By Kelly Breaux

Did any of you notice last night in the sky the Lunar Halo?

I was so intrigued last night about this beautiful mystery that God was showcasing for us to see.

The night sky is filled with so much wonder. Look at what the moon is often referred to.

“The moon has often been seen as a symbol of the Virgin Mary—as the moon does not generate light of its own, but reflects the light of the sun, so the Virgin reflects and participates in the glory of God. Similarly, as the moon is, in our own day, increasingly viewed as a “launching pad” for reaching more distant outposts in space, so Our Lady is the “white ladder” that joins heaven and earth. Ultimately, the meaning of all space endeavors is tied to the acknowledgment of God, the Creator of the whole universe. Here, too, the beauty of the heavens is a sign of the most beautiful creature ever made—the Mother of God—who herself leads us to the All-Beautiful One.” by Roderic Burke

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As we walked out of Estelle Gabriella’s 11th birthday dinner, on the Feast of the Epiphany we walked out in the front of the restaurant to see a perfect circle around the moon. The circle was filled with hints of the colors of the rainbow. It was so beautiful. Everyone stopped to stare.

The folks at the Farmer’s Almanac have a great explanation of it, and say,

“A lunar halo is caused by the refraction, reflection, and dispersion of light through ice particles suspended within thin, wispy, high altitude cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. As light passes through these hexagon-shaped ice crystals, it is bent at a 22 degree angle, creating a halo 22 degrees in radius (or 44 degrees in diameter).”

It’s definitely beautiful to look at. From a folkloric standpoint, however, many traditions of weather magic indicate that a ring around the moon means bad weather, rain, or other foul atmospheric conditions are on the way.

EarthSky.org says,

"Halos are a sign of high thin cirrus clouds drifting 20,000 feet or more above our heads. These clouds contain millions of tiny ice crystals. The halos you see are caused by both refraction, or splitting of light, and also by reflection, or glints of light from these ice crystals. The crystals have to be oriented and positioned just so with respect to your eye, in order for the halo to appear. That’s why, like rainbows, halos around the sun–or moon–are personal. Everyone sees their own particular halo, made by their own particular ice crystals, which are different from the ice crystals making the halo of the person standing next to you."

As Catholic’s we don’t believe in magic, or the absolute science of weather prediction. Although the weather is very predictable, in the wave of God’s hand, it can change. We often joke about Louisiana weather changing in the drop of a hat, I wonder if it’s because we have such a huge population of Catholic’s praying and complaining constantly about the current temperature. That was a joke. Hehe.

My point is that there are no coincidences in life, only providence. If you want to see God’s hand in your life, you only need to look in front of you. He always shows up. We just have to watch HIM work.

Back to the Lunar Moon

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Estelle was my rainbow baby. She was sandwiched in between Talon and Emma Grace’s deaths. She is how I survived the early days of losing Emma Grace. I literally held onto her for years, so worried that she would die too.

My sweet little 11 year old’s name packs a beautiful Catholic punch. Estelle (STAR, Stella Maris) Gabriella (After St. Gabriel), her name literally means the “FIAT” and she was born on the Feast of the Epiphany. The Star that lead the wise men to Christ. How beautiful.

I have a huge confession, I had no idea when we named her what exactly her name meant.

Then one day, I learned what her name meant.  My simple mind allowed me to be mystified by God. Ryan thought that he was the one naming her, but I think God had HIS hand in that naming long before we ever conceived her.

Because I was still into my grief trenches from losing Talon and the stress of conceiving a child when Emma Grace was so sick had me mentally mixed up. I had no idea what God had orchestrated for us to know. I had no idea just how much HE loves us, even though HE allowed these tragedies to happen in our life. He always showed us HE never left us, and was there the whole time.

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On the Feast of the Epiphany yesterday, God sent us all a message.

The wise men are called “Wise Men” now, because they used their intellect to find the Savior. But they were non-believers. We can honestly call them pagans, astrologers that were using a map, the night sky to follow an ancient tradition/prophecy. And when they got there, they knew that in that moment what they saw was not of a typical setting, but indeed a KING. And they bowed and worshiped OUR LORD.

Like the wise men followed the star all the way to Christ. Estelle is the STAR that slowly lead me back to Christ.

When Estelle started pre-k at St. Bernard, my sweet girl would invite me to mass every week, and like the wise men, I used my intellect to save us both from tears and I just went, reluctantly. Indeed one was wise, but it was not me. I had no idea what was happening to my heart. Her reluctance in her mother coming, saved my soul from damnation.

That is how my heart softened to go back to church after I quit going when Emma Grace died. It was first Estelle, my little star.

Talon, Emma Grace, Estelle, and Mary of course, all had their hand in helping their mom find Jesus again.

All STARS truly lead back to Christ, back to the “Son”, to our Lord and Savior. He never leaves us, nor forsakes us.

Happy Epiphany.