I'll be on KBVM with Dina Marie on Friday morning

I will be speaking with Dina Marie Hale, KBVM program director about MARY and MOTHERHOOD tomorrow (Friday) at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard time. The Radio station is KBVM 88.3 FM out of Portland, OR. You can listen LIVE at www.kbvm.fm. The station is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. That's where the "K-BVM" comes from!

I hope that you can join us!

God bless you!

Donna-Marie

Our Lady of Fatima's feast day!

Our Blessed Mother and Mothers

Here's an article: "Nearer to Our Blessed Mother" over at Catholic Mom.Com. It was originally written for the month of October but is really fitting for any time. You can see it here.

God bless!

Donna-Marie

The Holy Name of Mary!

Today is the feast of the Holy Name of Mary

"This feast is a counterpart to the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (January 3); both have the possibility of uniting people easily divided on other matters.The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, John Sobieski, king of Poland, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople. After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the entire Church."

(From Saint a day)

Happy Birthday, Mary!

Happy Queenship of Mary!

Assumption of Mary

Visit View from the Domestic Church for a couple of prayers on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin

Go on over and visit Catholic Fire too!

God bless your day!

Donna-Marie

Our Blessed Mother's clothing...

Go on over to Elena-Maria's new blog "Fountain of Elias" to read some interesting points about the clothing of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Fatima!

Happy beautiful feast day!

A few thoughts to ponder about Our Blessed Mother today excerpted from my book: The Domestic Church: Room by Room: A Mother's Study Guide...

"If Mary, who was the Mother of God, can be his handmaid, taking delight in serving others, I can certainly strive to be a handmaid, too. Within my vocation of motherhood I will find a deep and lasting peace when I become intimately united to Christ while striving to be a servant to others, especially within my own family. Through the gift of myself, I receive so much in return—much more than I can ever imagine.

A life of prayer is necessary to come closer to Jesus and to understand God’s holy will for my life. Prayer and the many graces that are bestowed upon me in my vocation will ultimately give me the necessary strength to carry out my duties within my household, as well as to increase the love for my family.

It would be a lie to convey that a mother’s daily life is only one of blissful loving embraces and constant “warm fuzzies.” Motherhood is intrinsically beautiful, but while she is in the “trenches” with whiny demands, diapers, overflowing hampers of dirty laundry, and the constantly refilling kitchen sink, mothers know that the feeling of love for her family may not always emerge easily in every circumstance..."

You can see the excerpt here at Catholic Mom.Com.

Happy Feast of the Annunciation!

We have a very beautiful feast day today to pause and ponder during our penitential Lenten season.

From Catholic Culture: "A tradition, which has come down from the apostolic ages, tells us that the great mystery of the Incarnation was achieved on the twenty-fifth day of March. It was at the hour of midnight, when the most holy Virgin was alone and absorbed in prayer, that the Archangel Gabriel appeared before her, and asked her, in the name of the blessed Trinity, to consent to become the Mother of God. Let us assist, in spirit, at this wonderful interview between the angel and the Virgin: and, at the same time, let us think of that other interview which took place between Eve and the serpent. A holy bishop and martyr of the second century, Saint Irenaeus, who had received the tradition from the very disciples of the apostles, shows us that Nazareth is the counterpart of Eden... (Continued here at Catholic Culture)

Reflecting on our Blessed Mother...

Can a woman like me aspire to emulate such an amazing woman—the Virgin Mother of God, the first disciple, the matriarch of the Holy Family, and the Mother of the Church? Recalling instances in Mary’s life, we call to mind her gentleness, humility, holiness, perseverance, selflessness, and unwavering faith.

I ask myself this because I know I will never accomplish what our Blessed Mother has, or even come close to her holiness. Yet all women are called to holiness—whether in the sublime role of raising children, as a wife, as a single woman, or as a woman religious. And Mary demonstrates attributes and virtues that all women can emulate, whatever their vocation...

Go on over to CatholicMom.Com to see a reflection I wrote about the Blessed Mother.

Happy New Year and Happy Feast Day!

Happy New Year! happy feast of Mary, Mother of God!

I hope that you will all have a very Blessed and grace-filled year of 2009! I'll catch up with you all soon. I have been sick as well as my family. I've also been trying to be in the moment here with all of the wonderful family times, despite the illnesses.

Warmly,

Donna-Marie

Happy feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

"The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the sixteenth century. Chronicles of that period tell us the story.
A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.

He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.

Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Diego to try to avoid the lady. The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.

When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared an image of Mary as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531." (From Saint A Day)

St Juan Diego

Go on over for a visit to my blog, Moments of Inspiration With Your Favorite Saints to read a post about St. Juan Diego whose feast day is today!

Also check out this website Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe which has a purpose of inspiring children to emulate St. Juan Diego's virtues.

Mother of all Mothers! Happy Birthday!!

"The Church has celebrated Mary's birth since at least the sixth century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 (nine months earlier).
Scripture does not give an account of Mary's birth. However, the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical value, but it does reflect the development of Christian piety. According to this account, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They receive the promise of a child that will advance God's plan of salvation for the world. Such a story (like many biblical counterparts) stresses the special presence of God in Mary's life from the beginning.

St. Augustine connects Mary's birth with Jesus' saving work. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of her birth. "She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed." The opening prayer at Mass speaks of the birth of Mary's Son as the dawn of our salvation and asks for an increase of peace." (from Saint a Day)

Beautiful holy water font craft

Wait until you see what the very clever and creative Alice has done over at Cottage Blessings. It's a great craft you can do with the kids and gives you all of the steps and lots of beautiful photos! Go over and take a look and get inspired!

Make a Place for the Blessed Mother

In the month of May which is devoted to the Blessed Mother, we can make a nice place where we can pray and honor Mary as Jesus' Mother. We can make a prayer table and bring fresh flowers to our dear Mother. The picture hanging on my dining room wall once hung on my dear friend and spiritual director, Fr. Bill's dining room wall for many many years. The rosary on my prayer table was made for me by my dear brother-in-law, Luis. Here I have a few flowers that I was able to pick today from my yard; forsythias, daffodils, and bleeding hearts from a plant my son, Justin gave me years ago. I will bring my favorite flower, lilacs, to Mary as soon as they bloom. I think it's just so nice that lilacs bloom where I live just in time for Mother's Day!

I could have made my Mary table using one of my Blessed Mother statues, however, I chose to do this below a beautiful picture I have of Mary.(Click on the photo for a better view)

Just too precious!

Feast of the Solemnity of Mary

"Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men. In this sense the Church's Tradition has often read the most beautiful texts on wisdom in relation to Mary. Mary is acclaimed and represented in the liturgy as the "Seat of Wisdom." — Catechism of the Catholic Church 721


In addition to this day being a beautiful feast day of our Blessed Mother, it is the day that begins the new year of 2008. Today is a day filled with graces and blessings.

Many challenges and blessings lie ahead for us in this new year. How will we embrace this new year? Hopefully, with resolutions to allow our hearts to be changed by our Creator and be instrumental in changing other's hearts. The opportunities will surround us. Will we open our hearts to God's love so that we can spread His love to others?

Here is a link to article that I wrote about the Blessed Mother Mary and Motherhood at Catholic Exchange.

(The image of Mary and her baby son, Jesus in this post now adorns my kitchen wall. I just received this painting the other day. It had adorned my dear friend, Fr. Bill Smith's dining room wall for many years. I am so thankful to have it.)