Prayers from Phoenix, more saints

God, thanks for another birthday. Thanks that I got to celebrate it in a new place in a new way. It made me start with no expectations, so everything was "bonus." Thank you for the mariachis that serenaded me and for the cake my students bought me. Thank you that I can look at my family from a distance and realize how much I love them and miss them and how small the aggravations are. Thank you for the beautiful birthday song Mike sent me and all the work he put into it. Forgive me for first looking at the time of the email and thinking "he should have been sleeping!" instead of "thank you for the love that kept him up." How can I be thankful when I worry so much? When I do this, help me transcend the worry and focus, like Ashley, on breathing and honoring the day.

Thank you God, that Ashley is taking care of herself. Thank you that she is willing to love herself enough to rest, eat the right things, set some boundaries. Help me learn from her to honor the life enough that I treat my body with respect and do everything possible to live each day as a gift.

God, thanks for the gift of the church universal. [I was walking to the hotel yesterday when the noon time bells of a church started ringing. I found myself only a block from my hotel, in the middle of modern, tall buildings, staring at a little adobe church that looked like it had come out of a postcard. I climbed up the steps to find myself in the first Catholic church built in Arizona as people were coming in to mass. All types of downtown folks, from business guys to construction workers.] God, I guess you know there is construction everywhere in this beautiful, sunny city. Please don't let us ruin your creation with sprawl. [It was a regular mass, but the Italian-American priest that sang the mass was celebrating the day of St. Frances Cabrini, the first US saint. She is my birthday saint! And what a woman. She refused to "go home" when the Bishop of NY told her to, and she started 67 institutions, from orphanages to hospitals.] God, you've had amazing women working for justice for many centuries. I can't get over this perfect birthday gift to remind me of strong women across the ages, defying authority and doing good regardless of the support or lack thereof of their superiors.

God, thanks that Ashley is in such good company as she tries to right society's wrongs. Thanks that we are in the company of strong women, saints that have come before and saints that walk with us. Bless them. Bless us. Bless Ashley with a good day of improving health. Restore her strength and give her a day of laughter and joy.

Thank you for Benji and The Laramie Project. Thank you that he has a teacher that cares enough to put on this transformational show. Bless Ashley and Al tonight when they watch it and the whole audience. Move them, move us, to work each day to eradicate hatred from your world.
I pray today in the company of all the strong women who have served you, and in the name of Jesus, our healer, comforter, and strength. Amen.