CCAirwaves

Messages from Heaven- Cardinals (Part 2)

The Catholic Cemeteries Association

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After numerous requests for more stories of cardinals as messengers from Heaven, we're excited to bring you Part 2 of "Messages from Heaven—Cardinals." Dive into these heartfelt stories where these vivid red messengers brought hope and comfort to those mourning their loved ones. 


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Speaker 1

Thank you so much for joining us . Hello and welcome back to CC Airwaves . My name is Paige Matillo and I'm here with my co-host , joel Hansel .

Speaker 2

How you doing Paige .

Speaker 1

I'm doing good . How are you , joel ?

Speaker 2

I am absolutely loving the October weather we've been having .

Speaker 1

I know it's been really nice out and the leaves are changing .

Speaker 2

Very mild , not a lot of rain . It's been pretty nice , not gonna lie , not too shabby .

Speaker 1

I'm looking forward to November . Hopefully the weather stays nice .

Speaker 2

Well , I'm looking forward to November because I have a few weeks off coming .

Speaker 1

Yeah , we'll be missing Joel for a few weeks , but that's all right , you guys will still have me . So today we'll be doing a part two to our Messages from Heaven Cardinal episode that we posted last year . People really like the episode because obviously cardinals are known as messengers from heaven and we do have more stories that involve those . But before we dive into that , today I was going to share with Joel a message from heaven that I recently received . So none of you know this , but Joel gave me a camera so I could go around and take pictures at the cemeteries while I was driving around and as I was doing that , I remembered when I was younger I really liked photography . I had my own camera and I was thinking , oh , maybe I'll get back into that and , you know , find my old camera . So I go home that day I try to find my old camera . I find it it's broken , so unfortunate . And I'm thinking , oh , I have to go buy a new camera .

Speaker 1

The next day my dad is cleaning out this I want to say this cabinet that we have , because we are cleaning out the office that we have in my house and he finds a camera , and it's a camera that none of us had seen before . So I'm looking through it and I turn it on . It still works . It was my grandma's camera who passed away last year , and we must have taken it after she passed away from her house , and it still worked . It had all sorts of pictures on it dating back at least 10 years , so I thought that was a nice little message from heaven that I received from her . It was something that she used to keep her memories , and now it's something I can use to keep my memories . So isn't that sweet .

Speaker 2

That's a fantastic discovery , though .

Speaker 1

I know it was a great discovery . I'm surprised it turned on .

Speaker 2

You want to know what would have been even more like whoa was if there was a picture of a cardinal taken by her .

Speaker 1

Oh my gosh , See , it would have been full circle .

Speaker 2

Absolutely .

Speaker 1

Unfortunately , that story did not involve cardinals , but all of the other ones do , but I had to share it with Joel because it was just so amazing . Now let's dive into these stories . Our first one was submitted by Eve D . My grandma called me out of the blue one day and asked if I would take her to the cemetery to visit her mom's grave . She rarely ever called to ask me for favors , so I jumped in the car and went to pick her up . We got to the cemetery and it was huge . Since she hadn't visited in over 20 years , she couldn't recall where her mom was buried . We were totally lost .

Speaker 1

Just when I was starting to feel frustrated , something cool happened . A cardinal appeared , hopping from one headstone to another . My grandma stopped and smiled watching it . I love cardinals , she said , taking my hand and following the bird . It seemed almost like it was waiting for us to catch up . Each time it jumped to another headstone . Eventually it stopped and perched on one that looked older .

Speaker 1

As we got closer , my grandma gasped it was her mom's grave , my great grandma's , it's like . She wanted us to find her . She said the Cardinal flew off into the trees and we spent some time at the grave her . She said the cardinal flew off into the trees and we spent some time at the grave . Grandma told me stories about her mom that I'd never heard before , making me feel like I truly knew my great grandma . When we finally headed back to the car , the cemetery didn't feel so overwhelming anymore . It felt more like a place where everything had a purpose , even getting lost . As we walked , grandma squeezed my hand and smiled . She's still looking after me , isn't she ? She said , and honestly I couldn't agree more . I like that story . You know , you're lost in a cemetery , you're looking for kind of a beacon of hope or somewhere to try and find this headstone , and you get a little messenger from heaven leading the way , taking you to where you need to go .

Speaker 2

Well , it beats having an app .

Speaker 1

I was just going to say that if this was at one of our cemeteries , we do have an app that does have GPS navigation to the grave site . So I mean , if you are planning on visiting one of our cemeteries , feel free to download that and it will help you out . But I mean we should and it'll help you out , but I mean we should start having cardinals do it . I think that's a little bit cooler .

Speaker 2

That's very cool , it really is .

Speaker 1

We'll look into that .

Speaker 2

Story number two was submitted by Giovanna T . Ever since my dad passed away last year , I started noticing a cardinal visiting the bird feeder in our backyard . Away last year , I started noticing a cardinal visiting the bird feeder in our backyard . My dad loved birds and he always said cardinals were good luck . Seeing that bright red bird felt like a little nod from him , a sign that he was still around . In some way the bird became a regular visitor , always showing up when I missed my dad the most it was comforting like having a piece of him still with me , still looking out for our family . Then just last week we had to say goodbye to my mom . It was tough losing her so soon after my dad and the house felt so empty without them .

Speaker 2

The morning after my mom's funeral I was making coffee looking out the kitchen window at the bird feeder , like I did most mornings . That's when I saw it . It wasn't just one cardinal at the feeder that day , but two . Another had joined this one , a vivid shade of red , just like the first , but with a slightly lighter feather . The pair of them pecked at the seeds , occasionally pausing to sit side by side on the edge of the feeder , seeing them together , so peaceful and at home , brought tears to my eyes but also a strange sense of relief . It was as if both my mom and dad were letting me know they were together now and they were okay , that they both would keep watching over me just from a little further away Now . Every time I see those cardinals , I can't help but think they're my parents' way of visiting . I don't know if I ever really believed in signs like this before , but now .

Speaker 2

I find a lot of comfort in it . It's like having a visual reminder that love doesn't end with death . It just changes form , showing up in moments and ways you least expect , like a pair of cardinals at your bird feeder just when you needed them most .

Speaker 1

That story brings tears to my eyes for real . I just can't handle that one because it's so sweet . I mean the other , cardinal joining after the mom's death . I mean I really do think it was a sign that they're together and that everything's going to be okay and that you know they are watching over her .

Speaker 2

I think it's a cute story and seeing the two cardinals together at the theater , you can kind of almost picture Mom and dad maybe sitting on the couch next to each other watching TV , eating snickerdoodles .

Speaker 1

Snickerdoodles are good . Moving on to our next story , this story was submitted by Bobby S . Moving to a different state had been tough , but losing my best friend shortly after was devastating . The grief was suffocating and returning home after his funeral felt like walking through a fog the morning of his 30ating . And returning home after his funeral felt like walking through a fog . The morning of his 30th birthday , I felt worse than usual . This was a milestone we had always joked about , but he would now never make it to .

Speaker 1

As I shuffled to the kitchen to make coffee , I noticed something unusual through the sliding glass door . Lots of people making coffee when they see these cardinals . A cardinal , bright , red and vivid , against the dull colors of my backyard . I've been living here for six years and had never seen a cardinal around . Intrigued and a bit lost in my thoughts , I sat down next to the glass door . The cardinal seemed to notice me , but instead of flying away , it walked right up to the glass and just stared at me . Its small eyes seemed to peer into mine and there was a calmness to it that felt almost intentional . We sat there together , the cardinal and I , separated only by the thin barrier of glass .

Speaker 1

I was so engulfed in my grief that I barely moved , just watching this little bird looking back at me . After about ten minutes , curiosity got the better of me and I gently tapped on the glass , half expecting it to fly off . But it didn't . It just stayed there watching me . Fifteen minutes passed like this until finally I stood up . It was only then that the cardinal flapped its wings and flew away . The encounter left me stunned , my heart a little lighter . It was as if , for those brief moments , my grief had been acknowledged by the universe , or maybe by my friend reaching out to comfort me . After that day , I would occasionally see the cardinal , especially on rough days when the weight of loss bore down on me the hardest . Each sighting felt like a gentle nudge , a reminder that I wasn't alone , as I felt . But maybe , just maybe , there was something out there , a connection that death could sever .

Speaker 2

You ever just sit with a cup of coffee looking out the window .

Speaker 1

I don't drink coffee , but I sit with a nice glass of water and I'll look out the window . I live kind of in the woods so I mean , especially at this time of year it's very nice because all the tree colors are changing . It's very , very peaceful .

Speaker 2

You ever get wrapped up just watching whatever's in your backyard , whether maybe there's some deer feeding or squirrels .

Speaker 1

Yeah , squirrels birds , definitely the deer . My dad feeds some every morning , so they hang around .

Speaker 2

Yeah , there's something quite calming just about sitting , taking a few minutes of quiet and looking out the window and just kind of getting lost in the nature .

Speaker 1

And maybe that's exactly what Bobby needed , was he needed a moment to sit and reflect and be with nature , and that's what the cardinal provided him in that moment , especially , you know , on the hardest days , which are anniversaries , birthdays and anything that pertains to the loss of a loved one .

Speaker 2

Absolutely .

Speaker 1

Well , those are all the stories that we have for you today . Thank you so much for listening and , once again , if you have received a message from heaven and would like to share it , email us at podcast at CLECEMorg , or send us a message on our social media , at CCR waves . I hope that you all have a great day and we will talk to you soon .