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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.
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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.
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* 10:27 Deuteronomy 6:5
* 10:27 Leviticus 19:18