Feeding Your Family's Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality

by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

Overview

Feeding Your Family's Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality has won second prize in the Family Life category from the Catholic Press Association!​

Feeding Your Family’s Soul is a vital tool to enable parents to transform a regular dinner time into a prayerful faith lesson for their elementary school to high school aged children. It will indeed help to fulfill the Catholic Church’s vision for evangelization in the family and beyond.

Through 52 fun and creative faith lessons (one for each week of the year), this one-of-a-kind book will encourage parents and caregivers to seize the opportunity in teaching the Catholic faith to the children (the captive audience waiting to eat!) while gathered at the dinner table, and while reminding them of the value of coming together as a family to break bread and share hearts.

See her interview on Boston Catholic TV: www.feedingyourfamilyssoul.com 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612618357
Publisher:	Paraclete Press
Publication date:	10/01/2016
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Catholic wife, mother, and grandmother, Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle is known worldwide for her heartfelt encouraging words and down-to-earth guidance. Meeting St. Teresa of Calcutta deeply impacted her soul and transformed Donna-Marie’s life. She weaves the wisdom from her ten-year friendship with the saint of the gutters into her work. Donna-Marie is the EWTN Host of three television series which she created, a world-renowned speaker, award-winning journalist, and best-selling and award-winning author of thirty books. She leads pilgrimages and gives retreats worldwide.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preface xii

Introduction xv

Prayers xix

Recipes for Meals and Life! xxii

1 Learning to Love Our Neighbor from St. Teresa of Calcutta 1

2 Living the Beatitudes 6

3 Doing Small Things with Great Love 10

4 The Communion of Saints 14

5 Learning Humility from St. Catherine Labouré 18

6 The Consecrated Life 21

7 Learning Courage from St. Maximilian Kolbe 25

8 Respect for the Human Person 30

9 Learning Obedience from St. Joseph 33

10 The Tradition of Prayer 37

11 Learning Mercy from St. Faustina Kowalska 42

12 About Sin 46

13 Learning to Love the Blessed Mother from St. John Paul II 50

14 About Moral Conscience 54

15 Learning Forgiveness from St. Maria Goretti 60

16 Being Virtuous 63

17 Learning Perseverance from St. Monica 66

18 Social Justice 69

19 Learning to Trust God from St. Augustine 75

20 Learning Steadfast Faith from St. Teresa of Avila 79

21 The Sacrament of Baptism 85

22 The Sacrament of Confirmation 88

23 The Sacrament of the Eucharist 94

24 The Sacrament of Penance 98

25 The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick 102

26 The Sacrament of Holy Orders 106

27 The Sacrament of Matrimony 111

28 About the First Commandment 115

29 About the Second Commandment 119

30 About the Third Commandment 122

31 About the Fourth Commandment 127

32 About the Fifth Commandment 130

33 About the Sixth Commandment 135

34 About the Seventh Commandment 140

35 About the Eighth Commandment 145

36 About the Ninth Commandment 148

37 About the Tenth Commandment 152

38 Learning the Love of Family from Sts. Zélie and Louis Martin 156

39 Learning about Prayer from the Saints 161

40 Learning to Pray from Jesus 164

41 Learning to Pray from the Blessed Mother 167

42 Learning to Pray from the Holy Spirit 171

43 Kinds of Prayer 176

44 Favorable Places to Pray 180

45 The Desire for God 185

46 Sacred Scripture 188

47 Why Catholics Honor the Blessed Mother 191

48 Learning About Our Duty to Be a Good Example from John A. Hardon, SJ 196

49 The Gifts of the Holy Spirit 201

50 The Cardinal Virtues 205

51 The Theological Virtues 209

52 Learning About Redemptive Suffering from St. John Paul II and the Saints 213

53 (Extra Credit!) Angels 219

Acknowledgments 223

About the Author 225

Notes 227

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Donna-Marie’s book is a real treasure. The family has been called the “domestic church” and it is there that we first learn about God, our prayers, and how to live our Christian life. Donna-Marie certainly offers a valuable tool, because when the family gets together for a meal, it is an appropriate time to share and teach the faith. We are reminded at a meal that we not only feed our body, but we need to feed our soul with God’s word and message.” —Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., Founding member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and Host of EWTN’s Sunday Night Prime

“There is no shortage of studies showing the importance of family meal time. Add in the spiritual component of prayer and teaching the faith and you have, as Donna Marie so eloquently illustrates, a recipe for success.  Follow Donna Marie’s plan and you’ll be fortifying your loved ones in their faith now and in the future.” —Teresa Tomeo, Syndicated Catholic talk show Host and bestselling Catholic author

"This is a very important book for the Church and the culture today, and will no doubt help shape the hearts and minds of parents and children to be more like the Holy Family. Fr. Patrick Peyton said it best: "The family that prays together, stays together." When families truly begin to pray together, the culture will experience the love and mercy of Jesus."
—Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers

"An altar is also a table.  It is the scene both of self-sacrificial love and of a meal signifying and embodying communion with God and one another.  In Feeding Your Family's Soul, Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle shows us how to help make our dinner table into an altar of worship and love centered around family meal times.  Read this wise and practical book and find a way to help your family become happier and holier.  Taste and see that the Lord is good!"
—Mark P. Shea, Author, This is My Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence

"With gentle affection for her readers and an invigorating passion for the Catholic faith, Donna-Marie's new book is a gift of great value to Catholic parents and grandparents, everywhere. Feeding Your Family's Soul is a wise and delectable fusion of insights, stories, recipes, and prayers that will inspire and empower you to evangelize your family in the most natural of environments: the sacred space around your kitchen table."
—Lisa Mladinich, Founder of AmazingCatechists.com and author of Heads Bowed: Prayers for Catholic School Days

Editorial Reviews

Feeding Your Family's Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle is a vital tool to enable parents to transform a regular dinner time into a prayerful faith lesson for their elementary school to high school aged children. It will indeed help to fulfill the Catholic Church's vision for evangelization in the family and beyond. Through 52 fun and creative faith lessons (one for each week of the year), Feeding Your Family's Soul is one-of-a-kind instruction guide will encourage parents and caregivers to seize the opportunity in teaching the Catholic faith to the children (the captive audience waiting to eat!) while gathered at the dinner table, and while reminding them of the value of coming together as a family to break bread and share hearts. Thoroughly 'reader friendly' in tone, content, commentary, organization and presentation, Feeding Your Family's Soul is very highly recommended for personal, family, church Christian Parenting collections. —Midwest Book Review


“A daily dinnertime treat. Many families are missing real conversations and real connectivity to each other and to God at the dinner table, and this book is the solution.” —Regina Lordan, Catholic News Service


“Feeding Your Family's Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality is a perfect guide for infusing dinner prayer time with more depth, a brief, but meaningful lesson about the Catholic faith, the saints, and the fundamental teachings of the Catechism in a way that is approachable for families, practical in terms of time required, and uplifting in nature. I highly recommend Feeding Your Family's Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality for any and all Christian families interested in a closer walk with Christ and a more intimate connection with the members of their family.” —Trisha Niermeyer Potter, “Points of Grace

From the Publisher