The Kiss of Jesus: How Mother Teresa and the Saints Helped Me To Discover the Beauty of the Cross by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

After months of anticipating The Kiss of Jesus: How Mother Teresa and the Saints Helped Me to Discover the Beauty of the Cross, I read it from cover-to-cover in the span of a single day.  This isn’t unheard of for me when it comes to books that are engrossing, well-written, and/or particularly inspiring.  Since The Kiss of Jesus is all of the above, I stopped reading it only to eat and go to an interview. 

I expected to be impressed by the caliber of the writing, and I was.  I figured I’d be surprised by some of the trials Donna-Marie has faced, but I was actually floored by the amount of suffering she endured.  The most miraculous and inspiring part is that she always remained trusting of God and a persistent prayer warrior. 

Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle has long been in the eye of the public as the author of many best-selling Catholic books, a popular speaker, as well as the host of EWTN’s “Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms” and “Catholic Mom’s Café.” 

My first time meeting her was at the Catholic Writers’ Conference in August 2009.  She was one of the presenters.  Two of Donna-Marie’s books that I have read, reviewed, and loved since our meeting in 2009 are Mother Teresa and Me: Ten Years of Friendship and A Catholic Woman’s Book of Prayers.  I highly recommend both of them!

Donna-Marie uses social media incredibly well as a tool for the new evangelization.  In that respect, she has served as a model of faith and ongoing intercession for me and countless others.  There are few people I keep up with on Facebook, if any, who are as steadfast in their intercessory prayer and willingness to lift up others they’ve never met as she is.  

As she writes in the preface of The Kiss of Jesus, “I decided to open the book of my personal journey—the good and the bad, the crazy, the ugly, the scary, and the redemptive—so that with God’s grace I could offer hope, especially to those who are struggling on the sometimes precarious or crooked path that leads to heaven.”  

Little did I know that behind her joyful smile and humble demeanor is a woman who survived many dangerous situations that were miserable, confining, and demoralizing at best.  Donna-Marie feared for her own safety as well as her family’s.    

The faith she exhibits in the midst of incredible opposition and persecution is truly a gift from God. Her devotion to the Blessed Mother as the Mother of us all, particularly through the Miraculous Medal, has helped sow the seeds of conversion and bring about fruit in some of the most unexpected places.   

She spent a huge portion of her life hiding from others the pain she was dealing with, but now she is ready and willing to bare her soul and the most intimate details of her past—not for shock value, out of revenge, or to gain notoriety—but for the purpose of bringing others closer to Christ, especially those still in the midst of the storm. 

From what I have witnessed, to reach such a degree of vulnerability and openness with others requires a tremendous trust in God’s ability to bring good out of every circumstance.  It also illustrates a deep humility that allows others to see the heartache as well as the many ways God has been at work in, through, and around her over the years. 

I can identify with her initial reservations about sharing some of the most painful memories and periods in her life.  From what I have read about and by Donna-Marie, her bravery in doing this springs from a desire to encourage others in harrowing, harmful, and hurtful situations not to give up hope.  Keep praying, keep trusting, keep hoping that God can and will make all things good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

The concept of uniting our suffering with Christ’s on the Cross is one I have read about in many sources and tried to incorporate in my own life.  Two of the prayers Donna-Marie (and I) have found to be very powerful meditations of Christ’s Passion are the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. 

When near the depths of despair, sometimes there is only the smallest glimmer of hope.  What seems pointless, insignificant, and useless to us can be transformed into sacrifices that, when combined with Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the Cross, have real redemptive value in time and eternity. 

Donna-Marie survived many of the tragedies I’ve feared the most: sexual abuse, abandonment, miscarriage, being a single mom, not having a safe place to live or enough money to provide for her children.  

God provided numerous people, Mother Teresa being among the better known and admired, to help encourage Donna-Marie.  Following the example of surrender to God’s will in all things, she has turned to the Blessed Mother and the saints for inspiration in her darkest days. 

I highly recommend The Kiss of Jesus to all who have been and/or are currently experiencing times of darkness, doubt, and despair.  This book is also for those who enjoy reading about people who refuse to give up while experiencing their own versions of the agony in the garden.  This memoir beautifully illustrates that faith, hope, and love are possible regardless of the situation, and united with Christ’s suffering, our pain, great and small, has meaning, value, and a greater purpose. 

For more info about The Kiss of Jesus or to order your own copy, click here.

This is a brief interview of Donna-Marie Cooper-O’Boyle about her memoir:

Check out the rest of the stops on The Kiss of Jesus Blog Tour here.      

One Prayer God Inspired Me to Write Years Ago That He Always Grants

I've been enjoying doing different graphic designs with my photos, some of my favorite, prayers, and quotes.  I thought it would be neat if I could combine my love of the Lord, photography, art, and prayer in one. Above is one of my attempts.  I combined two cropped photographs, the yellow background from a shot I took at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and a flower photo I snapped at school and cropped into a heart shape.  

The original prayer is one I was inspired to write in my prayer journal years ago and is one that I still pray frequently.  This largely sums up my spirituality and attitude towards discernment.  The Lord knew I would need a foundation of desiring His Will more than anything else if I was to make it through some very trying times.  This prayer is one He has always granted.

Has God inspired you to write or pray any original prayers repeatedly?  If so, what are they?  How have they helped you draw closer to the Lord?  

Please leave your post any original prayers you'd be willing to share in the comments below, so we can all enjoy them.

Intimate Graces: How Practicing the Works of Mercy Brings Out the Best in Marriage

God often speaks to me through books.  He knows that reading is one of my primary love languages.  Not only through the Bible, but also through a variety of other quality fiction and non-fiction books on faith, spirituality, and the human condition have I found inspiration, motivation, and hope in areas where disillusionment, despair, and darkness previously loomed largely.

On September 8, 2015, at 9:40 am I was sent the link to read Intimate Graces on NetGalley.  I don’t have a Nook or a Kindle, so my Samsung Galaxy S5 phone would have to do.  I wasn’t sure if I’d like reading a book on it, but I was willing to try.  Only the Holy Spirit could have known how desperately I needed to read this book by Teresa Tomeo and her husband Dominick Pastore.  

To say that things have been challenging at times for Kevin and me during the past 11 years of our marriage and the six years before that we were dating would be a ridiculous understatement. 

I could completely identify with their feelings of being so worn out and overwhelmed by life and work that their marriage and home life suffer.  Kevin and I recognize the pattern of becoming more and more distant.  Worries over finances, career changes, skyrocketing medical bills, and inadequate health insurance start to swirl around faster and faster until a terrible tornado develops. 

Teresa and her husband Dom emphasize throughout this guidebook on how the corporal and spiritual works of mercy can transform a marriage. They discuss how we need to meet people where they are at right now.  Not where they were or where we think they should be, but where they are.   

Their willingness to be extremely honest and vulnerable makes this couple’s witness compelling.  They haven’t had a perfect-looking marriage.  They’ve had some really rough times when they thought that the best thing to do might be to separate and eventually divorce.  The prospect of working through things together became almost unfathomable.  

In fact, two of their good friends, Greg and Julie Alexander, who wrote the foreword, had some similar marital strife.  The two of them were also led to a closer walk with the Lord and each other and have since started a ministry to help married couples grow in faith and in their covenant to one another.  They talk about their struggles and newfound hope in another book I read, reviewed, and really liked called Marriage 911: How God Saved Our Marriage (and can save yours, too!) 

Fortunately, God placed people and arranged circumstances in their lives so that when things fell apart, they could bear the suffering together.  Love, faith, and the willingness to accept the need for God’s forgiveness, the need to forgive one another, and themselves opened the door to unprecedented healing. 

Dom shares about how a Bible study helped revitalize his faith and change his trajectory in life.  Teresa wasn’t there, yet.  She still needed to mourn the loss of her career and identity as a high-profile mainstream media broadcast journalist.  (Teresa talks about this transition in two of her previous books, which I loved. 

 They're Extreme Makeover and God's Bucket List.)  The best way her husband knew to minister to her at that time was to be a loving, welcoming, compassionate presence.  She needed a trusted friend and confidant with whom she could be honest and feel safe. 

Like Dom, if we’re open to the Lord working in and through us, then we’re changed, so our relationships with other people are also going to be transformed. 

Each chapter and explanation of the 14 works of mercy includes practical tips, a poignant prayer, as well as questions for reflection and discussion.  Intimate Graces is ideal for couples preparing for marriage or for those who are already married and committed to enhancing their vocation through continuing conversation, prayer, and study.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  

For more info, or to order your own copy of Intimate Graces, click here.

Click here to read an interview in Catholic Digest of Teresa Tomeo and Deacon Dominick Pastore. 

To read more about and by Teresa Tomeo, check out her website here.

What Are the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy?

Prints of Grace © Trisha Niermeyer Potter

Back in 2014 when I was selected to give the Action talk on a Cursillo Women's team, I created the above slide enumerating the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy to go along with my presentation.

These 14 "Thou Shalts" (as opposed to The 10 Commandments, which are a mix of Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Nots) are the nuts and bolts of the ways we are to reach out to others in love, so I built my talk around these stalwarts of faith and service to others.

Since then, Pope Francis has declared that this coming year will be a Holy Year of Mercy.

Here is an excerpt from the Vatican  Radio's English translation of Pope Francis' homily in which he makes the announcement:
"Dear brothers and sisters, I have often thought about how the Church might make clear its mission of being a witness to mercy. It is [a] journey that begins with a spiritual conversion. For this reason, I have decided to call an extraordinary Jubilee that is to have the mercy of God at its center. It shall be a Holy Year of Mercy. We want to live this Year in the light of the Lord's words: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (cf. Lk 6:36)”

This Holy Year will begin on this coming Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and will end on November 20, 2016, the Sunday dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe – and living face of the Father’s mercy. I entrust the organization of this Jubilee to the Pontifical Council for Promotion of the New Evangelization, that [the dicastery] might animate it as a new stage in the journey of the Church on its mission to bring to every person the Gospel of mercy.

I am convinced that the whole Church will find in this Jubilee the joy needed to rediscover and make fruitful the mercy of God, with which all of us are called to give consolation to every man and woman of our time. From this moment, we entrust this Holy Year to the Mother of Mercy, that she might turn her gaze upon us and watch over our journey."