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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 #478: Attributes
American Heritage Dictionary
n. at·tri·bute (ătrə-byt′)
1. A quality or characteristic inherent in or ascribed to someone or something.
I practice my walking stick self-defense methods several times a week, as I have for many years. When I was training with Dave Durch a few weeks back, we talked briefly about why it’s important for fighters to train with weapons. We agreed that it mostly boils down to attributes. Small movements of the hand translate to big movements of the weapon. The tip of a walking stick moves faster than a hand or foot. Train with weapons for an hour and afterward, unarmed sparring sessions seem slowed down. Also, if you want to learn how to defend yourself against weapons, you need to understand weapons — and you’ll need training partners who know how to use weapons properly.
The same is true with the primitive skills stuff. Rough ‘n’ Tumble is “full context martial arts.” It’s about being a whole person in the mold of the old-timers. The channel is loaded with wild plant identification, internal training, old-time fitness material, and more. So, whether I want to or not, I guess I need make you guys eat your vegetables. Time for us all to return to form.
Get yourself a stick and get started building your attributes. You’ve got no excuse. Our entire pragmatic, effective, stripped down, hybrid walking stick fighting method is available on YouTube for free. Click here to watch. (heads up though, these videos were recorded back in 2015 before our program consolidations and name changes). And start working on some of the other stuff too. Don’t know where to start? How bout taking a look at the 100 Feats.
This week’s homily is also about attributes — the attributes of an apostle. Read or listen below.
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Homily for the Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time 10/5/25 – Father Mitch
Readings: Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4, Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9, 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14, Luke 17:5-10
Luke 17:5-10 World English Bible
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
6 The Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree¹, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7 But who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say when he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down at the table’? 8 Wouldn’t he rather tell him, ‘Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not. 10 Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’ ”
St. Paul says that recalling our God-given spirit of power, love, and self-control "stirs us up" and increases our faith. He writes, in our reading from 2 Timothy, "I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you…For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control." He adds, "endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God." He is rather directly telling Timothy to work hard in faith.
St. Paul’s message echoes Jesus’ answer to the apostle’s in our Gospel reading. They say, "Increase our faith." But faith is not something that another person can increase for us. If you ask your fitness coach to increase your strength, he can give you some exercises, but he can't lift the weights for you. He can’t do your push-ups for you. If you ask your doctor to increase your health, she can recommend adjustments in diet and behavior, but you're the one who has to put the advice into action.
Like panhandlers begging for spare change, the apostles aren't asking for a job; they're asking for a handout. And Jesus answers them with a metaphor that he must’ve used often, since it appears in the gospel five times. He says, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you." A mustard seed is a miniature seed that grows into a huge plant. It is a small thing that contains a shocking amount of latent potential. And it is also a delicious and hardy plant that often escapes the garden and is found in waste fields and by roadsides. Faith like a mustard seed is faith that, although small, is capable of incredible growth. It is a seed grows where it is planted. It accepts the amount of rainfall that it gets. It takes whatever nourishment it can find in the ground where it has fallen. It sprouts into a seedling and reaches out toward the rays of the sun. And it spreads far and wide.
And what is a sycamore tree (or a mulberry tree, depending on the translation)? These are everyday trees. But any tree that could manage to uproot itself and grow in a body of water would become miraculous. In other words, Jesus seems to be saying, "If you had the kind of faith that has limitless potential, you could transform the everyday into the incredible." And there is another element here. One of the most enduring symbols of our faith is the fish. Perhaps he is also saying that if we have great faith, we might be able cause people outside our faith to uproot themselves and be baptized – to join us, the little fishes, in the sea of faith in Christ.
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¹ Some translations say “mulberry tree.”