Chatting about Rooted in Love and the true Dignity of Women

http://avemariaradio.net/archiveListen.php?file=cc_20121227_2 Teresa Tomeo and I begin our chat at about the 13.17 mark in this archive link. Use the link for December 27th, the "second hour "

Check it out!

Happy Twelve Days of Christmas!

Grace Cafe Review

available at:
www.donnacooperoboyle.com

"I'm so thankful for Donna-Marie and her wonderful books! She's is a bright light on the path for faithful Christian moms in our world today. There's something so familiar about her writing that speaks straight to my heart. It's as if I'm able to sit down for coffee with a trusted friend or around the dinner table with my mom, Grandma and aunts for treasured time who know both Jesus and our calling as mothers (whether physical or spiritual) well. Someone who seems to know my heart and can speak uplifting words of inspiration, confidence and encouragement. For example, how to maintain an active prayer life throughout the very busy and often chaotic days and nights of mothering, how to sanctify each day as we take steps each day to answer our universal call to holiness by our Baptism - for ourselves and for our family's salvation- and especially words of wisdom from years of experience how to serve in love and joy. To keep the fire of love and faith alive in our hearts and share it with others, with sincere joy. How to not miss the tremendously beautiful gifts that God has given us, and how to cooperate with His grace with our Yes. Especially in this "Year of Faith," and the 50th Anniversary of Vatican II when the council fathers said in closing that women living the Gospel could do much to "aid humanity in not falling," I believe this is an excellent book to help us on that path."

Thank you very much for the review, Julie.

God bless you and your family!

Thanksgiving around the corner!

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Tell us about them in the comment box. I've been so busy lately. My husband had major surgery, I just completed a book and I'm starting to write another! As well, I have one that is releasing any day now called, "Rooted in Love: Our Calling as Catholic Women." You can check that out on my website: www.donnacooperoboyle.com.

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only ONE week away? I can't. The days zip by--a reminder to us that we need to seize every moment to pray and be a wonderful witness of Christ's love to others. 

Did you ever pause to consider that God gives you an amazing opportunity to evangelize at your Thanksgiving dinner celebration? When you gather around your family table at the heart of your domestic church, you bow your heads to thank God when you pray your Grace Before Meals, followed by a Hail Mary or whatever you feel called to pray. You may have relatives who have joined you at the table who don't share your faith or who have left the faith. You might have grown children who have turned their backs on God. But, you're all there together breaking bread. Pray in advance that you can be a mighty light to all gathered, all by God's grace. And, whisper up a prayer while seated at your table that God will touch everyone deeply.

Hang on to your Thanksgiving traditions and continue to gather the family and other guests to your table to break bread, share stories and laughter. Who cares if the gravy burns or you forget the rolls in the oven! You'll laugh about that later, hopefully. For now, bask in the moments together, We really don't know what tomorrow will bring. All we have is now. Now is our time to pray and love.

For now, I'll leave you with a radio segment from a previous Thanksgiving regarding making Thanksgiving dinner and being together on the holiday, "Keeping it sane, simple, and holy" with Teresa Tomeo and me on our radio segment, "Mom's Corner."

Don't forget to leave your comments below, I'd love to hear from you. Share with us what you plan to do or perhaps a recipe.

God bless you and yours!

Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms

Listen in!

You can hear a snippet of my book Embracing Motherhood narrated by yours truly! Simply click on this link and then on the image of the Audio book.http://catalog.franciscanmedia.org/Product.aspx?ProductCode=A36336

Serving God in the here and now

Here's an older video. may it bring you inspiration!

Finding Holiness at Home

On Inspiration Day (the anniversary of the day that Mother Teresa received the "call within the call" from Our Lord to take care of the poorest of the poor all over the world), talking about holiness in the home and Blessed Mother Teresa. 

Back to School!

It's that time of year--sometimes dreaded, sometimes welcomed depending upon your frame of mind! :) What are your plans? Do you have any or are you merely going along with the flow of things? Can you pause to strive to fit prayer into this busy time of preparing lessons for your children or when running around purchasing school supplies and back-to-school clothes?

I'll share a back-to-school radio segment from a previous year here for your listening pleasure. In this segment I discuss with Teresa Tomeo various prayerful strategies and practical tips in sending our kids to school or college as well as for homeschooling. Enjoy it. :) Just click here to listen.

Please feel free to share (in the comment box) what your strategies are to remain prayerful at this busy time. And, please share some of your practical everyday strategies or plans. I'd love to hear from you! :)

And stay tuned. Throughout the week, I'll be posting various pertinent helpful links to back-to-school topics and aids.

New and Exciting!

Donna-Marie's NEW BOOK: ENDORSED BY ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY DOLAN!
Coming soon! To be released in January 2012 but can be pre-ordered now!
An audio version will be available too!

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2012

Popular author Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle is back, this time with a book that addresses the vocation of motherhood, with all its joys and challenges. Using personal recollections, stories, Scripture, papal writings, and quotes from the saints, Donna-Marie encourages women to fully embrace their calling as mothers. The book takes an honest look at family planning, raising sons and daughters in our media age, overcoming perfectionism, single parenting, and dealing with the tough issues today's families face.

PRE-ORDER EMBRACING MOTHERHOOD BOOK HERE:

SPECIAL OFFER - ONLY $6.OO (retails for $12.00) FOR THE NEW CD OF DONNA-MARIE'S RECENT TALK: "CHANGE: A WOMAN'S MIDDLE NAME" (ABOUT MEETING CHANGE AND CHALLENGE WITH GOD'S GRACE WITH ADDED INSPIRATION FROM BLESSED MOTHER TERESA) WHEN PRE-ORDERING "EMBRACING MOTHERHOOD!"




ORDER HERE to receive BOTH book and CD!:

Creating a Prayer Corner in your home

Catholic Moms of North East, Ohio Adoring Our Lord!

Recently Tina O. Keller let me know that her group had completed the study of my book The Domestic Church: Room By Room: A Mother's Study Guide. She said, "Our Catholic Mom's Group just had the finale for our Book Study of The Domestic Church: Room by Room. We loved it! Thank you so much for your inspiration & knowledge! :)"

And I would like to share that this group started a beautiful tradition of bringing their children to a weekly hour of Adoration. Specifically, Tina explained:

"Through the imitation of our Blessed Mary, the Mother of our Dear Savior Jesus Christ, we can help each other to grow in the Catholic Faith and become the Mothers that God wants us to be. The Catholic Mom's Group of North East Ohio is a group of Catholic Women (all at different levels in their Catholic Journey) looking for fellowship, encouragement, inspiration, devotions, book studies, play dates, pray dates and friendship! We meet on & off line and offer events with & without our children, as well as fun events for the whole family! This group is for Catholic moms who are looking for support in their role as mother. The Catholic Moms Group of Akron & Surrounding Areas is for mothers who are currently practicing Catholics or those who wish to become so.


We participate in a weekly adoration hour. We do split it up with the little ones, and just do Half hour segments. But we always have at least one member of our group at each time segment. We call it "Ultimate Meetup with Jesus" (Our site we use for our calendar and online group is through meetup.com, so we call our activities meetups) We chose to do this to expose our children and teach them about Adoration and learn how to spend time with Jesus. We do it every week and make it fun for them, we close our Adoration hour by singing the "Hail Mary". It's amazing how much a toddlers even enjoy it and look forward to the time with Jesus. My three year old always tells her daddy that we are going to see Jesus at his house & mama Mary. She knows at three that Jesus & Mary Love her. Each week we follow up our Adoration Hour with Lunch & Playing at the Park. Our kids are getting into the routine. We believe it's a great way to teach them to make a Holy Hour and a wonderful way to learn to spend time with Jesus."

What an inspiration these mothers and families are! Perhaps others will want to follow in their footsteps and start their own groups.

Here are some precious photos of the families...

 

 

God bless you all! It's wonderful that you are raising your families with faith and love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. May God continue to bless you all abundantly as you set a vital example to your families and others, helping them to find their way to Heaven!

Grace Cafe!

Here's a new review of Grace Cafe. Thank you very much, Amy, for your beautiful words.
Not A Microwave Meal

"Grace Cafe," by Donna-Marie Cooper Boyle is not a cookbook of microwave dinners, but one of 5 course meals. This lovely little gem, was full of wonderful quotes and thoughts that required thought and reflection. The chapters include topics such as a call to holiness, a vocation of love, self giving, and raising saints. It is adorably written with little recipe summary snippets at the end of each chapter. While the theme is quaint, don't let that fool you. Ms. Cooper Boyle writes with such spiritual depth that each page could be studied in and of itself. I wish I had time to read and just sit and ponder each line, each quote, each reference to the Catechism. What a labor of love this work must have been. I finished the book, enjoyed it, and learned more about my faith, but honestly it took me quite some time.

To see the full blog post, visit Amy here.

How's your Advent season going?

How is your Advent season going? Have you tried to cut back on some activities to pause and pray and spend time with your family and loved ones? This holy time seems to speed by, doesn't it? We are already into the third week of Advent. which is hard to believe. What kinds of things are you doing with your family to make this season sprcial? Are you forming new traditions or reviving some old ones? Please feel to share in the comment section. I'll be doing some LIVE radio tomorrow and Monday (schedule here) about this season and about my new book just released: Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship, so please feel free to let me know what kinds of things you'd like to hear about.

Talk to you soon!
God bless you!

Donna-Marie

Natural Family Planning and Family Planning

Vatican City, Oct 13, 2009 / 03:58 pm (CNA).- "The expert Italian gynecologist Elena Giachhi said last Friday at the Synod for Africa that natural family planning through the Billings Method “fosters conjugal love, family unity, respect for women and generous openness to welcoming life.”

During her remarks at synod hall in Vatican City, Giachhi said that the simplicity of the Billings Method makes it accessible to all couples, “regardless of their educational level, religion or socioeconomic state,” whether they are Catholic, Muslim, Hindu or profess any other creed.

Giachhi, who belongs to the Center for the Study of Natural Family Planning at the Sacred Heart University of Rome, explained to the assembly that, 'Couples can manage their fertility in a natural way, both for obtaining as well as for avoiding pregnancies in all the situations of fertile life.'

This method, she said, also contributes to “promoting the family and responsible procreation in a way that respects life, love and conjugal fidelity; promoting the dignity of women; preventing abortion, avoiding the use of artificial fertilization and helping couples with fertility issues to obtain pregnancy in a way that respects ethical values; preventing sexually transmitted diseases; teaching young people mature sexuality that encompasses the spiritual, bodily and psychological dimensions.”

The Billings Method, Giachhi said, 'helps to spread human and Christian values, contributing to our pastoral commitment and to evangelization.'"

From The Catholic News Agency

This is why I do not eat red meat.

Have you heard the news about the 22 year old woman who is now paralyzed after eating dinner with her family? She went into a coma after feeling incredibly sick. Her stomach ached and she thought she had a flu. The poor woman is now in a wheelchair because she ate a hamburger. You can read the full news story here. This is the biggest reason why I do not eat red meat. It's not safe. Granted you can also get e-coli from fruits and vegetables that are eaten before they are washed and from other foods. But, e-coli is generally contracted from red meat. The other reasons why I do not eat red meat is because I do not think it's healthy. I've done the research and choose not to eat it. I'm praying for this poor woman who used to be a dance instructor.

Tune in this morning to "Mom's Corner"!

I hope you can tune in to my chat with Teresa Tomeo this morning on Ave Maria Radio on "Catholic Connection." Just tune in at 9:15 AM Eastern Standard Time by clicking here at avemariaradio.net and then click "listen live."

It's the first day of Autumn! I'll be back later to post a link a little later on in case you can't tune in.

God bless!

Donna-Marie

Keeping Catholic Education pure...

I know a Catholic mother who has been in correspondence with me for some time now who is very concerned about what's going on in the Catholic classroom. She's been telling me about the curriculum and her deep concerns about this stuff being taught in a Catholic setting. I'm sure that there are many of you parents out there in the same situation. But, maybe you're not sure what to do or if you can do something at all. I had been hoping and praying that this woman, Josie could find some like-minded parents so that she could present her concerns to the school with the back up of other parents. I hoped she could form a committee or organization. Well, she came up with a brilliant idea! She started a blog the other day! It will be a hub for parents to gather to encourage one another and to come up with concrete solutions. I hope you'll take a look at her blog and please chime in (by way of a comment) to the conversation. Do you have any ideas? What have you done? What can you all do together?

In one of her posts, Josie writes:

"It was motherly instinct, I think, that first alerted me that something was wrong. It was a normal day in the school carline, waiting with my boys until their older sister came outside to meet us after a day in the first grade at the local parish school. She plopped into her seat ready to be buckled. "Mommy?", she said to me, "There's something very important for you in my folder." We had a few minutes until all the children loaded up and the engines started running, so I unzipped her bag to take a look. Something exciting, I hoped, as carlines can get pretty boring. I opened the little envelope intended only for mom and dad's hands. At first glance, I was puzzled. My eyes darted around the pages of the document enclosed. Several things jumped out at me:

"We believe that parents/guardians are and should be the primary educators of their children; nevertheless (my emphasis) the parish and school community must play a secondary but essential role in educating children for healthy relationships...
"Please sign and return the attached permission slip...as we strive to keep our children safe and healthy."

Take a look here at Upholding Purity in the Catholic Classroom. Josie tells me that she has plans to work on the appearance of the blog in the upcoming days but really wanted to get something going right away. It really seems to me to be a Divine inspiration that she has answered the call for. I know that a lot of prayer went behind her decision to create this gathering place for parents. Please support this brave mother. We are all on this journey in life together, right? We can help one another for sure.

Feel free to chime in here too with your concerns, advice, and suggestions.

Praying for many blessings for you on this summer day!

hugs,

Donna-Marie

Hope for a gentle summer...

Elizabeth Foss writes a beautiful spiritual summer reflection of hope...

Hope for a gentle summer
Elizabeth Foss
6/16/09

"It was one of those infamous rabbit trails that can bear great fruit in prayer. Pope Benedict has declared the Year for Priests to begin June 19. Additionally, he has said that St. Jean Vianney is to be patron of the world’s priests. So, I began to dig up St. Jean Vianney quotes to toss out to my children over the next year.

Often, when I look for ways to inspire virtue in my children, I find instead that virtue is inspired in me first. This one hit me between the eyes. St. Jean Vianney piqued my interest immediately by pointing to the example of a favorite saint. He wrote, “St. Francis de Sales, that great saint, would leave off writing with the letter of a word half-formed in order to reply to an interruption.” Hey, Elizabeth, saints don’t say “just a minute” and then finish writing the sentence or the paragraph or the entire post or project while toddlers melt down and little boys wrestle. They leave the letters half-formed..." (continued here)

Prom pics, coming up...

I'll post a few prom pictures from my daughter's senior prom which was last night. It's been a very busy day and getting late now, so until tomorrow...

Sweet dreams!

Donna-Marie

PS Don't forget to check out my new blog: View from the Domestic Church

Where have I been?

I have been so busy, but then again - what's new? I wanted to at least check in with you to let you know that we are in the midst of the end of the school year activities here. Lots of ceremonies and meetings to attend. My high school senior daughter, Mary-Catherine was awarded two scholarships! Woo hoo! Tons of college paper work to be finished up - it's never-ending. Just when you think you're finished, you are asked to fill out a few more. :) There's a senior prom to get ready for too.

I started a new blog: View From the Domestic Church (as if I have nothing else to do!). I felt very inspired to offer more inspiration for our domestic churches. I am heartened about the conversations going on over there already. Feel free to join in the fun. There are also contests going on there, so check it out and pass the word please.

I am also putting finishing touches on two new books, so stay tuned. It's very exciting! I'm also preparing for a retreat day that I will be giving in Corpus Christi, Texas next week end.

I hope you have a grace-filled Friday!

God bless and hugs,


Donna-Marie