God's Love and Ours

Sunday Reflection: God's Love and Ours

You have to wonder whether St. Valentine and St. Patrick commiserate in Heaven about their feast days being somewhat obscured by their popular celebrations. Treating your loved one to a nice dinner, flowers or a box of chocolates on this day is certainly a nice thing to do. However, as a part of your celebrations, be sure to call to mind Saint Valentine and our loving God from Whom all love flows on this special day. Specifically, the real story of St. Valentine is usually forgotten on his feast day. We actually do not know a lot for sure about this saint. He was either a Roman priest or a bishop in central Italy who was martyred in the 3rd century. His remains are buried along the Via Flaminia in Rome.

The connection between him and romantic love is also a bit uncertain. One legend says that he secretly married Christian couples, a grave offense according to the persecuting government. Some versions say that this favor was done particularly for Roman soldiers, who were not allowed to marry since—the government thought—this would make them unwilling to risk their lives in war. Whatever the actual story tradition, the customs we associate with St. Valentine’s Day are traceable to the Middle Ages. Based on the tradition that birds began to pair on St. Valentine’s Day, lovers exchanged letters and tokens of affection on this day. We see references to these customs in literature from the 14th- and 15th-century in France and England.

Whatever is the truth about the legends surrounding the life of St. Valentine, we know that this holy priest existed, and that he died for his faith during a time of bitter persecution. His very status as a martyr makes him an apt patron for love: he and his fellow-martyrs illustrate to us, through their sufferings, the depth of their love for Christ, Who is Love Himself. As you enjoyed this day with those you love, continue to remember the love of St. Valentine and the ultimate self-giving that he gave to the Lord and to others on this earth.

Remember Our Great God, Who out of unimaginable love, created us and Who loves us abundantly. He gave us the two great commandments of Love — to love God with all your being (Deuteronomy, 6:5) and to love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18) [Mark 12:31]. Let us all live out the vocation to love in self-giving. We can make bold statements of love or through simple, small random acts of kindness, we can demonstrate His love embraced by St. Valentine and many others throughout the centuries.

Know you are loved by our Awesome God and by your parish family.
God’s love and Ours, this Valentine’s Day and always!

Adapted for our purposes from
Get Fed/The Catholic Company