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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 #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.
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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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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.