Mother Teresa met each person right where they were. She ministered one by one to each and every person within her reach from royalty to those she pulled out of the gutters. She teaches us, "Calcutta is all over the world for those who have eyes to see." We don't have to run off to Calcutta to serve the poor. We need to open our eyes and our hearts to those around us, those whom God puts within our reach. Those are the ones we are to minister to. And we mustn't neglect the care of our own families in the process of trying to help others. Mother Teresa was famous for saying, "Love begins at home."
Many people have said they were very emotionally moved when in her presence. Can you comment on this?
Blessed Teresa truly allowed Jesus to live within her and asked that He love through her. So, it should be no surprise that one would be quite moved to be in her presence. My experience was that she radiated a deep peace and an intense love. And, as exciting as it was to be with her, I felt at total peace. I really felt like I had known her all my life. I recount this and other details in my book Mother Teresa and Me.
Donna-Marie, when I read your work, I feel the prayerful love that goes into the writing and research. I also see on every page your humble obedience to the Magisterial authority of the Catholic Church. How freeing is it to humbly submit your work in the midst of a hectic public life?
Thank you again for such kind words. I am so very delighted to submit my work to the world. It is all with God's generous grace without which I could do nothing. I pray that my writings and talks will stir the soul and inspire others to come closer to God.
I had the honor of writing a brief endorsement for Bringing Lent Home, so I got to read it ahead of publication. I was very taken with it from the first pages and read it over several times. I found new insights and delights to enjoy with each reading. It's just so rich. I can't wait to use it with my family this Lent.
I'm so glad that you enjoyed it so much and thank you very much for your endorsement! I truly loved creating it and weaving words together to hopefully inspire families to a deeper Lenten observance that will hopefully please God.
You have another new book, a full-length manual for Catholic mothers that I also just totally loved and could not put down. I'm laughing, because I swore I didn't have time to read it and then time just expanded and I gobbled it up. Afterward I started wondering if maybe I had a mystical gift of some sort. Could you tell us a little bit about Embracing Motherhood and what inspired you to write it?
Thanks, Lisa. I'm glad you liked this one too. I wrote Embracing Motherhood because I want mothers to really and truly embrace their role as a mother as a holy vocation in which they actually work out their salvation and help their family do so as well, right within the walls of their domestic churches. So many mothers these days have a tough time because the culture dictates to them what they "should" be doing and family life is attacked at every turn in a darkened world. It's no easy task to raise faithful children today. As well, many mothers are so tremendously busy that they may lose sight of the fact that it was God who placed them in the heart of their home to raise their children on the straight and narrow. Sometimes the work in the home seems like nothing but dishes, demands, and diapers, temper tantrums, and teen-aged angst. But, there truly is a divine purpose to all of what we do and deal with as Christian mothers and hopefully my book will provide welcome advice to the weary moms out there. I also impress upon mothers to call on God for the graces to not only endure, but to shine throughout their tasks they do as mothers.
Embracing Motherhood has got the best discussion questions I have ever seen for a resource like this. It would be perfect for group use, but I liked it for my own private reflections, too.
I'm glad you like them. I like to offer some food for thought to give the reader something to ponder. I hope that women will gather together as they have been doing with some of my other books and discuss their faith and share their insights with one another in a group study setting either in person at their parish or homes or even through the internet.
Lisa, you mentioned fearing you didn't have enough time to read the book. I have good news for you. My book Embracing Motherhood is also available in audio format too (narrated by me)! It was a fun and very interesting experience doing the recording. I received a couple of the very first copies of the audio version today.
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