| Your feet are swollen, your hormones are a mess, and you still crave too much ice cream. For every mother-to-be, the nine months of pregnancy can be demanding. Competing with the joy of anticipation is the frustration of bodily pain and limitation. In this intimate book, Donna Marie Cooper O'Boyle invites pregnant women everywhere to see their pregnancy not as a burden but as a living prayer to God. Connecting the nine months of pregnancy with the nine-part novena prayer tradition known to Catholics everywhere, Donna Marie shows how each month of pregnancy connects the mother to the great Catholic saints and teachers. Alongside the devotional and the catechetical helps are pointed references to the development of the child in the womb as the months of pregnancy progress.
This keepsake prayer journal offers a place for expecting mothers to celebrate the mystery of pregnancy in prayer and reflection. Each part of the novena is accompanied by inspiring prayer, monthly updates about baby development, and supportive quotes from Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Pope John Paul II and others.
The inspiration for this one-of-a-kind book came while Donna-Marie was on complete bedrest during a high-risk pregnancy with daughter Mary-Catherine (who is now 16 years old). Donna-Marie shared the manuscript with her personal friend, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Mother Teresa like the book so much that she wrote the forward as a gift to Donna-Marie. The manuscript sat unpublished while Donna-Marie took care of raising her children, and was finally published in 2007. Illustrations are by Donna Marie's daughter, Chaldea Emerson.
Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle is the mother of five children and the author of Catholic Prayer Book for Mothers. |
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