A BLAST from the (not so distant) Past, but EXTREMELY Relevant and Important

September 9, 2024 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

I recently had occasion to take a look at the shows I did with Ralph Martin on “The Choices We Face” on EWTN television a few years back. I decided to post the shows here in this blog post. I hope you get a chance to watch them. I know full well that time is precious and it’s difficult to make the time to sit down and watch something. However, if I may say so myself, I heartily recommend that you watch them. Ralph and I spoke about Saint Faustina and the message of Divine Mercy and how important it is in our day and time. We spoke a bit about my crazy path in life. We talked about Our Lady of Fatima’s important message to us.

I think these are shows that will help those who may be struggling in some way and for those who desire ways to help others to get to Heaven. Feel free to share this blog post with your loved ones.

Ralph is an amazing Host and had so much to say. Absolutely inspiring! Let me know your thoughts in the comments and if I can pray for you. God bless you!

Donna-Marie in Part One: “A Hard Life Redeemed.”

Donna-Marie with Ralph Martin in “Two Sides of Mercy.”

New cover image for “Our Lady of Fatima!” More information and ordering here for both books.

I just happened to see …

August 9, 2024 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

Someone posted a review on Amazon about my book 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina, stating:

“The author is so insightful, need I say in this instance, so inspired, I never miss a week.

Books on St Faustina have become a cottage industry. I’d say they primarily fall into two categories, Prayers and Devotion with St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy and secondly, those books that are of a historic nature, the biography of St. Faustina or the history of the devotion.

This falls into the first category and hands down, one of the best. I read another book by the author, it was okay but this one almost seems dictated by our beloved Saint Faustina. If St. Faustina was the secretary of Divine Mercy, it’s almost like Cooper Boyle is the secretary of Saint Faustina.”

Thank you very much dear Reviewer, whoever you are! I’m glad you’re enjoying my book and are inspired each week of the journey through the book. God bless you and may St. Faustina guide and teach you!

Ralph Martin said:

“I’m not usually keen about reading one of the 30 days or 52 weeks kind of books as I don’t usually find them going into depth enough to decently treat the saint they are focusing on. But it was different with Donna-Marie’s book. As I began to skim through it in preparation for doing a Television interview with her I realized that this book was different and I wanted to read it from cover to cover. This is the best integration of the main events of St. Faustina’s life and the best presentation in a clear, orderly way, of her spiritual teaching that I know of. I am very grateful for this book and highly recommend it.“

—Ralph Martin, S.T.D., Director of Graduate Theology Programs in the New Evangelization, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Archdiocese of Detroit

By the way, you can see more about my interviews on Ralph Martin’s shows. They were blessed times. Indeed! Just click here to see a blog post about them and click the book image below to learn more about the book or about ordering.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

June 2, 2022 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Catechism teaches, “Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony, and his Passion, and gave himself up for each one of us: ‘The Son of God … loved me and gave himself for me’ [Gal 2:20]. He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, ‘is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that … love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings’ without exception” (CCC, 478).

Have a look at an excerpt of my book “52 Weeks with Saint Faust in a: A Year of Grace and Mercy.” You can read it here.

You can purchase an autographed copy of my book here.

Photo from an interview with Ralph Martin on his show, “The Choices We Face.”

Discussing Divine Mercy with Ralph Martin and More!

April 20, 2020 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

I hope that you have had a very blessed Divine Mercy Sunday yesterday. No doubt, it was an unusual one since we are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. Nevertheless, Jesus’ promises are very real and His Mercy is available to all.

The Marian’s at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusettes put on a tremendous presentation yesterday on Divine Mercy Sunday. It aired through EWTN television. You can see the Mass here on Youtube.

When speaking to His Apostle and Secretary of Divine Mercy, St. Faustina, Jesus has always emphasized that His Mercy is especially for the most hardened sinners. Let us never hesitate to turn to God and ask for His Mercy. He is waiting.

Last September, I had the privilege of meeting up with Ralph Martin, S.T.D. in the television studio in Michigan to film two shows for his series, “The Choices We Face.”

In case you might wonder what I have over my arm, I’m carrying a priest’s alb. He had accidentally left it at the hotel and I was asked to stop by the hotel desk to get it and bring it along to the studio.

Ralph Martin is the President of “Renewal Ministries” and Director of Graduate Theology Programs in the New Evangelization at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit. I have known about Ralph for many years and finally met him a few years ago at a Catholic Leadership Conference where we both spoke. Ralph is known worldwide as a sincere and talented dynamic speaker and evangelizer. I thoroughly enjoyed our time together and feel very blessed to have been on his shows.

Before, during, and after the filming, we enjoyed fascinating conversations about Divine Mercy, St. Faustina, and my book 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina: A Year of Grace and Mercy.

Ralph also surprised me by adding another book and additional Saintly friends into the mix. You’ll see that on our shows.

I want to let you know that the first show will air tomorrow (April 21, 2020) on EWTN television. After giving you the schedule, I’ll also let you know another way in which to watch.

UPDATED to say that I heard from someone that the show aired on Boston Catholic TV today (Monday). Perhaps, it is now available in their archives.

Here’s the Schedule for EWTN

FIRST WEEK OF AIRING:
The first show will air on Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at 5:00 PM ET. It will air again on Friday, April 24, 2020 at 6:30 AM ET.

The second show will air on Tuesday, April 28, 2020 at 5:00 PM and will re-air on Friday, May 1, 2020 at 6:30 AM ET.

THE SECOND WEEK OF AIRING:
The first show will air on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 5:00 PM ET. It will air again on Friday, October 23, 2020 at 6:30 AM ET.

The second show will air on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at 5:00 PM and will re-air on Friday, October 30, 2020 at 6:30 AM ET.

The Diary Is Not in Chronological Order

Many don’t realize that the Diary of St. Faustina is not in chronological order. It is a treasure trove of amazing wisdom on God’s Divine Mercy and contains direct teachings from Jesus Himself! However, since the order of writings is not chronological, sometimes people get a bit confused when reading it. I encourage everyone to stick with it! It will definitely help your spiritual life and growth in holiness.

As well, I want you to know that I have written 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina in a chronological order. I go through St. Faustina’s entire life and put it all into 52 topics that are relevant to the spiritual life. I researched heavily and relied only upon strictly approved sources. I wove pertinent messages from the Diary all throughout my book. The book is appropriate for the laity and religious alike.

You don’t need to start the book in January. You can start at any time of the year and read at your own pace, read straight through, or pause weekly and ponder the week’s teaching for a period of a week before moving to the next teaching.

I really believe that St. Faustina helped me to write the book! I had her relic with me all throughout the writing and asked for her intercession all throughout. I think readers might find the Preface and the Afterword interesting, for I disclosed personal sentiments and experiences.

I Feel Honored

I am humbled and blessed by the Foreword by Fr. Chris Alar, MIC.

He wrote:

Can I make a bet with you? I bet that if you take up this book and spend 52 weeks with St. Faustina, these weekly meditations will change your life. Why am I so confident about that? Because Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, a great Marian Helper, popular author, and EWTN show host, has created about as faithful and as thorough a presentation on the spirituality and the writings of St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), the Secretary and Apostle of Divine Mercy, as I’ve ever read. It’s a deep dive into the life and writings of one of the greatest mystics in the history of the Church, a religious sister who was given to us by God specifically for the times we are living in today.After all, St. Faustina died just before World War II; not in the Middle Ages; not in the time of the apostles; nothing like that. She’s a modern saint whose teachings are timeless, and who has helped bring about more miracles than most other saints. How? She shared the Divine Mercy message and devotion with the world.I’ve been preaching and practicing the Divine Mercy message and devotion for more than a decade now, especially since I joined the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. I’ve met people whose lives have been transformed by their encounter with St. Faustina in her work the Diary of Saint Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul, and with the Divine Mercy message and devotion. I’ve heard stories of miracles such as people being healed of incurable illnesses. I’ve been told about stubborn lapsed Catholics and resistant non-Christians finding their way to church, coming to the regular practice of the Sacraments, and changing their lives forever. I’ve seen how powerful it is to preach the Divine Mercy, touching hearts that all the fire and brimstone in the world could not change.So again, I challenge you to spend a year — 52 weeks — with St. Faustina. And I make this promise: If you spend time every week for the next 52 weeks doing the reading, meditating on what you learn, praying the weekly prayer, and performing the weekly works of mercy, your life will be touched by grace in ways you can’t even imagine right now.Saint Faustina changes lives. The Divine Mercy message and devotion that she was given by Jesus, a reminder and a prophetic restatement of the classical Gospel teaching on the mercy of God, changes lives.And when you’ve completed spending your year with St. Faustina, I hope you do two things. First, I hope you plan to make another 52 weeks with St. Faustina again someday. Second, I hope that you share this book with someone who you think would find it a blessing. After all, Jesus said to St. Faustina, “Souls who spread the honor of My mercy I shield through their entire life as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of death I will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior” (Diary, 1075). Donna-Marie has certainly earned that promise from Jesus, the Divine Mercy, by writing this book. You can, too, by sharing what you read with your family, friends, and neighbors.Come spend 52 weeks with St. Faustina. Let your life, your mind, and your heart be renewed. Come meet St. Faustina, and let her lead you to a deeper relationship with Jesus, the Divine Mercy; Mary, the Mother of Mercy; and the whole Communion of Saints. May Jesus, the Divine Mercy, bless you, and may Mary, the Mother of Mercy, always keep you safely under her mantle.

–Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, “Fr. Joseph, MIC,” Director, Association of Marian Helpers, October 5, 2018, Feast of St. Faustina

In addition

I feel very honored that Ralph Martin told me on the show that 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina benefited his own life and that he felt my book was “…the best presentation in a clear, orderly way, of her spiritual teaching” that he knew of…

Ralph had also stated:

“I’m not usually keen about reading one of the 30 days or 52 weeks kind of books as I don’t usually find them going into depth enough to decently treat the saint they are focusing on. But it was different with Donna-Marie’s book. As I began to skim through it in preparation for doing a Television interview with her I realized that this book was different and I wanted to read it from cover to cover. This is the best integration of the main events of St. Faustina’s life and the best presentation in a clear, orderly way, of her spiritual teaching that I know of. I am very grateful for this book and highly recommend it.”

You can go to the Renewal Ministries website to see the shows there as well or click on the image below!

I hope that you can tune into the shows. As well, please share this post with your friends and loved ones. We all need God’s Divine Mercy. We also need to learn more about it.

Hopefully and prayerfully, Ralph’s and my visits on “The Choices We Face” will help. Jesus, I trust in YOU!

God bless you!

Donna-Marie

“I Thirst”

April 4, 2020 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

The following is an excerpt from my book 52 Weeks with St. Faustina:

“I thirst. I thirst for the salvation of souls. Help Me, My daughter, to save souls. Join your sufferings to My Passion and offer them to the heavenly Father for sinners.”
— Jesus to St. Faustina (Diary, 1032)

Our Savior Jesus, amazingly, thirsts for our love. It might seem hard to believe — after all, He is God! How and why does He thirst for our love? We will take a thorough look at this holy “thirst” of Jesus from the Cross for the salvation of souls and what it entails in this week’s spiritual exercise. Let’s get to it!

The human heart is restless until it finds God. In the Psalms, we read, “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps 42:1-2). Saint Augustine penned the now familiar words, “[F]or you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (CCC, 30). Man might do tons of searching in all the wrong places and never have peace until he is right with God. But that’s not just a one-sided longing, or a one-sided quest. It’s true that our Lord yearns for us, too, though He is the Creator of the universe. He thirsts for our love.

When Jesus hung dying on the Cross, He uttered the words, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28; NABRE). It was not merely for water that He thirsted. He also thirsted for our love and the salvation of souls. This thirst was expressed immediately after He had gifted to His disciple John (as well as to all of mankind) the eminent gift of His own Mother, when He said, “Here is your mother” (Jn 19:27). Most of us cannot comprehend the full meaning of such a gift. However, we can at least try to remember to call upon Mother Mary often in all of our needs. She will pray for us, protect us, and mother us! Mary is our wonderful mediator. She will show us how to satiate her Son’s thirst for love and for souls.

Mother Mary knows all about the need to save souls — the souls for whom Jesus thirsts. Mary is fully aware of the problems and blessings of our sinful world, and has always been closely united to her Son’s work of salvation, right from the start. She continues to work from Heaven. We can recall that when Mary appeared to three simple peasant children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, she offered several “tools” to save souls. One such tool is praying the daily Rosary. Another is committing to the Five First Saturdays devotion. Further, praying a powerful prayer that she taught the children (Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta) is most effective: “O Jesus, this is for love of You, for the conversion of poor sinners, and in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” The Blessed Mother taught the children this prayer during her July 13, 1917, apparition. It can be prayed at any time, especially when offering up a specific suffering or situation to our Lord, asking Him to use it for the purposes mentioned in the prayer. The simplest thing can be trans- formed into a formidable means to save souls! In this way, we are helping to satiate Jesus’ thirst!

Mother Teresa, St. Faustina, and Jesus’ Thirst

In discussing Jesus’ thirst for the salvation of souls, I can’t help but think of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was deeply impacted by Jesus’ thirst for the salvation of souls and, in fact, founded a religious order that would work to accomplish their salvation. Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun who received what she referred to as a “call within a call” when, on September 10, 1946, she was on a train en route to her yearly retreat in Darjeeling. Mother Teresa experienced a mystical vision of Jesus on the Cross, uttering the words, “I thirst.” Jesus called to this simple nun’s heart and asked her to take care of His poorest — “the least.” Mother Teresa totally embraced Jesus’ invitation. After an exercise of due diligence and following normal protocol, the Church’s hierarchy reviewed Mother Teresa’s proposal for the religious order she would found and gave her permission to step out in faith, following the call of the Lord. On August 17, 1948, Mother Teresa crossed over the threshold from the peaceful order of the Loreto convent into the unpredictable, sometimes dangerous, slums of the poor. On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa and 11 companions (some were her former students!) were established officially as a religious congregation of diocesan right.

Mother Teresa stated, “The General End of the Missionaries of Charity is to satiate the thirst of Jesus Christ on the Cross for Love and Souls.” She included these words in the order’s Statutes. In each of the Missionaries of Charity (MC) convent chapels all around the world, the words “I THIRST” are prominently displayed on the wall, close to the altar and tabernacle. Mother Teresa explained, “We have these words in every chapel of the MCs to remind us what an MC is here for: to quench the thirst of Jesus for souls, for love, for kindness, for compassion, for delicate love.”51 I have been personally blessed to meditate upon these simple, yet profound, words in many of the MC chapels in various places around the world.

On March 25, 1993, Mother Teresa explained the meaning of the words “I thirst” in a letter to her community. She wrote, “‘I thirst’ is something much deeper than just Jesus saying ‘I love you.’ Until you know deep inside that Jesus thirsts for you — you can’t begin to know who He wants to be for you. Or who He wants you to be for Him. The heart and soul of [Missionaries of Charity] is only this — the thirst of Jesus’ Heart, hidden in the poor. … ‘I thirst’ and ‘You did it to me’ — remember always to connect the two.”

Just after Mother Teresa passed on to her eternal reward, St. John Paul II described the saint of the gutters’ holy mission:
Her mission began every day, before dawn, in the presence of the Eucharist. In the silence of contemplation, Mother Teresa of Calcutta heard the echo of Jesus’ cry on the Cross: “I thirst.” This cry, received in the depths of her heart, spurred her to seek out Jesus in the poor, the abandoned, and the dying on the streets of Calcutta and to all the ends of the earth.

Later, at her beatification on October 19, 2003, the pope expressed similar sentiments:

The cry of Jesus on the Cross, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28), expressing the depth of God’s longing for man, penetrated Mother Teresa’s soul and found fertile soil in her heart. Satiating Jesus’ thirst for love and for souls in union with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, had become the sole aim of Mother Teresa’s existence and the inner force that drew her out of herself and made her “run in haste” across the globe to labor for the salvation and the sanctification of the poorest of the poor.

About 10 years before Mother Teresa experienced hearing Jesus’ words “I thirst,” another great saint in the making would be blessed to hear the same two powerful words spoken to her heart. It was during a vision when Sr. Faustina saw Jesus suffering on the Cross. Sister Faustina recalled, “During Holy Mass, I saw the Lord Jesus nailed upon the Cross amidst great torments. A soft moan issued from His Heart. After some time, He said, ‘I thirst. I thirst for the salvation of souls. Help Me, My daughter, to save souls. Join your sufferings to My Passion and offer them to the heavenly Father for sinners’” (Diary, 1032). What an awesome privilege to be asked by Jesus Himself to help Him save souls! Sister Faustina no doubt took these words to her heart and meditated upon them deeply. She searched for every opportunity to help Jesus save souls by joining her every suffering to His. The humble saint said she didn’t know how to suffer properly. Specifically, she wrote, “I understood that I did not know how to suffer. In order to gain merit for my suffering, I will unite myself more closely, in suffering, to the Passion of the Lord Jesus” (Diary, 1762). This she did often. At another time, Jesus told His bride, “I desire that you know more profoundly the love that burns in My Heart for souls, and you will understand this when you meditate upon My Passion” (Diary, 186).

In a meditation on Jesus’ words, “I thirst,” Pope Francis said:
“Love is not loved”: This reality, according to some accounts, is what greatly upset St. Francis of Assisi. For love of the suffering Lord, he was not ashamed to cry out and grieve loudly.55 This same reality must be in our hearts as we contemplate Christ Crucified, he who thirsts for love. Mother Teresa of Calcutta desired that in the chapel of every community of her sisters, the words “I thirst” would be written next to the crucifix. Her response was to quench Jesus’ thirst for love on the Cross through service to the poorest of the poor. The Lord’s thirst is indeed quenched by our compassionate love; he is consoled when, in his name, we bend down to another’s suffering. On the day of judgment, they will be called “blessed” who gave drink to those who were thirsty, who offered true gestures of love to those in need: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).

Something to Ponder

Both Mother Teresa and St. Faustina acted upon the great invitation of Jesus to help save souls. Also, the shepherd children at Fatima responded to Our Lady’s requests to save souls with their prayers and sacrifices. Calling to mind Jesus’ invitation to Sr. Faustina to “join [her] suffering to [His] Passion and offer them to the heavenly Father for sinners,” can we strive to do the same? Jesus’ cry from the Cross expressing His thirst for the salvation of souls should echo deeply in our hearts. Take time today and this week to ponder these things. Make your life all about being lovingly attentive to the needs of those around you and to saving souls — “connecting the two,” as Mother Teresa suggested. Also, ponder Jesus’ great thirst for your love. Can you strive to satiate His thirst? Jesus has asked in a particular way two of His daughters (Sts. Faustina and Mother Teresa) to help Him to save souls. He beckons to us, as well.

A Merciful Action

Who near you is most in need of God’s love? Knowing that each human heart desires deeply to rest in God’s love, how can you satiate their thirst for God’s love? What work of mercy can you put into practice throughout this week? Pray about it. Here are a few suggestions:

• Go out of your way to help a stranger.
• Take time to truly listen to someone who needs to share (even if you’ve already heard it!).
• Strike up conversations with people around you, allowing them to vent.
• Always mention “prayer” and “God.” Get those powerful words in your conversations! It can help change someone’s life!

A PRAYER OF MERCY FOR THIS WEEK

(To be prayed each day this week.)
Dear Merciful Lord, my Crucified Jesus,
I love You.
I am Your unworthy servant.
Thank You for thirsting for my love.
I want to satiate Your thirst for love and I want to offer my life for the salvation of souls. Mother Mary, please help me.
Saint Faustina, please pray for me.
Jesus, I trust in You!

Let’s talk about HUMILITY…

January 22, 2020 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

Here is an excerpt from my book 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina: A Year of Grace and Mercy.

“Today, as God’s Majesty swept over me, my soul understood that the Lord, so very great though He is, delights in humble souls.” — Diary, 1092

Indeed, the Lord delights in humble souls. Saint Faustina wrote in her Diary: “The more a soul humbles itself, the greater the kindness with which the Lord approaches it. Uniting himself closely with it, He raises it to His very throne. Happy is the soul whom the Lord himself defends. I have come to know that only love is of any value; love is greatness; nothing, no works, can compare with a single act of pure love of God” (Diary, 1092). This week’s spiritual exercise is all about humility. Let’s take a look at this virtue, which is absolutely necessary for salvation, and let’s see how it grew in Sr. Faustina’s heart.

Jesus taught in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). It was C.S. Lewis who said, “As long as you are proud you cannot know God.” We must strive to be humble souls. Even so, humility is said to be one of the most difficult virtues to acquire. Yet we must be humble in order to pray properly. For instance, contemplative prayer, which St. Teresa of Avila has said is simply a “close sharing between friends,” is a loving conversation between ourselves and God, a conversation that requires of us humble hearts (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2709). As the Catechism states, contemplative prayer is “the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty” (2713). The Catechism also teaches that contemplative prayer “is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus” (2715, emphasis in original). We must humble our hearts and seek God in all of our prayers. In humility, we must take time to adore God, praise Him, and love Him.

Saint James taught, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Jas 4:6). Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori reiterated that fact. He said, “Prayer must be humble: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble … The prayer of the man that humbleth himself shall pierce the clouds … and he will not depart till the Most High behold. The prayer of a humble soul at once penetrates the heavens and presents itself before the throne of God, and will not depart thence till God regards it and listens to it. However sinful such a soul may be, God can never despise a heart that repents of its sins, and humbles itself: A contrite and humbled heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.”

Humility is a precious virtue in the spiritual life. The devil absolutely hates humility. He flees from it. He can’t get his way with a humble soul. Saint Vincent de Paul said, “The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.”

The Lord Delights in Humble Souls

One time St. Faustina told her Lord Jesus that she wished to be hidden from everyone but Him: “I want to be a tiny violet, hidden in the grass, unknown in a magnificent enclosed garden in which beautiful lilies and roses grow.” She explained that the “beautiful rose and the lovely lily can be seen from afar, but in order to see the little violet, one has to bend low; only its scent gives it away” (Diary, 591). Saint Faustina wanted her soul to be firmly rooted in God.

Her confessor Fr. Sopoćko told her, “Without humility, we cannot be pleasing to God” (Diary, 270). Sister Faustina came to realize the secret in learning true humility. She wrote, “He who wants to learn true humility should reflect upon the Passion of Jesus. When I meditate upon the Passion of Jesus, I get a clear understanding of many things I could not comprehend before.” Sister Faustina understood that she should strive to imitate and even resemble Jesus. She continued in her Diary, “I want to resemble You, O Jesus, — You crucified, tortured and humiliated. Jesus, imprint upon my heart and soul Your own humility. I love You Jesus … “ (267).

At one point, Fr. Sopoćko told Sr. Faustina… [You can see the remainder of the excerpt here]

You can order 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina here at my website and here at the Marian’s.

Priest Prisoner continues his discussion on “52 Weeks with Saint Faustina”

November 7, 2019 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

Father Gordon MacRae continues his discussion in a blog post at “These Stone Walls.” Among other things, he said:

“Donna-Marie writes of the “tremendous transforming power” of our works of mercy, but that transforming power is not only directed to the recipients of our mercy. It transforms us as well. I do not recommend picking up hitchhikers but the young man who stopped on my road to Jericho that night was also transformed by his own work of mercy. And I was transformed by the one that resulted in my being stranded on that road…”

Are you intrigued? Well, you can read his blog post here.

Special Endorsement!

October 2, 2019 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

Here is a wonderful endorsement sent to me today by Ralph Martin:

“I’m not usually keen about reading one of the 30 days or 52 weeks kind of books as I don’t usually find them going into depth enough to decently treat the saint they are focusing on. But it was different with Donna-Marie’s book. As I began to skim through it in preparation for doing a Television interview with her I realized that this book was different and I wanted to read it from cover to cover. This is the best integration of the main events of St. Faustina’s life and the best presentation in a clear, orderly way, of her spiritual teaching that I know of. I am very grateful for this book and highly recommend it.”

Ralph Martin, S.T.D.

Director of Graduate Theology Programs in the New Evangelization

Sacred Heart Major Seminary

Archdiocese of Detroit

Click on the image to learn more and/or to purchase.

Prisoner Father Gordon MacRae speaks about “52 Weeks with Saint Faustina”

May 17, 2019 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

In his recent blog post from a New Hampshire prison, Father Gordon MacRae speaks about his pilgrimage with my book: 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina.

Among other things that this priest prisoner (imprisoned under false charges) wrote is this:

“I confess that I turned to the page, read just the first sentence, “Each day we fight a battle,” and then stopped because something happened that hasn’t happened for a long time. Suddenly, inexplicably, tears welled up. This journey is going to cost me something of myself, something stored up over these years in prison. I need to catch my breath, and then proceed….”

It’s a great post, so you’ll want to read the whole thing. However, if you are looking for his thoughts on my book, click on this link and scroll down a bit until you see the book cover image for 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina: A Year of Grace and Mercy.

I want to share a bit about Father MacRae, from his Bio:

On September 23, 1994, Father Gordon MacRae, a priest of the Diocese of Manchester, NH, was confined to a prison cell to begin a sentence of sixty seven years in the New Hampshire State Prison... — On September 23, 1994, Father Gordon MacRae, a priest of the Diocese of Manchester, NH, was confined to a prison cell to begin a sentence of sixty seven years in the New Hampshire State Prison…

Father MacRae maintains his innocence of these claims, an assertion of truth for which he has paid a very high price. Had he accepted one of several well documented pre-trial “plea deals” offered by the State, he could have left prison after one year. For standing by the truth, Father MacRae now serves a draconian prison term more than sixty times the sentence that would have been imposed had he in fact been guilty or willing to pretend so.
You can read the full bio here.

You can see much more about this fine priest unjustly imprisoned at his Bio page of his blog These Stone Walls, including:

In 2006, Cardinal Dulles asked Father MacRae to “contribute a new chapter to the volume of Christian literature from believers who were unjustly imprisoned.” The result is These Stone Walls, described by author, Father James Valladares in Hope Springs Eternal in the Priestly Breast as, “the finest example of priestly witness the last decade of scandal has produced.” These Stone Walls has been selected by Our Sunday Visitor as Readers Choice for the Best of the Catholic Web in the area of Spirituality, and as a second place finalist for Best Catholic Blog at About.com. These Stone Walls and Father Gordon MacRae have been cited in numerous books and articles in both Catholic and secular publications.

Please pray for Father Gordon MacRae and all those who have been unjustly imprisoned. May God bless Father Gordon and all of the others.

“These Stone Walls” prisoner to pilgrimage with “52 Weeks with Saint Faustina”

April 25, 2019 - Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

I just found out yesterday that my book 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina fell into the hands of a prisoner. I don’t want to give away the story yet because I want you to get the chance to read his blog post on your own.

This is how he began his blog post…

“The GTL Tablet I purchased last year revolutionized life behind these stone walls, but I found myself quickly becoming dependent on its technology. Prior to the tablet, my only phone access was through a few outside collect-call-only telephones with poor connections. Depending on where we were living, there were up to 40 prisoners for each available phone. Just imagine living in a house with 40 adolescents sharing a single telephone. Not even Dante’s Inferno could depict such a scene.

In a New Hampshire winter, placing calls from prison meant long frigid waits outside in the howling wind and weather. After two winters of daily calls to TSW helpers in just that way, these tablets became available. I had heard rumors that they would have telephone capability, but I had serious doubts that this prison would ever allow such a thing. I was therefore shocked when my $149.00 GTL tablet arrived in April 2018 equipped with headphones, a microphone, and a phone app.

It worked great, and the prepaid calls placed through GTL were just a fraction over one-cent per minute compared with the up to 15-cents per minute we were paying for the privilege of getting frostbite. No more sharing a single telephone with 40 other prisoners. No more standing in line shivering early in the morning. No more having to talk on a phone after the last five guys sneezed on it. You get the point. The GTL tablet and its available features changed how life is lived here.

Until I dropped it…”

His story is really fascinating and you’ll see that it now involves my book, 52 Weeks with Saint Faustina: A Year of Grace and Mercy.

As well, this prisoner said he is going to pilgrimage with Saint Faustina and blog about it.

So, take a look at his blog post. I have no doubt that you will find the story fascinating. It is here.

Enjoy his blog post and let me know your thoughts in the comments. By the way, I dug further and read his back story. I won’t say any more for now to allow you to read it as well. Please pray for him. He surely needs our prayers.