I’ve had lots of people praying for me for the last several months. Not just me — I should say us. Our family of four recently became five, with the addition of Teresa, born Jan. 19. I hadn’t written about the pregnancy before because there is such a thing as oversharing, and besides, if you can’t get any privacy while still in the womb, when can you? Part of it may have been superstitious, similar to the Jewish (I think) custom of not bringing any baby supplies or equipment into a home until the baby is safely born. But given the circles (and buildings) in which I travel, as the impending blessed event became more and more obvious, I was told over and over again that people would be praying for me and the baby. Those praying for me — whom I like to think of as an impromptu prayer group, even though many of them don’t know each other — include relatives, religious sisters, priests, devoted lay people, fellow parents, non-Catholic and non- Christian friends, children and, I’m told, schoolgirls in Tanzania. If that list doesn’t cover everybody, my apologies. There have been actual studies done about the efficacy of third-party prayer; the results have been at best inconclusive, especially when the person being prayed for did not know about the intercession on their behalf. But studies are for science, not faith. Knowing that people were praying for me helped me cope with all the anxieties and difficulties of a pregnancy that was much wanted, but also complicated by “advanced maternal age,” as they call it, and my own underlying health conditions. Throughout the pregnancy, Caroline and Frank had their own perspective: excited and nervous at the same time. Caroline worried most about the birth process (which, after having been through it twice, was not as high on my list of worries) while Frank just seemed to want me to be more energetic — and more willing to play football and hockey with him — again. But both have been troupers throughout. They have been praying, too, prayers of petition and of thanksgiving. I imagine them and me and everyone who has been praying for our family in one great chain of prayer, and I think that this might have been what St. Paul meant about us all being one body. So please keep praying. Not necessarily for me and my family, although we will take all the prayers we can get, but for everyone who needs your prayers — those who are sick, those who are grieving, those who are suffering and those who are none of those things, but just need a little human — and divine — connection.