Eternal Light Shine Upon Him...

Tony Benkovic entered eternal life last night at approximately 7 p.m.

I have no additional details yet. However, I will post them here as I have them.

Please continue to pray for the whole family. I leave you with this prayer of John Cardinal Newman:

O GOD of the spirits of all flesh, O Jesus, Lover of souls, we recommend unto You the soul of this Your servant Tony, who has departed with the sign of faith and sleeps the sleep of peace.

We beseech You, O Lord and Saviour, that, as in Your mercy to him You becamest man, so now You wouldest hasten the time, and admit him to Your presence above.

Remember, O Lord, that he is Your creature, not made by strange gods, but by You, the only Living and True God; for there is no other God but You, and none that can equal Your works.

Let his soul rejoice in Your light, and impute not to him his former iniquities, which he committed through the violence of passion, or the corrupt habits of his fallen nature.

For, although he has sinned, yet he always firmly believed in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and before he died, he reconciled himself to You by true contrition and the Sacraments of Your Church.

O Gracious Lord, we beseech You, remember not against him the sins of his youth and his ignorance; but according to Your great mercy, be mindful of him in Your heavenly glory.

May the heavens be opened to him, and the Angels rejoice with him.

May the Archangel St. Michael conduct him to You. May Your holy angels come forth to meet him, and carry him to the city of the heavenly Jerusalem.

May St. Peter, to whom You gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven, receive him.

May St. Paul, the vessel of election, stand by him.

May St. John, the beloved disciple, who had the revelation of the secrets of heaven, intercede for him.

May all the Holy Apostles, who received from You the power of binding and loosing, pray for him.

May all the Saints and elect of God, who in this world suffered torments for Your Name, befriend him; that, being freed from the prison beneath, he may be admitted into the glories of that kingdom, where with the Father and the Holy Ghost, You livest and reignest one God, world without end.

Come to his assistance, all you Saints of God; gain for him deliverance from [the] place of punishment; meet him, all you Angels; receive his holy soul, and present him before the Lord. Eternal rest give to him, O Lord. And may perpetual light shine on him. May he rest in peace. Amen.