Dear Friends,
I hesitate to give you bad news this Lent. But I face a deficit of $42,000.
I believe in the power of prayer, and I have faith that the deficit will be solved when your prayers are joined to my prayers and the prayers of other friends like you.
You may or may not be able to donate. But no matter what your financial situation is, you can join me in praying for a solution to the $42,000 deficit. I’m asking for 100 percent participation from friends like you.
Extra prayers are a key part of Lent, and so my request for your prayers is appropriate for this solemn season.
Almsgiving is another key part of Lent. And therefore I humbly ask you to consider sending your Lenten alms to Living His Life Abundantly. At the end of this letter I’ll suggest ways you can connect your Lenten sacrifices to almsgiving.
The season of Lent is upon us and tragically, many Catholics will waste this Lenten season and won’t be any closer to God by Easter than they are right now. Other Catholics take Lent seriously and will make spiritual progress during Lent.
Because I believe you fall into the latter, let me give you a few thoughts that I hope will help you make the most out of this Lent.
As Catholics, we have a unique perspective and approach to Lent, one way is to give up something like chocolate or coffee – something that’s pleasurable but not sinful. Of course, when Lent is over you can resume using whatever you had decided to give up. And the money saved from the Lenten abstinence can be given as alms.
One Lent I gave up shopping. I even avoided driving by the mall whenever possible. That was a long, tough Lent!
Now let me suggest a deeper way you can approach Lent.
In your imagination, fast-forward to the upcoming Easter Sunday. Visualize yourself as a better Catholic because you’ve eliminated one fault or weakness or area of sin that has been harassing you and holding you back on your spiritual journey.
Now, when Easter comes, instead of sliding back into that area of sin or weakness, you keep up the good habit you formed during Lent. And then next Lent you can identify and tackle another area of weakness or sin and eliminate that one, too!
That’s how you grow in the spiritual life year after year instead of staying stuck in a rut.
And the more you grow in the spiritual life, the closer you get to Jesus. And the more joy you’ll experience in your life.
After all, the only person who stands in the way of the abundant life that Jesus Christ wants to give you is you. When we cling to our sinful habits, faults, and weaknesses, we prevent ourselves from enjoying the abundant life.
Let me put it this way. We have two choices: (1) we can seek to rid ourselves of sins and faults during our spiritual journey here on earth, and then fly up to Heaven when we die, or (2) we can enter the next life with venial sins and faults that need to be purified through suffering in Purgatory. It’s that simple.
It takes effort to live the Catholic faith well. That’s why they say Catholicism is the hardest religion to live in but the easiest religion to die in. Doesn’t it make sense to try to get our Purgatory out of the way during our time here on earth – instead of having to suffer in Purgatory because we failed to make a good effort to rid ourselves of our sins, weaknesses, and faults?
My embarrassing faults
If we look closely at ourselves, we all have sins, weaknesses, and faults – things like a tendency to anger, a habit of overeating, excessive shopping, and so on.
I already mentioned how I gave up shopping one Lent. Another fault I had to work on was anger: I used to be a door slammer. When anger got the better of me, I slammed doors for dramatic effect.
In fact, several years ago I had an argument with my late husband Anthony that made me so angry that I ran into bedroom, slammed the door shut, ran into bathroom, and slammed that door shut, too. Then I felt stuck in the bathroom. So I cleaned it, polished the chrome, and spent as much time as possible there. I must have spent three or four hours in there.
When I finally opened the bathroom door and the bedroom door and went into the living room, there was Anthony, watching a game. With an ear-to-ear grin, he asked, “Hey Jon, how was it in there?” I wanted to throttle him, but I had to laugh because my behavior was so stupid, so dumb.
So I asked the Lord, “What’s all this door-slamming business about?” And the Lord began to reveal to me what that fault was rooted in so I could pull it out by the taproot. And the Lord freed me of it.
Whatever personal fault you want to work on, ask the Lord why you have trouble in that area. And then throughout Lent, listen to what the Lord speaks within your heart. Listen to Him in prayer. And listen to Him also in your monthly or twice-monthly or weekly confessions.
If you haven’t been going to confession at least once a month, now is a good time to start. Monthly confession is a good habit to continue throughout the year and for the rest of your life. A clear conscience enables you face death without fear.
You’re going to go into the desert this Lent
Your spiritual journey this Lent will be like going into the desert, as Jesus did after His baptism.
In the first Sunday of Lent, the Gospel reading describes how Jesus went into the desert and fasted for 40 days. And then the devil tempted Him.
The theme of going into the desert comes up again and again in the Bible. When Saul of Tarsus fell to the ground and was converted to the Faith on the road to Damascus, he didn’t immediately launch out on his missionary journeys. Rather, he spent a long time in Arabia – the land of the desert. What was Paul doing in the desert? The Bible doesn’t say. But you can assume that God was spiritually preparing him to plant seeds of faith throughout the Roman Empire!
Every person of faith needs to go into the desert. That’s why the Church graciously gives us the season of Lent. Whether you live near an actual desert or not, the spiritual discipline of Lent offers you and me an opportunity to enter into a desert in the figurative sense: a place of prayer, self-examination, solitude, silence, and listening.
When you pray this Lent, you open your heart to God and speak to Him. But it’s equally important to listen to Him in the solitude of our heart. And that requires silence.
How to have a desert experience – wherever you are
You can enter into the desert this Lent no matter where you live – even if you live in a rainforest – because I’m speaking of the desert in a spiritual sense.
How can you go into the desert in a practical way, given the circumstances of the world in which we live? Well, you have to create a “desert” for yourself.
First, you have to let go of distraction. The truth is, we’re a distracted people. Lent invites us to detach ourselves. It invites us to come away for a while and listen for the Father’s voice deep within our hearts. The Bible says that God spoke to the prophet Elijah not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in a “tiny whisper” (I Kings 19:11-13).
It’s necessary to slow down the hectic tempo of our lives and turn down the volume to hear the tiny whisper by which God speaks to our hearts.
A regularly scheduled time of prayer in a place removed from noise and distraction should form a part of our desert experience. Your “desert” may be a quiet spot in your home, a quiet hour in the middle of the night, the solitude of your neighborhood park, the back porch or the back yard, your lunch hour at the office, or quiet moments spent before the Monstrance or Tabernacle in your parish.
The Bible says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46: 10). That’s a good thought to keep in mind in Eucharistic adoration.
As St. Teresa of Avila writes, “We need no wings to go in search of Him, but have only to find a place where we can be alone and look upon Him present with us.”
If you’re like me, you probably listen to the radio when you drive. But do we always have to be listening to something? It’s a good idea to leave the radio off from time to time and to drive in peaceful silence. Especially during Lent.
Second, you have to eliminate as much of the clutter and clatter in your life as you can. Our time of prayer will go much better and be more fruitful if we practice the presence of God on a regular basis. Leaving the TV or radio off, pruning back some of the unnecessary activities of our daily lives, replacing recreational reading with inspirational reading are all ways we can “close out” the clutter and clatter and “close in” the reality of God’s presence within us. Let’s not let the clutter and clatter crowd Him out.
Third, Lent gives us a time to develop a contemplative attitude toward our lives. God reveals Himself to us through the daily events of our lives. Our “desert” should include a time of reflection that looks back over the day in light of God’s word to see what He may be revealing.
Earlier I mentioned the lectionary reading from last Sunday. The lectionary readings during Lent give us an ideal framework in which to contemplate the movement of God in our lives.
How to connect your Lenten sacrifice with almsgiving
Let me show you a way to connect your Lenten sacrifice with almsgiving.
Here’s what I mean. Let’s say, for example, that you’ve decided to give up coffee for Lent. If you’re in the habit of spending $3 a day for one of the coffee drinks at Starbucks, 40 days of abstaining from coffee would save $120, which you could then use for almsgiving.
Or if you decide to abstain from eating out, you’d probably save even more money, which would then be available for almsgiving.
Those are just a couple of examples. I’m not suggesting what you should do for Lent. That’s for you to prayerfully decide. I’m just showing how you could connect your Lenten sacrifice with almsgiving.
As I mentioned earlier, I warmly encourage you to consider giving your Lenten alms to our ministries here at Living His Life Abundantly. Do whatever the Lord leads you to do.
Remember, we live in a society awash in sin and temptation of all kinds. My aim is to help you and your loved ones make the most of Lent by considering your spiritual life and your ultimate destiny.
Your generosity this Lent could help solve the $42,000 deficit
I’m praying that you’ll be extra generous this Lent because of the $42,000 deficit I told you about at the beginning of this letter. Considering the crisis of faith and the level of godlessness in our society, could you consider sacrificing a gift of $250, $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 or even more? Such gifts help us take giant steps toward helping even more people come to know the Truth Who is Jesus Christ.
Through the various outreaches of Living His Life Abundantly and Women of Grace, we’re in a position to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people – saving them from disastrous mistakes. Our mission is to carry the teachings of Sacred Scripture and the Catholic Church to the ends of the earth through every manner of media and communications.
We are living in a post-Christian age. Never before has there been such a need for clear guidance and direction on living the Catholic faith. And never before has there been such a need for Catholics to get serious about their faith.
We Catholics need to be lights shining in the darkness.
But it costs a lot of money to keep these life-changing projects going. If the Lord has blessed you financially, I’m praying that you’ll consider making a heroic sacrifice. Would that be possible?
I’m depending on your generosity to reach more people and change more lives. Please join me in praying that our work will be successful.
You see, I need the immediate help of people like you to continue bringing our life-changing outreaches to you, your loved ones, and the hundreds of thousands of others we serve. The need is urgent.
I’ll gratefully accept your sacrifice of any amount – however large, however small. Please send your sacrifice, whether it’s a major gift, a Widow’s Mite, or anything in between. And please pray for our Ministry. Your gift will help me produce our life-changing TV program and keep our other projects going as well.
Please send your sacrificial gift right away. Together we can do great things for Our Lord. Nothing is impossible with God!
I keep our benefactors in my prayers, and Father Ed remembers you in his Masses. I’ll deeply appreciate your prayers for our ministry. May God bless you.
May the abundant life of Jesus Christ be yours.
In His service,
Johnnette Benkovic
P.S. No matter what your financial situation is, please join me in praying for a solution to the $42,000 deficit. And please send your tax-deductible Lenten sacrifice right away. I’ll be watching my E-mail for your reply.
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