There are losses in life that are visible, and there are losses that are invisible. This one feels like both. We didn't lose a child we held in our arms, but we lost the expectation of children conceived through our love. We lost the ease of a future we had always assumed. We lost something deeply intimate and deeply personal.

In many respects, the prospect of permanent infertility is akin to a terminal diagnosis. The weight can feel heavy, almost unbearable. This life - this existence - is for a more magnanimous purpose: to be in relationship with God and to share in His own blessed life. We do not earn it; it is pure gift at the cost of Jesus' Passion, death and resurrection. Indeed, your life has not ended, it has changed.

May is the month of Mary. For many of us, that sentence lands differently depending on the season of life we're in. If you're in the thick of infertility, loss, or grief, the month of May can feel like a quiet ache. And yet, here she is. Our Lady. Waiting. If your relationship with Mary is complicated? Good. You're in the right place. That's where most of us started, too.