Who taught you to go deep? Who dared you to crack open the secret vaults of your heart? Who stood by as you crept hesitatingly into the silence?

“Whatever madness, or rage, or illness, or who knows what was the cause of this, damn it, God. Literally, God: damn it. Declare it accursed. Banish it. Abolish it.”

But this was a wedding weekend, which means that the conversation inevitably and rightly turned to the couple. And everybody said it; I said it: “You two are so good together. You seem so happy.”

I had a fool-proof plan for what would happen when I shared the passage with my prayer group: it was going to be a miracle. A salty tears, angelic choruses, cataracts falling from eyes, miracle.

“A couple was very much in love. Like most lovers, their life together was a story deeper than it was long…”

We had arrived just ahead of a summer storm, an electric charge in the air. We were greeted by a woman with an oxygen tank in tow. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.

Easy part first: Rep. Akin’s assertion that a raped woman will not get pregnant is absurd and nonsensical. But still there is something to be learned…

“Reacting is easy. It’s harder for me to let myself feel pain, to ask the insoluble question: ‘Where is God in all this?’…”