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Get your tickets now for the 1st Annual Heritage Arts Campout (CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILS)
Event starts at 4 PM on Friday 10/13/23 and runs through noon on Sunday 10/15/23. Martial arts, fitness, outdoor skills, and spiritual development — for just $25/ticket. CLICK HERE for all the details.
Mettle Maker #366
What’s the weekly mettle maker? Training tips and educational information in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? According the American Heritage Dictionary, mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.”
HERitage Arts is walking the richmond marathon!
November 11th 2023
A Martial Arts, Fitness, and Outdoor Skills three-for-the-price-of-one this week: Get to walking! The data is in:
Walking is the safest and most efficient way to lose weight, shed fat, and build endurance. Old-time boxers, like Bob Fitzsimmons, used walking as their roadwork instead of running!
And, as Mark Hatmaker reported on his blog, the benefits of walking include:
improved circulation
increased life expectancy
improved mood
strengthen muscles
weight loss or maintenance
joint support
increased bone density
improved sleep
decreased Alzheimer’s risk and decreased mental decline
improved breathing
increased stamina
And, my research shows that, unlike other forms of exercise (running, biking, jumping rope, HIIT, etc.) walking is extremely low impact. In other words, it doesn’t interfere with athletic performance in other sports.
Because it doesn’t result in sharp drops in blood sugar, it doesn’t trigger extreme hunger or binge eating the way other more intense forms of exercise can. That’s why bodybuilders have always been devoted walkers.
A 150 lb. walker can burn 266 calories per hour without generating a voracious appetite. And avoiding irresistible hunger is key for folks looking to burn off fat and keep it off.
If you want to be lean, go for a walk. You can literally walk your buns off and still have plenty of juice for lifting weights – or for yard work, your day job, a night on the down, or a weekend canoe trip.
Despite being low-impact and really safe, there are two relatively common injuries associated with going on a long walk with zero prep: Plantar faciatis and blisters. Start with a mile or two a day and you’ll up to to 10 miles or more in no time.
Heritage Self-Defense will be walking the Richmond Marathon this year, raising funds for Sports Backers Youth Fitness programs. Click here to donate! And if you'd like to walk with us, register as part of our team! And, by the way, this will be our challenge for Mettlecraft Month this year, so remote students should start planning routes, tying up togas, and getting for the ready for 26.2 mile travail!
Want to learn more about martial arts, fitness, or outdoor skills? Click here to participate in one of our free programs!
Holy Communion is LIVE on YouTube every Sunday at 9AM EASTERn. Click HERE to watch live. To view and print a copy of the program for holy communion, CLICK HERE.
Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sunday 7/30/23 – Father Mitch
Readings: 1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12, Ps 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130, Rom 8:28-30, Mt 13:44-52
Matthew 13:44-52 World English Bible, Catholic Edition
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some fish of every kind, 48 which, when it was filled, fishermen drew up on the beach. They sat down and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49 So it will be in the end of the world.§ The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”
They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”
52 He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”
When I was kid, my father would let me borrow the car. He didn’t ask much, only that when I returned it to the driveway, its interior be as neat as I found it, and that the gas tank be filled up. Well, thank goodness he was an infinitely patient and forgiving man because, like a lot of teens, I didn’t follow the rules. So he stopped letting me borrow his nice car. I had to use the old station wagon that he used for his contracting business and for hauling junk to the dump.
I still didn’t learn my lesson, I’m sorry to say. I drove it too fast and wrecked it. At that point there was only one thing he could do: sell me a car. My mother needed a new car, and he agreed to sell me her old 1970 Pinto for $200. That was a lot of money in 1978, especially if you’re a 17-year-old bagging groceries. Now, let me tell you, that car I took care of. I drove more carefully, did the maintenance, and drove that thing for almost ten years. I brought my first child home from the hospital in that rambling wreck!
Lesson learned.
And that’s the lesson Jesus wants us to learn. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” The man in this story doesn’t own the field. He can’t possibly treat the treasure the way someone does who’s invested in it, who has taken ownership of its perfection, its power, and its perpetuation. Jesus wants us to buy into his wisdom.
Jesus says, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man…who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Jesus wants to sell all we have to take ownership of his Kingdom. What do we sell? We sell our pride for humility in Christ. We sell our greed and our envy for the spirit of sharing. We sell our wrath for patience and our gluttony for food to feed the hungry. We sell our lust for attention to shower on our spouses. And we trade our sloth for the energy to work on behalf of our neighbors and our churches.
Jesus says, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.” Jewish scribes copied Torah scrolls and were extremely careful and accurate experts in the law and the prophets. They were consulted for answers to serious legal and ethical questions. And when a householder digs into his savings, when he pulls out some of his treasure, it is only for something of paramount importance. If we’re smart, we don’t touch our treasure troves – our retirement plans, our IRAs, and our 401Ks – unless it’s absolutely essential. If we squander it, we’ll have no way to take care ourselves in our old age.
Those of us who quote the Bible, who discuss its laws and prophecies, are being told to treat what we are dealing with in the same way as the householder – as if our ultimate end, the salvation of ourselves, our families, our neighbors, and all souls on earth depends on it.
Because it does.
§ 13:49 or, end of the age.