Happy Feast of the Martyr, Saint Valentine!

Valentines day is fun. I love any opportunity to be completely ridiculous with my cheesy puns and pick-up lines, and I enjoy showing my appreciation for all my dear friends that love me despite my punny humor. I've spent every single Valentine's Day in my life perfectly single, and I still love it. I admit, at times I catch myself thinking about how it would be fun to have an admirer (and sometimes I have to resist listening to "On My Way" by Boyce Avenue - *cue emotional chastity lecture), but having an admirer would be fun every day of the year, not just on Valentine's Day. This is because I connect Valentine's day with a different kind of  love rather than romantic love. (My favorite valentines are from my mother. Seriously, isn't this the cutest?)

I do wonder what St. Valentine, a third century Roman martyr, would think of what has become of his feast day. His name is now connected to romance and sex, twisted into something far from the love that Saint Valentine truly represented.

Jason Bach Cartoons

Don't know much about Saint Valentine? St. Valentine was a holy priest in Rome at the time when there was an emperor called Claudius who persecuted the church. Claudius also had an edict that prohibited the marriage of young people, based on the idea that unmarried soldiers fought better than married soldiers because married soldiers might be afriad of what would happen to their families if they were to die. Valentine secretly married couples and was eventually caught, imprisoned, clubbed, and beheaded because of his stand for Christian marriage.

St. Valentine represents a kind of love in which one lays down their life for another, a Christ-like love. While this holiday has been reduced to something much less than its true meaning, I choose to celebrate  the kind of love that St. Valentine represented and died for. I celebrate Christ's life giving love. And that is truly a reason to celebrate. After all, Christ is the...

No matter who you spend Valentine's Day with, I hope this day calls to mind the love of Christ. Happy feast day of Saint Valentine!

Love in Him,