"Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church."~Bl. Pope John Paul II
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Jesus at the Post Office!
Here is a segment from a past Christmas radio segment in which I chat with Teresa Tomeo about meeting "Jesus" in the Post Office. Just click here to listen to it as well as some other Christmas reflections we talk about.
The recipe for the Overnight Christmas Bread coming up!
The recipe for the Overnight Christmas Bread coming up!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
My anniversary talk on Blessed Mother Teresa given at the Knights Museum
Have a look when you have time. Just click on the square below...
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Interview of me at "My Catholic Blog"...
Author, television host, blogger, speaker, mother: Meet Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, and find out what keeps her driven to accomplish so very much.
Donna-Marie, your friendship with Mother Teresa’s has undoubtedly affected your work; one need not look farther than the foreword for Prayerfully Expecting: A nine month novena for mothers-to-be or Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship for evidence. How exactly did your friendship with the Mother Teresa begin, and is it possible to pass along any wisdom she has given you that has held particular affect?
By the grace of God, my friendship with Blessed Mother Teresa began. I recount all of the details in my book: Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship.
I traveled with my family to Washington DC to visit Father John A. Hardon S. J., a renowned theologian and author who happened to also be my spiritual director. We had a wonderful meeting and he then encouraged us to visit the Missionary of Charity sisters and the sick and dying they cared for at the convent in DC. Well, Mother Teresa happened to be visiting the country at the time and was at the convent! The rest is history, as they say. Again, it’s all in my book, the whole story. Suffice it to say that Fr. Hardon was responsible for me meeting Mother Teresa.
Is it possible to pass on any wisdom from her that has affected me? That would... You can see the interview here.
Donna-Marie, your friendship with Mother Teresa’s has undoubtedly affected your work; one need not look farther than the foreword for Prayerfully Expecting: A nine month novena for mothers-to-be or Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship for evidence. How exactly did your friendship with the Mother Teresa begin, and is it possible to pass along any wisdom she has given you that has held particular affect?
By the grace of God, my friendship with Blessed Mother Teresa began. I recount all of the details in my book: Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship.
I traveled with my family to Washington DC to visit Father John A. Hardon S. J., a renowned theologian and author who happened to also be my spiritual director. We had a wonderful meeting and he then encouraged us to visit the Missionary of Charity sisters and the sick and dying they cared for at the convent in DC. Well, Mother Teresa happened to be visiting the country at the time and was at the convent! The rest is history, as they say. Again, it’s all in my book, the whole story. Suffice it to say that Fr. Hardon was responsible for me meeting Mother Teresa.
Is it possible to pass on any wisdom from her that has affected me? That would... You can see the interview here.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Life on the Rock announcing a COOL contest!
You'll want to see this. The guest is Suzane Haugh from the Goodness Reigns website. You may be familiar with this website as I've mentioned it before here. I contribute to a couple of blogs on the beautiful website. You can check out the website here.
On this Life on te Rock segment, Suzanne announces a cool contest for young adults to win prizes and even a trip to the next World Youth Day! Have a look...
On this Life on te Rock segment, Suzanne announces a cool contest for young adults to win prizes and even a trip to the next World Youth Day! Have a look...
What is the significance of the Christmas tree?
What is the significance of the Christmas tree?
A refreshing look at the meaning of the Christmas tree (above).
A refreshing look at the meaning of the Christmas tree (above).
Saturday, December 4, 2010
A Wondrous Season of Hope and Love
Advent, A Wondrous Season of Hope and Love in which to Discover the Mystery of Our Lord’s Simplicity and Humility Wrapped in Swaddling Clothes
Advent is a wondrous season of preparation as we make ready our homes and beautify our churches; decorating for a beautiful upcoming Christmas celebration. It’s not all about the decorations, wrappings, and music, though. It’s easy to get caught up in the exteriors. Yet, we must also take the time to prepare our hearts to receive the Christ Child. We can purge ourselves of some of the clutter that constantly fills our minds and our hearts to make room to allow Jesus in. “O marvelous exchange! Man’s Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity” (Antiphon I of Evening Prayer for January 1st).
We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church “When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’” (# 524).
As we renew our “ardent desire” and prepare for the celebration of our Savior’s birth, in this period of waiting and anticipation, let’s take some time out to pray, meditate, and recall that Our Savior, Jesus was born in a simple stable into a poor family. We know that His mother, Mary and stepfather Joseph led a challenging life and were initially shunned because of Mary’s pregnancy and then turned away from a suitable place in which to give birth; being forced to seek shelter in an animal’s home instead.
Ironically Simple and Quiet
For centuries, prophets, succeeding one another in Israel, had announced Jesus’ coming. Yet, our Savior’s birth took place very humbly and quietly; hardly what one would expect for a King’s birth—a holy occurrence of extreme magnitude. Humility, simplicity, holiness and silence surrounded the Holy Family in Bethlehem. Baby, Jesus rested His Sacred head on a bed of straw in a simple manger when He was not on his mother’s breast. Common shepherds were the first witnesses to the breathtaking awe-inspiring event of the birth of the Messiah.
Heaven’s glory, so deserving of a posh setting and splendor with trumpets sounding, was made manifest in sheer poverty. Amazing! And as we await our Lord’s birth in this season of quiet and anticipation, most of us are surrounded not with the blessing of simplicity and silence, but instead, with glitz and glitter, noise, bold advertising, and even shoving and fighting for parking spaces at malls in a race for sale items, the latest iPod, or cell phone. Our holy season has been reduced to a preoccupation about whether or not we can manage to get our hands on a Wii Nintendo system or some other “needed” electronic item before it’s sold out, rather than striving to come closer to Our Lord in prayer—such a severe contrast to the reality of Jesus’ birth—of the true meaning of His coming to us in the form of an innocent Child.
Focus on the Essential
We do know that to enter the kingdom of Heaven we must become like a child. Jesus did this literally for us. We need to humble ourselves to become little. We absolutely need to make time for prayer. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament will bring us very close to Jesus and give us amazing peace, grace, and strength for our journey. When we cannot get out, prayer within our domestic churches is just fine and pleasing to God. Retreating deep into our hearts, seeking our Lord throughout our busy days of Advent will keep us in communication with Him and help us focus on what is essential during a season of hustle and bustle.
While we take time out during what is meant to be a season of quiet, to pause and contemplate, what will we learn about the mystery of our Lord’s simplicity and humility wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in a manger? What can we do to recapture and rekindle this holy time of year amid the chaotic atmosphere of our time? Let’s begin in our families, slowing down to pause and pray, seeking moments throughout our days to offer our hearts fully to God. Taking the time to give of our time which is really a priceless gift and not something we will find at a shopping mall.
Parents should make the time for prayer within their families no matter how busy they feel they are. Teaching children to take even a moment out each morning to greet our Lord, thanking Him for a new day, offering it all to Him, and asking Him to use them, will help transform an ordinary day into opportunities for grace and redemption. Parents should make use of the dinner table as a time of coming together, lighting the Advent wreath, praying together and enjoying each other’s company away from the busy world outside the doors of the home.
Lighting the Way
We can be a light to the world, to all around us, much like the star that drew the Magi to the Christ Child. Let’s think about what can we do or what changes we can make to become a light and lead the way for others. How can our words and actions, by God’s grace, help to convert hearts? Let us pray that we will draw others to Jesus because they see Him living in us. The light within us—Christ’s light—will draw others to the blessedness of our Christianity.
“Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us. Christmas is the mystery of this marvelous exchange,” we learn from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (# 526.) Let us pray that Christmas will be truly fulfilled in us all as we strive to become “little,” allowing Christ to live through us, lighting the way to Heaven.
[this article appreared at Catholic Mom.Com]
Journeying through Advent
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| All my "ducklings in a row" for a impromptu shot on Thanksgiving Day |
It's a special time of spiritual growth and reflection as we journey through Advent. I hope you're finding moments to pause and ponder and whisper prayers from your heart even as the advertising frenzy blasts all around you. There's so much we can thankful for, no matter the circumstance - God is near - always! He wants us to come closer to Him and trust our lives to Him. Then He can really work through us to touch other's hearts!
I will be back soon, God willing to bring you inspiration. In the meantime, what have you been up to? What kinds of Advent traditions are you practicing in your "domestic church"? What tradition can you start brand new this year? Leave a comment and let me know.
God bless and a big hug!
Donna-Marie
Friday, December 3, 2010
Review of my book A Catholic Woman's Book of Prayers
A Catholic Woman's Book of Prayers
Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle is in my top 10 of favorite authors; I am slowly acquiring everything she has ever written.
I recently received A Catholic Woman's Book of Prayers and, again, was not disappointed. The book is slim and easy to fit in a bag to take along to soccer practice, the dentist, Eucharistic Adoration...wherever.
I've been keeping it on my bedside table and reading snippets before bed each night.
I really enjoyed how Mrs. Cooper O'Boyle weaves saintly quotes with reflections on different areas of feminine life. She also sprinkles in personal anecdotes here and there among the prayers shared.
The chapters are not long, but they are quite deep. Each paragraph has a gem of wisdom that makes me want to open it back up and read it all over again when I think I'm finished.
This is a book to keep with you, in a purse or diaper bag, to pull out at the beginning of the day, throughout the day, and at the end of the day. Inspired by the words of John Paul II in his encyclical, Mulieris Dignatatem, and his Letter to Women, A Catholic Woman's Book of Prayers seeks to convey that all women are entrusted with the human being. This little book allows for a deeper awareness of the "entrusting" that John Paul II spoke of.
Drawing you back to the heart of Christ through encouragement, gentle prayer, and saints to walk with, this book is one to put on your wish list.
You can also see the review here.
Thank you dear "Exspectantes" for your beautiful review!