Red Bird Blog

Red Bird Blog

For the Church Elizabeth Leon For the Church Elizabeth Leon

Bearing the Length of Grief

Carrying grief is hard, holy work. It has been almost 5 years and I don’t miss my son any less today than I did the day he died. But I have learned to make space for my grief. I have grown and stretched around it, learned so much from it, and become more the woman I am meant to be because of it.

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For the Church Kelly Breaux For the Church Kelly Breaux

Intercessory Prayer

I love the gospel of the paralytic man lowered through the roof, and I decided to pray with Luke’s gospel reading because of its depth. Still, at the end of Matthew’s gospel, he says, “When the crowds saw this, they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings.”

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Family and Friends Ashley Leger Family and Friends Ashley Leger

When Grief Comes in Strong

When you have those hard days, it's okay to feel that way. You don't have to be strong all the time. No matter how long it has been since your child died, it is okay to cry, get angry, or feel like you've lost your best friend. That's what grief is for— to help us process our terrible and traumatic loss. It's not something we can avoid forever, but it is something that we will learn to carry and will, eventually, make room for a new chapter in your story.

Grief is a part of life and a part of love, but it doesn't have to take over your life. If you are feeling alone or lonely, reach out to someone close to you who will listen and care about what you have to say.

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Westin Joseph Morgan

My husband and I got married on November 12th, 2021. What was supposed to be the best day of our life turned out to be the start of a nightmare. I remember bits and pieces of our wedding and nothing more. At our reception, I had this aching pain in my stomach. What I thought was appendicitis was an ovarian pregnancy that ruptured. I was rushed into immediate surgery. My brand-new husband and I were shocked, confused, and hurt. We didn’t know what to think. The first time I would ever circle “spouse” on any paper was in the middle of a miscarriage.

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Family and Friends Ashley Leger Family and Friends Ashley Leger

How to survive those "hard" days after child loss.

I've written about my experience with the death of my son. I know that I'm not alone and that others have had similar experiences, but it's still difficult to find ways to cope with the loss. Recently, as part of my healing process, I've been learning more about grief and understanding what goes on in my mind on the hard days so I can move forward after my loss. I am learning about the many stages of grief you might go through after losing someone close to you, including denial and anger. However, there is hope for healing if you're willing to take time for yourself as well as reach out for professional help when needed.

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For the Church Emma Pourciau For the Church Emma Pourciau

The Transcendentals

The Transcendentals are a specific way to describe the natures of man. Because we are made in the image and likeness of God we too mirror his truth, goodness and beauty. You could say that the transcendentals are the ultimate desires of man.

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Family and Friends Ashley Leger Family and Friends Ashley Leger

What is the hardest stage of grief

The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

It's important to note that the stages of grief are not linear and can occur in any order. Additionally, people often go through each stage more than once, and may reoccur at different times in their lives.

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For the Church Emma Pourciau For the Church Emma Pourciau

Why we Veil.

To share in dignity, respect and beauty with the most sacred aspects of Catholicism was truly a privilege. When beginning to do my own research about veiling I simply typed into my search bar “Why do Catholic women veil?” The answer I stumbled upon was that veiling is an external sign of a woman’s interior desire to humble herself before the Lord truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. Wow.

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Families of Child Loss Elizabeth Leon Families of Child Loss Elizabeth Leon

The Embrace of the Cross

There will be restoration and redemption of broken families and broken hearts. There will be a gathering of all the holy love that was ever poured out. Love is never lost. It is only held in the crossbeam of salvation, held in the space between the nails and eternity, waiting to be glorified and released.

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Families of Child Loss Elizabeth Leon Families of Child Loss Elizabeth Leon

The Invisible Boy

John Paul Raphael. His name was a prayer, a plea for him to reveal himself to me. I held myself in this sacred moment, spinning slowly through space. The veil between what actually is and what could have been seemed very thin and I imagined three alternate realities all at the same time.

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Family and Friends Ashley Leger Family and Friends Ashley Leger

Why we Struggle to Change After Child Loss

We all want to feel like we are in control of our lives. We have dreams, goals, and plans that we work towards, and then there is life itself. Life has a way of knocking us off track when we least expect it, and often the hardest challenge is how to get back on track after something traumatic happens. When someone close to you dies or leaves, there can be many emotions, including sadness, anger, guilt, blame, and confusion about why it happened or who was at fault. These emotions make us feel stuck in our grief because we keep going over what happened instead of moving forward with our lives.

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