A REFLECTION FOR ST. VALENTINE'S DAY
St. Valentine was a Roman
priest who was imprisoned for secretly marrying Christian couples so husbands
wouldn’t have to go to war, something that was considered a serious crime. Eventually,
Valentine even attempted to convince the Emperor Claudius to become a Christian.
This did not go down well with the Emperor, who became enraged and sentenced
Valentine to death, commanding him to renounce his faith or be beaten with
clubs and beheaded. St. Valentine refused
to renounce his faith and was executed on February 14, A.D. 269. Other
variations of his biography say that he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, was
imprisoned and while imprisoned he healed the jailer's blind daughter. On the
day of his execution, he left the girl a note signed, "Your
Valentine."
Today happens to be St.
Valentine’s Day, and is the feastday on which we ask the help of this saint to
watch over the lives of lovers everywhere. For those who need help in finding a life
partner, or want to confirm God’s blessing on their marriage; for those seeking
protection and guidance for a husband or wife, the conversion perhaps of a
boyfriend or girlfriend, St. Valentine is always ready to intercede with his
prayers and patronage. We should send
him our prayers today for whatever our own needs may be, as well as other
members of our family, friends and neighbors, anyone we know who could use his special
help in matters of love.
This year, St. Valentine’s
feastday falls in carnival time, just a couple of days before Mardi Gras. Like so many of the Church’s liturgical celebrations,
both Carnival and St. Valentine’s Day have been turned into an excuse for indulging
our sinful pleasures. To do so is a
mockery of the solemn occasion each represents.
Our blessed “farewell to feasting” which precedes the gravity of the penitential
season of Lent, must not be seen as the pretext for drunkenness and gluttony. Neither should we pervert St. Valentine’s Day,
with its emphasis on the sacred love between a man and a woman, into a day of
lustful debauchery. For Catholics, these
are obvious statements, but in this world of sin, our temptations to
self-indulgence are sometimes hard to withstand. Pray to St. Valentine for his help, as well
as to the “Mother of Fair Love” our Blessed Lady.
St. Valentine’s spiritual responsibilities
are extensive. As well as taking care of
lovers, engaged couples and happy marriages, St. Valentine is the patron saint
of beekeepers and epileptics, and is also kept busy by those who invoke him for
protection in their travels, and by those suffering from the plague (think
Covid for example), and from fainting spells.
But let’s pray today especially to him to protect our families and keep
them united in the faith in these difficult times.
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