the poor is accepted of Christ.”  In other worlds, use the riches of this world to help the poor and they will pray to God for your forgiveness and salvation.  And if they don’t, at least you will have shared your good fortune as the Lord has commanded. 

Next Jesus says, “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.  If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?” By this Jesus seems to be saying that if we can’t be trusted to spend our worldly treasures to benefit the poor and disadvantaged, our Father in heaven may not be inclined to trust us with the true treasure of eternal life.   

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† 16:6 100 batos is about 395 liters or 104 U. S. gallons.

‡ 16:7 100 cors = about 2,110 liters or 600 bushels.

§ 16:13 “Mammon” refers to riches or a false god of wealth.

Balance: Mettle Maker #475 and Holy Eucharist for 9/14/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #475: Balance

Tripod Rock in NJ

The picture on the left was taken by a remarkable friend of mine. It’s a photo of Tripod Rock near Pyramid Mountain in NJ. Utterly bizarre how this glacial stone has managed to stay perfectly balanced for millennia.

What does this have to do with Heritage Arts?

Around here we practice full-context martial arts. We’re all about health of mind, body, and spirit. When you expand your horizons, and go for hikes and whatnot, you get to see amazing things. Amazing things enrich you. Activities strengthen you. Diets and lives should be well balanced.

I’ve been hollerin’ down the rain on this topic for a long time, and I won’t stop. Doing martial arts in a vacuum or to the exclusion of all else, without regard for health, until you’ve got pugilistic dementia, hip replacements, and a bad back is not smart or well balanced. Doing martial arts until you’re paranoid, obsessed, or myopic isn’t good either. Martial arts should make you a better person all the time.

Here are some suggested activities that would augment, broaden, and enrich your martial arts practice:

  • Survival training. Self-defense is more than wrestling and fisticuffs. Learn some outdoor skills, wild plant identification, and so on. Hike with a backpack. Learn some knots and some navigation. Outdoor activities are great for your mental and physical health.

  • Movement drills. Crawl, climb, scramble, swim, sprint, swing, hang, jump, and scamper. Take long walks. How does it get any more practical?.

  • Heavy Carries. Bear hug, farmer walks, suitcase carries, waiter walks, and so on are great for functional strength.

  • Chores. Swinging hammers, digging holes, raking leaves, hoeing weeds, painting, pushing mowers, hauling, scrubbing, and so on are all great for your mind, body, and soul.

  • Old-school fitness. Indian clubs, light dumbbells, deep breathing exercises, old-time calisthenics, pedestrianism, light gymnastics, etc.

  • Church. Martial arts without a moral compass are dangerous. Religion is the way human beings promote and instill morality, and religion in the Western World means going to church. Get there.

  • Got more ideas to share? Share them in the comments, please!

Where do you start? Signing up for the Heritage Arts distance learning program!

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In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

Holy Eucharist is not LIVE this week — fr. mitch is traveling. Here is a recording of today’s service.

Homily for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross 9/14/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Numbers 21:4b-9, Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38, Philippians 2:6-11, John 3:13-17

John 3:13-17 World English Bible

No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born§ Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross commemorates the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, on the 14th of September in the year 320.  Originally there was on this day a Feast of the Finding, but in the 8th century this was moved to May, and September 14th became the celebration of the Feast of Exaltation of the Cross.

On this day we also remember the dedication of the churches built by Emperor Constantine on the site of the Holy Sepulchre and Mount Calvary, as well as the elevation of the True Cross at Hagia Sophia in Constantinople in AD 629.  The Holy Cross relic had been stolen by Persian Emperor Chosroes II during the conquest of Jerusalem in 614 AD, but was recovered after the defeat of the Persians by Byzantine emperor Heraclius and publicly displayed by him at that time.  Fragments of the True Cross relic were distributed across the empire and by the turn of the 5th century and rest in reliquaries all over the world, venerated by the faithful all over the world.

Of the Holy Cross, St. John Chrysostom said,

 “How great is the power of the Cross! How great is the change made by it in the human race! How from the deep darkness it has led us to the boundless light, from death it has restored us to eternal life, from corruption it has transferred us to incorruption. What good is not accomplished for us by means of the Cross? Through the Cross we learned piety and learned the properties of the Divine essence. Through the Cross we learn the truth about God, through the Cross we who were far from Him are united to Christ, and we become worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Through the Cross we learn the power of love and we are taught to die for others. Through the Cross we are scorned and all that we do is not temporal, we search the blessings of the future and we accept the invisible as if seen. The Cross is preached, and the faith in God is confessed, His truth is spread throughout the universe. The Cross is preached, and the faith in the resurrection, the life and the kingdom of heaven is made without a doubt. What is more precious than the Cross and what is more saving for the soul? The Cross is the triumph over demons, the armor against sin and the sword with which the Lord has struck the snake. The Cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Only-begotten, the joy of the Holy Spirit, the ornament of angels, the protection of the Church, the praise of St. Paul, the protection of the Saints, the lamp of all the world.”

 Let us rejoice in the Exaltation of the Holy Cross!

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§3:16 The phrase “only born” is from the Greek word “μονογενη”, which is sometimes translated “only begotten” or “one and only”

Heart, Pen, and Tongue: Mettle Maker #474 and Holy Eucharist for 9/7/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #474: HearT, PEN, AND TONGUE

CLICK THE PICK TO GO TO SMASHWORDS AND DOWNLOAD MITCH’S NEW BOOK

My newest ebook is out now. At the moment It’s available only in eBook format, and only on select websites. But the paperback version is in the works, and it’s making it’s way through the wires and tubes of the internet and will soon be available as an eBook virtually everywhere.

Why do I write? Well, it ain’t to get rich! Making a living as an author is as rare as being a billionaire. The six books I have on the market earn less than $50/month in royalties.

I write because I want to share thoughts and ideas that I think might be helpful to others. I write because the process of writing orders my thoughts and allows me to live and work effectively. I write because writing is thinking.

Yes, writing is thinking.

This is why journaling is central to all of Heritage Arts’ programs. That’s the framework. Layered on top of journaling is work. Consistent work. Not full-contact fighting, not crazy fitness regimens, or anything like that. Just consistent training — not just in martial arts, but also in real-world, outdoor endeavors, like hiking, survival, manual labor, and the traditional spiritual disciplines — that make you a whole person in the old-school mold.

Consistent training. What does that mean? Well, a few months back we put out one of our most popular videos, about the Fairbairn Chin Jab. Did you see it? Did you like it? Great! But did you add it to your training regimen? Do you throw it against your heavy bag, mix it into combos, and use it (at about 25% power of course!) in sparring and grappling? If you did train it, did you make notes in your training journal?

That’s what “consistent training” means. Watching is not training. Training is training. And if it ain’t in the journal, it didn’t happen.

That’s the heart and pen in this weekly mettle maker — for the tongue part, see this week’s homily.

Have you heard about our free distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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 the Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time 9/7/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Wisdom 9:13-18b, Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17, Philemon 9-10, 12-17, Luke 14:25-33

Luke 14:25-33  World English Bible

Now great multitudes were going with Jesus. He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard§ his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple. 27 Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation and isn’t able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks for conditions of peace. 33 So therefore, whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.”

The American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of sarcasm is, “A cutting, often ironic remark intended to express contempt or ridicule.”  One of my favorite sarcastic remarks comes from Winston Churhill, the master of sarcasm.  Remarking on the United States’ late entry into World War II he said, “"We can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities."  

I admit I’ve always had a weakness for sarcasm.  I have often remarked – sarcastically of course – that I’m “President of the National Sarcasm Society.”  Most of us use sarcasm to vent our ill will, to be hurtful, or to get a laugh at someone else’s expense.  Some years ago, thank goodness, I realized that I wasn’t using sarcasm for the benefit of others, but to be nasty.  So I started eliminating it from my speech and from my writing.  But once in a while, when used to make a point with someone who’s being deliberately hardheaded, tactical sarcasm cuts deep enough to sting – and hit home. 

In John 10:32 Jesus hits them with a real zinger.  He says, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning me?”  And In Luke 23:3, Jesus makes my favorite sarcastic remark of all.  Pilate asks him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” and Jesus answers, “You have said so.”  Isn’t this like a modern person saying, “You said it, not me”?  How sarcastic can you get?

In today’s reading his sarcasm once again cuts to the heart of the matter.  We know the central message of his Gospel is love.  So why does he say that whoever doesn’t hate or disdain his family cannot follow him?  Why does he say that we have to embrace a grisly death to learn from him?  He’s being extreme to make a point.  He’s insisting that the foundation of our discipleship is our ability to follow his example, not the example of our human families.  Morality comes first – loyalty to God – not blood ties.

He says, “Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple.”  We’ve heard this, read this, so many times, that it might not seem as outrageous as it must have been at the time.  Remember, he said these things before his Resurrection.  With hindsight, it’s clear – to us! – that Jesus is saying that we need to die to our old selves and be reborn in Christ.  With hindsight, we understand that if we sacrifice our petty selfishness, we might gain eternal life.  But there was no way for anyone in Jesus’ time to interpret his shocking words as we do today.  Imagine somebody saying, “Okay boys and girls, my class meets in the gas chamber. Who’s coming?”

Next he gives examples of people who are ridiculed or embarrassed by making stupid mistakes, then suggests that we would be equally foolish if we even considered becoming his disciple without first renouncing our possessions.  Jesus is not kidding.  He means what he says and says what he means.  He really does expect us to stop imitating our relatives and imitate him instead.  He really does expect us to stop putting faith in family ties to provide happy, materially successful lives, and put our faith in God instead.

He really does expect us to put aside our focus on getting and spending and turn our eyes toward the treasures of heaven. 

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§14:26 or, hate

Passion and Humility: Mettle Maker #473 and Holy Eucharist for 8/31/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #473: PASSION AND HUMILITY

Last week I listed all nine of the takedowns and throws in the Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble curriculum. We’re going to be making videos on the ones we haven’t already. This week we added Drop Shoulder Throw and Scarf Hold Takedown. See video above right.

Before you can practice throws with your friends you need to get good at your shoulder rolls, back falls, and side deadfalls. Humble yourself. Practice them often. If you don’t have a partner to train with, and you need to train solo, make or buy a grappling dummy and throw that instead.

It’s not complicated. Add at least these two takedowns to your toolbox — preferably all nine — but at least these two.

Moving on.

It has been way too long since we posted some outdoor skills material.

What in tarnation do outdoor skills have to do with martial arts?

  • This is Rough ‘n’ Tumble. If we’re going to fight like the old-timers we need to, as much as we can from a practical standpoint, think and live like the old-timers did.

  • Many of the greatest old-time fighters credited their life skills and day jobs for their winning ways. Jack Dempsey was a coal miner. James Braddock was a stevedore. Rocky Marciano worked as a ditch digger and railroad layer.

  • So many of the our wrestling greats have been farm boys that it might be easier to list the ones who weren’t. For those who can’t name any, try Rulon Gardner and Matt Hughes and (gulp) Frank Gotch.

  • Karl Gotch was a blacksmith.

  • How you live is how you fight. How good is your top saddle and your wrestling ride if you spend half your life in the saddle?

  • How much manual labor, and how any outdoor skills did Daniel Boone and David Crockett possess? Would you like to go back in time and fight either one of them?

  • Outdoor skills are survival skills, and survival skills are self-defense skills.

How about learning a new plant, why don’t we?

The plant on the left is a Maypop, Passiflora incarnata, a.k.a. purple passionflower or wild apricot. It’s a true passionflower, a very hardy, perennial vine, great for your yard or garden. Egg sized fruit appear from August to October in the American South (in other words, now). The blooms are lovely and fruit is yummy. By the way, it’s called a Maypop because of the popping sound it makes if stomped on!

Have you heard about our free distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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 the Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time 8/31/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29, Psalm 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11, Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a, Luke 14:1, 7-14

Luke 13:22-30  World English Bible

1 When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Jesus carefully. 7 He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them, 8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him, 9 and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

When I was a young we listened to music performed by real musicians on real instruments, recorded on vinyl records, and played on stereos that were powered by tubes.   There were no solid state stereos with silicon chips inside them.  There were no electronic music files.  Most everyone today takes the tone of modern sound files for granted.   But when CDs and solid state stereos came out, plenty of folks didn’t like it.  We thought it was cold, flat, and thin.  The only reason the new technology took over is because it is cheaper, more portable, and more durable.  The sound quality isn’t in the same ballpark.  I guarantee that the depth and richness of something like the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys, or anything by Frank Sinatra  played on a vintage, top-of-the line, tube-powered stereo system would truly shock the ears of a person who’s never heard anything that deep and rich.

This is happening in all aspects of our culture, not just in music.  Slowly and by degrees a kind of shallowness has taken over our movies, our books, our news, everything.  The words that we speak, hear, and read lack subtlety and depth.  We have passed through the Modern Age and entered into the Shallow Age.

Let’s listen to the rich recordings in today’s Bible readings with ancient ears!  When we hear from Sirach that we should conduct our affairs with humility that we will be loved more than a giver of gifts, we should hear a deeper ring of truth.  Material gifts are not what people in need want most.  What they want are caring friends who don’t act superior or look down on them.  When we are suffering, we want neighbors who’ll listen to us, care about us, and sympathize with us.

When we sing today’s psalm, “God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor” we hear the richness of this prayer.  The poor are those in need – not just in need of money, but in need of love, guidance, and healing.  Poverty is almost always the outward sign of a deeper privation – a lack of mental or physical health, a deep personal wound, a festering resentment or a flaw in character that needs to be mended.  When the psalmist sings, “God gives a home to the forsaken; he leads forth prisoners to prosperity” he sings of the way in which God heals, mends, and fills up the poor in spirit. 

When Jesus advises the Pharisees to humble themselves and take the least exalted seats, of course he’s using the host’s invitation of the humble person to sit at a higher place as a metaphor for God’s invitation of the humble into the afterlife.  When he suggests that we sit at the end of the table where the least exalted sit, he’s advising us to sit down with people who are poor – not just poor in money! – but with people who are poor in spirit, in every manner of moral, spiritual, and physical privation.  

As we read in Hebrews, there was a time when God had Moses stand at the foot of Mount Zion and prevent the people from ascending to be with him.  But now we have a new covenant in Christ, who has descended from heaven to sit with us at the unexalted end of the table.  Not only does he dine with us – he gives us his body and blood as true food and true drink that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his Body, and our souls washed through his most precious Blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.

Let us in turn dine with those who are in moral, spiritual, and physical poverty, and feed them both with alms and with the spiritual food of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Nine Throws and Takedowns: Mettle Maker #472 and Holy Eucharist for 8/24/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #472: Nine Throws and Takedowns

Not accidentally, all nine of the takedowns and throws in this curriculum lead to either Scarf Hold or Side Control position on the ground. They all dovetail with the Hook Mettle Drill. Again, we are not sport players. We are not looking to train exotic moves to outsmart competitors. We are self-defense fighters who want functional, bread-and-butter old-school moves that have withstood the test of time.

The Nine Throws and Takedowns of Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble

  1. Hip Throw: From Rough ‘n’ Tumble Collar and Elbow, transition the bicep-riding hand into an underhook. Step between and across you and your adversary with the same-side foot and place your opposite hip beneath his hip. For example, if you have an underhook on the left side, step between and across with your left foot, placing your left hip beneath and against his left hip. As soon as you make contact and hips are matched, stand up just enough to get his feet to break contact with the floor. Lift, turn, and finish the throw. Pull out the underhooking arm and use it to take Scarf Hold.

  2. Shoulder Throw: Unlike Hip Throw, which begins with an underhook of the same-side armpit, Shoulder throw begins with an underhook of the opposite side armpit. Opponents who stand tall and fail to keep their elbows tight are vulnerable. From Rough ‘n’ Tumble Collar and Elbow, grind the bicep-riding hand over the arm and take an overhook. Remove arm from the back of his neck, shoot it down between you, and underhook the arm at the armpit. Now you have an underhook and an overhook on the same arm. Step across with a low center of gravity and place your opposite hip against, and slightly lower than, his arm-side hip. Rise on your toes enough to break his toes’ contact with the ground. Lift, twist and throw him. He will essentially do a Side Deadfall. Retain the overhook. Slide out the underhook and take Scarf Hold. Be careful with your friends—do not throw people who have not perfected their Deadfalls!

  3. Drop Shoulder Throw: From Rough ‘n’ Tumble Collar and Elbow, grind the bicep-riding hand over the arm and take an overhook. Remove arm from the back of his neck, shoot it down between you, and underhook the arm at the armpit. Now you have an underhook and an overhook on the same arm. Step across with a low center of gravity and go to your knees, doing an cross-ab-crunch to pull his arm forward and down. He will execute a Shoulder Roll. Retain the overhook. Transition the underhook and take Scarf Hold. Be careful with your friends—do not throw people who have not perfected their Shoulder Rolls!

  4. Pinch Headlock Takedown: Starting from Collar and Elbow position, move the hand from the back of his neck all the way around to the side of his head on the far side. Insert middle finger in ear hole. Pull down and turn his head. At the same time, lift up on the underhooked side and put your forehead into his clavicle on the underhooked side. Take either a Gable Grip or an S-Grip and pull out all the slack. There should be no space between you, and his face should be glued to your chest. You now have a Pinch Headlock. Step backward and make him walk forward until the foot on his underhooked side is forward. Place your mirror foot inside his (your left inside his right or vice versa). Pivot away from the underhook, turn, and take him down. Transition the underhook to Scarf Hold and begin working the Hook Mettle Drill.

  5. Scarf Hold Takedown: When attacking with Scarf Hold, pivot and lower him to the ground. Be careful – he may topple awkwardly, causing your full weight may fall onto his chest causing a rib separation or break.

  6. Sag Headlock: Starting in Collar and Elbow position, push and pull him back and forth until his weight is forward and the foot that is forward is on the same side where you have the collar tie. In other words, if you have your right hand on the left-rear side of his neck, his right foot must be forward. Punch the arm that is behind his neck out, over and down. This is Rough ‘n’ Tumble, so strikes are grabs and grabs are strikes! At the same time, pull his elbow down and pivot in place, turn, relax your lower body and sag into him. In this position he cannot support your weight, and he will come down. Careful not to fall on his chest too hard. Starting now in Scarf Hold, begin to work through the Hook Mettle Drill.

  7. Bar & Chancery Drop: Execute a Snap-down. Once his head is down, overhook the neck. Reach under the armpit of the other side, scoop up the arm, and reach for the far pocket. This will lift his shoulder on that side. Drag him backwards. When his same side foot is forward – for example, his right root is forward and his right shoulder is lifted – put your same side foot inside his forward foot, and spiral him to the ground.

  8. Cow Catcher: This variation of a Bar and Chancery Drop can be used against single and double-leg takedowns. Start by habituating your leg defense. As soon as he begins his shot (his weight begins to lower and his arms begin to reach out), flex your knees, get lower, and snag his head and one arm. His head will be off center – either on the left or the right of the center line. Overhook his head with the arm on that side, in a manner similar to the way you might begin a Guillotine Choke. Underhook his arm on the opposite side, reaching for the far pocket as soon as your underneath. You will be in a kind of crouching Bar and Chancery Drop position. Do a deep rear lunge on the head control side and spin him onto his back. Either finish with the Flat Crank or remove the arm from his head and transition to Scarf Hold.

  9. Rear Body Lock Takedown: Getting to this position can be achieved in a number of ways, but a Drop Duck-under, Slide-by or Shrug is the most common. When you are behind or beside your opponent and you have your arms around his waist (maybe you even have one are two arms encircled as well), you can take him to the ground quite easily. Simply place your far foot behind his far foot to keep him from being able to step backward, sit back, and he wall fall over your leg. As he does, follow him over take either Side Control or spin to Top Saddle.

If you don’t know these techniques, sounds like you need a good coach and/or program.

Have you heard about our free distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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 the Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time 8/24/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Isaiah 66:18-21, Psalm 117:1, 2, Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13, Luke 13:22-30

Luke 13:22-30  World English Bible

Jesus went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem. 23 One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?”

He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ then he will answer and tell you, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside. 29 They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in God’s Kingdom. 30 Behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last.”

 

A man asks, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?"  And Jesus doesn’t give him a direct answer.  It’s a yes-or-no question.  Why doesn’t the Lord answer yes-or-no? Because the question reveals wrong thinking.  Instead of a “yes” or “no,” Jesus tells a parable about entering by the narrow gate.  He says that the people will say, “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets” but that those from faraway places, from the four corners of the globe, will come and “sit down in God’s Kingdom” for “there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last.”

The man’s question, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" reveals a flawed perspective.  He’s looking at things from the wrong angle.  Jesus cannot reply to the yes-or-no question with a yes-or-no answer – Jesus has to utterly change this man’s viewpoint.  The man is asking how many tickets are available for the show.  Essentially his is saying, “Are there a limited number of tickets for getting into the Big Stadium in the Sky?”

Jesus’ answer makes it clear that this is not a spectator sport.  This is not a pro-baseball game where we get our hotdog or our popcorn, watch and listen.  We need to put on a uniform and get down on the diamond.  This is not a concert.  We need to get our instrument, walk down to the stage, and play.  Jesus says that the people will say, “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.”  Worship is not about proximity.  We can’t get “good seats” to the Kingdom of God.  It’s not about being nearby, or watching, or anything of the kind.

As we see in the passages just before today’s reading, Jesus has been teaching that God’s Kingdom is like “a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his own garden. It grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.” (Luke 13:19).  He has been saying that the Kingdom is, “like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” (Luke 13:20).  What Jesus is looking for is a fundamental change from within.  He wants his seed to sprout within us so that we can grow and bloom.  He wants the leavening of his Word to transform us from dry flour into rich, moist, delicious bread.

Jesus wants participation.  He says, “there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last.”  God’s Kingdom isn’t a sporting event or a concert where, if we show up late and from far away, there’s no getting in because the event is sold out.  When it comes to God’s Kingdom, we can show up any time, and there are no tickets.  And it is not a show – it is a gathering together of all the faithful in Christ.  It is a union with God.

Morsels: Mettle Maker #471 and Holy Eucharist for 8/17/25

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Mettle maker #471: Morsels

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  1. Practice your hacksaws. Yes, there are three different kinds of hacksaws — the strike, the cram, and the grind. Check out our most recent video on the right for more details. March up to your heavy bag, get out your floor bag or your grappling dummy, and get to work!

  2. The Lent of St. Michael started on the 15th and is in full swing. Better late than never — start late and finish strong. Click here to find out how to join in this devotion.

  3. The new quarterly newsletter drops this coming Wednesday — watch your email box! Not signed up to receive it? Click here.

  4. Yours truly and and newly-promoted Green Bandana Alex (congratulations by the way!) are heading to Midwest Combatives Camp 2025 in Cincinnati Sept 13 and 14, 2025. If you’d like to join us, the camp is only $100 and several Hatmaker-affiliated instructors will be there.  Want to attend an affordable camp and have a chance to train with Mitch and Alex?  See details below to register.  If you decide to go, email Mitch at mitch@heritageartsinc.com and let him know so that he can reach out and coordinate.  

  5. Lots of new sign-ups in the distance learning program. Could it be that this crazy project, now in its 16th year, could be about to take flight? The struggle is the way! See my homily below for more on this subject.

Onward and Upward!

Have you heard about our free distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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 the Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time 8/17/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10, Psalm 40:2, 3, 4, 18, Hebrews 12:1-4, Luke 12:49-53

Luke 12:49-53 World English Bible

Jesus said, 49 “I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled. 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. 52 For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” *

 When Jeremiah spoke God’s truth, those who heard his prophecies were divided.  Some heeded his prophecies.  Others thought he should be put to death.  King Zedekiah was weak and allowed the prophet to be lowered into a pit to die.  But then the king was persuaded to rescue Jeremiah.  Instead of executing the prophet, King Zedekiah seeks and accepts Jeremiah’s counsel.  The king’s change of heart ultimately saves the city and many lives.  Changes of heart – receptiveness to God’s word – are great and remarkable.  But changes in heart can easily reverse themselves, and faith can wax and wane like the phases of the moon.

This is why, in our reading from the book of Hebrews, we are pointed toward the example of Jesus Christ.  We should “consider how he endured such opposition from sinners” so that we might not “grow weary and lose heart” in our “struggle against sin.”  He reminds us that, like Jesus, we might have to shed blood in our resistance against sin.

When Jesus says in our gospel reading that he came to set fire to the earth, he is speaking of the Pentecost fire, the fire of the Holy Ghost.  When he says he comes with division rather than peace, he means the violence of discernment, the battle to determine what is right and what is wrong.  Jesus wants us to be “fired up” – he wants lively debate in the public square, in households, and within ourselves.  Yes, he even wants us to be divided against ourselves, our inner father against our inner son and our inner daughter against our inner mother. 

When I lost my faith and got wrapped up in occult and New Age practices, it was like being stuck in Jeremiah’s muddy cistern.  But by the grace of God I remained divided.  I was never fully comfortable where I was.  I struggled.  It was, in a spiritual sense, like a father struggling with his young son.  Eventually, I had a change of heart.  Eventually the son triumphed over the father – the new me overcame the old me – and I was reborn in Christ. Christ, the true King, lowered his rope into the cistern and lifted me out of the darkness and mud.

In Revelation 3, the Lord says, “15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth… 19 Be zealous therefore, and repent.”

The pull toward lukewarm complacency is a spell of the evil one.  Don’t go with the flow.  Don’t grow tepid and weary and surrender to sin.  Burn hot with the fire of the Holy Ghost. 

The struggle is the way!

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* 12:53 Micah 7:6

The Lent of St. Michael 2025

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St. Michael’s Lent

Saint Michael's Lent is a time of prayer and fasting that lasts from the Feast of the Assumption on August 15 to Michaelmas (the feast of St Michael) on September 29. It’s origin can be traced to the spiritual practices of St. Francis of Assisi. It was his habit to fast and pray in honor of the Blessed Virgin and St. Michael for the 40 days leading up to Michaelmas.

A couple years before St. Francis’ death, he spent St. Michael’s Lent on Mount La Verna, and it was there that he received his famous stigmata — the wounds of Christ on his hands and feet.

There is no “official” way to participate in this optional devotion. Many of the fancy new phone apps, like Hallow and Exodus 90, are promoting various options. If you’d like to pray along with us, here is how we’re going to approach it this year.

How to Observe St. Michael’s Lent with Heritage Arts

  1. St. Michael’s Lent lasts from the Assumption on 8/15 to Michaelmas on 9/29.

  2. Fast and abstain every Friday for the duration. Fasting means only 1 full meal and 2 or 3 small snacks each day. All snacks, if combined must, be less than a full meal. Those younger that 14 or over 59 years of age are exempt. Abstaining means eating no meat other than fish.

  3. Each day, except for Sundays and feasts, make the observances listed below. In total these will only take you about 20 minutes at normal speaking speed — perhaps half an hour if you adopt a slower, and more contemplative pace.

  4. Light a candle in honor of St. Michael. Use just a plain candle (place a painting, prayer card, or printed picture of St. Michael adjacent to it if you like), purchase a St. Michael candle, make a candle by decorating a jar or pillar candle, etc.

  5. Pray the Prayer of St. Michael. “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.”

  6. Pray the St. Michael Chaplet. (Click here to print a copy of these instructions) Make or buy a set of St. Michael beads, or simply pray the prayers — see below. When you get to step #11, the four Our Fathers in the name of St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and our Guardian Angel, recite the Prayer of St. Barachiel in honor of the patron saint of Heritage Arts: “O powerful Archangel, Saint Barachiel, filled with heaven’s glory and splendor, you are rightly called God’s benediction. We are God’s children placed under your protection and care. Listen to our supplications and grant that, through your loving intercession, we may reach our heavenly home one day. Sustain us and protect us from all harm that we may possess for all eternity the peace and happiness that Jesus has prepared for us in heaven. Present to God the Father all our petitions, through Jesus Christ our Lord, together with the Holy Ghost, forever and ever, Amen.”

Click this photo to print a copy of the instructions

The St. Michael Chaplet Instructions

(Click here to print a copy of these instructions)

1. Make the sign of the Cross and say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.” Then pray, “O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, forever and ever, Amen."

2. “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Seraphim may the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of perfect charity. Amen.” Then pray three Our Fathers and three Hail Marys:

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one; for the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and for ever, Amen.”

“Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

3. “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Cherubim may the Lord grant us the grace to leave the ways of sin and run in the paths of Christian perfection. Amen. (Our Father, Three Hail Marys)”

4. “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Thrones may the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere spirit of humility. Amen. (Our Father, Three Hail Marys)”

5. “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Dominions may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and overcome any unruly passions. Amen. (Our Father, Three Hail Marys)”

6. “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Virtues may the Lord preserve us from evil and falling into temptation. Amen. (Our Father, Three Hail Marys)”

7. “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Powers may the Lord protect our souls against the snares and temptations of the devil. Amen. (Our Father, Three Hail Marys)”

8. “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Principalities may God fill our souls with a true spirit of obedience. Amen. (Our Father, Three Hail Marys)”

9. “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Archangels may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all good works in order that we may attain the glory of Heaven. Amen. (Our Father, Three Hail Marys)”

10. “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Angels may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal life and conducted in the life to come to Heaven. Amen. (Our Father, Three Hail Marys)”

11. Pray Four Our Fathers — one in honor of each of the following Angels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and our Guardian Angel.

12. Final prayers on the Medallion: “O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable guide, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.

Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ, that we may be made worthy of His promises.

Almighty and Everlasting God, Who, by a prodigy of goodness and a merciful desire for the salvation of all men, has appointed the most glorious Archangel St. Michael Prince of Your Church, make us worthy, we ask You, to be delivered from all our enemies, that none of them may harass us at the hour of death, but that we may be conducted by him into Your Presence. This we ask through the merits of Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

Have you heard about our free Rough ‘n’ Tumble distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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.

Orientation: Mettle Maker #470 and Holy Eucharist for 8/10/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #470: Orientation

This donors-only video is relevant to the topic. You can watch if if you support our charity for just $5.99/month.

American   Rough ‘n’ Tumble began in the Southern Virginia backcountry during the Colonial Era.  It is an amalgam of the fighting styles brought to America by colonists from all over the world, blended with the mayhem-managing methods of indigenous tribes, cops, coal miners and carnies, soldiers and sailors, lumberjacks, so on. 

In order to fight like the old-timers, we need to try and approach the world, as much as possible, in the way the old-timers did.  Our program includes old-time fitness, outdoor skills, and lifeways.  For example, this past week I ended a session with a compass exercise.  I put a little flag in the ground to mark our starting point.  As a group, we used a compass to orient us due North, spotted a landmark, and walked twenty paces.  Then we stopped, took another reading, and walked twenty paces due East.  We repeated this exercise to South and West.  In theory, if our readings and our pacing were careful and correct, we should’ve walked a perfect square.  If we did our job, we’d end up right where we started.

We were off by a two paces. How could we have been more accurate? We could’ve measured our steps better, chosen our landmarks more carefully, and so on. Meditating on the location of the flag wouldn’t have helped. And that’s the way life is. Life isn’t as much about what you, but rather how you do it. If you orient yourself properly you can reach any destination your choose. This is why “goal-setting” is only useful to a point. Anybody can visualize a goal. Attitude and orientation are far harder and more critical.

There is also a lesson in the compass about faith — see this week’s homily below. And there is another one about being centered. For that one, see the video above.

Have you heard about our free distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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 the Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 8/10/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Wisdom 18:6-9, Psalm 33:1, 12, 18-19, 20-22, Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19, Luke 12:32-48

Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19  World English Bible

1 Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. 2 For by this, the elders obtained approval.

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. 9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

11 By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen‡ them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his only born§ son, 18 to whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,” * 19 concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.

 

The primary program we offer at my little charity, Heritage Arts, is American Rough ‘n’ Tumble martial arts.  Rough ‘n’ Tumble began in the Southern Virginia backcountry during the Colonial Era.  It is an amalgam of the fighting styles brought to America by colonists from all over the world, blended with the mayhem-managing methods of indigenous tribes, cops, coal miners and carnies, soldiers and sailors, lumberjacks, so on. 

In order to fight like the old-timers, we try to approach the world like the old-timers.  Our program includes old-time fitness, outdoor skills, and lifeways.  For example, this past week I ended a session with a compass exercise.  I put a little flag in the ground to mark our starting point.  As a group, we used a compass to orient us due North, spotted a landmark, and walked twenty paces.  Then we stopped, took another reading, and walked twenty paces due East.  We repeated this exercise to South and West.  In theory, if our readings and our pacing were careful and correct, we should’ve walked a perfect square.  If we did our job, we’d end up right where we started.

We came close – just two paces from the tiny flag where we began.  Not bad at all.  But I asked the guys, “What could we have done to improve our accuracy?”  They had great answers, like “measuring our steps more accurately,” “using a better compass,”  and “choosing our landmarks more carefully.”  “Would that have helped, “ I asked, “if we had meditated on the location of the flag?” They replied, “No, I don’t think so.”

They were right of course.  Focusing on the goal is not all that helpful.  It’s much more beneficial to focus on our orientation.  If our orientation is right, we will reach our destination.  In fact, if we are well-oriented, we can reach any destination we choose. If our orientation is poor, we can’t get anywhere.  It’s no coincidence that, in the sciences, “attitude” refers to the direction or orientation of an object. 

The lesson of the compass mirrors the lesson of our reading from Hebrews.  Faith is not blindness, it is orientation.  Faith is not believing in made-up nonsense.  Faith is trust.  Faith is “proof of things not seen.”  Can we see the magnetic waves of the Earth that move the compass needle?  No.  But we know where it points.  The compass has been a proven piece of navigation equipment for almost a thousand years.  Can we see God?  Can we see his commandments hovering in mid-air?  No.  But we can see how orienting ourselves using his guiding principles orders the lives of individuals, directs our churches, inspires our communities, organizes the legal system of the Western world, and, and so on.  We see what can be achieved when peoples and cultures follow the needle that is our God and Lord.  Consider that the Cross is a compass rose on the map of life, and that crossing oneself is a physical demonstration of the desire to orient oneself toward God.   

Abraham had no idea where we would end up.  But in faith, he trusted God, his compass.  In his old age, he went into the wilderness to find his way to a better life.  Our lives are like that, brothers and sisters.  We go forward each day into an uncharted future of unpredictable hazards and difficulties, twists and turns.  But if we control our attitudes, choose our steps carefully, and trust in the infallible compass that is the Lord our God, we will arrive in the Promised Land.

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‡11:13 TR adds “and being convinced of”

 §11:17 The phrase “only born” is from the Greek word “μονογενη”, which is sometimes translated “only begotten” or “one and only”.

 *11:18 Genesis 21:12

Hoarding Stuff: Mettle Maker #469 and Holy Eucharist for 8/3/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #469: Hoarding Stuff

This donors-only video is relevant to the topic. You can watch if if you support our charity for just $5.99/month.

Millions of martial arts videos get viewed on YouTube each day. Aside from Hatmaker’s of course, one of my favorite YouTube channels is Jesse Enkamp’s Karate by Jesse. Hatmaker gives practical, direct, non0-nonense information. Enkamp is humble and funny and trains with fascinating people. But do we really learn anything from watching these videos? Or are we just wasting our time? For that matter, I own hundreds of martial arts DVDs and books. How much have I really learned from them?

The answers to these questions are not in quantity but in quality. It’s not about how much we watch. It’s about discernment — how selective we are in what we watch and how we practice what we perceive.

Each month I get a training DVD from my martial arts coach Mark Hatmaker. It’s like drinking from a firehouse. If I spent five minutes a day practicing what’s contained in each of the 100+ DVDs I’ve received from him over the years, I’d be training 500 minutes/day — that’s over 8 hours/day. Preposterous!

What we have to do is select the learnings that matter and add or modify our programs and approaches accordingly. Sometimes what we learn isn’t technical. We might learn, for example, a better way to train in general, a better schema, or training structure. Or we might just catch a spur to our flanks that gets us off the sofa and into the gym.

We need not hoard martial arts DVDs, books, or watch hours. That’s just idle vanity, laziness, wasted time. Passivity is anathema; engagement and discernment is the secret sauce. When you watch a video, pay attention. Pluck out a learning — a new or better technique, a better approach, an improved methodology, or what-have-you. And then really train it.

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Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 8/3/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23, Psalm 90:3-17, Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11, Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21 World English Bible

13 One of the multitude said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15 He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”

16 He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. 17 He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ 18 He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

We have developed over time a great slang word: “stuff.”  Nowadays we use the word “stuff” to refer not to just material goods, as in “get your hands off my stuff!” but also to refer to the immaterial, as in “I’m going through some stuff right now” or when we open a tough awkward conversation with “we need talk about this stuff.”

Today’s readings are about our “stuff.”  Yes, our material goods, but also about the other stuff that we lay up and hoard in our storehouses.  Even a monk, who lives a life of austerity and has no material possessions beyond a few books and a few changes of clothes, can be a hoarder of a kind of wealth.  What if he reads voraciously from the library, thinking that somehow his vast storehouse of knowledge will profit him?  Isn’t this a vain attempt to lay up treasure of a certain sort?

When I examine myself for this tendency, I do not see it with regard to money and material possessions as much as I do with achievements.  I have been, and still am on bad days, a hoarder of accolades, accomplishments, and feats.  I sometimes catch myself thinking about my legacy, deluding myself into thinking that my accomplishments are a golden heirloom that I will bequeath to my descendants.  I imagine my surviving family saying, “I wish you could’ve known my father.  He was incredible!” or “Did you know my granddad did amazing stuff?  Check this out!”  How vain and self-aggrandizing this is!

In centered moments I come to myself and see that I am being foolish in allowing this to go to excess.  It’s necessary and good to set a positive example for our children and grandchildren, for our friends and neighbors.  But greed for achievements and accolades – greed for anything – is a type of idolatry.  As St. Paul says in our reading from Colossians, “Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry” (Col 3:5).

Just as plentiful food and shelter are necessary for a healthy body and a positive home life, cultural nourishments like arts and entertainment, sports, manufacturing, commerce, academics, philosophy, science, politics, and so on are necessary for a healthy society.  Striving for excellence rather than mediocrity in the cultural domain is also good.  But when we begin hyperfocus on the treasures that these domains provide, and we begin to amass quantities of all this “worldly stuff” we stray away from the God-centeredness.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt 5:3).  Let us not hoard any of our various “stuff” and strive always to be “rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).

Up Against a Wall: Mettle Maker #468 and Holy Eucharist for 7/27/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #468:Up Against a Wall

After guns and knives, the deadliest weapons in the crime statistics are walls, floors, and hard surfaces in the environment.  You need to get off the wall, and fast.  Act quickly before your head gets banged against the wall and you get concussed or killed.

Standing Wall Press:  Take an over-hook with one arm as you either place the other forearm against his throat, or if you prefer, use the free hand to take him by the throat (placing the thumb and middle finger on the mastoid processes of either side).  Your overhook anchors one side and acts like a hinge.  Cramming and pushing with the other hand “opens the door.”  Execute a Split Step and back out of the opening.

Seated Wall Press: Just as you did when standing, take an overhook on one side.  Place the opposite hand on the ground and execute an Get-up.  The leg pulled through will be stopped by the wall. That’s okay; just put the knee on the ground adjacent to the wall.  Pull in the outstretched knee, place it on the ground right next to the other knee, and then stand up.  Be careful to rise at the same rate as your attacker.  If you get higher than him, he may get under you, grab your legs, and pull you right back down. Once you’re standing, use the Standing Wall Press technique if needed.

See the photo sets below, and the video above, for details.

Have you heard about our free distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 7/27/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Genesis 18:20-32, Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8, Colossians 2:12-14, Luke 11:1-13

Luke 11:1-13 World English Bible

1 When he [Jesus] finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

2 He said to them, “When you pray, say,

‘Our Father in heaven,

may your name be kept holy.

May your Kingdom come.

May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

3 Give us day by day our daily bread.

4 Forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Bring us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.’ ”

5 He said to them, “Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,’ 7 and he from within will answer and say, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you’? 8 I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.

9 “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.

11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, he won’t give him a scorpion, will he? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

It's scary to be pinned with your back against a wall by an aggressive person.  You feel trapped, unable to move, and vulnerable.  But as a priest who is also a self-defense expert, I assure you that this situation feels more compromising than it is.  In five minutes, I could teach you how to quickly and safely escape this awful position.  Unfortunately, however, you would quickly forget what you learned without persistent practice.  Persistence.  That’s the key.

Persistence is almost always the key to success in any endeavor.  Not least in the domain of prayer.  A prayer is not a simple request.  It is not a coin that goes into the slot of God’s vending machine so that we can make our selections.  It is a religious practice.  And as you may have heard said many times, “practice makes perfect.”

God reveals to Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah are filled with wickedness and are about to be destroyed.  Abraham persists in questioning God’s mercy with regard to the people there.  Again and again Abraham presses God for more forbearance and mercy for the innocent.  At length God is merciful.  Lot and his daughters, although far from being perfect, are liberated from Sodom and spared.  Abraham’s persistence pays off.  And Jesus gives us the parable of the man who begs a friend to loan him three loaves of bread.  He says, “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.” Persistence is the key.

Prayer is not a technical support ticket for the help desk in the sky, or a flare gun signaling for rescue.  Prayer is a religious practice.  Practicing a sport doesn’t make the game turn out in your favor; it makes you a better player.  Practicing piano doesn’t transform the piano or the audience so that performances go well.  Practice makes the pianist a better artist.

In a similar way, the religious practice called prayer makes us better Christians.  Like Elijah, through prayer we learn to hear and heed the still, small voice of God amid the fires and earthquakes of this life (1 Kings 19:12) even when our backs are up against a wall.  Through prayer we may receive a miracle.  Or we might just find a way to adjust our expectations, accept a difficult truth, or be at peace in troubling circumstances.  Maybe we’ll simply learn to be more patient, more calm, or more accepting. 

Jesus asks us to pray persistently using the Lord’s Prayer – to pray that his name be kept holy, to pray that his Kingdom comes, and that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Jesus says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”  Jesus doesn’t say that we get our heart’s desire.  He says we receive the Holy Spirit.  Through prayer, the Lord’s Prayer especially, we learn to conform ourselves to his plans and accept his ways.  What we stand to receive is the Holy Spirit, which is a greater gift than getting our way. 

Attachments: Mettle Maker #467 and Holy Eucharist for 7/20/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #467: Attachments

You don’t own the stuff — the stuff owns you. That cool car that you vacuum and polish every weekend and work overtime to pay for? Sounds like the car owns you. That big fancy house with the perfect lawn and all the unused bedrooms that you struggle to keep up and pay the mortgage on? Sounds like it too owns you, instead of you owning it.

The same is true in your martial arts training:

  • Holding on to certain pet techniques that you know in your heart don’t work

  • Pushing to maintain an unrealistic level of fitness despite age and other factors

  • Striving to attain an extreme paradigm at the expense of all else

  • Obsessing on self-defense to the point of paranoia

  • Giving free rein to the competitive instinct such that it rules one’s life

These are all examples of attachments in the martial arts. I know they are no good because, at one time or another and to varying degrees, I have been guilty of them. I had to learn to let go of these attachments.

Train. Strive for excellence. Do your best. But look to maintain a healthy balance.

From time to time we have referred to our humble rough ‘n’ tumble martial arts project as “Full Context Martial Arts.” Our little play on the phrase “full contact martial arts” reinforces the importance of practical, realistic, balanced training for the whole person over the long haul as opposed to the modern sport oriented MMA mindset which is all about winning — unconnected to any moral compass and despite the long-term health risks.

For a simple and effective measure of your general fighting fitness, try Escape Plan Drill. Set a timer for 15 cycles of 1 minute each. Sprint for 1 minute, Shadowbox or hit the heavy bag for 1 minute, then complete as many calisthenics reps as you can for 1 minute. Repeat 4 more times for a total of 15 mins, taking as few 12-count breaks as you must in order to finish. Your 5 calisthenics are: Push-ups, Sprawls, Back Bridges, Get-ups, and Bear Walks. Try a big bite and tell me if you like the recipe. See the video above if you need clarification.

For more about attachments, see this week’s homily below.

Have you heard about our free distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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 the Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 7/20/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Genesis 18:1-10a, Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 5, Colossians 1:24-28, Luke 10:38-42

Luke 10:38-42  World English Bible

As they went on their way, he [Jesus] entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him, and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me.”

41 Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Last night I had a dream in which I was an adult playing with toys.  I was all alone in a dreamlike place.  Every childish toy was available to me for my amusement as I wiled away the hours.  When I woke up, I saw the material things in my life as if they were toys – silly, meaningless toys – as a supreme waste of my time and attention.  What a pleasure it is to see how beautifully last night’s dream, and certain recent life events, dovetailed with this week’s readings.

Yesterday I spent most of the day doing repairs on my rental house.  It’s not just an investment property; it’s the house in which I was born and raised.  My parents left it to me when they passed.  I have so many memories there that the property seems to me almost holy ground.  That was the only house I ever lived in, from birth until leaving for college.  And recently I made the decision to sell the property next year and invest the money.  The labor to keep the place up is high and the profit is low.  I came to the realization that if I sell it and put the money into stock it will earn more for my retirement.  But more importantly, I can shift all of the time I put into maintenance of that property into my ministry.

The things we own, if we are not careful, can start to own us.  This applies to material goods and to memories.  Obsessions on the good and bad experiences of the past can lead us toward extremes of negativity and sentimentality can tie us down in an unhealthy way. Most sin, as St. Augustine said in Latin, is incurvatus in se – that is, a turning or curving inward on oneself, rather than a turning outward toward others and toward God.  This curving inward is about getting and doing what I want  – like a child playing alone with his toys rather than sharing them with the other children.

In today’s gospel reading, Martha is so worried about the chores, making sure Jesus and his disciples are fed and comfortable, and keeping the house in order, that she misses the opportunity to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from him.  I am reminded of Psalm 46 in which turmoil and distraction are everywhere.  But God  says in verse ten, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

The problems and pleasures of the world continually present themselves.  A certain amount of attentiveness to these material objects and everyday concerns is necessary and helpful in order to take care of ourselves and lead happy, productive lives.  But we must seek to maintain a healthy balance, making sure that our attachments do not hold us back and prevent us from moving toward Christ.  We must go to him, be still, and sit at his feet.

Dialing In: Mettle Maker #466 and Holy Eucharist for 7/13/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #466: Dialing In

This week we’re dialing in a couple or few things. On the martial arts front, we’re talking about telephone lock variants. Strictly speaking, when you throw on a telephone lock in wrestling, it is a three-step process. First you put the hold on like a Top Wristlock, except with the hand rather than the wrist. Then you switch his hand to the same side hand, such that you have him in one-handed TWL. Step 3 is reaching behind his head with the other arm to pull his head out of alignment as you add on the second hand and squeeze the hand for the tap.

You can pull that off when wrestling. But a man on his feet isn’t going to sit still while you string those moves together. And without a backing surface like the ground, the various parts of the puzzle won’t hold. However, as we demonstrate in the video above, you can pull off a variant. if you can get the hand, just slap on a TWL with the hand and you have what amounts to a “half-telephone” if you will. You can try the same thing when you throw on a Double Wristlock Just take the hand instead of the wrist and fold it back. Voila!

The second thing I want to dial in is love. This has been on my mind quite a bit lately. And it just so happens that today’s readings are about God’s law, both of which are about love.

Are you a frequent reader or visitor? How would you like to become an active participant in our distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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 the Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 7/13/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Deut 30:10-14, Psalm 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37, Coll 1:15-20, Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37 World English Bible

25 Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind;* and your neighbor as yourself.”*

28 He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

30 Jesus answered, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, 34 came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’ 36 Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?”

37 He said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

 

If you are walking down a street in your neighborhood and you smell the aroma of a steak sizzling on a grill, you can easily look upwind and see which neighbor is cooking.  You say to yourself, “Wow, the steak cooking over at the Jones’ place smells fantastic!”  Or if you wake up from a nap and you detect the unmistakable aroma of homemade bread, you can say to yourself, “My wife is baking,” and follow the scent straight to the bread on the kitchen counter.

Our readings today are laying down the scent for us to follow, the most delicious and savory scent of all, that leads back to the Father.  Moses tells the people that God’s commandments are not mysterious or remote – they are already in our mouths and in our hearts.  This is not a trail we have to follow for a thousand miles, over hills, gorges, and streams.  We don’t need noses like bloodhounds to do this.  It’s right here.

St. Paul says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.  Like my wife’s delicious bread in the next room, We cannot see God, nor can we see Jesus.  But we have their scent, and it is easily followed.  It is not, in the words of Moses, “mysterious and remote.”  It is right here.    

When a legal scholar comes to Jesus looking for the legal basis for salvation, Jesus gives him what he wants: a legal answer.  He says to the man, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”  Next the scholar tries to split hairs.  He presses Jesus, wanting to use the definition of the word “neighbor” to justify his own selfish views of who is, or is not, worthy of love.  Jesus responds by telling him what we know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan – a story in which a Samaritan man helps a Jewish man, showing charitable love despite the fact they are members of different ethnic groups and rival religions.  Jesus shows the scholar that he is trying to define law at the expense of following it.  To extend our metaphor, the legal scholar is trying to define what he is smelling instead of following the scent.  He is off the trail completely.

Love is on the wind, and God is the bread in the kitchen.  He is the delicious pie cooling on the sill.  Love is the law that is everywhere in the world, if only we will follow it; it is the scent that leads back to our truest nourishment, back to our spiritual food.  When we detect love, just as we detect the aroma of baked bread or grilling steak, it is proof of the existence of the source, which is God – Love itself. 

God is Love, and Love is the right here, right now.  Breathe it in.  Savor it.  Rejoice in it.  Follow it.  Know that God is the source and origin of all Love and Goodness.  Follow the sweet smelling savor of Love, and serve it up for others.  In each moment, discern what the greatest act of love would be.  And if you do that, you will never be far from God’s law.     

-------------------------------------------------

* 10:27 Deuteronomy 6:5

* 10:27 Leviticus 19:18

Fending Off and Amping Up: Mettle Maker #465 and Holy Eucharist for 7/6/25

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #465: Fending Off and Amping Up

Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, DL founder of the scouting movement

When moving through uncharted woods, people will often push brush aside with the same hand every time. This is called “fending off.” Often people use their off-hand, or non-dominant hand, perhaps in an unconscious attempt to prevent injury to the dominant hand. This causes an imbalance. Each time a person fends off with the same hand, their course changes slightly. They turn away from the push a tiny, imperceptible amount.

This is why people who are lost in the woods tend to move in circles. One way to prevent circling is to fend off with both hands.

Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouting movement, was vice president of an ambidextral culture group, believed in the power of training both hands, which is why many scouting groups greet one another with a left-handed shake. Although Baden-Powell wouldn’t have had access to the science,

Boxers training in “orthodox” stance.

And science bears this out. For an overview, see the bilateral transfer research starter page at EBSCO (https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/education/bilateral-transfer).

In a nutshell, Bilateral Transfer Effect means that if you practice a task or skill with one limb, it will accelerate your ability to perform the task with the opposite limb more than training the dominant hand alone.

Any skill you want to be really good at, practice with both hands. Especially martial arts techniques. All of the classical martial arts, like TKD, Karate, and Kung Fu — stress this. Doesn’t seem to be as prevalent in Western martial arts, but there are some old-time as well as modern examples of boxers who switched stance, like Willie Pep and Marvelous Marvin Hagler — two of the best boxers ever to step into the ring.

There may also be another benefit as well: avoidance of repetitive use injuries. Doing the same thing over and over again is a major cause of injury and pain. Accumulated wear and tear is a real danger. Switching things up spreads training forces across the opposite limb, cutting repetitive use by 50% on both sides simultaneously!

May I suggest that if you don’t practice “fending off” attackers with both hands, you might be “going in circles” in your martial arts practice.

If you aren’t training in both orthodox and reverse stance, training both hands in front and rear, you’re missing an opportunity to amp up your training!

Are you a frequent reader or visitor? How would you like to become an active participant in our distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 7/6/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Isaiah 66:10-14c, Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20, Galatians 6:14-18, Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 World English Bible

1 Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy‡ others, and sent them two by two ahead of him† into every city and place where he was about to come. 2 Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way. 5 Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house. 8 Into whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ 10 But into whatever city you enter and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

18 He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

 

The Bible refers to the Seventy as “others,” that is, followers of Jesus Christ other than the Twelve.  Doesn’t this mean us?  Aren’t we the “others?”  Isn’t Jesus is speaking directly to us, telling us that “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few” – that we need to go out into the world to spread his good news?

First Jesus tells us that we are “lambs among wolves.”  We need to be wise to the crooked ways of the word without stooping to its level, not allowing ourselves to become jaded and cynical.  We to be in the world, but not of the world.  And  we should carry no purse, wallet, or sandals.  We’re leaving our baggage at home – our pet peeves, our politics, preconceived notions, preferences, and prejudices.  We’ll need no wallets, because we can’t buy your way into the heart of this culture, and the Peace of Christ has no price tag.  Neither do we need sandals, because we’re going to tread lightly.  We’re going to go barefoot, slowly picking our steps and putting our feet down delicately.  We are not going to stomp about throwing our weight around.

Jesus says we should eat and drink what they give us.  There is no better way to get to know a family than to eat in their home.  We are going to be accepting, open to what others say, and prepared to take in whatever is on the menu.  We need to listen.  Often people we evangelize say things that we find distasteful.  Spitting out what they are offering and trying to force feed them our ideas is not the way to go.  Take it all in, absorb.  Trust there will be a time for us to serve them nourishing food we have prepared.

And we will be worthy of our wages.  Employers are happy to pay hard-working, productive workers.  Those we evangelize should be thrilled to feed us because we are of great service.  Hopping from house to house is a bad idea.  We must sit still and engage – listening, assisting, and participating, making deep connections rather than shallow ones.

We are to demonstrate our value by healing the sick and casting out demons.  We begin to heal others by offering a supporting arm to those who are hurt and stumbling, and a shoulder for their tears, a sympathetic ear and a comforting voice.  We offer the Peace of Christ – the hope which heals fear and the forgiveness which heals guilt.  When they harbor demons – illogical thoughts, misconceptions, disordered behaviors, and so on – we cast them out by showing them how Jesus Christ transforms souls.

And whether they are accepting or not, Jesus says our response is the same: “The Kingdom of God is at hand” – that is to say, “the Kingdom of God has come near to you.”  We proclaim that the Kingdom of God is always at hand.  Jesus is right here, right now, waiting patiently for us all to take his hand.

And finally, we are told not to be puffed up with our deeds.  Rather, we should keep our eyes on heaven.  We should rejoice with the heavenly hosts because of the good things that have come to pass by virtue of his power which we have allowed to shine through us.  We should cast our eyes upward and be in awe of God’s love for all his children. 

——————————————————————--

‡  Some sources read “seventy-two”

† 10:1 literally, “before his face”

 

Back to Basics: Mettle Maker #464 and Holy Eucharist for the Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #464: Back to Basics

Every day in this great land of ours, handcuffs get slapped on thousands and thousands of bad guys. Most of the men and women who do the cuffing not in peak physical condition. Some are weak and scrawny. Others are fat and out of shape from working long hours, sitting behind the wheels of patrol cars, patrolling streets, and surveilling drug dealers.

And yet we take it for granted that no matter how nasty the ne’er-do-well, the cuffs will still go on. Because they do. They always do. No matter how hardened the criminal, how psychopathic the perpetrator, when we call the police the zip ties go on every time.

In fact, police officers are so good at their jobs that if a BJJ black belt went on a violent rampage on one of our fair streets, we’d be shocked if a cop could not take them down.

How is this possible?

Because law enforcement officers don’t train for, or work in, octagons, cages, or rings. They are steeped in chaos. They do not “play.” Arresting violent people is not a sport. Although they may face off with bad guys on-on-one, they still do not duel. They do not engage in fair fights mano a mano.

This is also the way we train, and the reason why Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble is such an effective martial art. Which is why last week we reinforced the importance of sparring realistically.

There are several other basic things that we do around here that make what we do effective — not just effective for self-defense from physical threats — but effective for improving mind, body, and spirit health.

  • Daily journaling

  • Spending time outdoors

  • Practicing the eight spiritual disciplines

  • Getting frequent exercise

  • Spending time with real people in real time in real fellowship

  • etc.

For more details read the Student Handbook and follow its direction. Get back to basics — you’ll be glad you did.

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Homily for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul 6/29/25 – Father Mitch

 Readings: Acts 12:1-11, Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18, Matt 16:13-19

 Matt 16:13-19 World English Bible

Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

14 They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 I also tell you that you are Peter,† and on this rock ‡ I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades§ will not prevail against it. 19 I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

 

Since the earliest days of the church, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul has been celebrated on the 29th of June.  The details are somewhat murky.  June 29th marks either the anniversary of the day they were both martyred in the 1st century, or the day their skulls were officially installed in the richly decorated canopy above the altar in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome in the 4th century.  Either way, this is a commemoration with a 1,500 year history.

Tradition holds that St. Peter died by inverted crucifixion and Paul was beheaded by sword.  And yet St. Paul writes, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat.” Was St. Paul’s belief in vain?  A cynical man would say he was betrayed.  Why would God send an angel to liberate Peter from jail only to allow his crucifixion?  And today we hear the psalmist proclaim, “The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.”  Yet many who fear the Lord have been and continue to be imprisoned, tortured, and killed by evildoers.  Christians today are being harassed and killed in over 100 countries.  Two thirds of the world’s Christians are at risk – living in dangerous areas, in poverty, as threatened minorities, and so forth.¹  Will the angel of the Lord liberate all of them?  What is going on here?  Are we living in a fantasy world, where our belief does not align with reality? 

No, we are not delusional.  This bizarre contradiction is the crux – Latin for “cross” – of our very strange religion.  This is what makes our faith so unique, so unbelievable, so utterly bizarre – and so completely redemptive. 

No prison can hold us.  Our spirits take flight, exiting between the bars of concentration camps, jails and dungeons to commune with God.  We have no fear of man-made chains.  Let men do their worst while we do our best, preaching always goodness, truth, and salvation.  We cannot be cut off.  Stone walls and iron gates cannot prevent the peace of Christ from entering our hearts and minds.  We do not fear even the chains of death.  Though we may suffer and die, the Lord still rescues us from every evil threat.  For we know that our Lord and Savior holds the keys of life and death, and our destiny is life eternal.

Although the double chains that held St. Peter were indeed loosed by angel – you can go and see them in the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli – that was not true liberation.  The blood, sweat and joyful tears of Saints Peter and Paul -- whose whole beings were, to use the words of St. Paul, “poured out like a libation” – slip through iron shackles like sand through the clutching fingers of evil and into the arms of Jesus Christ.

 ——————————————————————-

 † 16:18 Peter’s name, Petros in Greek, is the word for a specific rock or stone.

 ‡ 16:18 Greek, petra, a rock mass or bedrock.

 § 16:18 or, Hell

 ¹ CatholicRadioTVNet, “The Global War on Christians,” interview of John L. Allen by Jonas Soto, posted Dec 4, 2017, YouTube: https://youtu.be/z39OY6dKGAI


Realer than Real: Mettle Maker #463 and Holy Eucharist for Corpus Christi

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #463: Five Ways to Add Realism to Your Sparring

 There’s a big difference between training for a competition and training for the street. But beware: many “reality based” fighting methods are just sport fighting re-packaged. If you’re sparring 1-on-1 all the time and always following a rules set, it’s not “reality-based” it’s sporting.

A person who will attack you in the street is the sort of person who will not fight fair. You are going to be attacked by superior forces, with superior weapons, and likely by surprise. Use these three methods to fix your training.

Five Ways to Add Realism to Sparring

  1. Shorten sparring rounds to 1 or 2 minutes, and remove breaks. Run students through 2 or 3 different opponents, then let them take a full round or two off.

  2. Train 2-on-1 or even 3-on-1. Scrum-based sports likely find their origin in ancient games designed to prepare young warriors for battle.

  3. Dump the dueling. One person should always be at a deficit or disadvantage. Ditch weight classes, avoid matching people by size, have one person armed and the other unarmed, etc.

  4. Start rounds in bad positions. One person standing, the other kneeling, one person trapped in a rear bearhug, etc.

  5. Run impairment drills. Simulate injury by putting a rock in someone’s shoe, tucking one hand in a belt, etc. Run some wrestling rounds with one person blindfolded. Get creative.

These ideas can be adopted when training solo as well. For more details, see the video on the right.

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Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ 6/22/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Genesis 14:18-20, Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Lauda Sion, Luke 9:11b-17

Luke 9:11b-17 World English Bible

He welcomed them, spoke to them of God’s Kingdom, and he cured those who needed healing. 12 The day began to wear away; and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and farms and lodge and get food, for we are here in a deserted place.”

13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For they were about five thousand men.

He said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did so, and made them all sit down. 16 He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to the sky, he blessed them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17 They ate and were all filled. They gathered up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.

There is nothing more controversial than the miracles of Jesus.  Even in ancient times there were doubts and disagreements.  As early as the second century, Adoptionists and Arianists claimed that Jesus was human, not Lord.  In the 18th century, Christian Deists, like U.S. founding father Thomas Jefferson, believed that Jesus was the perfect moral teacher, but disputed the miracles and denied the divinity of Jesus. For many people, then and now, the miracles are just too much to believe.

And yet belief in the truth of Jesus’ miracles persists.  Perhaps this is because, like the loaves and the fishes multiplied in our Gospel reading, the miracles provide unending nourishment.  Small insights lead to greater and greater insights, and miracles lead to more and more miracles.

Start, for example, with the observation of the church fathers that the multiplication of five loaves and two fishes is symbolic of the limitless nourishment we receive from the Hebrew Bible, which is made up of the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) and the other two books, the Nevi'im (the former prophets) and Ketuvim (the latter prophets).  Indeed, they saw that there is enough wisdom in them to feed all the pagans, gentiles, foreigners who come to eat, with twelve baskets leftover – enough to nourish all twelve tribes of Israel.  Next consider that students of mathematics and number symbolism have noticed many curious details.  In 1993, Dr. David Fideler discovered the mathematical  relationship between the numbers 5, 2, and 5,000, illustrating his ideas by visual, geometric proofs (see illustration). 

Literary symbolism and mathematical truths are remarkable, but they pale in comparison to the even greater truths that emerge from continued study of Jesus’ miracles.  Time and again, those who are starving for spiritual nourishment are fulfilled.  Millions of people, suffering from psychological problems stemming from abuse, drug addiction, and post-traumatic stress have found peace for their souls.  Millions more, suffering from fear, anxiety, self-doubt, depression, loneliness, and physical diseases have found healing.  Thousands upon thousands of people, lost to egotism, greed, anger and selfish desires have overcome their shortcomings through the teachings of Christ.  Over the last twenty centuries, uncounted numbers of believers have not only been healed, but have multiplied the nourishment they have received by passing on what they have received to their fellow man, healing and relieving others in turn.  Jesus’ saving power has spread outward like waves through time and space, healing millions and millions. 

What becomes clear is that the miracles of Jesus are true at every level of analysis.  They are true symbolically, mathematically, psychologically, metaphorically, mystically, and physically – true in a way dizzying to the mind.  Merely multiplying five loaves and two fish into enough food to feed five thousand hungry mouths is a small and easily believed miracle when compared to the sheer impossibility of their all-encompassing truth.  

So powerful are Jesus’ miracles that they cannot be contained in in the pages of the Bible.  What begins by reading about a miracle of the past becomes a miracle in the present when a reader of the Gospel allows Jesus to shatter disbelief – when a baptized Christian allows the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ to pass through their lips and enter their souls. 

This is the most real and intimate miracle, at once the smallest and the largest miracle, of all.  A tiny scrap of bread and a sip of wine become the Body and Blood of Christ.  And these morsels are made to nourish a limitless number of believers who are fed forever, even unto life eternal, never to be hungry again.


Strong in Truth: Mettle Maker #462 and Holy Eucharist for Trinity Sunday

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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.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!

Mettle maker #462: Muscle Building the Old-School Way

 [The following is an excerpt from the rough draft of Fr. Mitch’s forthcoming book, “Old-School Fitness: Get in Shape Like Your Grandad Did .”]

You may think that the guys you see on TV, on social media, or on the rare occasion training in the gym who are huge and ripped are in amazing shape.  But don’t kid yourself.  They are probably in pain, walking around with numerous nagging, unhealed, permanent or semi-permanent injuries, using acetaminophen and ibuprofen to continue training.  They are likely taking numerous expensive supplements – legal, illegal, and/or both – up to and including human growth hormone and exogenous testosterone.

That ain’t old-school.

I hate to break it to you, but there is no such thing as lifting heavy weights old-school. Lifting heavy is only as old as the late 1800s. The irst international weightlifting competition wasn’t held until 1891 (The First World Weightlifting Championships in London).  Most of the exercises from that period, like Bent Row, Two Hands Anyhow, and Curl-ups (a.k.a. Sit-ups) were quickly abandoned, and are no longer practiced in competition or even in gyms, for good reason.

Those whacky lifts came out of strongman competitions.  They were strictly for show, and doing them repetitively and often will break your body down.  And before somebody in the peanut gallery says, “But what about all of the old correspondence courses that recommend those lifts?”    let me point out that, just like today, the profit motive makes people sell all sorts of things that aren’t necessarily top-of-the-line.  Most of the old correspondence courses were simply made up – filled with pictures and posing and not much else – as a means of self-promotion.  Some of them were cranked out by ghost writers, stamped with someone’s name and face, and quickly pushed to market for a profit.  And there is a third category of material: new and innovative methods sold by true believers peddling untested methods that, although they might’ve worked for them, were not right for the average Joe, and which did not stand the test of time.

Many old-time strongmen trained by wrestling and working – on farms, in coal mines and logging camps, and so on – never training a single day with barbells.  And still more protected their livelihoods by keeping their training secrets to themselves, taking their strength secrets to their graves.

In short, just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s “old-school.” 

One of the old-timers who trained in a more sensible way (although some of the exercises he advocated look like joint killers), using somewhat heavier weights but still light by today’s standards, was the renowned wrestler and strongman Lionel Strongfort. See his picture below, lifting what looks to be a 5 lb. dumbbells. You can read his complete course here.

Note the tiny dumbbells. You DO NOT need to lift heavy to build muscle or get ripped.

So it is possible to add a little bit of weight, train intelligently, and increase your strength and muscle mass, and maybe look a little better with your shirt off.  But, to be 100% clear, this is  a hybrid method – semi-modern, but with the old-school mindset and approach.

Old School Weightlifting Rules

 1. Reduced impact. If you need rest days and/or split days like Chest Day, Leg Day, etc. because you are too exhausted to continue, if you have to yell or grunt to get through your sets, if you get really sore after training sessions, and/or if you need ice, Ibuprofen or Acetaminophen, your training is too high impact to be called “old-school.”  Most of the old-timers had manual labor jobs, and they couldn’t afford to be too sore to work.  

2. Time under tension. Slow the pace of your lifts such that you push fast and return slow. To be more clear, the concentric phase is the pushing part of the movement during which the muscle shortens. The eccentric phase is return of the weight back to starting position, during which the muscle is generally lengthened. The isometric phases are points where the load is held stationary between the transitions from concentric to eccentric, or from eccentric to concentric. Old-school thought was generally a 4 - 5 seconds rep: ½  second concentric/up phase, hesitate ½ second, 3 seconds down/eccentric phase, pause ½ second.

3. Train your whole body every time you train. See #1 above. Entire sessions on a single zone or body part always result in a level of intensity that’s not old-school.

4. No junk volume. Be stingy with exercises and reps - less is more. Only 1 exercise per body part and about 7 exercises per session.

5. Don’t pick it up if you can’t put it down. No old-timer ever dropped a weight on purpose. You’re cheating yourself out of the eccentric phase of the exercise!  Remember, pace is more important than the weight you lift, the sets, and the reps.

6. For most exercises, perform about 30 reps total at proper cadence. You can build muscle volume and strength with almost any scheme, from 1 set of 25 to 3 sets of 8. The problem is that the lower the reps the higher the weight, and the more likely the injury. And the higher the reps, the higher the wear and tear on the joints and the harder it gets to keep the intensity in the sweet spot. The ideal set/rep schemes — the ones that sits at the intersection of results, ease of use, injury prevention, and net results — seem to be 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps with at the old-school cadence of 4 - 5 seconds per rep (½  second concentric/up phase, hesitate ½ second, 3 seconds down/eccentric phase, pause ½ second). A set of 12 reps, for example, must take a minimum of 48 seconds to complete, and the 12th rep should be 1 rep short of failure (failure means you have to yell, grunt, or break form in order to get it).

7. Weight is less important than pace. Adjust weight to get the pace right and to get 1 rep short of failure on the final, target rep.  The slower you go, the harder an exercise gets, and the less volume you can perform in the allotted training time. Do the math. This means you’ll experience less wear and tear because there’s less volume, less risk of injury because of lower weight and increased control, and more strength because the muscle is under tension for a longer period).

Are you a frequent reader or visitor? How would you like to become an active participant in our distance learning program? Click here to sign up today! In other news, the new t-shirts are in. If you want to make a donation to the charity, we can definitely get you one! Just click here.

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Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity 6/15/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Proverbs 8:22-31, Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15

John 16:12-15 World English Bible

Jesus said to his disciples: “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine and will declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes‡ of mine and will declare it to you.

Prior to his Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension, as he is promising his disciples that the Spirit of Truth will always be with them, Jesus says, “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.” This is the way it has always been.  God reveals himself in a manner, and to a degree, suitable to his creation. 

God enters history first as a lawgiver.  God creates first the cosmos, the heavens and the earth – establishing the laws of physics, of motion, geometry, mathematics, and so on – reality itself.  With the rise of human civilization, God reveals himself to us in laws of morality, of right and wrong — the Ten Commandments, and so on.  Whenever there is a properly ordered set of conditions at any level, be it in ecologically, scientifically, socially, or what-have-you, there is the hand of God.  And laws are good, as far as they go.

But laws without love are unfulfilled.  So, in keeping with our development and his gradual disclosure to humanity, next God comes as a love-giver, entering his creation by sending his only Son, Jesus Christ.  Love was here all along of course.  In the same way the God is Justice itself, God is Love itself.  Wherever we find agape, the love which wills the good of the other, God is present.  But in his most intimate outreach of all, God enters into human suffering.  Like a foreman who picks up a shovel and gets into the ditch to show his laborers how to dig, he shows us the way to love – to love generously and freely, even when we are being persecuted, betrayed, tortured, and executed, even when our suffering is at its worst.    

And finally God reveals to us the Spirit of Truth.  Like his Law and his Love, the Spirit of Truth has always been with us, appearing at various times and places in the Old Testament, as the burning bush for example.  This is the same Spirit we call the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost.  But Jesus gives this Spirit a renewed mission: to be with us always, to guide and protect us, to inspire and direct us, every single day in everything we do.

These three points of contact with us are the three persons of the Holy Trinity. Bishop Robert Barron sums up the Holy Trinity best when he says,

"God is not a being in the world. The creator of the entire universe is not ingredient in the universe, is not an item among many within the universe. God is not some the reality for which there may or may not be evidence.  Is there a moon around Jupiter? Well, let's go check and see -- there are or there aren't.  God isn't like that – some being in the world. St. Thomas Aquinas made the decisive distinction when he said God is not ens summum, highest being,  but ipsum esse – the sheer act of "to be" itself.  God is the reason why there's something rather than nothing.  God is the reason why there is the nexus of conditioned causality at all.  What this means is that God is not a true thing, but the truth itself. That's not a good thing among many. God is goodness itself. God is not one just state of affairs, God is justice itself."¹

Let us today celebrate and praise the Holy Trinity – our Holy Father, who orders all things, who gave us structure, laws of science, math, morality, and ethics.  Let us accept his son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the Logos, Love itself, who reached down into our imperfection to pull us upward into eternal life.  And let us burn with the fire of the Holy Ghost and embody his Truth.

————————————————————

¹ "Bishop Barron on Why I Loved to Listen to Christopher Hitchens" https://youtu.be/vW8yBnpN48w

‡ 16:15 TR reads “will take” instead of “takes”

June, Month of the Sacred Heart

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June, Month of the Sacred Heart

Consider lighting a Sacred Heart candle in your home. Each time you pass by it pray, “O Heart of Jesus, inflamed with love for us, inflame our hearts with love for thee. Amen.”

On this day in 1899, June was officially established as the Month of the Sacred Heart. It is celebrated primarily by Roman Catholics but often by Eastern Catholics, Old Catholics, Independent Catholics, as wells as some Anglicans and Lutherans. Certainly there is no barrier preventing anyone, regardless of denomination or even faith background, from encountering Christ through celebration of the Month of the Sacred Heart.

Since the development of the devotion to the Sacred Heart in France in the 17th century, the month of June has been connected to the Sacred Heart. This devotion grew steadily over the centuries, culminating its official consecration.

At that time, in what he called "the great act" of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIII solemnly consecrated all mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This had been proposed to him by Blessed Sister Mary of the Divine Heart, a nun of the Good Shepherd who said that she had received the idea from Christ Himself.

In what was surely a miracle, Blessed Sister Mary died on the feast of the Sacred Heart, two days before the consecration, which had been deferred to the following Sunday.

Veneration of the Sacred Heart is a special form of devotion to Jesus Christ, based entirely on the symbolism of the heart. The word heart awakens the idea of the heart in both senses — in other words, life and love itself. Not just the physical organ that, when it stops, stops Life along with it; but also the emotional, moral, and social heart, the source and symbol of Love.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is depicted as wounded because it represents the Heart of Jesus, the real, living Heart that loved and suffered on the Cross. This is the Heart that pumped his sacred life’s blood through his human body. But it is also the Heart that powered his emotional and moral life — the Heart that, just as our own hearts propel our mortal lives, was the engine of the Master's life.

Above the heart are flames, calling to mind the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, which this sacred month immediately follows.

Join Fr. Mitch in practicing this great devotion. Here are some of the many ways to celebrate the month.

Click here to view a .pdf of Little Manual of the Sacred Heart, a book of devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

  • Hang a devotional picture or place a statute in your home. Do this not as an idol of worship, or to falsely advertise your devotion, but rather as a humble reminder. Each time you pass by it, stop and say the following prayer: “Heart of Jesus, inflamed with love for us, inflame our hearts with love for thee. Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; Amen.”

  • Light a Sacred Heart candle in your home. While it burns, read and meditate on some of the popular scriptures associated with the Sacred Heart (Deut 7:6-11, Hosea 11:Psalm 33, Romans 5:5-11, 1 John 4:7-16, Matthew 11:25-30, Luke 15:3-7, etc.)

  • Pray the Chaplet of the Sacred Heart. For instructions, see page 20 of this document.

  • Pray the Novena of the Sacred Heart. For instructions, see page 55 of this document..

  • Pray the Little Office of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For instructions, click here.

Fight Fire with Fire: Mettle Maker #461 and Holy Eucharist for Pentecost

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Mettle maker #461: Fire with Fire

So there’s no misunderstanding, in Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble we use the term scuffling to refer to grappling, stand-up wrestling, what some nowadays call clinch fighting. Scuffling just might be the most fundamental and important aspect of self-defense. These are the skills you’re going to need whenever an attacker tries to take away your freedom of movement by forcing you to the ground, through a door, into a van, etc.

If attacked, should you run if you can? Yes.

Should you keep your distance and avoid scuffling? Of course.

But if you can’t scuffle, you can’t fight. You need to able to fight fire with fire.

  • Watch the video above and begin to train these basic scuffling maneuvers and takedowns.

  • The ground is where bad things happen to good people. Avoid going there unless you have to.

  • The closer you get to the ground the farther you get from safety. The ground is the place where assailants bash your head on the pavement, choke, immobilize, pin, subdue, batter, rape and kill. Stay on your feet if possible.

  • Keep your head lower than your attacker’s. The easiest way to pick someone up is to get underneath them, as in a fireman’s carry. Bend your knees and get your butt down so that you don’t break good posture. Stay lower than the other guy. If he lowers his head, you lower yours.

  • Don’t expose your flanks. Face your enemy at all times.

  • Keep your hands up, elbows bent, and forearms vertical. When your elbows flare out like stubby wings, your arms cease to be shields and become handles that your enemy can use to lift you, throw you, get behind you, and so forth.

  • Keep your distance. The best way to avoid getting taken to the ground is to keep your distance so that you don’t get grabbed or tackled in the first place.

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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 Pentecost Sunday 6/8/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Acts 2:1-11, Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13, Sequence Veni, Sancte Spiritus, John 20:19-23

John 20:19-23 World English Bible

When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit! 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”

In selecting the readings for today, the church suggests that we compare and contrast the account of the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost as recounted in the second chapter of Acts with the short, simple, and understated story of Jesus’ entry into the locked room in John 20.  Both accounts describe the Holy Ghost at work – but they are entirely different.  What are me to make of this?

In St. John’s telling, there are no thundering winds, no flames, and no speaking in tongues.  Just a simple “Jesus came and stood in the midst of them and said, “Peace be to you.”  In the book of Acts we are seeing a phenodrama – a story that emphasizes phenomena, that is, observable events – the outward effects of the Holy Ghost.  But in St. John’s Gospel, we are witnessing a psychodrama – a story that emphasizes the psyche, Greek for “soul.”  This is the inward action of the Holy Ghost.

Jesus, with no loud sounds, without explanation or preamble, quietly enters the locked room.  Each and every one of us is a locked room.  None of us can get inside the heart, or know the mind, of another.  Certainly we can get to know each other, but in the final analysis, there is no way for us to truly see or enter into the psyche of another. 

Only Jesus can do that.  And when he does, he doesn’t bring guilt, shame, regret, or fear.  He brings the opposite of those things – relief from those things.  He brings peace.  He brings silence, quiet, calm, mercy, and forgiveness.  When he gives the gift of the Holy Ghost, it does not come with thundering winds or flames.  He breathes it upon them.  Its effect is profound but not visible to the naked eye.  My whole life I struggled with panic attacks.  But the struggle ended, and peace settled upon me, when Jesus entered the locked room of my heart and breathed into me his peace.  Outwardly I was the same man.  Inwardly I was forever relieved of a great burden.  

The peace of Christ comes without a sound, like a silent breath, as fine and so fair as the breath of newborn child, unable to be heard at all.  Visually it cannot even be detected unless the outside air is near freezing.  And yet breath is life.  Without breath, we are stifled and dead, we drown or suffocate.  Jesus puts the air into our physical lungs, giving us the breath of life.  But he also breathes into us, if we cooperate with him, the invisible Holy Ghost and the gift of peace.

There is no locked room, no closed off heart, into which Jesus cannot enter.  Let us spread this good news far and wide: Welcome Jesus into the locked room of your heart. Receive the Holy Ghost. God will be with you, your sins will be forgiven, and his peace will be with you.

Deficits and Virtues: Mettle Maker #460 and Holy Eucharist for 6/1/25

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Mettle maker #460: Deficits and Virtues

We’re the good guys. We don’t go around picking fights. But predators are going to predate, and they’re not going to attack you unless or until you’ve made a mistake — you’re distracted, exhausted, or surprised. If you look strong and focused, they’ll pick someone else. They’re going to get you when you’re not at your best.

Which is why you need to train at a deficit, and you need to do it on a regular basis. This has the added benefit of making “regular” training seem really easy. Three rounds on the heavy bag when you’re on one or both knees is twice as hard as three rounds while standing, for example.

For some training tips on this, see the video above-left.

Yes, we are — or we should be! — the good guys. Since the beginning of this martial arts project, we’ve promoted five virtues: Wonder, Sagacity, Frugality, Indomitability, and Fraternity.

Where did they come from?

1. Wonder – excitement, awe, reverence, openness, and curiosity.  Socrates said, “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” In Proverbs 15:33 we read, “The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom” and in Proverbs 9:10-12, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”  In the latter case, the word for “fear” is the Hebrew word yirah, which in this sense implies reverence and awe — in other words, wonder.  Wonder is a universal Western ideal.  Whenever we encounter the world with a sense of excitement and awe, we are starting off on the right foot. 

2. Sagacity – to be perceptive and wise to the ways of the world.  To be sagacious is to be possessed of worldly wisdom and practical judgement, being “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Wonder is wisdom in the spiritual and mystical sense; sagacity is wisdom in the worldly sense. To be possessed of both kinds of wisdom is rare — but nonetheless worthy of aspiration.

3. Frugality – to be minimal, simple, plain, and economical with resources, shifting our focus from the temporary and the material to the eternal and the spiritual (Philippians 4:11–13, Matthew 6:19-21 and 6:25). We must be frugal with our attention in order to maintain awareness, frugal with our time in order to train effectively, frugal with our energy in order to fight efficiently, and so on.

4. Indomitability – being impossible to subdue or overcome; to be determined, courageous, tenacious, hopeful, and positive (Matthew 10:28). This is the beating heart of any martial art. The fight doesn’t necessarily go the more skilled person — it goes to the man who most wants to live — the one who has the heart of a warrior and a survivor.

5. Fraternity – a state of friendship, respect, and mutual support; to be dependable and worthy of the trust of fellow members (John 15:12-13). You can’t practice martial arts with other people you don’t trust. What if they don’t let you go when you tap? What if they don’t have self control, lose their temper, and they attack with reckless abandon? There has to be brotherly love in order to train safely and effectively.

The new shirts are in stock! Click the pic to make a donation and get yours! The pink “Let’s Cuddle” shirt I’m wearing (along with a ridiculous, toothy grin) is not for sale. Sorry!

Are there other virtues? Of course there are — most notably there are the Seven Heavenly Virtues of Christianity, which combine the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude with the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The Five Virtues of Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble are designed so as to prevent any duplication of those virtues, and to augment or supplement them.

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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 the Ascension of the Lord 6/1/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Acts 1:1-11, Psalm 47:2-3,6-7,8-9, Hebrews 9:24-28; and 10:19-23, Luke 24:46-53

Luke 24:46-53  World English Bible

Jesus said to the disciples, “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. 49 Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”

50 He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

The doctrine of hypostasis was established by the Council of Chalcedon in 451.  This doctrine proclaims that in Christ there are two natures, each retaining its own properties, united in one substance and in one person.  These two natures are not joined in a moral or metaphorical sense.  Nor are they mixed together to create some new, hybrid sort of being.  Christ’s two natures, divine and human, are substantially, materially, and uniquely united.

The work of this union was, in a sense, a divine movement from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, from outside to inside.  What began at the Incarnation was completed at the Ascension.  But not completed in the usual way; not the way a mere mortal completes a journey or a task.  This is completeness and fullness of the highest order – the type of completion only God can accomplish. 

When Jesus was born, heaven stooped to touch the earth; when he ascends, the earth reaches up to touch Heaven.

At the Incarnation, God gifted his divine nature to the human kingdom; at the Ascension, he gifts his human nature to the divine kingdom. 

When Jesus was born, shepherds came from far and wide to greet his arrival; when he ascends, shepherds are sent far and wide to announce his Gospel.

Humbled and lying in a trough for animals, he came; exalted to sit at the right hand of God, he departs.

The Son of God comes to earth to illuminate the world; then the Son of Man ascends to illuminate Heaven. 

His body and blood, which in his death and suffering ventured all the way down to the depths of Hell, in its glory reaches all the way up the Kingdom of Heaven.  How could it not?  Isn’t this a necessity?  God’s life-giving flesh and blood must complete an unprecedented journey.  It must touch all people and beings – not just on earth – but in all places and times, anywhere and everywhere, in heaven, on earth, and below.

We must hold these unusual juxtapositions in tension and, at all costs, guard against the idea that the Ascension in any way constitutes a reversal.  God did not become a man for 33 years only to undo his union with us and withdraw back to Heaven.  Far from it!  The work of God becoming Man is done and cannot be undone.  Divine nature and human nature are forever united.

This hypostatic union is, to a certain degree, an incomprehensible paradox.  How can a fallen human body be inseparably unified with God in Christ?  How can our minds grasp it?  And yet, in the sacred mystery of this unification, which we enact, celebrate, and take into our bodies and souls each time we partake of the eucharist, lies the key to undoing of the Fall of Man and, in the fullness of time, the restoration of all creation to its perfect and original created order.

Shirts, Cuddles, Combos: Mettle Maker #459 and Holy Eucharist for 5/25/25

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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.”

Mettle maker #459:Shirts, Cuddles and Combos

If you’re on top of a grounded thug raining down blows to neutralize a threat, horizontal elbows are delightful. Falling into an elbow smashes through the guard of your aggressor. But if you’re in a stand-up fight at very close range, without gravity and superior position on your side, I advise focusing on vertical elbows. Horizontal elbows will clash at a 90 degree angle with his forearms if his hands are up.

In the video on the upper right, I demonstrate one of my favorite rough ‘n’ tumble unconventional combos. It’s a 6-count, whirlwind, buzzsaw vertical combo: Up Elbow, Up Elbow, Down Elbow, Down Backfist, Down Elbow, Down Backfist.

I know. Sounds weird. But just take a short walk down this lil’ gravel road and you’ll soon get to Smashing Town. Try it out on a headache bag. Put in a few rounds and it quickly starts to makes sense.

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The new shirts are on the left (Olek) and right (Gabe). Both are available in black as well. The pink “Let’s Cuddle” shirt I’m wearing (along with a ridiculous, toothy grin) is not for sale. My wife bought that for me so that I’d look adorably ironic when I’m choking the guys unconscious. Just kidding — they almost always tap!

In other news, the new t-shirts are in. We’ve added a new design that reflects our love of America and its message of unity. Rough ‘n’ Tumble is America’s martial art.. If it hadn’t been for the great melting pot that is America — if people from all over the world hadn’t come to make their way in this great land — the world’s most devastating martial art would never have been born. In sport and in combat, in backyard brawls and pool-room dust-ups; in battles between mobsters and cops, revolutionaries and kings, indigenous and colonist, and even between northern and southern brothers; in wars against foreign despots and genocidal regimes, Americans perfected fighting. Now its up to us to carry it forward, to use it for Good, and to stand for what’s great about our nation.

To get one of the new shirts click here or the pic above.

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 the Sixth Sunday of Easter 5/25/25 – Father Mitch

Readings: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8, Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23, John 14:23-29

John 14:23-29  World English Bible

Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

25 “I have said these things to you while still living with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. 28 You heard how I told you, ‘I am going away, and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I. 29 Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe. 30 I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let’s go from here.

Solving theological questions can be very confusing and difficult for us, just as it was very confusing for early Christians.  The first and earliest heresy was Gnosticism.  Heresy is just a big scary word that means “making a serious error in theological judgement.”  It comes from the Greek haíresis which means “making a personal choice.”  Christians don’t make personal choices with regard to theological matters.  We talk to our brothers and sisters, we work in councils and synods, read the writings of the church fathers, and listen to the Holy Ghost. ◊

The Gnostics were unable to reconcile the Old Testament God to the New Testament God.  They couldn’t understand why God would institute the 613 laws of the Torah through Moses, and then send his only begotten Son to undo them.  Their answer was to believe the Old Testament God was actually a demiurge, a foolish and ego-centric creator god who disobeyed the Supreme God and fashioned an imperfect world.  Jesus Christ, in their view, was the Son of the Supreme God, not the son of the demiurge. Not surprisingly, the Gnostic’s sophomoric reading of the Bible is shared by many atheists who attempt to poke holes in the Christian worldview by asserting that there’s some kind of inconsistency between the “old God” and the “new God.”

Neither Gnostics nor the atheists are making an effort to be in communication or cooperation with the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost, by its very nature, encourages us to grow into fuller communion with the Trinitarian God, the Holy Trinity.  This growth is spiritual and intellectual, it is religious and philosophical.  Jesus sends the Holy Ghost to help us grow into greater understanding and fulfillment.  So, when faced with the question of reconciling the God of the Old and New Testaments, Gnostics and atheists are disarmed.  They have nothing to fall back on for support.  But if we call on the Holy Ghost, he will give us the ability to answer.

When someone asks, “If God is unchanging, and his commandments are perfect, why did God put laws in place only to tear them down?” we can say unequivocally that the inconsistency is not in God – it is in us.  We are the problem.  Starting with Adam and Eve, humanity has lacked the capacity to embrace and embody God’s principles.  In the distant past, it was necessary for us to have many rules and regulations.  But as our relationship with God has deepened, the need for 613 laws has lessened to a handful.  In the Book of Exodus, the Holy Ghost lights up the burning bush to lead Moses off his selfish path and into leadership of the people.  Later, the Holy Ghost appears as a pillar of fire to lead Moses and the people through the wilderness. 

But in the New Testament, the Holy Ghost doesn’t just appear as an external force outside the people.  It settles on the disciples, even onto each and every one of us, to light us up from within – not from the outside, as it did in Exodus – but in our hearts and minds.  This is why, in our reading from Acts, the apostles release Christians from the old laws.  In the Old Testament, the Holy Ghost operates as an outside force, just the law of the Torah acts as an outside force attempting to push the people toward righteousness. 

But in the New Testament, God gives us the Holy Ghost in a new capacity, in keeping with our growth in his ways, so that we can be self-motivated.  So that we will seek to emulate Christ.  So that we can enter more fully into communion with him.

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◊ The terms “Holy Ghost” and “Holy Spirit” are interchangeable, but this author prefers to use the term Holy Ghost because it (a) implies a personage rather than an abstract force, and (b) it differences the Holy Ghost from the vague modern term “spirituality.”  Why do modern Bibles and modern speakers almost universally use the term “Holy Spirit?”  The King James and Douay–Rheims Bibles both use the term Holy Ghost because ghost -- which is derived from the German word geist, which means spirit -- was the more common English usage at the time.  “Due to its unique history, English is a language that has multiple synonyms for almost everything. In this case, we had the words ghost (derived from German) and spirit (derived from Latin). In recent years, the latter has become the more common term even though originally they were synonyms. Thus, in the last few decades Catholic English translators have preferred spirit to ghost, whether referring to the Holy Spirit or other spirits.” (Web article, “Why Was the Term Holy Ghost Replaced by Holy Spirit?” at Catholic Answers https://www.catholic.com/qa/why-was-the-term-holy-ghost-replaced-by-holy-spirit)