Why are we in constant battle? Catholic Good News Ministries

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For you this week:

Reflection for Saturday: Why are we in constant battle?
Inside the Ministry: A new pattern for a closer connection to God
This week’s WordBytes faith-builder: Victory in spiritual warfare
Footsteps to Heaven podcasts: Victory in your personal battles

This week’s Trivia Challenge: What did David use to kill Goliath the giant enemy? A sling and a stone and what else? (Check your answer at the end of this newsletter.)

Saturday July 23, 2022

Jeremiah 7:1-11
Psalm 84:3-6a, 8, 11
Matthew 13:24-30
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072322.cfm
Podcast:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2022-07-23-usccb-daily-mass-readings

Saints Calendar:
gnm.org/saints-find/saints-calendar

The man’s slaves said to him: “Do you want us to pull them up?”
“No,” he replied. “You might pull out the wheat along with them.” (From Saturday’s Gospel reading)

Reflection for Saturday: Why are we in constant battle?

By Graciela Ramos, Assistant Director

As I read the Gospel passage for this Saturday, the first word that comes to my mind is “battle.” We are in a constant battle so that the good seed will bear fruit and that it will not be smothered by weeds. But it is not possible to pull the latter up completely, because we run the risk of ripping out the wheat too. What a challenge!

In this beautiful world that God the Father has given us, two realities coexist: good and evil. The good is “sown” by the Father and the evil is “sown” by the enemy during the night, when nobody notices it. And the first thing we want to do when observing our world is to get rid of evil. Why are we in constant battle? It all stems from the good and evil being sown,

It’s good what the workers propose to the owner of the field about the weeds: “Do you want us to go pull them up?” They are worried about the produce; they do not want it to be lost. But their master knows the risks of acting hastily, so he stops them and alerts them: “Beware! You can take away the very harvest.” Therefore, like our Heavenly Father, we must have patience and mercy — patience and mercy with others and with ourselves.

Why are we in constant battle? If we look at our world today and focus on the situations that worry us, on the different issues that take away our peace — that is, on the weeds — we stop looking at the good that is germinating, growing and strengthening. There is a good harvest, because the Lord has sown good seed! The Lord has never failed to sow good seed. God knows his people and has faith in his children. God has hope in his children. He knows what seed he has sown and knows with what blood the earth has been watered!

When asking why are we in constant battle, let the Life of Christ grow and be strengthened in you. Let’s give time for the Holy Spirit to work in each one of us and in the Church as a whole, and let’s dedicate ourselves to collaborate with him in “good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Let us leave the time of harvest to God; let us leave to God the time of judgment. His timing is perfect.

For help in winning today’s battles, use the Good News Ministries prayers for victory over evil @ gnm.org/prayers/#victory.

Inside the Ministry:
A new pattern for a closer connection to God

I’m so glad that I live surrounded by nature. As you know — if you’ve been reading this newsletter regularly — I’ve been forced to take time off due to post-covid fatigue. (Want to catch up on past issues? Go to gnm.org/insidersview.) God has been blessing this to reshape my daily schedule, setting a new pattern that he wants me to keep even when my energy is full.

Now one of the first things I do every day is sit on the balcony with my husband Ralph. We sip our coffee or tea, casually chatting while enjoying the beautiful sun-rays beaming through the trees onto our yard. (See the photo.)

I used to begin the day sitting on the balcony by myself, chatting with God alone. I still put God first, greeting him as I let the dog out. But that only lasts long enough to eat a cup of yogurt on the back porch. What this new pattern has done is lengthen my morning routines. It has caused me to rethink and re-envision my prayer life.

It’s part of my reboot.

Sitting outside has always connected me closely to God.

One of my childhood’s greatest treasures came from my grandmother. Nana gifted me with a small, framed picture of garden flowers. Imprinted on it was a little poem:

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on Earth.

These words resonated in my soul ever since.

It’s part of a longer work by Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858 – 1932), an English poet and hymn writer. Her father was an Anglican priest. Her husband, Gerald, was also an Anglican priest, but the two of them became Catholic in 1919. Let me share with you the complete poem.

God’s Garden

The Lord God planted a garden
In the first white days of the world,
And He set there an angel warden
In a garment of light enfurled.

So near to the peace of heaven,
That the hawk might nest with the wren,
For there in the cool of the even
God walked with the first of men.

And I dream that these garden-closes
With their shade and their sun-flecked sod
And their lilies and bowers of roses,
Were laid by the hand of God.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,—
One is nearer God’s heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

For He broke it for us in a garden
Under the olive-trees
Where the angel of strength was the warden
And the soul of the world found ease.

“The Lord God planted a garden in the first white days of the world” — the Garden of Paradise in which “God walked with the first of men.” God’s first desire for his relationship with humans was to be in close communion, walking together and talking as a loving Father with his beloved child. Today when we enjoy a garden or any beautiful place that he created, we re-enter Abba-Father’s first desire for us.

(The last part of this article is an excerpt from Day 21, Walking Through the Garden of Life with Abba, in my book The Father’s Heart. tothefathersheart.com)

And now, as I write this, it’s time to leave the computer and have lunch instead of eating while I work, as I used to do. Abba-Father is waiting for me in this additional, new slow-down time.

This week’s recommended faith-builder:
Victory in spiritual warfare

We are all in battle. As Ephesians 6 tells us, our enemy is not the politician or neighbor, co-worker or family member who’s doing evil against us. They are all — unwittingly or consciously — tools of demons. Our enemy is Satan. The good news is: The Holy Spirit empowers us to engage in spiritual warfare successfully. All who join themselves to Jesus Christ are, of course, always victorious.

Good News Ministries has several articles to help you with your battle. Visit wordbytes.org/victory.

WordBytes is a library of Catholic faith-building articles by Good News Ministries. Come on in and explore! Visit WordBytes.org today.

Victory in your personal battles

For some solid instruction on how to defeat what the devil has been doing in your life, your home, your family, your parish, and elsewhere, choose from these podcast episodes: gnm.org/category/defeat-the-devil.

Answer to this week’s Trivia Challenge:
What did David use to kill Goliath the giant enemy? A sling and a stone and what else? Faith in God!

God bless you!

Every morning, I lift up in prayer everyone who helps Good News Ministries in any way (donors, volunteers, prayer supporters, etc.) and all the prayer requests posted on our site. What can I cover in prayer for you? Post your prayer request.

How else can the team and I serve you today? Visit our homepage.

Let’s connect in GNM’s own SmartCatholics community, called Good News Faith Builders. I’m available to interact with you there.

Thank you for reading this newsletter.

Your servant in Christ,
Terry Modica, Executive Director
Good News Ministries
gnm.org

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