Digital Marian Helper Winter_2016-2017

20 C 7H?7D > ;BF;H Ǚš M ?DJ;H (&',#'- ǙšǙcWh_Wd$eh] I t felt like the height of Roman summer as Marian Press author Susan Conroy arrived in Italy to take part in the international media coverage surrounding Mother Teresa’s Sept. 4 canonization. The air conditioning in her hotel room wasn’t working, but as she ironed her clothes in preparation for the first of several interviews — indeed, as a CBS News crew was setting up in an anteroom off the hotel lobby — Susan wasn’t sweating it. Despite the heat and having had no sleep in 24 hours, the author of the new book Praying with Mother Teresa: Prayers, Insights, and Wisdom of Saint Teresa of Calcutta was calm, cool, and collected. How did this quiet, unassuming, deeply prayerful woman from South Portland, Maine, get to this point? It took three mothers. Susan’s devotion to Mother Teresa is overshadowed only by that of her own biological mother (who once gave her a prayercard and holy books that changed her life) and her spiritual mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom she says with a smile “is my book agent” who continually opens doors for her. This most recent door was huge. Millions around the world had the opportunity to listen to her share her experiences of her dear friend Mother Teresa of Calcutta, not just on CBS News, but also on NBC News, EWTN, and other news outlets. Heaven and earth come calling One of 10 children, Susan says Our Lady played a big role for the Conroy family while she was growing up. “Every night we would hear my father’s voice say, ‘Prayers,’ and we all knew where to go,” she said. They would kneel before a painting of the Blessed Mother hold- ing her Divine Child Jesus, and they would pray. Susan said that her parents understood that their pri- mary task was to help their children get to Heaven. “I was taught that life on earth was a journey and that this motherly love A CASE OF By Joan Lamar IkiWd 9edheo jWbai WXekj ^[h j_c[ m_j^ Ij$ J[h[iW$