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Mettle Maker #390
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 Self-Defense: What’s your “get off the bottom” IQ? Self-defense doesn’t get much worse than it is when your attacker is in Top Saddle (a.k.a. “the Mount”). How many methods do you have to get out? One? Two? Three? Four or more? Well, if you’re serious about self-defense, I suggest having three — one for when the ride is low (near your hips), one when it’s a tad higher (up near your lower ribs), and one to use when his knees have reached your armpits (as bad as it gets!). And you should also have a few of variants of each that take into account what your attacker is up to — wrestling, restraining, or striking. Get your techniques together, put them into a logical, working chain, and drill them until the cows come home. Watch this space — a series of YouTube videos covering this topic is on the way!
Interested in American Rough and Tumble martial arts with a spiritual center? Join the martial arts club in Richmond, VA or click here to sign up for the Heritage self-defense distance learning program.
Heritage Fitness: Getting 5 servings of fruits and veggies per day? You should! I’m always looking to get 5 or more servings of fruits and veggies into my diet every day. The problem is, as I get older, raw veggies are increasingly hard to digest, and will give me heart burn. And, on top of that, my metabolism has slowed and I’ve had to to cut my caloric intake a bit. Here’s a great little low calorie delicious dessert that seems decadent but is actually super low calorie and full of fruits and veggies.
Cherries Waldorf
Somehow refreshing, satisfying, and filling, this dessert hits all of the buttons, even your satisfying your sweet tooth!
Ingredients:
1 small package Sugar Free Cherry or Raspberry Gelatin (.44 oz.)
1 cup of finely chopped celery
1 medium apple, cored and cut in small cubes
1 cup of grapes or pitted cherries, halved
Low-fat whipped cream (optional)
Make flavored gelatin per package directions and place in fridge to chill. Wait about 45 mins or until gelatin is partially thickened. Add celery, apples, and cherries/grapes. If the gelatin is too thick for the goodies to sink, push them down with the flat of a serving spoon. Serve with a dollop of whip cream. Makes 4 servings about 100 calories each.
Need a free fitness coach to help you build a program that suits your specific needs and goals? Or maybe a free adult outdoor skills program? Click here to sign up for one of our free programs!
Heritage Wildwood Outdoor Skills: Check out Les Stroud’s Wild Harvest — it’s my new favorite TV show! For the most part, television is a waste of time. I only watch TV when I’m too tired to do anything else, or if I want to entertain and/or educate myself while conditioning my shins or giving my wife a head or back rub. But there are a few TV shows that, in addition to being educational, are surpassingly beautiful and artistic. One of them is Les Stroud’s Wild Harvest. Survivorman Les Stroud gathers wild edibles and Chef Paul Rogalski prepares incredible culinary masterpieces around them. For me this is about as great as TV gets. Many episodes are available on YouTube — check out Episode 1 on the right.
Looking for a free adult outdoor skills program? Click here to sign up!
Holy Communion is LIVE on YouTube every Sunday at 10 am EASTERn. Click HERE to watch live. To view and print a copy of the program for holy communion, CLICK HERE.
Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 1/28/24 – Father Mitch
Readings: Dt 18:15-20, Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9, 1 Cor 7:32-35, Mk 1:21-28
Mark 1:21-28 World English Bible Catholic Edition
They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 24 saying, “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!”
25 Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
26 The unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!” 28 The report of him went out immediately everywhere into all the region of Galilee and its surrounding area.
Forty years ago an old mentor of mine, Bob Burke, taught me something I’ve never forgotten. He said, “Mitch, if you change someone’s perspective, you change how they think, act, feel, and believe.” Bob was and is completely correct. Remember that, brothers and sisters. One more time: “If you change someone’s perspective, you change how they think, act, feel, and believe.”
Bob’s still around, by the way, north of 80 years old and long retired. And if you called him up and asked him for business management advice, he would probably start with that nugget, specifically as it relates to negotiation. Think about it: everything is a kind of negotiation. Every sales transaction and every business deal is a negotiation. One person, or one side, wants the other side to buy, sell, trade, agree and the other person or side doesn’t. Fortunately, however, sides who are at cross purposes always agree more than they realize. Typically, some circumstance has heightened tensions and/or shifted focus onto points of contention and disagreement. The people at the table have lost sight of their shared goals and overlapping needs. They have ceased to see the forest for the trees.
What Jesus is doing in the synagogue in our reading today is causing a radical shift in perspective. At that time, the method of teaching and preaching was to quote the law and prophets. Everything was an appeal to what the God and his prophets said in the past. Can you imagine how much people must’ve quoted scripture and argued about Judaism’s 613 laws? But Jesus walks in and shifts everyone’s perspective. He makes the written law relatable through fresh interpretations and moves discussion from the past into the present. As Christians, this is normal for us. Jesus’ perspective shift has become more or less permanent in us. We don’t know any different. But at that time it was a bombshell.
And we must not take it for granted. You see, every decision, from a corporate policy ruling all the way down to just an individual trying to decide on where to go for lunch, is a kind of negotiation. Opposing viewpoints must be weighed and choices made. Do we want to do business with an eye on profit, or on environmental sustainability? Do I want to eat healthy, or do I want to pig out on the delicious, unhealthy choice? How do we decide? We can focus on shared goals. We choose a lunch that’s healthy and delicious! It’s possible to run a business that makes a profit and operates in a sustainable manner.
And that’s what Jesus is doing with God’s message. He says we can do both. We can look to the laws and wisdom of the past and follow it, rely upon it, and appeal to it. He does that often in the Gospels. But he’s adding a new dimension. Jesus is stepping into the synagogue and pointing to the transcendent truths above, within, and underlying the law. He’s changing everyone’s perspective. And, in doing so, he’s changing how they think, act, feel, and believe.
Jesus’ new perspective chases away narrow-minded viewpoints, drives out pettiness, banishes the trivial and the insignificant, and reminds us of the ultimate goal. And it is so powerful that it can literally cast out demons!