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Barbara Graver

Barbara Graver

Catholic Writer, Podcaster & Etsy Shop Owner

A Butterfly In Flight

September 28, 2020

A Grounded Butterfly

On Sunday I stopped at a convenience store so my son could use the ATM. After he got his cash he stood looking down at something on the sidewalk while the other shoppers rushed around him, some obviously annoyed.

When the coast was clear he came back to the car and said that there was a butterfly on the ground that seemed unable to fly.

Thinking that the butterfly was probably injured and that a convenience store sidewalk was a really awful place to die, I got out of the car to see what I could do.

The butterfly was big and beautiful and very yellow. He didn’t seem to be injured or at least if he was we couldn’t see how. But he there was no doubt that he was not about to fly. I watched him crawl around in circles for a moment, while the Sunday shoppers streamed back and forth, and then I put down my hand and let him crawl onto my palm. His little feet were gentle and soft.

Walking around to the side of the store we were surprised to see that someone had made a small landscaped garden in the area between the shop and the lot. So I put the butterfly down on a bush, even though he seemed as if he wanted to stay right there on my hand, and then we drove away.

Until We Meet Again

We drove the next few blocks to the 6th Street Flea Market wondering if the butterfly might have not been injured at all but simply new to life as a butterfly and not quite ready to take flight. I told my son about a cocoon I had kept as a child and how the moth emerged and sat for a long time on the edge of the open jar as if he didn’t quite know what to do.

I had thought the moth was sick so I gave him bits of broken leaves to eat and a soda cap of water and laid down on the grass and waited. After what seemed like forever, he finally spread his wings and flew away, small and brown and sturdy against the bright blue summer sky.

Now, almost half a century later, my son and I couldn’t help wondering if the big yellow butterfly might just have needed a bit of time to get his bearings. It was a breezy day and probably not the best time for a first attempt at flying. Or maybe he had been flying and got tossed about in the storm the night before.

Either way, we speculated, he might have remembered his old safe caterpillar life and decided to take a time out on the ground.

We arrived at our destination and got out of the car. At that very moment, a bright yellow butterfly came dipping and weaving across the windy parking lot. As he passed almost directly in front of us, I had the distinct impression that he was saying, “Look at me, I’ve got it.”

My son and I exchanged a look. “I’d like to think that’s our butterfly,” he said.

“So would I,” I said feeling surprisingly certain that it was. And I felt happy for the butterfly and happy for us.

in: Creative Nonfiction # family

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Our St. Joseph's table. Today after Mass. #stjosep Our St. Joseph's table. Today after Mass. #stjoseph #catholiclife
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Used my new pressure cooker for the first time tod Used my new pressure cooker for the first time today. Perfect for corner beef! #stpatricksday #stpaddys
Yesterday. Just before Benediction. . . . #tradit Yesterday. Just before Benediction.
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The Seven Sorrows Rosary is a wonderful Lenten dev The Seven Sorrows Rosary is a wonderful Lenten devotion!

The Seven Sorrows which Pierced Our Lady’s Heart.

1. The Prophecy of Saint Simeon. (Luke 2:34–35)

2. The escape and Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13)

3. The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem (Luke 2:43–45)

4. The Meeting of Mary and Jesus on the Via Dolorosa.

5. The Crucifixion of Jesus on Mount Calvary. (John 19:25)

6. The Piercing of the Side of Jesus, and His Descent from the Cross. (Matthew 27:57–59)

7. The Burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea. (John 19:40–42)

Not only do we get to unite our sufferings and sorrows to Our Lady of Sorrows, we are also promised 7 Graces:

According to St Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), there are Seven Graces of this devotion.

1. I will grant peace to their families.

2. I will be enlightened about the Divine mysteries.

3. I will console them in their pains, and I will accompany them in their work.

4. I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my Divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.

5. I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy, and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.

6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their Mother.

7. I have obtained this Grace from my Divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.

#lent #Lent2023 #catholiclife #LentenJourney #catholicfaith  #lentenseason
I wasn't able to attend last week but am looking f I wasn't able to attend last week but am looking forward to doing the Stations of the Cross with the rest of the congregation this Friday!
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