St. Teresa Calcutta

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.

The countless sweet photos of her smiling at babies showed Mother Teresa to be a single-minded advocate for the poor. But she was a woman with a will whose strength has been matched by few souls in history. Mother Teresa broke death's stranglehold on the poor of Calcutta, and she showed us how to conquer the sin and darkness in what she called the "slums of the hearts of modern man."

Part biography and part spiritual reading, these pages bring to light little-known stories from Mother Teresa's life that will help you to grow in your love of God. You will learn her approach to reading Scripture, what enabled her to persevere through agonizing nights, and the remarkable some would say mystical events that led her to start the Missionaries of Charity.

Mother Teresa's life sounds like a legend. The Albanian girl who entered an Irish order to go to India as a missionary and became an "Angel of the Poor" for countless people. She was greatly revered by Christians as well as Muslims, Hindus and unbelievers, as she brought the message of Christian love for one's neighbor from the slums of Calcutta to the whole world.

Fr. Leo Maasburg was there as her close companion for many years, traveling with her throughout the world and was witness to countless miracles and incredible little-known occurrences. In this personal portrait of the beloved nun, he presents fifty amazing stories about her that most people have never heard, wonderful and delightful stories about miracles, small and great, that he was privileged to experience at Mother Teresa's side. Stories of how, without a penny to her name, she started an orphanage in Spain, and at the same time saved a declining railroad company from ruin, and so many more.

They all tell of her limitless trust in God's love, of the way the power of faith can move mountains, and of hope that can never die. These stories reveal a humorous, gifted, wise and arresting woman who has a message of real hope for our time. It's the life story of one of the most important women of the 20th century as it's never been told before.

Describes Mother Teresa's prescription for finding inner peace and happiness. This work details the 10 spiritual attitudes that accompany such a life: compassion and love, contentment and gratitude, honesty, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, humility, community, faith, and reverence for human life.

No Greater Love is the essential wisdom of Mother Teresa the most accessible, intimate, and inspiring book of her teachings. Thematically arranged to present her revolutionary vision of Christianity in its graceful simplicity, the book features her thoughts on love, generosity, forgiveness, prayer, service, and what it means to be a Christian. A passionate testament to deep hope and abiding faith in God, No Greater Love celebrates the life and work of one of the world s most revered spiritual teachers."

Most people likely know of Mother Teresa's great faithfulness to God's call as she started her ministry to the poor in Calcutta. But at the time, few knew that she had lost all sense of God's presence, love, and sometimes the assurance that God existed at all. Astonishingly, for 50 years, the saint's life was spent in what she called "the darkness." Yet, somehow Mother Teresa managed to get up every morning and say yes to God. And not only did she say yes, she came to accept the darkness, while also allowing a sense of humor and even playfulness to shine through. This book is a memoir of the author's direct experiences with Mother Teresa during a trip to Calcutta in 1996 when she discovered that sense of humor first hand. It is also an extended reflection on the beloved saint's "dark night of the soul" and what that might mean for spiritual seekers today.

Illustrated introduction to the life and faith of the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, including transcripts of the author's conversations with Mother Teresa.