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. 

Mother Teresa has much to teach mothers

My appearance on "Sunday Night Prime" with Fr. Benedict

Review: Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship

Autographed copies available
at http://www.donnacooperoboyle.com/

To read about Bl. Mother Teresa on such a personal level inspires me to do all I can to see Christ in everyone I meet. This frail but feisty soul taught the entire world that God will work through us to touch others; we just have to let Him. In Mother Teresa and Me, Donna-Marie gives us a peek into their private ten-year friendship so that each of us, in our own way, can continue Bl. Mother Teresa's mission of responding to Jesus' words, "I thirst." Through this inspirational and loving tribute, we find that it is in giving away our love that we, in turn, love our God.

~Nancy Carabio Belanger, award-winning author of Olivia and the Little Way

Marking the centennial of Blessed Mother Teresa

This month marks the centennial celebration of Blessed Mother Teresa's birth. I can't wait to go and buy my Mother Teresa stamps later on this month from the US post office. I plan to use the stamps far and wide!

Here's a link to a recent blog post I have on Blessed Mother Teresa on the Goodness Reigns website.

God bless you!

Keep smiling and bringing love and cheer to others!

Donna-Marie

My new Mother Teresa blog

(Photo is of my son, Joseph with Mother Teresa)
Check out my new Mother Teresa blog on the Goodness Reigns website

"Today we celebrate mothers! Among celebrating our own mothers, we would like also to recognize those who ‘mother’ not necessarily their biological children but all children of God–those who have chosen a religious vocation or perhaps teach or serve among the laity. On this Mother’s Day we’d like to begin a series of excerpts from Donna Marie Cooper-O’Boyle’s book 'Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship.'

Continued here on the Goodness Reigns website.

My interview with Zenit

Mother Teresa Shows Families How to Be Holy


Interview With Author Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle


By Genevieve Pollock

NEW YORK, MARCH 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Mother Teresa encouraged working with the poor not only in the slums of India, but primarily in our own families, says the author of a new book about the nun.

Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle is the author of the recently published "Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship."

She spoke with ZENIT about her experiences with Mother Teresa, now recognized as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, and the ways in which the nun taught the Missionaries of Charity, the congregation she founded, and others to love Christ in the poor.

Mother Teresa encouraged O'Boyle, a wife and mother, to live her vocation well and to help other families thrive. Over the years, the author has also written other books with this goal, including "The Heart of Motherhood: Finding Holiness in the Catholic Home," "The Domestic Church: Room By Room," and "Grace Cafe: Serving Up Recipes for Faithful Mothering."

As well, she is a host for Eternal Word Television Network, and will soon be premiering a new series, "Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms."

O'Boyle has written for several newspapers and magazines, and maintains various personal blogs, including a new saints' Web site for youth.

In this interview with ZENIT, she spoke about the holiness of Mother Teresa, and the ways in which her teachings can be implemented in families today.

ZENIT: In one point in your book, you talk about Mother Teresa's unshakeable faith coupled with a feisty attitude; in another part you mention that she was called extraordinarily ordinary. Yet you also say that you have no doubt about Mother Teresa's eventual canonization. What makes you so certain? How does the normality of your relationship affect your belief that she is a saint?

O'Boyle: My relationship with Mother Teresa was certainly normal but I feel that it was extraordinary as well because I never had a doubt that I was visiting and corresponding with a living saint.

I saw great holiness in everything about Mother Teresa -- in her speech, her posture, her demeanor, the "glow' about her that radiated Christ's love, peace, and joy.

I knew that she truly lived the Gospel of Matthew: "Whatever you do to the least of these that are in my family, you do to me."

She lived her life, her every moment to satiate the thirst of Christ for souls... Continued here

Tomorrow, I'll be Al Kresta's guest chatting about my beloved friend Mother Teresa

I hope you can join Al Kresta and me tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM Eastern time. We will be chatting LIVE on Ave Maria Radio aired through EWTN and all of its affiliates and through Sirius Radio. We will be chatting about my book: Mother Teresa and Me: Ten years of Friendship and of course, my friendship with Blessed Mother Teresa. I am honored to be Al's guest again. He has a great inspirational show every afternoon called "Kresta in the Afternoon" where he "talks about things that matter most." I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to Al's show and also being a guest on Al's show both in person LIVE at events I have attended around the country and over the phone LIVE as well.

The latest news on the "blogfront" is the new webcam on Al's blog. You can watch the webcam during our interview! You can join us by tuning into Kresta In The Afternoon.blogspot.com

See you tomorrow!

God bless and hugs,

Donna-Marie

Atheists are protesting the upcoming Mother Teresa stamp

It's unbelievable! Well, actually, why am I surprised? An atheist group (small but loud) is complaining, actually they're protesting because Mother Teresa will be on a US stamp and the group is claiming that this violates regulations against honoring individuals whose achievements are associated with religion.

When I first heard about this earlier today, I said to my friend, "Well, that's ridiculous because Mother Teresa doesn't only represent a religion, she was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a humanitarian!" When I read the article, I was happy to see that the fact that she was a humanitarian and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient were both mentioned in the article.

Here's the news article from Fox News...

An atheist organization is blasting the U.S. Postal Service for its plan to honor Mother Teresa with a commemorative stamp, saying it violates postal regulations against honoring "individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings."

The Freedom from Religion Foundation is urging its supporters to boycott the stamp — and also to engage in a letter-writing campaign to spread the word about what it calls the "darker side" of Mother Teresa.

The stamp — set to be released on Aug. 26, which would have been Mother Teresa's 100th birthday — will recognize the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner for her humanitarian work, the Postal Service announced last month.

"Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Roman Catholic nun and honorary U.S. citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years," the Postal Service said in a press release. "Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s poorest populations."

But Freedom from Religion Foundation spokeswoman Annie Laurie Gaylor says issuing the stamp runs against Postal Service regulations... ( Continued here at Fox News)

At the end of the article, it says, "The Foundation is encouraging its supporters to purchase the new stamp honoring the late actress Katharine Hepburn, who was an atheist, instead — or any of the other 2010 stamps, which include cartoonist Bill Mauldin, singer Kate Smith, filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, painter Winslow Homer and poet Julia de Burgos."

And I say, why don't we all buy up tons of Mother Teresa stamps when they are released August 26th, the anniversery of her birth (she would be 100) and use them abundantly! Let's bring back the art of letter writing. In fact, I am going to highly encourage everyone when it comes that time, to write a bunch of letters, getting in touch with loved ones and old friends and use that beautiful stamp to do so. :) What do you think?

Another idea is to buy a bunch of these beautiful stamps and then donate them to the Missionaries of Charity convents! The Sisters can sure use the stamps.

Mother Teresa and the Poor in our midst

"What struck me the most about Mother Teresa when I saw her for the first time was her diminutive size. There stood the world renowned peacemaker, lover of the world’s poor and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient — a giant — but in the body of someone not much taller than my young daughter!

I first caught sight of Blessed Teresa in the flesh a little more than twenty years ago in the Missionary of Charity convent chapel as she came in for daily Mass. I had been visiting..." (Continued at Catholic Exchange today)

Unveiling the new cover image!

Are you ready?

Here's the new front cover image of my Mother Teresa book due to be released shortly.

Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship

Amazon is now taking pre-orders of my Mother Teresa book: Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship. You can go here to order. You can also pre-order through my website (an autographed copy) or by clicking on the book cover image at the top right column of this blog. I am told by the publisher that it should be released soon.

"Mother Teresa and Me" on the Among Women Podcast

If you'd care to listen to the "Among Women" podcast by the very talented and gracious, Pat Gohn, please click here. Pat recently interviewed me about my friendship with Blessed Mother Teresa and about my new book about to be released: Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship. You'll also hear Mother Teresa's beutiful inspiring voice!

Visit Pat at her blog here.

Oh happy day!

Book contest!

I'm having a book contest. Check it out here.

"Mom's Corner" with Teresa Tomeo about my Mother Teresa book

In case you didn't get a chance to tune in to my recent segment with my dear friend, Teresa Tomeo on our "Mom's Corner" segment, you can listen right now. Just grab a drink, pull up a chair and click here! Teresa and I chat about my friendship with Blessed Mother Teresa and my new book about her.

Enjoy!

Donna-Marie

"Morning Air" and my Mother Teresa book!

Here's a beter way to listen to my recent "Morning Air" segment in which I spoke all about my new Mother Teresa book coming out very soon! Just click here to listen!

God bless you!

Donna-Marie

Unveiling my new book cover!

Here's a draft of my new book cover. The cover will be fine-tuned and ready for print shortly, but I wanted to give you a visual since I'll be speaking about this book tomorrow morning on "Morning Air" on Relevant Radio (details for tuning in are here). My book will be released in September in time for the month of Mother Teresa's feast and twelfth anniversary of her death. I'll be taking pre-orders for autographed copies at my website: Donna Cooper O'Boyle.Com

A Ray of Hope

If we didn’t have hope, what would we do? Without hope many would despair. We don’t have to look very far to realize that so many live without much hope. When I think of hope, I recall the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love which we ask for on our first three Hail Mary beads of our rosaries. Hope becomes ours for the asking. Amazing! We have to remember to ask.

St. Clement of Alexandria wrote, “If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes.” Hope makes me also think about trust and surrender, which go hand and hand with our belief and love of God. When we have hope in our hearts we will be putting our trust in Our Lord and will be able to put one foot in front of the other each day, serving Our Lord in the people He surrounds us with. To do this, we surrender our lives to God through prayer so that we grow closer to Him and deeper in holiness.

As we light our first Advent candle very soon, a flickering flame will represent hope. Let us pray that we can focus on preparing our hearts to open wider for Our Lord this Advent season. Let’s hope that we can do our best to turn to prayer at every opportunity during a great season of hope and promise.

Perhaps the craziness of the advertising frenzy that flashes around us is too distracting, and we feel that we cannot find peace to pray during a season that is meant to be quiet so that we can prepare our hearts for the Christ Child. The Liturgy of Advent emphasizes quiet, penance, prayer, but also hope, light, joy, and surrender. Let’s strive to find those things. Let’s delve deeper than the surface and also realize that God is in control of everything. We can find quiet even amid the hustle and bustle, by lifting our hearts to God with a great hope and faith that He hears us – that He knows our hearts – that He loves us more than we can imagine!

An awful lot can be accomplished if we allow God to work through us to sanctify our actions and prayers when we offer it all to Him in full surrender. Our Lord calls us to surrender our lives to Him – everything! Surrendering can be as simple as accepting our circumstances, whether it be our living conditions, our state in life, both little and big annoyances, sickness and suffering, being misunderstood, being criticized and belittled for our Christianity. God’s hand is mystically in it all. He knows what‘s going on.

Will we surrender to Him and allow Him to work through us and around us? He wants us to surrender our wills to Him and respond in love to all who are in our midst. Yes, even to love the one who has just stolen “your” parking space or the one who is constantly criticizing you. It’s not always going to be easy. Jesus never said it would be. However, they all need our love; a healing love that will give others hope.

Mother Teresa had said that “Calcutta is all over the world for those who have eyes to see.” Let’s open our eyes so we can minister to the needs of the people that because of God’s divine providence are near us in some way – our family, co-workers, friends and parishioners. Is there someone who needs our love?

When we learn to surrender our lives over to Our Lord, we will have lasting and true peace, and joy of heart. This joy and peace will radiate as a healing balm to others around us; offering them hope for their journeys. Let’s be that ray of hope by giving our hearts to God and allowing Him to work through us during this upcoming wonderful hopeful season of Advent and beyond!

(My article on hope just appeared at Barry Michael's Festival of Hope Yesterday. You can see my post below regarding the festival and winners of my books)

Mother Teresa's words on babies and abortion

"If Abortion becomes legalized in rich countries, those countries truly are the poorest in the world."

"Do not kill the children. We will take care of them. That is why our orphanages are always filled with children."

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta