Providence, R.I., Sep 7, 2011 / 14:05 pm
It has been a decade since Michele Murphy lost her sister Renee Tetreault Newell on 9/11, and while the pain may never truly subside, Murphy, a devout Catholic, has found comfort and strength in her faith that reassures her that her younger sister is always with her.
Despite a recent tragedy in her life—Murphy’s North Providence, R.I. home caught fire this summer causing significant damage—Murphy, a parishioner at Mary, Mother of Mankind Parish, North Providence, points to a series of seeming coincidences through the years involving one of the most delicate and beautiful of God’s creatures: the butterfly, that bring her confidence that her sister is one with God.
Two days before the tragedy, a large monarch butterfly unexpectedly perched itself in Murphy’s home. Then, on the morning after 9/11, Murphy says she walked into her bathroom to find a butterfly pin atop the sink. She had purchased the pin a year earlier to remember someone who had died from her parish, and had put it away for safe keeping.
More instances of butterflies beginning to flutter around the windows of her home—once when a group of mourners was present—led her to believe a greater force was at work.