When I hate my heart and body with all its problems that make me permanently infertile, I see a heart that was pierced for me and loves me when I can't love myself. If that perfect heart can love my imperfect one, then maybe I am worthy of love. When your heart can't take anymore, let His heart carry yours.

The Annunciation has a very special place in my heart as a mom of loss and someone who has also experienced primary and secondary infertility. I always looked at it as this miraculous event where even when conception seemed impossible, it wasn't with God. It was hopeful that we might miraculously conceive. As I have gone through my own journey, I've gleaned deeper meaning from this intimate encounter with Mary, the Angel Gabriel and our Lord.

St. Colette of Corbie was born in 1381 to parents who had long given up hope. When we hear of a woman conceiving at 60 years of age, it's easy to stop reading there. The miracle becomes the whole story, and we miss everything that came after. But St. Colette's life didn't end at her birth; it began there. And if we reduce her to the answer her parents received, we rob ourselves of the witness she offers: a life that shows us what fruitfulness looks like.