My daughter is leaving for the Thailand Burma border!

My daughter is leaving for the Thailand Burma border!

Blessed Mother Teresa's birthday

Today is the anniversary of Blessed Mother Teresa's birthday. If time allows, I'll write a post about her later on but for now I'll leave you with some very simple yet poignant words with which she instructed me: 

"Keep the joy of loving Jesus ever burning in your heart and share this joy with others by your thoughtful love and humble service."

This is something we can all strive to do.

My son Joseph as a baby with Blessed Mother Teresa

Here is a radio segment which was recorded some time ago (Live at that time) in which I spoke with Teresa Tomeo about Blessed Mother Teresa and the interior struggle she experienced which St. John of the Cross had coined as a dark night of the soul. I hope you enjoy it. 

http://www.donnacooperoboyle.com/press/Donna-Marie-09-07-07.mp3

God bless you and yours. May your day be abundantly blessed!

Finding Our Lord at Home

Tomorrow...

Is Our Lord at home with you? Tomorrow I'll share one of my EWTN TV segments in hopes of inspiring your heart!

Radio chat yesterday RE: pregnancy and motherhood

Radio chat yesterday RE: pregnancy and motherhood

Are we "salt and light" to the world?

Tomorrow...

I'll be sharing one of my EWTN TV segments tomorrow, so stay tuned! It will speak about our need to evangelize, yes, even within our domestic churches!

Are your "kids" getting ready to go back to college?

Campus Courtesy

Gracious Living column - Canticle magazine  (September/October issue from a previous year)

Campus Courtesy

By Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle

(image is of an older issue which features Mother Teresa and my son on the cover)

Back to school and back to college – that time of year that can make a parent secretly ecstatic or hopelessly tearful. I happen to fit into the tearful category. Not that I ever actually shed tears when the school bus pulled away with my children. However, kids leaving the nest; going off to college is another story. I will admit that I have cried on the journey back home after settling each of my children into their college dorms. Sending our children off to embark upon college life is a milestone that I think we can never be totally prepared for. It’s bittersweet for sure. We want our children to spread their wings, but we may not be entirely ready ourselves when the reality hits us.

Tears aside, how can we help our children to prepare for a whole new way of life? Will all of those manners and guidelines for good living we taught our growing children go out the window when they are living miles and miles away from us? We certainly hope and pray not. Let’s take a look at some basic college etiquette that we can help to instill in our budding young adults.

We’ll start with dorm living. Major change is in store for our children who leave the comforts of home, to live in a fairly small room, usually with a complete stranger their freshman year. Although they may think that their new lifestyle will be a continuous slumber party, they may discover some significant challenges that can become very stressful without a basic plan for dorm survival. Talking about the upcoming changes with our children and encouraging them to use common sense practices and etiquette can help to transform their stresses into a happier college life.

Communication is crucial. Obviously, they will want to talk things over with their room-mate regarding sleep and study habits. One may be a night owl while the other may value their sleep. Colleges usually try to pair up students with other like-minded students, but this is not always the case. A book light comes in handy for late night studying. Head phones are critical too. Not hitting the alarm clock snooze button is exercising a dose of common courtesy if your room-mate is trying to sleep. Showing consideration by keeping the dorm as tidy as possible translates to less clutter and a happier room-mate. Giving space to a room-mate by leaving the room when they are engrossed in a serious phone call will be appreciated and most-likely reciprocated. Being sure to carry the room key at all times will prevent your room-mate the annoyance of having to constantly unlock the door. Obviously, the room-mate’s belongings should never be borrowed or used without permission. No snooping either – respect is paramount for a peaceful and happy relationship.

What about professors and classes? First impressions speak volumes at college. Our children are responsible for establishing a level of respect with their professors, right from the start. As well, expectations from college professors are very different from high school teachers. Therefore, the need to remember they are expected to rise to a new level of responsibility. They won’t be given slack for missed assignments, classes, and tardiness. No more notes of excuse from Mommy!

Professors should always be shown respect and addressed properly. No first name basis unless that is what the professor prefers.

We need to embed into our children the necessity for common courtesy, respect, and decency to spill over from home to college life and beyond. With our prayers, guidance and their fine efforts, the future looks very promising!

To subscribe to Canticle magazine call 1-800-558-5452 or visit www.subscriptions@womenofgrace.com or www.womenofgrace.com

Embracing Motherhood: Back to School!

Click on the link below for the post:

Embracing Motherhood: Back to School!

Radio tomorrow morning: Son Rise Morning Show

Son Rise Morning show tomorrow morning (Tues.) with Brian Patrick at 8:20 AM Eastern. I hope you can join us!

http://www.ewtn.com/radio/weekday/thesonrisemorningshow.asp

Prayerfully Expecting: A Nine Month Novena for Mothers to Be

My book Prayerfully Expecting: A Nine Month Novena for Mothers to Be is now reprinted with a lovely hard cover. It's the same content, but with a nice sturdy cover.

I wrote this book while I was on complete bed rest during a high risk pregnancy with my fifth child, Mary-Catherine. Blessed Mother Teresa whom I knew at that time, gave me a Foreword for the book. This book is meant to celebrate a pregnancy as a wonderful time of anticipation as the mother awaits childbirth. It offers the expectant Mom the opportunity to transform her pregnancy into a novena of prayer to God. It's a "baby book" for the unborn baby! An expectant Mom will be able to follow her baby's progress and record her thoughts and prayers as well as save her ultrasound pictures to cherish in years to come.

Many expectant mothers all around the world have used this book throughout their pregnancy and have felt spiritually nourished while using it.

Here's a very brief description of the book: This beautifully crafted book is a reflection guide, keepsake, and prayer journal that offers inspiration for each month of pregnancy in the tradition of the popular nine-day prayer, the Novena.

Here are a some of the reviews:

"Prayerfully Expecting is a different kind of pregnancy journal. Imbued as it is with Scripture, exhortations from John Paul the Great, wisdom from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, and both traditional and original prayers, it steeps expectant mothers in an atmosphere of holiness, reminding them that what they are experiencing is sacred. I plan to put away three copies of this book -- one for each of my daughters -- for "someday."~Karen Edmisten


"My best friend gave me this book when I was expecting baby number 7. I had never seen anything like it and read it through pregnancy 7, 8, and 9. I'm now expecting baby number 10 and will read it again. I couldn't wait to get to the next month (and I was tempted to read ahead!) It's the perfect read whether this is your first baby or your 10th!! It's also perfect for busy moms. I'm so blessed to have received this as a gift and will treasure it always!!"~Amy Ekblad

"Prayerfully Expecting's beautiful prayers and reflections helped me to make the most of this precious time. It gave me the encouragement to approach my pregnancy and motherhood with utmost gratitude, reverence and faith. This was my favorite pregnancy book by far and prepared me in the most important way. I'm still using it for reflection now. This is a book you'll be able to go back to again and again. It includes space to write your own reflections as well, so it can be a wonderful keepsake."~J.H.S.

"This book brought amazing comfort and peace to me it what was a very complicated and stressful pregnancy. I love that you can journal all of your experiences and save pictures. Great book! I recommend for anyone who is pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant!"~D.R. King

"Excellent book for mothers to be! I definitely recommend this one!! Wonderful prayers and its kind of like a diary too. So I think its beautiful memories to be kept and later share with that child. Wonderful prayers for parents to be to pray together and beautiful moments to share. I prayed all the prayers in this book with all my heart and many people tell me that my child is very calm. I think it has to do with all the prayers that were said while the baby was in my womb. Wonderful book for a gift too."~Vanessa R.

"You have been blessed with the privilege of conceiving a child, whose heart beats within you. Cradled inside you, your unborn child will be nourished and kept warm in your womb for the next nine months. What an incredible miracle!" With these words, Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle planted a seedling of hope in my heart with this, my second pregnancy, and nurtured it over the course of months. She didn't spoil the fun of what I would find in this nine-month journey - because not only am I not a rookie at it, but I am also not finished with it - but she did reframe it for me in a way that I never would have thought of - she turned me back to God with this, the incredible miracle of life within me. She changed my paradigm from one of self-focus to one of heavenly focus, and taking the nine months of my pregnancy and transforming them into a novena, a series of prayers, has made my bond with my baby and my Savior completely different...I can't help but feel, as I continue to read Prayerfully Expecting, that I'm not alone. I knew that before, though. Of course I did. It just didn't seem as obvious. Donna-Marie has made this a journey I'm taking with Mary, an adventure I'm undergoing with Mother Teresa's blessing, and an opportunity that's full of scriptural wisdom and advice. With this book, she has given expectant mothers a new approach to their vocation right from the start, without any strings or preconceptions."~Sarah Reinhard

Autographed copies are available at my website: www.donnacooperoboyle.com

Catholic speakers

Catholic speakers

I voted for my favorite Catholic speakers. You can too. Click on the link above and vote away!

Catholic speakers

I just voted. You can too. You can vote for 15 favorite Catholic speakers and you only vote once. Don't forget to vote!

Click on the link below and scroll down to the list of speakers and choose 15--not so easy! Then, click vote.

http://brandonvogt.com/scsmvoting/

A Mom's Call to Holiness

Do you feel called to holiness?

RUSE: Say no to Girl Scout Cookies - Washington Times

This article was just mentioned by Father Benedict Groeschel on his show Sunday Night Prime. He is interviewing the author of the article and her husband. It's a shame what is going on with the Girl Scouts. I used to be a GS leader for many

 years and two of my daughters were Girl Scouts years ago. Things started going downhill with the Girl Scouts in about 2002. Graphic depictions of sexual activities as well as advice that abortion can be a good experience was given to ten year old and up -- all of which came from Planned Parenthood. Deeply perverse and offensive messages were published by Planned Parenthood and given to Girl Scouts. Try to catch the Sunday Night Prime show. Or look for it on EWTN's archives or You Tube (I'll try to post it when it's available).

RUSE: Say no to Girl Scout Cookies - Washington Times

Here's a helpful website: http://www.girlscoutswhynot.com/

Here's another helpful website: http://www.100questionsforthegirlscouts.org/100/

Here's an alternative to Girl Scouts - the American Heritage Girls: http://www.ahgonline.org/

Dear Saint Joseph

So many people come to me with needs for a new job, a new house, needing help for their family, difficulties in their marriage, and so much more. St. Joseph is my go-to saint for this and I explain why in my book Grace Cafe: Serving Up Recipes for Faithful Mothering where I devote a good portion of space to talk about dear St. Joseph and how he has helped my family.

I'll post a powerful thirty day novena to St. Joseph here (which can be said any thirty days of the year):

Ever blessed and glorious Joseph, kind and loving father, and helpful friend of all in sorrow!  You are the good father and protector of orphans, the defender of the defenseless, the patron of those in need and sorrow.  Look kindly on my request.  My sins have drawn down on me the just displeasure of my God, and so I am surrounded with unhappiness.  To you, loving guardian of the Family of Nazareth, do I go for help and protection. Listen, then, I beg you, with fatherly concern, to my earnest prayers, and obtain for me the favors I ask. I ask it by the infinite mercy of the eternal Son of God, which moved Him to take our nature and to be born into this world of sorrow. I ask it by the weariness and suffering you endured when you found no shelter at the inn of Bethlehem for the holy Virgin, nor a house where the Son of God could be born.   Then, being everywhere refused, you had to allow the Queen of Heaven to give birth to the world's Redeemer in a cave. I ask it by that painful torture you felt at the prophecy of holy Simeon, which declared the Child Jesus and His holy Mother future victims of our sins and of their great love for us. I ask it through your sorrow and pain of soul when the angel declared to you that the life of the Child Jesus was sought by His enemies.  From their evil plan you had to flee with Him and His Blessed Mother to Egypt.  I ask it by all the suffering, weariness, and labors of that long and dangerous journey. I ask it by all your care to protect the Sacred Child and His Immaculate Mother during your second journey, when you were ordered to return to your own country.  I ask it by your peaceful life in Nazareth where you met with so many joys and sorrows. I ask it by your great distress when the adorable Child was lost to you and His Mother for three days.  I ask it by your joy at finding Him in the Temple, and by the comfort you found at Nazareth, while living in the company of the Child Jesus.  I ask it by the wonderful submission He showed in His obedience to you. I ask it by the perfect love and conformity you showed in accepting the Divine order to depart from this life, and from the company of Jesus and Mary.  I ask it by the joy which filled your soul, when the Redeemer of the world, triumphant over death and hell, entered into the possession of His kingdom and led you into it with special honors. I ask it through Mary's glorious Assumption, and through that endless happiness you have with her in the presence of God. O good father!  I beg you, by all your sufferings, sorrows, and joys, to hear me and obtain for me what I ask. (make your request) Obtain for all those who have asked my prayers everything that is useful to them in the plan of God.  Finally, my dear patron and father, be with me and all who are dear to me in our last moments, that we may eternally sing the praises of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

---

Read more:http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/prayers/thirtydayjoseph.htm#ixzz23LdirnIQ

SANCTE PATER: Father Mitch Pacwa: Lack of any Spiritual Depth to...

SANCTE PATER: Father Mitch Pacwa: Lack of any Spiritual Depth to...: By GREG GARRISON - Religion News Service [Father Mitch] Pacwa said there is no chance for the visions to get approval while they're sti...