It’s blog tour stop # 5 and we are at the Catholic Blogger’s place today. Pete Socks has interviewed me and we see the beginning here:
PETE: Your memoir The Kiss of Jesus is a deeply personal volume. Was it difficult to write such personal details?
DONNA-MARIE COOPER O’BOYLE: Some parts of it were difficult to write because I needed to revisit some very dark and painful episodes in my life.
PETE: Your life has been filled with many highs and many lows. By telling readers about these what do you hope they take away from this book?
DONNA-MARIE COOPER O’BOYLE: I hope and pray that my readers will feel a sense of hope for their own lives after reading my book. I believe that so many people suffer from deep wounds for all kinds of reasons. As well, they struggle and suffer due to strenuous life circumstances. They can sometimes feel all alone in their suffering and many times don’t know where to turn for help. I am praying that my book will help them and even heal their wounds, by God’s grace. I pray it will inspire them to want to grow in holiness as we are all called by God to do. [See the rest here.]
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 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!
Some of Donna’s past work has offered peeks into the challenges she’s faced in life but in The Kiss of Jesus we find the entire, compelling tale. Donna-Marie’s story is an illustration of the powerful truth that God’s grace bursts through all barriers, that He can and will transform every suffering, no matter how bleak our lives feel in times of great trial, into redemptive beauty.
In a brief interview, I asked Donna-Marie to share a little more about the process of writing her memoir…
Here are some reactions thus far to my memoir The Kiss of Jesus:
First of all, I thought this one was very sweet. This woman is having trouble putting the book down so she is reading it on the treadmill.
Some serious and heartfelt responses follow. After reading my book, one woman shares…
“Thank you for writing your latest book. I don’t feel so alone now. Please pray for my husband who decided on his own to admit himself to our local hospital’s behavioral health department. I pray he gets the hope he needs and perhaps our marriage will last as it should. I’m so afraid. I don’t want my children to suffer the consequences of any of this. Please pray for us…This book has really become a turning point for me. It came when I needed it most.”
Another…
After listening to my interview on ‘Kresta in the Afternoon” with Al Kresta about my memoir, The Kiss of Jesus, a woman told me, “Thank you for sharing. I was blown away by your testimony. I will be getting your book!” She said she wanted me to know, “just hearing you touched my heart and gave me hope.”
Another person said: “I was blessed by your book. I was especially blessed by the tenacity of your faith in your circumstances. So many situations that you described, I don’t know if I would have pressed in like you did. I just want you to know that I was moved by your relationship with God and how you let Him hold you up through all of your struggles.”
I am immensely thankful to God who seems to be powerfully working through the testimony of my book.
Here’s the line up for The Kiss of Jesus blog tour. Scroll down the left column to click and read all of the reviews and posts. To learn more you can visit here.
The Kiss of Jesus blog tour just kicked off! Follow along and join in on all of the fun!
Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle is a Catholic author, a radio and television host, and an inspirational speaker known and admired from coast to coast. Yet with all of her public exposure, she has revealed very little about her personal history, that is, until now. When she discovered that sharing her struggles gives encouragement to others, she was persuaded to write this story of her life.
Praise for The Kiss of Jesus!
“This candid and poignant account pierces the heart and leaves the reader changed.”
— Johnnette Benkovic, Founder, Women of Grace®
“A courageous, sometimes stunningly personal memoir. Donna-Marie reminds us that everyone gets a turn on the via Dolorosa.”
— Elizabeth Scalia, The Anchoress at Patheos.com
“Allows us to enter into her heart, and accompany her on a remarkable spiritual journey.”
— Brian Patrick, Anchor, EWTNNews Nightly
“This extraordinary story will bring hope to all who are suffering.”
— Dan Burke, Executive Director, National Catholic Register
“A gripping spiritual adventure telling of God’s faithfulness in times of terror and abuse.”
— Mark Shea, Author, By What Authority
“Runs the gamut of virtue and vice, flesh and spirit, demonic and holy. Her extraordinary life gives hope to all.”
— Jim Pinto, Co-Host of EWTN’s @ Home with Jim and Joy
“This book knocked my socks off! I never expected that such a sweet, joyful, and soft-spoken woman lived such a perilous life.”
— Gail Buckley, President, Catholic Scripture Study International
“If you have ever doubted that God draws straight with crooked lines, you simply have to read Donna-Marie’s story!”
— Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D., Author, When the Church Was Young
“For anyone who wishes to move beyond anger and resentment, this book is an answer to prayer.”
— Mike Aquilina, Author, The Fathers of the Church
“An inspiring roller coaster story about a life devoted to Jesus and his Church that encourages us to make courageous choices in life.”
“Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle’s newest book moved me and inspired me more than any memoir I have read. I met Donna-Marie through reading all her books and watching her programs on EWTN. I learned in one of her earlier books that she had been abandoned by her first husband and raised her children as a single mother for some years. I had no idea she suffered so many crosses in her life. This soft spoken, mild mannered, loving women always inspired me to strive to become the wonderful wife and mother that she was in her domestic church. Now that I know what she had to overcome, leaves me even more inspired to never give up and to live a life of pray and joy in spite of our struggles. To me, Donna-Marie is a living saint and offers so much guidance in her own ministry to me and all who come in contact with her. As she had Mother Teresa and others in her life to guide her we have the many aspects of Donna-Marie’s ministry along with Jesus, Mother Mary and our favorite saints to guide us to get through our own crosses and receive the Kiss of Jesus. I highly recommend this book, it will change your life as it did mine. I thank Donna-Marie for writing this memoir to help us all. I know it had to be very difficult for her. God Bless You, Donna-Marie.”
Teresa Tomeo has said in her endorsement for my memoir The Kiss of Jesus:
“In this amazing true story of faith Donna-Marie shares painful details of her past struggles as well as a very honest discussion concerning life’s many challenges. This is not so her readers will feel sorry for her but instead to show all of us that even in the most challenging of circumstances God is with us. He turns the greatest tragedies into triumphs and in Donna-Marie’s case the Lord turned her misery into a powerful ministry.”
I enjoyed being with dear friend and radio host Teresa Tomeo on EWTN’s “Catholic Connection” this morning chatting about my memoir The Kiss of Jesus. In case you weren’t able to tune in, I have the entire interview right here for you to listen when it’s convenient for you.
I was honored to visit with Al Kresta of “Kresta in the Afternoon” the other day. Here is what Al Kresta had said for his endorsement after he had read my memoir The Kiss of Jesus:
“The things we carry with us, the stories that make us who we are usually remain hidden from the watching world. Until now, that has been true of Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle who, for years, I’ve known as a writer of rare luminous simplicity and maternal sensitivity whose spirituality bears the mark of her encounters with Mother Teresa. But I was unprepared for the shocking assaults, penetrating injuries, wounds of betrayal, shame of poverty and neglect that alternately enraged and grieved me as I read her memoir. These dark episodes form a devilish veil that can only be pierced by the sword of Christ’s severe mercy. This is no mere conversion story. The power of His grace far exceeds God’s momentary acceptance of a sinner. Here grace is an active, personal force molding, shaping, nurturing, and transforming her. Transformed for love and service. She is led into moving evangelistic encounters with family, strangers and neighbors. So please, don’t deprive yourself of the tough, relentless grace that fills this book. Take up and read. Share in the dispensation of grace Donna-Marie has received and you will learn love and peace in the midst of tribulation.”~ Al Kresta, President, CEO Ave Maria Communications, Host, Kresta in the Afternoon
On his radio show the other day, Al asked me about my life and what I have detailed in my newly released memoir The Kiss of Jesus: How Mother Teresa and the Saints Helped Me to Discover the Beauty of the Cross.
If you didn’t get a chance to tune in yet, you may listen in here at your leisure. I hope that you will enjoy our visit.
Yesterday morning I had the great pleasure of visiting with Brian Patrick and the wonderful crew on the new EWTN Morning Glory radio show. We talked about the Rosary, Mother Mary, persevering in times of trouble, my life, and my memoir The Kiss of Jesus!
Today is the official launch day for my memoir, The Kiss of Jesus. I think it’s very nice that it “happens” to land on the feast of the ArchAngels!
One woman shared her thoughts after reading The Kiss of Jesus:
I read the whole book after returning at 10:00 PM from choir practice and finished it in TEARS at 3:00 AM. God bless you for such a true descrption of your life, I still cannot envision the hardships and trials that you have endured and survived with such a positive, loving attitude.There are so many lives you have touched and changed for the better.
Here is the official press release for The Kiss of Jesus:
Suffering as The Kiss of Jesus?
Accomplished author recounts how years of sorrow led to redemption and mercy
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 29, 2015 – Few people who follow Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, popular author, radio and TV host and inspirational speaker, would have guessed that her life had been rife with so much suffering. While her story sometimes reads like a heart-pounding novel, it is, nonetheless, a true story, which Cooper O’Boyle tells in a beautiful, selfless fashion in her latest book, THE KISS OF JESUS.
Cooper O’Boyle has had an eventful life. The seventh of eight children, she enjoyed a relatively normal youth. However, all that would change, as she would come to endure horrors few could imagine.
In the years that would follow, Cooper O’Boyle had her freedom taken away by a troubled man who held her hostage, lost three babies to miscarriage and dealt with a husband’s drinking problem. She also suffered abuse, divorce and single-motherhood.
As trying as her life was, Cooper O’Boyle did experience unexpected joys along the way. She was blessed to raise five children, and claimed a memorable 10-year friendship with Blessed Mother Teresa, who served not only as a close friend, but also as a spiritual mother.
Throughout it all, Cooper O’Boyle’s faith buoyed her spirit. Not only has she survived, but she has thrived and discovered the beauty of the Cross.
“This extraordinary story will bring hope to all who are suffering,” Dan Burke, executive director of the National Catholic Register, says of THE KISS OF JESUS.
There’s a new cover for my memoir: The Kiss of Jesus. It’s pretty similar to the earlier cover except that the designer “turned up the contrast” on certain parts to make it more striking and tweaked some things. What do you think?
There’s a brand new dust jacket for my upcoming memoir: THE KISS OF JESUS! Click on the image below to enlarge it for easier viewing.
New description of the book on the dust jacket:
Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle is a Catholic author, a radio and television host, and an inspirational speaker known and admired from coast to coast. Yet with all of her public exposure, she has revealed very little about her personal history, that is, until now. When she discovered that sharing her struggles gives encouragement to others, she was persuaded to write this story of her life.
Growing up in a Polish-American Catholic family, Donna-Marie was blessed with hard-working parents who provided a stable home for their eight children. At times her childhood was golden and carefree, but other times it was tarnished by pain that she felt was best left unspoken as she sought God for help and strength.
After she left home after high school, her path took some harrowing turns. A Vietnam veteran fiancé snapped and held her against her will. She suffered pregnancy loss, serious illness, divorce, and single motherhood. Perhaps her greatest trial was an epic custody battle in which she needed to defend both her reputation as a mother and the safety of her five children.
Yet through all the dark valleys, Donna-Marie kept the fire of her faith burning. Helping her to see the beauty of the crosses in her life, and to rely on the presence and the providence of God, were saintly souls who became her friends and mentors. One of these was Blessed Mother Teresa, who was her confidant and spiritual mother for ten years.
A heartfelt thanks to Mark Shea for his endorsement of my upcoming memoir: THE KISS OF JESUS:
“Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle’s The Kiss of Jesus is no ordinary spiritual autobiography. It is a gripping account of spiritual adventure and an emotional roller coaster telling of God’s faithfulness in times of terror, abuse, and profound encounters with grace and holiness. The world is richer for her existence, her work, and her fidelity.” ~ Mark P. Shea, Author, By What Authority: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition.
Earlier this year in March, Mark Shea had me as a guest on his radio show “Catholic and Enjoying It.”
I was recently blessed to visit with Marcus Grodi of EWTN’s “Journey Home” show. It will re-air at 1:00 PM EST on Friday, May 22nd.
You can also see it on You tube right here. I hope that you enjoy it. I am hearing from people from all over the world who have told me that they have been impacted by the show. All glory to God!
My upcoming memoir: THE KISS OF JESUS: How Mother Teresa and the Saints Helped Me to Discover the Beauty of the Cross (which I mention on the Journey Home show) will reveal even more twists and turns in my life. I hope you get a chance to read it. I have it for sale at a discount on my website here.
This is the very first time that I am unveiling the book cover of my memoir, The Kiss of Jesus: How Mother Teresa and the Saints Helped Me to Discover the Beauty of the Cross.
The publisher, Ignatius Press has just announced it on their website. You can sign up there to learn more about the book.
The time is getting closer. My memoir, The Kiss of Jesus: How Mother Teresa and the Saints Helped Me to Discover the Beauty of the Cross will be released in August.
Here is the very first sneak peek at the dust jacket description:
When Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle was growing up, she had no thought of one day becoming a popular author and television host. She was immersed in her life as the seventh of eight children in a Catholic family. Sometimes that life was carefree and fun, spending time with relatives dancing the festive Polkas at family weddings, and enjoying picnics in her back yard dappled with fruit trees and flower gardens. Other times, life for her was very dark and tarnished with struggles and pain. Struggles that she felt were perhaps best left a secret.
Donna-Marie retreated to the beauty of nature, thanking God for its splendors, pondering and meditating. She plunged her heart and soul into a deeper meaning of life as she tried to navigate the ups and downs in a large struggling family. She turned to God for help especially as she became increasingly misunderstood by her family and her peers.
Life took some bizarre turns, and Donna-Marie was forced to deal with a crazed man who took away her freedom and held her hostage. Eventually escaping the nightmare of her prison, she married and began raising her family, believing she had finally found her true vocation. But she couldn’t seem to get out from under the shadow of the Cross. She lost three babies to miscarriage, struggled with her husband’s serious drinking problem and was later abandoned by him just before she gave birth to her third living child.
Raising her family alone, she was subjected to abusive neighbors and appalling living conditions, struggling to overcome these challenges as she held onto hope for better days.
Her knight in shining armor finally came on the scene. Or so she thought. Another unexpected adventure ensued, thrusting Donna-Marie into a more affluent yet controlled life. “Prince Charming” had charmed his way into her life, but under the veneer of his charm was a dark side.
Survival mode took over as Donna-Marie had to fight for her life and for her children’s safety. Providentially, a saint or two crossed paths with Donna-Marie and impacted her life greatly. One was Blessed Mother Teresa who would become her close friend and spiritual mother.
The Kiss of Jesus is a powerful, moving true story of a well-known Catholic author who faced great suffering, abuse and rejection, but through faith, hope and love she found redemption and the beauty of the Cross.
Please take a quick moment to subscribe at this simple form to be among the first to learn more about this book AND to receive a discount! I will be in touch to let you know when you can pre-order The Kiss of Jesus. All sign ups are entitled to a sale price (to be announced)!
[Have no fear! I promise that your email address will never be shared.]
