CCAirwaves

Messages from Heaven- Local Stories

• The Catholic Cemeteries Association

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Who says the conversation ends when our loved ones pass on?

In this episode, we share stories filled with love, comfort and the enduring power of connection. These local stories explore how those who have passed on continue to show up in our lives and send us messages of love and reassurance.

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Podcast: "CCAirwaves" on your favorite streaming platform!

Speaker 1:

Music. Hello everyone and welcome back to CC Airwaves. My name is Paige Mutillo and I'm here with my co-host, joel Hansel.

Speaker 2:

How are you Paige?

Speaker 1:

Ah, doing so well. Today we have another episode of our series Messages from Heaven, but today's focus will be on local stories, so I'm excited for today's episode.

Speaker 2:

Joel, what about?

Speaker 1:

you.

Speaker 2:

I'm always excited Paige for Messages from Heaven.

Speaker 1:

I can tell. So I will just get us started so up. First we have a couple stories that were submitted by Bernadette Bogowski, who works at AM 1260. A few weeks ago, bernadette and I had a meeting and we started discussing CC Airwaves. So I told her a little bit about our Messages from Heaven series and she began sharing her own stories. I had her email them to me so that way I could feature them on the podcast and share them all with you. So I'll start with her first story.

Speaker 2:

Sounds great.

Speaker 1:

My late brother, a priest, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 50. He was the oldest of seven siblings and I am the youngest. We share the belief that when we see a cardinal, it signifies that he is with us in spirit. One Sunday a few of us siblings decided to have breakfast together and, to our amazement, a cardinal kept flying into the nearby window of the restaurant. It felt like a clear sign that our brother wanted to join us for breakfast in his own special way.

Speaker 2:

Here we are with the cardinal again.

Speaker 1:

I know we keep mentioning it and we've mentioned it on a past episode about how cardinals are Messengers from Heaven.

Speaker 2:

And I never knew that at the time. And now here's more stories with cardinals.

Speaker 1:

So this is a good lesson for our listeners If you are seeing a cardinal or you continue to see cardinals, it could just be a loved one saying hello from heaven. The next story is while my husband and I were engaged and in search of a house, my father passed away after a long battle with dementia. During the visitation before his funeral, a cousin mentioned that there was a house for sale in my father's neighborhood. Curious, we decided to look at it, despite having explored many other houses already. To our astonishment, as soon as we stepped foot into the particular house, we knew it was the one. It felt right in every way and stood out among the other houses we had seen. That's how this Bernadette ended up living on Lord's Drive. I believe my father had something to do with this.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome.

Speaker 1:

But then her next story actually has to do with finding another house. So I will read that one before we talk about them. So a few years ago my husband and I were searching for another new home. As I walked through the home, something caught my eye. The sliding door to the sunroom had a frosted Cala Lily design on it.

Speaker 1:

Cala Lily's held a special place in my heart because they were my late mother's favorite flowers and she carried them on her wedding day. Seeing that familiar Cala Lily on the door felt like a sign for my mother, a gentle nudge from beyond, as if she was guiding us towards this particular house. Moved by this profound connection, we decided to follow our hearts and purchase this home. Now, nearly four years later, we are still living there. The presence of the Cala Lily on the door continues to remind us that we made the right choice, a decision blessed by a meaningful sign from my beloved late mother. So I really like that. Those two stories kind of go together. So they lived in this one house that her father kind of led them to, and then and we just came full circle with mom saying exactly to that house Exactly so.

Speaker 1:

I think that's really sweet, and I need to look up what Cala Lily's are. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I don't know what they look like, so let's see. Oh, oh wait, they're so pretty. Have you seen a Cala Lili before? Yeah, oh, I guess I must just be the only person. But yes, I think that that's that those stories are really special. And then in both of those cases those homes just feel even a little bit more like home, because someone you love.

Speaker 2:

There's extra meaning to them. Yeah, exactly. Our next story was submitted by Olivia R Laura. 13 years ago, olivia lost a friend while they were both attending a local Catholic High School. Laura was a remarkable person bright, compassionate and smart.

Speaker 2:

When she passed away, her absence was deeply felt throughout our entire school. Many of us wanted to attend her funeral, but it was scheduled for school day, making it impossible for some to be there. The night before the funeral, an intense snowstorm struck. The weather forecast predicted that the snow would worsen overnight, leaving the school with no choice but to declare a snow day. It was an unexpected twist and I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony.

Speaker 2:

Laura adored snow days and the idea of having one on the day of her funeral seemed fitting. The next morning, I woke up to find that the snow had miraculously stopped. The streets were clear, which was surprising considering the previous night's news report. I got ready for the funeral wondering about the strange weather and its timing. When I arrived at the church, my amazement deepened. It was filled with students from our school, all gathered to pay their respects to Laura. It was a touching sight. The priest, who had known Laura since she was a baby, spoke about her life and the impact she had on everyone. As he spoke about her still being with us in spirit, I couldn't help but consider the possibility that Laura had something to do with the snow. Maybe she wanted us all to be together on this day, a day to say our final goodbyes and perhaps to let us know that she was watching us from beyond. At that moment, the snow day became much more than a coincidence. It became a meaningful reminder of Laura's presence in our lives.

Speaker 1:

What a beautiful story. I have no doubt that maybe Laura did have something to do with the snow and making sure that everyone was able to attend and say their goodbyes, or even so, that way she could say her own special goodbye.

Speaker 2:

All their future snow days reminded them of Laura as well. Yeah, and maybe even to this day. If any of them have kids that are in school and they have a snow day, it'll remind them still of Laura.

Speaker 1:

Maybe they'll say thank you, laura, or thank Laura.

Speaker 2:

Sounds good, that would be very sweet Perfect.

Speaker 1:

So then, our final story was submitted by Taylor H, who actually receives our e-newsletter. So if you're interested in signing up for the e-newsletter, I will put a link in the description below. After my daughter's passing, grief nearly consumed me, leading to a divorce from my husband due to our differences in coping with our loss. We hear this all the time at the Catholic Cemetery. That is something that always seems to occur. After starting the healing process by attending support groups, I found love again and remarried. Soon after our wedding, I found out that I was pregnant. Despite my lingering grief, I embraced motherhood with love.

Speaker 1:

My son turned six years old a few months ago Recently has begun conversing with an imaginary friend. I have also noticed that he has begun expressing interest in things my late daughter enjoyed. When I asked him about his imaginary friend the other day, he said that Emma went away, but that she promised to watch over him. I froze. My daughter's name was Emma. I had never spoken about her. To him, this revelation felt like a profound sign that she was watching over us, wanting to connect with her little brother.

Speaker 2:

Still wanted to be a big sister, even though she wasn't here.

Speaker 1:

Yes, she wanted to get to meet him. She wanted to share some of her favorite things, apparently. So when I had spoken to Taylor, she mentioned that it had to do with the favorite TV show, favorite foods, things that he was never interested in before and things that were kind of outdated.

Speaker 2:

Sure.

Speaker 1:

So I forgot the exact examples, but things that were more for girls and were popular 10 years ago. So how would he have known otherwise?

Speaker 2:

Right, right, that's a fantastic story.

Speaker 1:

I know and I hope Taylor enjoyed hearing it and I thank her so much for sending it to me through email and that just serves as a reminder to everyone that if you want to hear your story on this podcast or you have a story to share, you can share it with us over email at podcast at c-l-e-c-e-morg, or you can just shoot us a message on social media.

Speaker 2:

Or do you like Taylor did and get the e-newsletter?

Speaker 1:

Exactly because then you will receive all sorts of updates about our organization. So, once again, thank you all for listening today. I hope that you really enjoyed these stories and, as we said, please send in your stories so that way we can spread the joy of them, and we look forward to speaking with you next Thursday.

Speaker 2:

Okay, until then, take care everyone.