Fr. Benedict Groeschel exhorts faithful to face their mortality

From a report by Dave Borowski in the Arlington Catholic Herald:

The Institute of Catholic Culture, as part of its ongoing lecture series on the Catholic Faith, brought Franciscan Father Benedict Groeschel to the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington last week to address the question of life after death. The Franciscan priest, founder of the Franciscan Fathers of the Renewal, was in a near-fatal traffic accident six years ago in Orlando, Fla.

At Thursday’s presentation, Father Groeschel was helped to the altar by a younger Franciscan brother. The frail 77-year-old lecturer, author, psychologist and the host of EWTN’s “Sunday Night Live with Father Benedict Groeschel,” sat in a chair at the foot of the altar with a microphone and a table at his side set with a glass and water. He spoke with no notes.

The church was filled with admirers who waited anxiously for Father Groeschel to begin.

“We are called to believe and understand,” he said as he addressed the filled-to-capacity church. “Why would you and I want to believe?” he asked. “Because our lives are coming to an end.”

With that sobering statement Father Groeschel began his lecture. What happens after death, he said, is a mystery, but we need to be prepared.

Read the full report. Back in 2004, I interviewed Fr. Groeschel about his near-fatal accident (he was hit by a car), and he shared the following thoughts about mortality, death, and faith in Christ:

IgnatiusInsight.com: During your initial recovery you could did little else but pray. What insight or deeper appreciation into the nature and meaning of prayer did you gain during that time?

Fr. Groeschel: Many times, during my period of recovery, the idea of purgatory crossed my mind. Indeed it was a purgatory. And during those quiet days and weeks I met myself. I cannot say I did this perfectly, but I came away from those times with a clearer realization of my absolute dependency on Christ, of the many ways in which I have failed Him, and of my great need for repentance.

Where then do you turn in such a realization? To the Redeemer and Savior of the world. ...

IgnatiusInsight.com: You’ve said that following the accident your deepest desire is to promote a greater devotion to Jesus, specifically to His divinity. What was it about your accident and the aftermath that kindled this particular focus on the divine nature of Jesus?

Fr. Groeschel: All my life I have had a great devotion to Jesus Christ. I learned it from my family and the sisters who taught us in school. As I was in the seminary, most of my reading that I was free to do on my own was about Christ: His divinity, His humanity, and how these two fit together.

Unfortunately, in recent years and for peculiar reasons, there has been a loss of profound awareness of the divinity of Christ and of its real meaning. When you lose this, you also lose His humanity. His humanity doesn’t make a lot of sense unless He is divine. This is very clear from the many references to His divinity in the New Testament, and not only in the Gospels.

When we approach Christ, He is the great bridge between the human race and eternity and God. A suspension bridge has two great towers; one is as essential to the bridge as the other, and the tension between them is what keeps the roadway solid and passable. Christian dogma of the divinity of Christ, worked out in the early ecumenical councils, is like a great suspension bridge. Damage one tower and you ruin the whole bridge.

The best way to communicate the truth of faith to people is by devotion because they are personally and emotionally, as well as intellectually, involved in what they believe. I have learned many things about Christ from little old black ladies in the inner city who only read the Bible, but they knew Jesus—or, as they called Him, the "sweet Lord Jesus."

Fr. Groeschel's books published by Ignatius Press:

• Tears of God
• The Drama of Reform
• Arise From Darkness: What to Do When Life Doesn't Make Sense
• The Reform of Renewal
• Rosary: The Chain of Hope
• Still Small Voice: A Practical Guide on Reported Revelations
• Praying To Our Lord Jesus Christ: Prayers and Meditations Through the Centuries