Dear Friend,

I’m writing you this letter to tell you about a dual problem I’m facing.

Unless I solve these problems I’ll have a full-blown crisis on my hands. I’m going to ask you to help me avert a crisis.

The first problem is that our radio equipment has reached its “omega.” In other words, our radio equipment is at the end of the road regarding its technology, usefulness, and life. In fact, key components of it have actually blown up!

This isn’t yet a crisis. But it’s definitely a problem. I knew our vintage radio equipment wouldn’t last forever, and now the time has come to replace it with modern, up-to-date equipment. Otherwise Fr. Ed and I would have to travel to Birmingham, Alabama, every day to do our radio show. Obviously that’s not practical or affordable.

I urgently need your help to solve this problem so that our radio outreach can continue to move forward.

I continue to be astonished at the outreach of our radio programming. It is mind-boggling! We feed our radio program live to EWTN, which broadcasts it to over 100 affiliate stations. But that’s not all. Approximately 750 million households throughout the world can pick up our signal on shortwave radio. And our show is also broadcast worldwide on Sirius satellite radio.

You’d be amazed at the calls and letters we get from all over the world. We get calls and letters from Ireland, England, and South America – from every continent except Antarctica. It’s encouraging to know that people in those countries are listening to our show.

And now let me tell you about the second problem I’m facing.

I just learned last week that the Lenten letter I sent failed to bring in the donations we were hoping for. I didn’t expect this because Lent is a time for almsgiving. You’d expect an increase in funding during Lent. We urgently need to raise approximately $45,000 within the next couple of weeks to avert a cash flow crisis.

Obviously, this downturn in funds comes at a bad time, considering that our antiquated radio equipment urgently needs replacement. If our funding doesn’t pick up, our financial situation could spiral into a crisis. I’m asking for your prayerful and financial help to avert an impending crisis.

Let me tell you what I’m doing to solve these two problems. First, I’m praying before the Blessed Sacrament for a turnaround. And I ask you to join me in that prayer – if possible before the Blessed Sacrament, but feel free to pray wherever you are. Prayer is the foundation of everything we do here at Living His Life Abundantly.

Without prayer, we can accomplish nothing. With the power of prayer, nothing can stop us. That’s because the Bible says, “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1). I could never have built the house of this ministry, and I continue to rely on the Lord through prayer.

The other thing I’m doing to solve the problems is to offer you some really outstanding premiums that could change your life. The mega-premium I’m offering you this month is the album of CDs from our annual Women of Grace Retreat. We held that retreat on the historic and beautiful grounds of Malvern, Pennsylvania, on the weekend of July 20-22, 2007.

Three-hundred-forty-nine women of grace from all walks of life and at different stages in their faith journey attended that retreat.

Fr. Ed and I held nothing back in our talks. But what we said is of far less importance than the dialog that takes place between you and God as a result of hearing our talks.

“I came with a heavy heart but left uplifted with my faith energized”

You don’t have to take my word for it that this retreat is perhaps the most powerful, life-changing retreat we’ve ever offered. Rather, listen to what the women who attended it said from their heart:

“Thank you does not begin to say what’s in my heart. It was so obvious that you are about the Father’s work with the continued outpouring of the Spirit.”

“I came with a heavy heart but left uplifted with my faith energized. I received many resources for future faith devotions. It reintroduced me to the Marian Devotions.”

“It inspired me to pray more, to work more on my relationship with Jesus, to be more open to the Holy Spirit’s leading.”

“I was hungry for the Word. Coming here I remembered the seeds planted in my childhood and rejoice.”

“I felt ready to step out of my comfort zone and listen to what God is calling me to do.”

“The retreat empowered me to help a friend grow in her faith journey.”

“It recharged me to be more disciplined in my private prayer time each day with the Lord. It helps me to find the root cause of my problems with my faith.”

“I was able to rekindle my faith and realize where God is directing me to go.”

“I’m now willing to do more to hear God’s message, to be more receptive, to accept the love Christ offers and to go home and do my part to spread the power I received from the Holy Spirit.”

“A boost to my journey - a quest to become a better Catholic day by day.”

“This has been so profound. Last year was fantastic but this year I was just amazed at the examples set by such Godly women and it was inspiring.”

“Good sound Catholic doctrine always helps me become a better Catholic and if Johnnette and Father Ed say it, it is sound.”

“It inspired me to go deeper with confession and my relationship with Christ, with my prayer life and with my devotion to the Blessed Mother.”

“I was able to make a good confession.”

The powerful 9-CD album from the Women of Grace retreat at Malvern is the special gift I want to give you. It’s a gift that could change your life no matter where you are spiritually – whether you’re at an advanced spiritual state or whether you’re struggling in your faith.

Many struggle in their faith because they don’t go to the sacrament of confession often enough – or they even avoid it altogether. This is an unbelievably common problem.

You wouldn’t hesitate to put Neosporin on a wound, right?

Let me put it this way. If you haven’t been to confession within the last 30 days, you’re overdue!

As Father Ed explained in one of his talks, “Avoiding the sacrament of confession is like this: ‘I know I have a wound, but I don’t want you to see it or touch it.’ But if you submit to a little discomfort, you can avoid much worse pain and get tremendous relief. Once the Neosporin has been put on a child’s wound, the child can go back outside and play.”

You’d probably agree with me that we all have a favorite sin – a particular sin that tends to pull us down. Sin is like a weed in the garden of your soul: you have to find out what the root of the sin is. Then you must pull it up by the roots even if they’ve spread far and wide under the surface. The CDs can help you do that.

Let me just give you one example. Fr. Ed and I told a lot of stories in our talks. Some of them were about other people; others were about ourselves.

Perhaps the scariest moment of my life

I told the story of one of the scariest moments of my life. Can you imagine having to give a speech before thousands of people and then suddenly not having your carefully prepared notes to rely on as you get up to the podium? Believe it or not, that actually happened to me. All eyes were on me as I stepped up to the microphone. Everyone was expecting a good talk. But my notes were gone!

I had worked hard preparing the notes for my speech, and I felt confident it would be a darn good one. But on my way to the auditorium to give my talk I heard the Lord’s voice deep within my heart telling me to throw out my notes and talk about something else. You can easily understand why I was so reluctant to throw out those notes. After all, I had invested a lot of time preparing them.

But the voice of Lord within my heart was unmistakable. Instead of following my own strong inclinations, I stepped out in faith and dropped all of my notes into the nearest trash barrel, along with the Styrofoam cups, candy bar wrappers, and discarded gum.

You see, instead of giving the talk I had carefully prepared, the Lord wanted me to give a different talk. He wanted me to talk about a secret sin I had never before discussed publicly.

When I got to the auditorium, I urgently looked for a priest so I could go to confession before my talk. I had already confessed the sin, but I wanted to confess it again and to ask the priest to help me find the root of the sin. I found a priest, who heard my confession and really helped me understand why I had committed the sin.

God wanted me to publicly reveal my sin to the audience of 3,000

Believe me; my heart was pounding when I stepped up to the microphone without notes to give an unprepared talk in front of 3,000 people. I just began at the beginning and spoke from my heart. The Lord helped me say what He wanted me to say.

Nevertheless, Satan put all kinds of doubts in my mind as I left the stage and headed for the airport. I began to think that I had made a terrible mistake. I thought, “What will Mother Angelica think if she finds out?” and “What will my husband say when I tell him about the speech?”

I was still plagued with doubts and fears until I found out from the organizers of the conference what had happened as a result of my talk: six priests were hearing confessions for the next 12 hours!!!

In my talk to the 349 people at the Malvern retreat, I told them what the sin was, what the root of the sin was, how my husband reacted when I told him about revealing it in a speech, and many other amazing facts about it.

You see, I didn’t hold anything back at the retreat. I wanted to give each woman 100 percent of what I had to give, and I prayed that the Lord would touch souls during the retreat. That happened. Many souls became cleansed in the confessional. Many penitents gained valuable insight into the root of their sins.

I want you to have the same benefit. You need to hear the conference talks.

I felt the ladies who attended the retreat would also benefit from my personal story about grief and healing. Once again, I held nothing back. I explained how it’s possible to mine the treasury of grace even during the grief of losing a child or a spouse.

Was it easy? No. Did I cry? Yes. Does it hurt? Yes. Will it hurt forever? Yes.

But there’s something beautiful about suffering when you suffer in union with the Passion of Christ. Is it pleasant? No. But there’s joy amidst the pain. That’s the truth. And I can say that because I’ve lived through it.

Father Ed told a remarkable story about how St. Teresa of Avila was so serene amidst the chaos of her age. St. Teresa is one of only three women named a Doctor of the Church. She grew up during one of the most difficult times in the Catholic Church – the century in which Martin Luther, John Calvin, and King Henry VIII broke away from the Church in the gigantic Protestant revolt. Sadly, the Protestant revolt continues to this very day.

The crisis in the Church deeply troubled St. Teresa’s spirit. And so she turned to God in prayer and asked what she could do. God answered, telling her she could become one of His true friends. Many people turned their backs on God and became his enemies. But not St. Teresa of Avila. She became a great saint by becoming one of God’s true friends.

Well, why couldn’t you and I set the same goal for ourselves? Why couldn’t we, like St. Teresa of Avila, become God’s true friends? We can! That’s our destiny. Isn’t that exciting? We, too, can become saints. In fact, we must become saints. It’s our obligation.

You see, the only tragedy in life is not to become a saint. That’s what happens when, through mortal sin, we lose our soul. But that needn’t happen as long as we stay close to the sacraments of confession and communion. The premiums I’m offering this month can help you do that.

How to get the life-changing booklet, DVD and Malvern retreat CDs

I’m anxious to send you three premiums. Simply indicate your preference by checking the box on the reply memo.

As a token of thanks for your tax-deductible gift of $35 or more, I’ll send you an amazing booklet called Magnificat: A Mother’s Reflections on Mary by Patti Mansfield. Patti has been a guest on my shows because she has a gift for sharing her spiritual wisdom.

You see, Patti is a prayerful woman with a deep interior life. She was in the first group of students to experience the power of the Holy Spirit at that famous Duquesne University weekend that started the Charismatic Renewal within the Church. Her deep relationship with Our Blessed Mother is a source of encouragement in my own life. She has a deep spiritual motherhood that comes across in a Marian way.

Patti is someone who’s really impacted my life of faith, inspired me, informed me, and witnessed for me. I’m offering you her booklet so you can spiritually benefit.

Another spiritual giant who has really helped and influenced me through the years is Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR. Fr. Andrew has also been a guest on my show several times.

If you can sacrifice a tax-deductible gift of $75 or more, I’ll gladly rush you Patti’s insightful booklet plus an amazing DVD of my interview with Fr. Andrew about the Holy Spirit – the “forgotten” God. People often pray to the Father and the Son, but we mustn’t let the Holy Spirit fall through the cracks in our spiritual lives.

For your sacrifice of $125 or more, I’ll send you everything: Patti’s booklet, the DVD featuring Fr. Andrew Apostoli talking about the Holy Spirit, and the 9-CD album of talks from the Women of Grace Retreat in Malvern.

I’m praying that you’ll be generous. Could you consider sacrificing more than the suggested minimum amounts because of the dual problem I described at the beginning of this letter? Would a gift of $250, $500, $1,000, $5,000 or even more be possible?

Why am I asking you to consider making a huge gift like that? You might not realize this, but it’ll cost a small fortune to replace our antiquated radio equipment with modern equipment. To meet that expense I need a few heroic benefactors to step forward with major gifts, gifts that will make it possible to continue reaching souls and change lives through our radio outreach.

You see, I need the immediate help of people like you to continue bringing life-changing programming on radio and TV to you and your loved ones. I have no one else to turn to. The need is urgent.

Consider this. How much is it worth to save a soul from Hell? You can’t put a price on it. With your help, our message will reach more souls and change more lives.

I’ll gratefully accept any sacrifice of any amount – however large, however small. And please pray for our Apostolate. Your gift will help me produce our life-changing radio and TV programs and keep our other projects going as well.

Please write out a generous check, and send it right away or you can make your donation online by clicking here. The need is most urgent, since we operate by a shoestring, trusting in the Lord to provide for our needs.

Yours in the Lord,

Johnnette Benkovic

P.S. I’m anxious to send you the premiums. The booklet, DVD, and album of 9 CDs will help keep your faith strong. I’ll gladly send you these premiums as a token of thanks for your support. Please make out your tax-deductible check to Living His Life Abundantly and mail your sacrificial gift today, or you can make your donation online by clicking here. God bless you and your loved ones.