After the impact of the car shattered his body on the evening of January 11, 2004, …


… the hospital trauma-unit staff offered little hope that Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., would survive.


Then the news spread. And the prayers began.


"Apparently, by a medical miracle, I am still alive — having really been considered dead. One can’t miss the conclusion that when this happens, God still wants you here. … I don’t know what God has in store for me, nor do you know what He has in store for you; yet a conviction that must guide us both is ‘Your will be done.’ "


Now Father Benedict reflects on the good that has come — and continues to come — from that horrific accident. And, responding to questions posed by noted British journalist John Bishop in an interview before the accident, he reflects on:


• Founding the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal


• Spending time in jail for civil disobedience outside an abortion clinic


• Recognizing where God is when suffering intensifies and evil prospers


• Understanding Christ’s feeling of abandonment on the cross


• Discovering and living one’s vocation


• Loving the poor wholeheartedly


• Being "gently scolded" by Mother Teresa of Calcutta


• And more.


"I want to share with you two principles upon which I have built my life. The first is from St. Augustine: ‘God does not cause evil, but that evil should not become the worst.’ Second: ‘There are no accidents. Evil things occur because of bad will or stupidity or fatigue, yet whatever the cause God will bring good out of it if we let Him.’ "