Dear friends of Fr. Benedict,

From Trinity Retreat

Thursday July 8, 2004

Going from doctor’s office to doctors office is not a lot of fun. I am very fortunate that the doctors that I know are all extremely kind and concerned. I’ve met only excellent medical personnel on my journey of six months trying to stay alive.
Doctors in many ways are like clergy. They have our faith and destiny in their hands. They know things that we don’t know. I must say though, that the doctors that I meet on my way around are aware of the importance of preserving their dignity as doctors. They always introduce themselves as doctor so and so. They refer to other doctors in the same way. There was a time that the Catholic clergy did the same thing and then we decided to get very informal. I don’t think it did us a lot of good. Now you read a great deal of criticism of the clergy in papers, some of it merited and some of it not. What I do think is that the medical profession has preserved its dignity, identity and respect better than the clergy in general. It would be a good thing if all clergy, not just Catholic clergy, were very well aware that people look to them for some representation of the Divine Being who made this world. In the Catholic Church we say the priest functions In Persona Christi. That means he functions in place of Christ. Pray for us Catholic priests that we may do this. Pray for all Christian clergy that we may try to represent Christ. Pray for all clergy that we may try to represent God.

Let us continue to pray for each other!

Father Benedict
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Fr. Benedict, I would love for you to continue to have internet messages/videos. They are very inspirational for me and my family. I know they must take a lot of time, but perhaps you could "share" the days with others or have a weekly update/message. We are all so hungry to know about our faith. Possibly a question & answer day would be possible. We all want to know more about our faith, but sometimes it's hard to find things out. I remember when you visited Lexington, KY, several years ago. You offered much encouragement and hope for all of us during our dark hours. Thank you for calling Mr. Jim Cloud to tell him about our newly named Bishop Ronald Gainer. Bishop Gainer has been such a blessing for our diocese. He is undergoing much persecution now; please pray for him. God bless you. You are in our prayers always! - Mary & family, Lexington, Kentucky

Dear Fr. Benedict, I've been reading your messages with my mom since you got hurt. I am praying for you, so please pray for me! Yours in Christ Jesus, Andrew Page, age 9, Lakewood, CA PS. I am turning 10 on Thursday and as I'm your brother in God's family, I will pray an extra Rosary for you on this day! Please pray for me too on my special day! I'll also be serving noon Mass and be praying for you during Mass. God Bless! - Andrew, Lakewood, California

Dear Fr. Groeshel: .. Thank you once again for offering so many mornings of inspiration to all of us who have been following your recovery since January 11. My family and I await anxiously for your daily words of encouragement to appear on our computer screens. It seems that we cannot envision a day ahead of us until we see your wonderful image, and written words from your heart and soul. Peace be with you in all the days ahead and know that we love you. Your faithful followers in - Boca Raton, Florida...Carol, Terry and Linda

Father Benedict, Your message today is extremely meaningful to me. I also am 70 years old as of April. And I simply cannot believe it even yet. But I can relate to time passing so quickly. And to look upon death as a friend is something I try to do and not have fear. My husband and I lost a young adult son in 1993 and one of my comforts about death is that I will see Erik again. That takes away my fears. Life is so short no matter how long we live. I can only pray that I may hear Our Lord say,"well done, good and faithful servant, enter the kingdom I have prepared for you". May I be worthy to hear those words. God Bless You, Father Benedict. I pray for you daily when I say my rosary and thank God for you. Your friend, - Judy, Stockton, California

Dear Father Benedict, Sometimes the answers to prayers take a little time...... - Mary, Owensboro, Kentucky

Dear Precious Father Groeschel, I would like to second the idea of a place to ask questions about our faith but one designated day a week could be a message from Father Groeschel to all of us. If it was on the same day each week, then we would all know when to tune in on the internet. The other days of the week could be by the other Fran- siscan Priests. The questions could be asked in the same format that this web site is set up as. You remain in our prayers and always will. We thank the Blessed Mother and our Sweet Jesus. Amen - Janet, Lake Villa, Illinois

TO OUR BELOVED FR BENEDICT! Your message to us 0n 7/7/04 was just the GREATEST! I've read and reread it and will have it printed. Thank you, Fr Ben....you hit the nail on the head with that one! And be assured that we'll all have you covered for future surgeries and COMPLETE recovery. God bless you Father....may the Holy Spirit keep enlightening you in your lessons to us and may we all someday march behind you on the way to our reward! How blessed are we to have lived in the same era with you!.... - Helen, Scranton Penn.

Hello Fr. Benedict! I am glad you are recovering so well. You are an inspiration to us all! I happened across your TV show once and was captivated by your gift of communication. I tuned in several times since then and although you are not on very often, I look forward to catching your TV show. I was so glad to find your audio files on the web site, free for download (the TV shows on videotape are too expensive). I haven't listened to any of them yet because I wanted to download them all first, to store on CD so I would always have them. Well, it took me a few weeks with a 56k modem but I finally finished downloading them. 281 files, 865 MB. That's gonna have to be 2 CD's. I am looking forward to all I can learn from them. I just know they will have a positive impact on my life. Thank you for your show and for the free audio files. I wish you good health and much happiness. - Dan, New York

Send your greetings to Fr. Benedict

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