This year, the season of Lent quickly follows the celebration of Valentine’s Day. As we consider concrete practices to take up during Lent, perhaps the true meaning of Valentine’s Day may help us in this regard.
Valentine’s Day is associated with telling our loved ones how much we care about them. The custom is derived from St. Valentine, a martyr of the third century. While there is much legend surrounding St. Valentine, it is commonly held that he was a bishop who opposed the edict of the Emperor Claudius which forbade Christian marriage. Bishop Valentine continued to perform these marriages in defiance of the emperor, and was subsequently imprisoned. While in prison, he would correspond with those under his care through letters and notes, which he would sign, “From your Valentine.” Hence, the tradition of sending notes and letters on Valentine’s Day in expression of love and affection. All that is truly certain is that Valentine was martyred on Feb. 14 around the year 270. His staunch defense of marriage makes him a model saint for our contemporary society.
The season of Lent gives us the opportunity to consider concrete ways to continually express our love to those close to us well beyond one day. It also gives us the opportunity to reflect upon God’s love for us and how we return that love to Him. While Valentine’s Day gives us the symbol of a heart pierced with an arrow from Cupid, the season of Lent places before us the Sacred Heart of Christ pierced on the cross in love for all of us.
During the season of Lent, we can read on a regular basis the ongoing Valentine that God sends to us — the Bible. The word of God contained here gives us continuous messages of God’s love for us. The Old and New Testaments are truly an account of God’s love expressed in words in a concrete manner. From the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation, we have a letter from God expressing His love for each of us. The message of the Scriptures and all of salvation history is well summed up in the fourth chapter of the First Letter of St. John. These words make a very fitting reflection for the season of Lent and truly are a Valentine from God.
St. John tells us, “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). Indeed, “We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). It is all God’s initiative, not our own. God loves us so much that He gave that which is closest to Him — His own Divine Son, who gave His life for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but may have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:16-17).
On Ash Wednesday, as we are signed with ashes in the form of a cross to begin the Lenten season, the cross stands as the ultimate sign of God’s love for us. It is placed upon our foreheads so that it will be uppermost on our minds during the days of Lent. Of all the messages of God’s love, the pierced heart of His Son on the cross from which blood and water flowed out to give us life speaks lovingly and clearly to us. God will always love us, whether we return His love or not. God will never abandon us or give up on us, whatever may happen. To reflect upon this message of love during Lent, especially as we celebrate it in the sacrifice of the Mass, is a most fitting practice of love.
During the season of Lent, it is so appropriate that we express our love for God by the love we show to one another. That love expressed on Valentine’s Day to those closest to us should be continually expressed in a true sacrificial manner. Love is not based on sentiment or emotion but on our willingness to give of ourselves and to put the other first. Again, St. John tells us, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1 Jn 4:11-12). St. John states this fundamental truth so well when he says, “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love the God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 Jn 4:20-21).
God loves each of us and continually sends us messages of His infinite love, which is most fully expressed in the cross of Christ. His love is what is at the very center of our lives, and that love will envelop us completely in eternity. Loving God in return is what brings joy to our lives, and that love is best expressed in the love we show to one another.
During this month of February, as we celebrate Valentine’s Day and begin the season of Lent, may we know more fully the love of God in our hearts. May that love help us to give ourselves more completely to God and to each other so that we may experience the promise of our Lord, “I have told you this so that my joy might be yours and your joy might be complete” (Jn 15:11).
Happy Valentine’s Day and a blessed Lent to all!
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
February 12, 2010
