PSA: It's Valentine's Day on Friday!
This is a public service announcement: This Friday is Valentine’s Day!
Not that you needed the reminder. When I walked into our neighborhood grocery store yesterday, I was bombarded with oversized red helium heart balloons, an abundance of flowers, and a giant sign urging everyone to show their love by making the appropriate purchase.
Valentine’s Day gets a lot of hype in our consumer-driven society, doesn’t it? Retailers waste no time enticing you to make the perfect purchase—whether in-store or online.
Do you know the origin of Valentine’s Day? One source cited that there was a priest by the name of Valentine who lived in Rome about 250 AD. At that time, Rome was ruled by Emperor Claudius II who desired a big army but found many men just wouldn’t volunteer– they did not want to leave their wives and girlfriends. This infuriated Claudius II, so he got this crazy idea that if men were not married, they would join his army. Claudius II decided not to allow any more marriages.
Young people thought his new law was cruel. Valentine thought it was ridiculous! One of his favorite jobs as a priest was to marry people.
Well after Emperor Claudius II passed his law, Valentine kept on performing marriage ceremonies – but secretly. He would whisper the words of the ceremony, while listening for soldiers on the steps outside. One night, he did hear footsteps. The couple he was marrying escaped, but he was caught. He was thrown in jail and told that his punishment was death.
And do you know what happened?
Many young people came to the jail to visit him. They threw flowers and notes up to his window. They wanted him to know that they, too, believed in love. One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit him in his cell where they often sat and talked for hours. On the day he was to die, he left her a note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. He signed it, "Love from your Valentine." That note started the custom of exchanging love notes on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day he died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember and think about love and friendship.
“Love” and “friendship” are huge themes in the Word of God. For instance 1 John 3:18 says: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” We are told that our love must be true love and that we should show that love by what we do.
Our words have to match our actions if we really mean them. St. Valentine backed up his belief with action. He continued to perform marriage ceremonies even though he knew he could die for doing it. As we know, St. Valentine’s actions were not so unique. God showed His extravagant love for us first.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)
God did this for you and for me – before we even knew that God existed. God gave us the greatest “Valentine’s Day” gift ever given!
But how do we show our love for God?
The Bible is clear that God calls us to love others as Jesus loves us. We can say that we love others – but what does it look like? And does it only happen once a year on Valentine’s Day. I don’t think so.
It means that in our daily, everyday lives we need to treat people the way we want to be treated. With love. I suppose what I am trying to say is that actions sometimes do speak louder than words!
So, on Valentine’s Day, remember that you have already been given the greatest Valentine’s gift of all. And as a response to God’s extraordinary love let us love others just as God loves us!
