Happy week end!

Happy week end All!

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post much here lately. I am very busy writing my new book, The Heart of Catholicism which takes up just about every waking moment. I will be giving some retreat days coming up which are on my schedule at my website here. I have to add some in when I get a minute. We are all snowed and iced in here in Connecticut where I live.

I hope and pray that the families and people without power due to the icy weather are doing okay. I pray that warmth and electricity will be coming to them very soon.

Have a happy and BLESSED week end!

hugs,

Donna-Marie

Now, that's a powerful kiss!

London, Jan 28, 2009 / 02:31 am (CNA).- A woman who doctors believed could remain comatose indefinitely recently revived after her husband asked her for a kiss.

Just ten days after giving birth to her son, Telford, Shropshire resident Emma Ray suffered a heart attack and collapsed while shopping with her husband, Andrew. Andrew performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her, after which she was taken to a hospital where doctors were able to restart her heart.

“She could wake up the following day, she could wake up in a month, or you may be left with a sleeping beauty,” Andrew Ray said a doctor told him, according to the Daily Mail.

Andrew went to great lengths to try and rouse his 34 year-old wife from her comatose state, playing recordings of their baby son Alexander and of their daughter Ella and songs from their wedding reception.

“I would speak softly to her, clasp her hand, pinch her fingers, all the time telling her I loved her or begging her to wake up. By the time I asked her to kiss me I was approaching my wits' end,” he told the Daily Mail.

He bent over his wife’s hospital bed and said “Emma, if you can hear me, please just give me a kiss.”

“'What happened next was beyond my wildest dreams,” he told the Daily Mail. “She turned her head towards mine, puckered up her lips and gave me a little kiss.”

“I couldn't believe it. My heart felt like it was going to leap from my chest –it suddenly felt like a huge weight had been lifted.”

Doctors who witnessed the kiss were astonished by her response.

Emma ray continued to drift in an out of consciousness. Her brain had been oxygen-starved after her heart attack, resulting in short-term memory loss.

She was eventually allowed home but requires ongoing rehabilitation for the brain damage.

“The recovery is awful because I have so little memory,” Emma told the Daily Mail.

Her husband said he was grateful his wife had survived.

“She can walk quite well holding hands now, and at least our kids still have a mother and I still have a wife,” he said, according to the Daily Mail.

(See article here)

Peanut butter recall

Oh boy! You had better check this list from the US Food and Drug Administration about the recent peanut butter recall. It's extensive!

God bless!

Donna-Marie

The Domestic Church: Room by Room - A Review

Review by Katie:

When I ordered The Domestic Church: Room By Room, A Study Guide for Mothers by noted Catholic author Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle, I was expecting something of a hands on guide to whipping my physical "domestic church" into shape. What I got was something much more meaningful!

Much more than simply a Bible study, Cooper O'Boyle weaves together Scripture, the Catechism, papal encyclicals, as well as quotes from the apostolic letters and various saints, inviting mothers ponder and live out their vocation with the fullness of our Catholic faith.

Starting with the foyer and ending at the patio, each chapter's theme is a different room (for example, Chapter Two: The Garage focuses on the husband wife relationship, while Chapter Three: The Nusery looks at children and openness to life). The chapters are broken into two parts, each ending with questions and space to write out thoughts, as well as a summary. This layout works fantastically for busy mothers, allowing you to stop easily without becoming lost. Instructions for group usage are included at the beginning, but the book also works perfectly for independent study.

Cooper O'Boyle treats the vocation of motherhood realistically and respectfully, and with a warm and gentle tone that compliments and rounds out the myriad references through out the book. Mothers of all stripes, of many or few children, adoptive mothers, some-day mothers, and those whose children have all grown and gone; all will find The Domestic Church an affirming and inviting exploration of the beauty of our faith and the joy of our vocation.


This review was written as a part of the Catholic Book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company.

*********

Thank you very much, Katie for your kind words! Thanks also to the Catholic Company!

The March for Life and the slaughtered precious unborn

On this anniversary of Roe VS Wade, let us pray for everyone in Washington DC and all over the world who are standing up for LIFE! Let us pause to pray for our innocent brothers and sisters who have been murdered in their own mother's wombs; sadly by their own mothers. Our Lord said, "Even if a mother could forget her child, I will not forget you. I have carved you in the palm of My hand." We have to beseech Our Lord on our knees! We need to make reparation for all of the sins of abortion and beg His mercy on all of us. What better day than today?

Below is a blog post from Fr. James who is based in Texas:

"There have been more babies killed by abortion since Roe v Wade than people killed in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and both Iraq wars combined. An average of 150 convicted murderers, proven guilty, are killed by the death penalty in Texas every year. 90,000 innocent babies are killed in Texas every year by abortion.

Since 1973 there have been over 49 million abortions in the U.S. alone. Consider the estimated populations of some of our major U.S. cities: New York – 8,143,197; Los Angeles – 3,844,829; Chicago – 2,842,518; and Houston – 2,016,582.

If we can kill an innocent child in the womb of a mother and that no longer shocks us as a nation, then we can justify anything such as unending wars, abuses in capital punishment, violence, and social injustices.

Abortion undermines civil order because it affirms that everyone is not equal under the law.

Let us remember the haunting words of Mother Theresa: "Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion”.

When legalized abortion has ended, we can move on to other pressing concerns."
Visit Fr. James's blog here.

Send in your group photos!

Hi Ladies!

Send in your photos of your Mom's groups who are studying my books. I have featured two groups so far on this blog and they are featured on my website www.donnacooperoboyle.com. I will also put the names of the groups into a drawing at some point in the near future for a contest to win a cool prize for your group! So, what are you waiting for? Bring you camera to your next meeting and smile! I'll look forward to your photos. You can send them to me a DMCOBoyle@aol.com.

God bless you all on your journeys!

Donna-Marie

PS These are the books that the women choose to study:






I have a study guide book that can accompany The Heart of Motherhood.

This is one they generally use for prayers for their meetings:



as well as this one:



They are all available (and autographed and inscribed) at www.donnacooperoboyle.com. I offer discounts for groups!

Grace Cafe Retreat

I never had the chance to finish telling you about the retreat in Illinois recently. I started in a post below. I've been extremely busy writing my new book every waking moment! For now, I'll at least post some photos and I'll try to finish the story later on. :) Here's the beginning to the story here which is also below.





Taking a moment to pause with a new friend at "Grace Cafe!"




I was so excited when I found out that this was my view outside my bedroom door! I got to be so near Jesus for two nights!




One of the highlights for my daughter, Mary-Catherine was to hold this precious baby!


The women were all wonderful, as were the hosts who took very good care of my daughter and me. It was a pleasure to meet them all!

God bless!

Donna-Marie

PS Thank you so much everyone for all of your prayers for us for a safe flight home in the wintry weather. :)

My "Mom's Corner" radio show this morning

If you missed my segment this morning with Teresa Tomeo on our "Mom's Corner" segment, you can click here to listen at any time.

Teresa and I chatted about the new book I am writing as well as taking the time to pause and recharge your "batteries" by going on retreat and with prayer.

Pull up a chair and grab a cup of your favorite beverage. I hope you enjoy the 15 minute segment.

God bless!

Donna-Marie

Grace Cafe Review

Grace Cafe by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle - A Review

by Father Walter Schu, LC

Grace Café is an aptly titled book. How does one discover grace - that sublime reality so distant from most people's vocabulary today and, sadly, so often absent from their lives?

Within these pages, seasoned author Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle makes that elusive encounter with grace seem as casual and natural as a mid-morning rendezvous with an old friend to share a cup of coffee at the local corner café.

Grace Café is addressed specifically to moms, "serving up recipes for faithful mothering," as the sub-title indicates. Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said, "Beauty will save the world." If that is true, then this simple book could bring many moms one step closer to salvation. Even and especially in the midst of the daily trials of raising a family, such as being confronted with a steadily growing mountain of unfolded clothes, the beauty of motherhood alights from the page to capture hearts.

In response to the culture's utilitarian exalting of careerism for women, O'Boyle ponders the value of being a mother, the transcendent mission it entails: "Women have been put through the mill, so to speak. However, as Christian mothers, we can consider the fact that nothing can be more meaningful than to be part of the creation of a human being, to be able to nurture it within our bodies, and then raise our child within a loving home - preparing him or her for eternal life. In my opinion, nothing compares - nothing!"

The simple prose reveals a warm mother's heart, as O'Boyle conveys hints on how to carve out time for prayer and savor the grace of the present moment in a family where the young ones always seem to grow up just a bit too quickly. Interspersed with personal anecdotes are succinct quotes from the wisdom of the saints - especially Pope John Paul II and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, with whom the author was a personal friend for ten years.

All mothers know that their vocation entails its share of difficult moments, and O'Boyle tackles this aspect of motherhood head on in the chapter "Discovering Grace within Suffering." She reflects, "This whole concept of giving and hurting may seem absurd, especially in today's culture. Why should we feel uncomfortable - God forbid - or selfless, when we can avoid it? It's because the love in our motherly heart calls us to it; it beckons us to give of ourselves unreservedly. Real love demands blood, sweat, and tears." She sums things up with these encouraging words from St. Ignatius of Loyola: "If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that he has great designs for you, and that he certainly intends to make you a saint."

The book concludes with poems and prayers that any mother will surely identify with. Particularly touching is one entitled "Seen by God Alone."

Her hands are red, wrinkled, and chapped from the bitter wind
As she pins the clothespins, one after another,
To the line of clothes, already stiffening in the freezing temperature.
The bitter wind mercilessly lifts at the hem of her coat,
Attempting to blow through her clothes and whip at her back.

She briskly continues her loving tasks,
Unnoticed by the speeding motorists passing by.
Only Our Lord sees her putting out her family's laundry to dry,
Stretching out her arms,
Hanging out one wet article of clothing after another,
As only a mother's love can.
Our Lord will never fail to notice all mothers'
Seemingly hidden loving acts of service to their families
All around the world.

__________________________________________________

Father Walter Schu, LC, is the author of Splendor of Love, also available through Circle Press. He grew up on a small farm in Minnesota, the second of seven children. He studied for the priesthood in Rome and has an STL in moral theology summa cum laude, specializing in marriage and family. He was ordained a priest in 1994 and currently teaches at the Legion of Christ Seminary in Cheshire, Connecticut.

A Mom's Group in Texas studying "The Heart of Motherhood!"

Pictured below is the "Archangel Mothers Ministry" at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Colleyville, Texas.





God bless you all on this journey! I pray that you will be deeply inspired and blessed with grace as you share your faith and Catholic Camaraderie!

God bless and hugs,

Donna-Marie

"Mom's Corner" on Monday..Be there!

Stay tuned. Teresa Tomeo and I will be chatting on Monday, January 19th at 9:15 AM Eastern time on Ave Maria Radio to kick off a pro-life week. I hope that you can join us.

Tune in at 9:15 AM Eastern Standard Time by clicking here at avemariaradio.net and then click "listen live." Talk to you soon. :)

God bless your day!

Donna-Marie

My Grace Cafe week end...

A few highlights from my week end...I flew to Illinois to give a retreat to a group of over 100 lovely women. The theme of the retreat was Grace Cafe!

The travel was interesting! I traveled with my darling daughter, Mary-Catherine. On Friday morning we checked out the flights to see if there would be any delays. Even though it had been snowing in Chicago, the flights were running on schedule according to the Internet. We arrived at the airport and checked our baggage in and got our tickets. The woman then told us that there would be a three hour delay due to the snow and ice in Chicago! Darn! If only we had known, we wouldn't have hurried to the airport. Oh well, my daughter and I would spend the next four hours - yes, four, since we arrived an hour early, at that little airport. Oh, I forgot to mention that the woman also told us that there may be additional delays and that we should listen for announcements. I wondered if I would make it to the retreat on time.

So, after saying "good bye" to my husband and older daughter, Jess who was on her way to the train to go into NYC, we made our way upstairs to find a little coffee shop. We ordered a couple of sandwiches and as I took the first bite, we heard a garbled announcement that sounded as if our flight was going to board in ten minutes. I walked over to the next table to ask two gentlemen sitting there if they had heard the announcement. They confirmed that it was indeed our flight. They would be scrambling too. A few quick bites of my egg salad sandwich and we had to rush to the boarding gate. As we grabbed our gear and headed out of the coffee shop, another garbled announcement told us that we should board in four minutes!

We arrived to a person-less gate. What now? I asked someone passing by what we were supposed to do and were instructed to go outside. I asked why we were boarding so quickly after we were told about the three hour delay. The woman said, "If we don't get you there now, we're not going at all because there's another snow storm coming to Chicago later on."

I dragged my carry-on suitcase stuffed full with Grace Cafe books through a snowy runway with Mary-Catherine at my side. What? Where was our plane? The wind was blowing, my arms were full, and it was freezing cold out. I tried to grab the hood of my coat from behind me with one hand and throw it over my head to cut the wind. We walked and walked and approached a plane that someone had pointed to. We had to climb up the stairs with me dragging up the carry-on. Stepping into the plane, I banged my head and couldn't believe that the plane was so small. We found our seats and I took out my cell phone before we were told to turn them off, to call the woman at the retreat house. I asked that she please go back into the chapel and say a few prayers for us because of the rinky dink plane we had just boarded and the whole cartoon feel to the situation. Would this plane make it through the snowy weather?

Actually, although I welcomed as many prayers as we could get, I felt that God certainly had His hand in this because the three hour delay changed so dramatically and we were allowed to board much sooner than we had anticipated. I was glad about that since I knew there was another snowstorm coming later that evening. I wanted to get there in between storms so we would be safe. I don't really like traveling in the winter.

To be continued (Sorry, but I'm tired)...

Stay tuned for news about my trip to Illinois!

Stay tuned! I'll be posting about my retreat week end in Illinois which centered around my book Grace Cafe: Serving Up Recipes for Faithful Mothering.

Radio show with Dina Marie at KBVM

Hello Everyone,

Here's a link to a radio segment of show on which I was a guest. This is from a while ago, but I am just getting a chance to post it now. In this segment, we talk about all of my books, some background on my home-life and stories about me, as well as lots of good Catholic stuff! Get yourself a cup of coffee or tea and pull up a chair and stay a while. I hope you enjoy our chat.

Here's the link to click on to listen.

God bless!

Donna-Marie

So much to say and so little time!

I'll try to catch up with everyone tomorrow. I have been wanting to share thoughts of late, but so many things have prevented it. The holidays were very busy, family-filled, and wonderful! We also had to contend with a lot of sickness.

I'm busy getting ready to fly to Illinois and give retreat based on my book, Grace Cafe! It will be fun, and by God's grace, inspiring.

"Talk" to you tomorrow!

Sweet dreams!

Donna-Marie

Reviews of my new books!

Karen Edmisten has posted reviews of my new books at her blog. I have printed them below...ENJOY!

Grace Cafe: Serving up Recipes for Faithful Mothering

Donna Marie Cooper O'Boyle is a prolific writer. Her latest books -- yes, plural! Two of them! -- are as lovely and inspirational as her other work, most of which is built on the conviction that mothers are living out an indispensable vocation.


Grace Cafe offers "recipes" that will nourish any mother, perhaps especially anyone struggling with her vocation as a stay-at-home mom. I readily identified with this passage:

"Others would say, 'Oh, it's nice that you have the luxury to stay home.'

Yet I believe that it is not a luxury. It is a choice and a decision to do without some material things and comforts ...."
This has certainly been true in our case. At times, it doesn't feel like a luxury at all to be at home, but rather like the sacrifice that it is. Don't get me wrong -- I love being an at-home mom, and it is a privilege. But a privilege is not the same as a luxury. Serving God is always a privilege, even when it's hard. Financially, emotionally, and in other ways, being a stay-at-home mom can be hard. But mothering has eternal value, and Donna-Marie knows this truth.

The truth is reinforced with quotes from Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II, and various saints. And, don't all moms need such authoritative and powerful reinforcement? Particularly the kind that helps us to find holiness within our homes, rather than encouraging us to seek it elsewhere. Grace Cafe includes one of my favorite quotes on holiness for moms:

"It is most laudable in a married woman to be devout, but she must never forget that she is a housewife. And sometimes she must leave God at the altar to find him in her housekeeping."

The Domestic Church: Room by Room: A Mother's Study Guide

The Domestic Church: Room by Room covers much of the same territory, but Donna-Marie never seems to exhaust it. Though an individual would benefit from reading, this book is arranged as a study guide for a group, with discussion questions at the end of each section. (And, pssst ... don't worry, busy moms -- the answers are there, too! So don't worry about passing class.)


The Domestic Church, like all of Donna-Marie's books, backs up its exhortation with solid sources such as quotes from Scripture, encyclicals and saints.

I love Donna-Marie's realism, too. In this book, she includes a beautiful quote from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta:

"A living love hurts. Jesus, to prove His love for us, died on the Cross. The mother, to give birth to her child, has to suffer. If you really love one another properly, there must be sacrifice."
And she honestly addresses "temptations to abandon the heart of the home," noting that mothers can get discouraged, or feel unrecognized and unappreciated. She writes: "A mother who is fighting this interior battle may feel, or even state that she is 'just' a mother. I have heard this so often, and I will tell the mom that she is 'not just a mother!'"

This is the heart of Donna's message, and this is her mission: to help other moms realize that their work is a vital, vibrant, holy vocation.

I highly recommend Donna-Marie's books to newly married women and new mothers, and to moms of any age who seek encouragement and affirmation in their vocation.

And so, dear moms, if you have any doubts about the worth of your daily struggles, sacrifices and joys, dig into these books. When you've finished, you'll close them with a contented sigh, knowing that someone out there understands your worth and knows what you're going through ... that you are storing up treasures in heaven.

*******

Thanks so much, Karen! You can visit Karen's blog here.

Pope Benedict calls children a "treasure and blessing to the world"

Vatican City, Jan 6, 2009 / 11:03 am (CNA).- During the Angelus on the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the children of the world, especially those who live in countries suffering from conflict or who are abused in different ways.

The Pontiff recalled that in many countries Epiphany is “the feast of the children,” and therefore he addressed “a special thought to all children, who are a treasure and blessing for the world, and especially to those who are denied a peaceful childhood.”

“I desire, in particular, to call attention to the dozens of children and young people of the western province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who in these last months, including the Christmas season, have been kidnapped by armed gangs who have attacked towns and have caused numerous victims and wounded,” he added.

The Holy Father called on the "authors of such inhumane brutality" to return the children to their families and to allow them a "future of security and development, which is their right and that of all of those beloved people.” (Continued here)

Check out Karen's post about the twelth night!

Go on over to Karen's to check out her post about the twelve days of Christmas and the Epiphany here

I'll be posting more soon.

Enjoy!

Donna-Marie

I love this prayer!

My friend, Mary Catherine sent me this beautiful prayer and said it reminded her of my story that I told last Christmas and a new version this Christmas on my Mom's Corner segment with Teresa Tomeo called, "Jesus at the Post Office (scroll down to find the radio segment below)." I hope you like this prayer.

"Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in
traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that
day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the dishes & laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the
biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity.

Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

Working for God on earth doesn't pay much......but His retirement plan is
out of this world."

Happy New Year and Happy Feast Day!

Happy New Year! happy feast of Mary, Mother of God!

I hope that you will all have a very Blessed and grace-filled year of 2009! I'll catch up with you all soon. I have been sick as well as my family. I've also been trying to be in the moment here with all of the wonderful family times, despite the illnesses.

Warmly,

Donna-Marie