Scripture verse answers life’s important questions, Benkovic says

Johnnette Benkovic, the founder of “Women of Grace,” a Catholic ministry to “encourage and affirm women in their dignity as daughters of God,” speaks on Sept. 8 at St. Mary Parish in Mitchell.

By Mary Ann Wyand

MITCHELL—A Scripture passage changed Johnnette Benkovic’s life forever.

Two verses from St. Paul’s greeting to the Ephesians spoke to the author, founder of “Women of Grace,” and EWTN and Catholic radio talk show hostess in such a

powerful way that she shares the evangelist’s profound words when she has an

opportunity to talk about her personal faith story with

others.

Benkovic told several

hundred women and men attending “A Day of Reflection and Renewal”

on Sept. 8 at St. Mary Parish in Mitchell that her

favorite Bible passage—Ephesians 1:3-4—answers all the important questions about faith.

“ ‘Praise be to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens,’ ” she quoted St. Paul. “ ‘God chose us in him before the world began to be holy and

blameless in his sight, to be full of love.’ ”

At some point in life, Benkovic said, most people ponder three questions—“Who am I? Why am I? What is my purpose and mission in life?”

Since 1981, Benkovic said, she has “stood her life of faith” on that Scripture passage, which has helped carry her through the sorrow, suffering and pain of losing her son, Simon, in a car

accident, then her husband, Anthony, to brain cancer in the last three years.

Benkovic was scheduled to speak at St. Mary Parish then present the keynote speech for the Catholic Life Network dinner in Indianapolis on March 3, but had to cancel those speaking engagements because her husband was near death. He died on April 11 in Safety Harbor, Fla.

“This Scripture passage [from Ephesians] that the Lord gave me has become my spiritual water,” she said. “That verse makes me so happy. Whenever life doesn’t make sense, go to this passage and see the truth. … It is all there for us in Ephesians, Chapter 1, verses 3 and 4.

“… If we are going to be the best Catholics that we can be through the grace of God,” Benkovic said, “then we have to know who we are, we have to know why we are, and we have to know what our mission and purpose in life is all about.”

St. Paul always praised God in his writings, she said, but God does not need our praise.

“God created us because he loves us and because he wants to invite us into the midst of his Trinitarian life,” Benkovic said. “When you love someone, don’t you want to do things for them? Don’t you want to make them happy? There is a dynamic in love that is life-giving.”

To love and honor God, she said, Catholics must show respect for him by

participating in the healing sacrament of reconciliation.

Benkovic said she prayed constantly for her son’s safety while he served with the U.S. Army in Iraq then was overjoyed when he completed his tour of duty and returned home. But a few months later, he was killed in a car accident in Florida.

“When Simon died,” she said, “we learned that God’s grace is sufficient and is always there.”

During her husband’s

battle with cancer, she prayed for his healing while they grieved the death of their son. Last spring, she also had to say goodbye to him. Now she finds comfort in the belief that her husband and son are “together again … in the arms of our Lord.”

Father Richard Eldred, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Mitchell and St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Bedford, said after the day of reflection that Benkovic’s morning presentation about the

spiritual warfare being waged in contemporary

society is important because these attacks on Christian values and morality have been disguised or glossed over by popular culture in the entertainment media.

“[Her talk] was a great message for us to be prudent, to be vigilant, and to be aware that evil does exist and it is here,” he said. “The attractions and the lures of evil are so attractively displayed to us that it wins us over or pulls us away from the love of God. I think she did a wonderful job for both the men and women that attended to help them realize that what looks like a toy or looks like an attraction can actually be that first step of multiple steps away from the infinite love of God.”

All of a sudden we’ve sinned, he said, then we wonder how it happened and why we walked away from God.

“Sometimes we have to be that responsible person to stand up and say to our culture or people or sponsors or producers or manufacturers that we’re not going to stand for it,” Father Eldred said. “And that takes courage.”

Benkovic’s life story and her personal faith journey demonstrate “a good sign and witness of courage,” he said. “To lose her son—after

worrying about him being in Iraq and then to have him come home and be killed in a car wreck—and then … to lose her husband to illness is just a double whammy that could have driven her to the other side of hatred toward God or rejection of God. Instead, she found and recognized that she had the fullness of God’s grace and embraced herself in that then moved forward in joy.” †