Benkovic - Graceful Living: Meditations to Help You Grow Closer to God Day by Day

Graceful

LIVING

Meditations to Help You Grow Closer to God Day by Day

JOHNNETTE S. BENKOVIC

EWTN PUBLISHING, INC.

Irondale, Alabama

Copyright 2016 by Johnnette S. Benkovic

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

Cover and interior design by Perceptions Design Studio.

Cover art: Tulips on Wooden Table (131986097) Oksana Shufrych / Shutterstock.com

Interior images Tracy L. Christianson, www.portraitsofsaints.com

Interior background: Wooden planks (124956200) SusaZoom / Shutterstock.com

The Scripture citations used in this work are from the Second Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV), copyright 1965, 1966, and 2006 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

EWTN Publishing, Inc.
5817 Old Leeds Road, Irondale, AL 35210
Distributed by Sophia Institute Press, Box 5284, Manchester, NH 03108

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Benkovic, Johnnette S., author.

Title: Graceful living : meditations to help you grow closer to God day by

day / Johnnette S. Benkovic.

Description: Irondale, Alabama : EWTN Publishing, Inc., 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016033290 ISBN 9781682780206 (hardcover : alk. paper) ePub ISBN 9781682780213

Subjects: LCSH: Devotional calendars Catholic Church.

Classification: LCC BX2170.C56 B46 2016 DDC 242/.2 dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016033290

To my granddaughters,
Julia, Carmen, Josephine, and Baby Parsons.

May you seek purity of heart, generosity of spirit,

and authenticity of life in all things,

for the glory and honor of God!

Grammy loves you!

Contents

INTRODUCTION

T hrough the years, the saints have been my faithful friends. Their holy witness has inspired me, encouraged me, and strengthened me in my difficult moments as well as my joyful ones. At every turn, my elder brothers and sisters in Christ have accompanied me on my journey to union with God. For this reason I am happy to offer you Graceful Living , a collection of quotations from Scripture, the saints, and other holy men and women, with questions for reflection. Additionally, you will discover biographies of saints and a collection of stories from my own daily life scattered through these pages. My prayer is that this book will help you enter into an ever-deepening experience of God.

May I suggest some steps to help you maximize your use of Graceful Living ? They can help you to dig deeply into the spiritual and practical wisdom of the Church gathered here.

• Use Graceful Living in your time of prayer. An ancient form of prayer is Lectio Divina , which simply means holy reading. It is a prayerful endeavor to mine the gems contained for us in the material we read. This means our goal is not to get through the content, but to have the content get through us.
• Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit before you begin. Ask Him to help you become recollected so your time of prayer is fruitful, making manifest the grace God would have you receive.
• Read each quotation slowly. Ponder it in your heart. Let the mystery it contains awaken and unfold within you. Note and linger over any words, phrases, or ideas that move you in some way. Is there a memory sparked? An insight or new understanding given? An instruction offered? What might God be saying to you through it? Stay with it until you feel the movement is completed. This is the action of grace.
• Review the questions for reflection. They are prompters meant to help you dig into the quotation to hear the word God has for you in it. I urge you to keep a journal so you can record your insights, thoughts, and illuminations. This solidifies the grace and provides you with a record of your salvation journey. It also enables you to see Gods transforming presence in your life.
• Respond to Gods action within you through a prayer. In the language of the spiritual life, this is called a colloquy. This should be a prayer of the heart. It is, in a way, your fiat your let it be done unto me. It may be a prayer of thanksgiving, a prayer of repentance, or a prayer for wisdom and guidance. It may also be a deep interior cry asking God for His healing love and mercy. Know that God hears you with a ready and loving ear.

What joy would be mine if Graceful Living became a life-changing experience for you! Prosit!

With hope-filled expectation,

Johnnette Benkovic
July 11, 2016
Feast of St. Benedict, Abbot

Chapter One

Meditations

FOR

JANUARY

January 1

SOLEMNITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD

Mary, Mother of God, we salute you. Precious vessel, worthy of the whole worlds reverence, you are an ever-shining light, the crown of virginity, the symbol of orthodoxy, an indestructible temple, the place that held him whom no place can contain, mother and virgin. Because of you the holy gospels could say: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Catechetical Lectures

T his quote contains several descriptions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What are they? How does each aptly apply to her?

January 2

I want to be completely transformed into your mercy and to be your living reflection, O Lord. May the greatest of all divine attributes, that of your unfathomable mercy, pass through my heart and soul to my neighbor.

From a prayer of St. Faustina Kowalska

I n whose life would the Lord ask me today to be a conduit of His love and mercy? From whom would I most like to withhold love and mercy? In what practical way can I respond in love to others, especially those whom I find most difficult to love?

January 3

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

I n what specific experiences or circumstances in my life have I experienced Jesus as Wonderful Counselor? Mighty God? Everlasting Father? Prince of Peace? I will write these down in my prayer journal as a reminder that Jesus is always with me, no matter what.