The Rev. Jerry Mraz, a Northampton resident, always looks forward to the return of the monarch butterflies from their winter stay in Mexico.

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” Mraz said, likening it to welcoming an old friend back home from vacation.

Each fall, monarch butterflies east of the Rockies migrate to central Mexico, where they overwinter in large clusters on trees in the mountains, never having made this journey before. They return in the spring with the females laying eggs on milkweeds, the only plants on which monarch caterpillars will feed.

At the end of summer, after three or four generations in the monarch life cycle, the migration to Mexico starts again.

While these caterpillars need milkweed to feed on, the adult butterflies need nectar for water and energy. Since the monarch population is declining, in part due to the loss of milkweed habitats, it is important to plant milkweed and nectar plants to maintain the monarch migration and preserve their ability to pollinate the environment.

Mraz noted the call to a monarch ministry began more than 20 years ago after he discovered the comfort and spiritual connection grieving individuals can feel with the monarch butterflies.

“When I would gift a mature monarch caterpillar to someone suffering a loss, there were times when a spiritual bond occurred while the person watched the transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly then subsequently released the monarch into flight,” Mraz said. “Symbolically, butterflies are creatures with the ability to transcend the ordinary and take flight into the heavens. In many spiritual circles, the butterfly represents the spirit or soul.”

He shared a story about the role the monarch caterpillar played in his family after the sudden death of his granddaughter Meagan Duarte. Duarte died from Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection as a young mother in July 2016.

On the day of Duarte’s death, her sister Kayla Karan, her husband and Mraz left the hospital to go home when they were greeted by a monarch butterfly. Karan noted the butterfly flew toward them and circled the trio as they walked to their cars before rising up and flying off into the sky.

Karan said she believed it was her sister’s spirit going off into her new life.

Mraz said he reached out to the family shortly after to offer condolences and gifted the family a monarch caterpillar.

“Surprisingly, the day I delivered the caterpillar to a family member, it miraculously changed into a chrysalis right before our eyes,” Mraz recalled.

He reported the butterfly emerged from the chrysalis the day before Karan was to be married. Duarte was to serve as her matron of honor.

“Kayla was able to release that special monarch at her wedding the following day, making the emotional connection to her sister, who was absent physically but present spiritually,” Mraz said.

Mraz has since become proactive in improving habitats for pollinators, particularly the monarch butterfly, in part due to the personal impact it had on his family.

As part of these efforts, Mraz is donating a memorial butterfly way station at Northampton Borough’s Canal Street Park and the D&L Trail area in memory of Duarte; his wife, Betty Mraz; and his son-in-law’s sister, Dawn Lockard.