Welcome to CCAirwaves! CCAirwaves is the official podcast of the Catholic Cemeteries Association. Our hosts, Paige Muttillo and Joel Hansel, will provide informational and inspirational segments that will help you work through your grief in a healthy way, learn more about our Catholic faith, and much more. CCAirwaves is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Buzzsprout, and other streaming platforms. If you have a topic you'd like us to discuss, please email us at podcast@clecem.org. We look forward to forging relationships with our Catholic community!
In this episode, we explore powerful moments where signs of hope break through grief, sharing stories that remind us we're not alone even in our darkest hours. These personal reflections reveal how God's presence can be felt through unexpected glimmers of light.
Do you have a topic you'd like us to discuss? Please email us at podcast@clecem.org!
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Thank you so much for joining us. Hello everyone and welcome back to CC Airwaves. I'm Paige Mattillo and today I'm joined by a new voice. You'll be hearing a lot more from this summer, jen Capsio. Now I know you're probably expecting to hear from Joel Hansel, but don't worry, he's just taking a little break, but he'll be back and, lucky for us, I have a fantastic intern helping me out with the podcast this summer. So, jen, how are you today?
Speaker 2:
I'm doing great. I'm so excited to be here. It's been a little bit since I've been behind the microphone on a podcast, so bear with me a little bit as I'm kind of getting my bearings here.
Speaker 1:
Our listeners will be very forgiving. Yeah, so Jen, why don't you tell them a little bit about yourself, where you go to school, what your internship is? Just you know. Give a little background.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so I just finished my third year at Ohio State University. I'm currently studying strategic communications and kind of exploring what I want to do with my life, learn my path a little bit, but I'm super excited to be working here at Catholic Cemeteries working as a marketing intern. I have a lot on my plate and a lot that I'm excited to explore, try out, so yeah.
Speaker 1:
That's great. And, listeners, you'll be hearing a lot from her'm excited to explore, try out. So, yeah, that's great. And, listeners, you'll be hearing a lot from her this summer. She'll be with us until August and she'll also be managing our CC Airwaves social media. So make sure that you give her a follow and show her some support.
Speaker 1:
So today we will be exploring the quiet and powerful moments where light breaks through the shadows of grief. These stories that we're going to share are reminding us that even in the darkest hours, we're not alone. Through personal reflections of loss, we will hear how God's presence can be felt, through gentle signs and unexpected glimmers of hope. These moments may seem small, but they shine with the promise that love endures and light always returns. If you ever looked for comfort in your sorrow or longed for a sign that your loved one is near, this episode is for you. These stories won't erase the pain, but they might help you see, just for a moment, the light in your own darkness. This first story was submitted by Avery Z.
Speaker 1:
The night my dad passed away, a storm came in fast loud, windy and dark, almost like the sky was grieving right along with us. We had just gotten home from hospice. Emotionally drained from the tears and goodbyes, I sat on the porch with a blanket just trying to breathe. The thunder rolled low in the distance and everything felt incredibly heavy. I remember whispering a quick prayer for him and asking God to take care of him, and then suddenly the porch light clicked on. It blinked once, then again, and then it stayed lit.
Speaker 1:
That light hadn't worked in weeks. The bulb was out and I kept forgetting to replace it. No one was inside, no motion detectors, nothing. But it glowed steady and warm. My dad always said to leave the light on for family when they're on their way home. That night I knew he had made it home. I think that that story is the perfect embodiment of light in the darkness, and not only because it included a literal light in the darkness, but it's the fact that it provided her hope in the moment where she was at her lowest, and it reminded her that her father is on his way home to our God.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think it definitely just like shows that they're always with you, and even they show that they're still there looking down on you, even when you don't think they are. And I think what's so awesome about this? When she needed it most, she saw that sign and know that her dad is not far. He's just within reach and he's there looking down on her Exactly.
Speaker 1:
And that was a perfect way to state it and he will always be there for her. He will always be looking down on her be there for her.
Speaker 2:
He will always be looking down on her. Yeah, so I I really like that because I just think when, when it comes to stuff like this, you often like feel very alone, especially when you've lost someone you love and someone you were so close with, like a parent, and just like remembering those, those things that they used to say she had mentioned that her dad always said keep the light on, and so I just think it's really, really beautiful to know that he still wants to keep the light on for those who are going to come home, and remembering those little moments of your parents or someone so close to you is a great way to keep their memory alive.
Speaker 1:
I agree, and now Jen is going to share our second story.
Speaker 2:
So this story was submitted by Jennifer T. My grandma always had candles going. It didn't matter if it was a holiday or just a regular Tuesday night. There's always a little flame flickering somewhere in the house. She used to say even the smallest light can change the whole room. After she passed, I decided to light a candle in her memory on the anniversary of her death. It felt like something she would have liked Simple, peaceful. Honestly, I didn't expect it to last. The house gets drafty and most candles go out before long, but not this one. I lit it in the morning and when I checked on it later that night it was still burning. I had gone through the whole day and it never flickered once. By the next morning it had finally gone out, but only after the wax had completely melted. That little flame held on through the night, just like her, and in that warm, steady light I felt her like she was still there, offering quiet comfort, just like she always had.
Speaker 1:
I am not a big candle person, but I know my boyfriend is, and usually when he lights a candle it does not last that long. It usually is taken out by a draft or you know something will knock out the flame. I truly think that that was a sign from her grandmother, especially since it lasted through the whole night. She said that usually her house is so drafty that most candles usually go out.
Speaker 2:
I mean that's truly what I believe. Once again, it's just like I get that because I'm a big candle person and my candles always seem to go out, especially we have an older house, so something always puts them out. But I think just having her grandma keep that flame alive, or just knowing that her grandma was keeping that flame alive, especially it being on the anniversary of her death I was just about to say that it was the anniversary of her death Just her being like no, I'm holding your hand through this one and just remember me and know that I'm here with you.
Speaker 1:
I will move on to our next story. This story was submitted by Julia B. After my miscarriage, the nursery became the quietest room in the house. Everything was still in place the crib, the tiny clothes folded neatly in drawers, the rocking chair by the window. I couldn't bring myself to pack anything away. Some days I would just sit in the chair holding a blanket we had bought when we found out we were expecting.
Speaker 1:
One night I sat there longer than usual. I must have dozed off with the blanket in my lap, curled in the chair, surrounded by silence. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up. The room was bathed in moonlight and then I saw it Something reflecting in the crib, a rainbow, faint but clear, a bright spot of color resting right where my baby would have slept. I didn't move, I just sat there watching it, tears spilling down my cheeks. There was no prism, no glass to explain it, just moonlight and color and peace. In that moment I felt her, not lost, not gone. Just near, somehow in the quietest corner of our home, there was light and in that light a message she was okay, and so one day I would be too.
Speaker 2:
So what I like about this one is I think it really shows when you need it the most. It it comes to you, it's for whatever reason. On this one particular night she just ended up staying there, falling asleep, and I think God knew she needed it that night, and there's a reason she woke up in the middle of the night to see that.
Speaker 1:
And I think that a lot of these stories, what they have in common is they provide comfort, these messages from heaven that we're receiving or that these individuals have received. They provide them in comforts of moments when they feel their lowest, kind of like Jen was just saying you know, you need a sign, you pray and God provides.
Speaker 2:
And it kind of just like in for a very cliche term. But he works in mysterious ways Exactly and you never know. You can pray for it all the time, but he works in mysterious ways, exactly, and you never know.
Speaker 2:
You can pray for it all the time, but you never know when you're going to receive that sign. But he knows when you need it and he will give you that sign when it is right for you, because it's not always the right timing, sometimes it might be further out of reach than you think, but it will come when you need it the most and when he knows you need it the most. That's a great point, jen.
Speaker 1:
Well, that is all the stories that we have for you today. Thank you so much for listening and for being so welcoming to Jen, as I am assuming you're being. 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, which is at CC Airwaves, on Instagram, facebook and TikTok, and, if you didn't already know, which I share every episode, you can now use the text message option in the description to share your thoughts about the episode or any other feedback you'd like to share directly with us. Have a great day.
