Valentine's Day

Since December 26th commercial hype has been centered on Valentine's Day. Lately, advertisements for bargain bouquets of roses, the traditional Valentine's Day gift, have flooded the air waves. Well, today's the day, cards, gifts, expressions of love abound. All good, but who was St. Valentine? What connection did he have with Hallmark, Stouffers or red roses? The truth is, NOTHING. St. Valentine was a priest who was martyred for helping Christians who were oppressed and for his faith during the reign of Claudius II around 269-270 A.D. It is not clear how he became associated with the romantic aspect of this holiday, other than by early signs of spring in England, such as the mating of birds that occurs in mid-February, or by replacing an earlier pagan custom of drawing the names of girls in honor of their goddess, Februata Juno. Instead, names of Saints were written on the billets which were drawn. Whatever the origins, the custom of honoring our beloveds on this day is well-established, and, it seems, cemented in our culture.
However we might make the following link from the commercial to the spiritual from today's Gospel, St. Luke's version of the Beatitudes, where it is clear that in the Christian view, the opposite of what we experience here will be reversed in the kingdom of God: those who weep will laugh, the hungry will be filled, the hated will be rewarded in heaven, and above all, the poor will inherit the kingdom of God. All for emptying ourselves and turning our hearts over completely to God, as Valentine did in offering his life for others and ultimately to God in martyrdom. As we spend this sabbath day, this Valentine's Day, let us color our expressions of love for one another with a deeper gift of ourselves from our hearts to God's.
Bro. Rene