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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 #368
What’s the weekly mettle maker? Training tips and educational information in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? According the American Heritage Dictionary, mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.”
Fitness — Walking a marathon with us in November? Here’s your training plan. You don’t have to do it my way — as Mark Hatmaker likes to say, “I’m not your Dad!” — but you better do something if you’re going to prep for Mettlecraft Month 2023 when we walk a marathon. What’s Mettlecraft month? Well, every year, to develop our mettle, Heritage Self-Defense faces some sort of fitness challenge (check out some of our previous challenges here). Lately we’ve been opening the challenge up everybody in the wider Heritage Arts family an beyond!
Looking for a free fitness coach? We’re a 501c3 charity! Click here to participate in one of our free programs!
Martial Arts - What kind of idiot would release a complete walking stick self-defense program, absolutely free, on YouTube? Mitch would! Back in 2015 I got a friend of mine to help me film my complete walking stick self-defense program, and I put it up for sale. After a year or so I realized I didn’t want to run a business. So I shut the doors and folded the walking stick program into Heritage Arts. I totally forgot about the videos! Well, I’ve begun releasing them. Videos 1, 2, and 3 are already out. 4, 5, 6, and 7 release next week. View the playlist here. Want to learn Rough ‘n’ Tumble martial arts? Join as the club in Richmond, VA or click here to sign up for the Heritage Wildwood distance learning program!
Wildwood Outdoor Skills — Persimmons anyone? Out for a walk the other day and I came across a persimmon tree with huge fruit. Probably not a wild persimmon with fruit this big! Could it be a young peach, or a baby apple? No, that strange little tuft at the top of the fruit is a dead giveaway — it’s the dried flower from which the fruit emerges (the fruit is actually a berry by the way, a big fat berry). Persimmons are delicious and healthy to eat (lots of Vitamin C), but you should never — ever! — eat unripe persimmons. Unripe persimmons can cause intestinal blockages. Ripe persimmons are delicious fresh or dried. The leaves can be used for tea, and the seeds can be roasted and ground to make a coffee substitute. Want to learn more? For a comprehensive outdoor skills program, click here to sign up for the Heritage Wildwood distance learning program!
Holy Communion is LIVE on YouTube every Sunday at 9AM EASTERn. Click HERE to watch live. To view and print a copy of the program for holy communion, CLICK HERE.
Homily for the Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sunday 8/13/23 – Father Mitch
Readings: 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a, Ps 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14, Rom 9:1-5, Mt 14:22-33
Matthew 14:22-33 World English Bible Catholic Edition
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23 After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, distressed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 In the fourth watch of the night,† Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.* 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It’s a ghost!” and they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Cheer up! It is I! ‡ Don’t be afraid.”
28 Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.”
29 He said, “Come!”
Peter stepped down from the boat and walked on the waters to come to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got up into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God!”
At the mountain of God, Elijah is exposed to the remarkable power of nature – thunder, lightning, wind, landslides, and fire. But God is not in these things. With his voice God spoke nature into existence. And so it is God’s whisper that causes Elija to cover his face in humility, wonder, and awe, not the storm.
The pagan nature-worshippers who surrounded God’s people on every side at that time – the Greeks and the Romans, the Egyptians and the Babylonians, and all the rest –had their storm gods. They had their Zeus, their Set, their Marduk and their Ba’al. God’s creation is incredible, it’s beautiful, amazing, awe inspiring, worthy of love, care, and respect and all of that. But it’s not worthy of worship. Nature and it’s fury are not God. But those pagans, if they had been in Elijah’s place, would’ve bowed down and worshipped the storm. They would’ve been unable to hear God’s whisper over all the racket.
But Elijah is fearless. God tells him to leave the safety of the cave and go out into the storm. Does Elijah cower in fear? No. Can you imagine? What faith! What courage! And then, what does he hear? What is his reward? God’s faintest whisper. And that’s enough for any person who loves God.
In Romans 9:1-5 St. Paul says that he would sacrifice himself and cut himself off from Christ if it meant that this people would hear God’s whisper, and come toward the voice of Christ. He says, “look, you’ve got the law, the covenants, the worship, the prophets and the patriarchs, but you’re distracted by the flash and flare. What you need to do is hear and follow the Word.”
Peter is practically in the same boat as the Israelites to whom St. Paul is speaking. Peter wants to join Jesus on top the water – to stand above nature, to be above all of the old pagan ideas. Peter wants to have the courage and faith of Elijah. But the scripture says, “Peter stepped down from the boat and walked on the waters to come to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” Jesus pulls him up. Back in the boat, the storm passes. Then, of course, Peter and the other apostles say, “You are truly the Son of God!” Brothers and sisters, it sure is a lot easier to hear God’s truth when life isn’t stormy, isn’t it?
That’s the boat we’re in today. We’re surrounded by nature worshippers who bow down before the power of climate change. We’re surrounded by those who are fearful of political earthquakes and are terrified by the fires of social unrest. We’re hemmed in on every side by folks who aren’t even trying to listen for God’s awesome whisper.
If you’re fearful, that’s okay. Pray to Jesus Christ. He’ll extend his hand and keep you from drowning. And above all, listen for Christ’s Word amidst the storm and take heart. Through Christ, “Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.” (Psalm 85:10-11) Through Christ, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).
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† 14:25 The night was equally divided into four watches, so the fourth watch is approximately 3:00 a.m. to sunrise.
* 14:25 See Job 9:8
‡ 14:27 or, I AM!