I’ve been seeing a lot of this in recent years on Facebook: a former female student gets married. To another female. So I guess I’ll keep this as a link on Facebook, rather than a direct entry, to avoid the stone-throwing.

But, again, you’re dealing with my Irish mother’s son, and she’s the Irish mother who loved God with her mind as much as her heart: she amazed priests, to the point of devastation, with her knowledge of theology. Her first prime directive, similar to Christ’s, was that love is a gift from God. From that flows a corollary: To love another human being is the most terrifying leap anybody can make, and to have the courage to commit yourself to the leap—both to the letting go, and to the hanging on on the other side—is the most perfect gift a person can give back to God.

So seeing those photos of young women who’ve made that commitment has a deep impact on me. The photos show two young women who are happy.  So they make me happy, too.

These young people, just starting new lives together, don’t need my blessing. I don’t have that kind of power, and that’s not the point I’m trying to make. I can only tell you–please forgive my forwardness–that I love you and I am very proud of you. You have reciprocated God’s greatest gift. And no stone can wound the strength in two people united together.

Before you throw yours, if you’re infuriated by my impious linkage of God with same-sex marriage, wait and listen quietly to discern whether condemnation—when you might be as confident in your faith as the Sanhedrin was in its faith when it arrested Jesus—is really what God desires. I believe from the bottom of my heart that She has a surprise for you.