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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.
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† 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