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What’s the weekly mettle maker?
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Mettle maker #477: Total Deficit
Attackers aren’t going to come at you when you’re ready. People who attack other people are, by definition, either deranged or malevolent — that is, they are either out of control and attacking you without reason or warning, or they are predatory and methodical — they want money or pain and picked you because they noticed you were vulnerable, distracted, ripe for easy ambush, etc. — which means there could be more than one.
Therefore, unless you are a modern-day duelist (in which case you’re unhinged and not my target audience), you should plan to start every self-defense situation injured and outnumbered. Don’t spar dueling style. Deficit training is the way to go. Here are some sparring protocols that you might find beneficial:
Deficit Training Ideas
1. Impaired. Have one person begin blindfolded (use your bandanas!), distracted (turn on loud music or strobe lights), both hands/legs tied, 1-arm tucked or tied to belt, tenderfoot (put a rock in your shoe --
2. Outnumbered. Spar 2-on-1 or 3-on-1.
3. Chair or Bench. Start with defender seated in a chair or on a bench with 1 or more attackers either behind, in front, or seated beside him.
4. Off the Wall. Start with defender pinned against a wall by 1, 2, or 3 attackers.
5. Piling on. Start a 2-minute, 1-on-1 sparring round. If the defender doesn’t get tapped by the 40-second mark, add a second attacker. If the defender hasn’t tapped out by the 1:20 mark, add a third attacker.
6. Piling off. Reverse of above. Start with 3-on-1 and if the defender doesn’t get tapped by the 40-second mark, one attacker comes out. If he’s still untapped at the 1:20 mark, pull out another attacker and make it a 1-on-1 for the final 40 seconds.
7. Hatfields and McCoys. Spar 2-on-2, 2-on-3, or 3-on-3.
8. Hero Drill. Designate one person to be a non-aggressor. The defender must protect the non-aggressor against the assaults of 1, 2, or 3 attackers.
9. Known Weapon. Run one of the other sparring drills with an attacker openly armed with a mock weapon.
10. Secret Weapon. Run one of the other sparring drills with an attacker secretly armed with a mock weapon. Have him produce and use the weapon unexpectedly.
11. Bad Positions. Start a sparring round with the defender in a bad position, such as stuck in a Back Mount, Top Saddle, Front Headlock, etc.
12. No Escape. Run a 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 sparring round where the defender’s only goal is to exit the training area and attackers’ job is to pin them down.
13. Tag Team. Start a 1-on-1 sparring round but allow the attacker to tag in a fresh attacker if he gets tired.
14. Ballroom Blitz. Every man for himself – put the whole class on the mat and fight.
Also, when you’re being attacked by an armed assailant, run and/or arm yourself. For a really cool improvised weapon, see the video below.
Deficit training, as it turns out, is also effective spiritually. Read or listen to today’s homily to understand how.
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Homily for the Twenty-sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time 9/28/25 – Father Mitch
Readings: Amos 6:1a, 4-7, Psalm 146:7, 8-9, 9-10, 1 Timothy 6:11-16, Luke 16:19-31
Luke 16:19-31 World English Bible
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. 20 A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores, 21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades,† he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. 24 He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted and you are in anguish. 26 Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’
27 “He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
30 “He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’ ”
Brothers and sisters, if someone says that Jesus never actually existed, or that he never rose from the grave, reply with facts. Tell them that every reputable historian agrees to the central truths of Jesus’s story: he was an itinerant, first century Jewish preacher, crucified by Pontius Pilate, whose tomb was found to be empty on the third day. Ask them why – if every modern court of law relies on eyewitness testimony – they don’t believe Jesus’ apostles? All twelve saw the risen Christ and stood by their stories for their entire lives. One died of old age. The other eleven were tortured and executed but still didn’t recant their testimony.
But be advised: the facts don’t matter. Cigarette smoking is deadly. The warning level is right there on the pack. But millions still smoke. Casual sex damages self-esteem and increases anxiety, depression, and disease risk. But people are still promiscuous. People do not make decisions based on facts.
Jesus knows this. He puts the following words in Abraham’s mouth: ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’ Jesus worked miracles in their sight, but the Pharisees did not believe. In the book of Isaiah alone there over a dozen prophecies which Jesus fulfilled, and still they didn’t believe. This is what Jesus means when by, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets.’ And Jesus knew their denial wouldn’t stop there. He knew he was going to die and rise from the dead on the third day, and he knew they still would refuse to believe. That’s why he added, “neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.”
People don’t make decisions based on facts. They make decisions based on three primary things, and these are the three temptations Jesus faced and overcame in the desert. First, Satan suggests that Jesus turn the stones into bread, and he refuses. People obsessed with satisfying the pleasures of the body, such as sex, food, drink, drugs, and money, ignore the facts so that they can continue their behavior. Christ asks us to demote the pleasures of the body. He asks us to place those things in service of the good. Why would anyone who wants to continue to give free rein to their hunger for sex, drugs, and the desires of the flesh listen to any facts about Jesus?
Next comes fame and self-worship. Satan temps Jesus to jump off the parapet of the temple and fly, to soar above the world, and trust God to carry him. Jesus says “No.” People who are interested in fame and self-invention, who want to be popular and successful, will convince themselves they’re basically good people who don’t need Jesus Christ, and ignore the facts about his life, death, resurrection and ascension. When Christianity isn’t cool, or your manufactured persona is at odds with the teachings of Jesus, the facts are far too inconvenient.
And finally comes power. Satan temps Jesus with the ability to rule the world, and he declines it. Christ commands us to be meek – that is, to keep our physical strength under control and our ego in check. Jesus is utterly revolting to anyone who wants to exercise power and use force to achieve their ends. They’ll never accept the gentle yoke of Jesus Christ.
To hear the voice of Jesus Christ, people often need see the pointlessness of their temptations. When the pleasures of the body, fame, and power cease to satisfy, or result in a terrible personal calamity – when they end up creating a kind of hell of our own making – then we can hear the truth calling us toward transcendence. Then, at length, we can surrender to the fact that Christ is Lord.