As we enter February we find that love is in the air. The shops are full of St. Valentine cards, encouraging us to buy the perfect gift for the one we love.
Here at St. Peter's and All Saints’ Church we will also be celebrating love and marriage – after all God invented human love, and gave us the gift of marriage. So do invite your friends and neighbours to come along and celebrate their love, not just with cards and chocolates, but by thanking God.
Of course, St. Valentine wasn’t a famous lover. In fact there is a legend about the very first Valentine card – it goes like this.
The Roman Emperor Claudius II needed soldiers. He suspected that marriage made men want to stay at home instead of fighting wars, so he outlawed marriage.
A kind-hearted young Christian priest named Valentine felt sorry for all the couples who wanted to marry, but couldn’t. So secretly he married as many couples as he could - until the Emperor found out and condemned him to death.
While he was in prison waiting execution, Valentine showed love and compassion to everyone around him, including his jailer. The jailer had a young daughter who was blind, but through Valentine’s prayers, she was healed. Just before his death in Rome on 14 February, he wrote her a farewell message signed ‘From your Valentine.’
So the very first Valentine card was not between lovers, but between a priest about to die, and a little girl, healed through his prayers.
As we go through February we will begin the churches season of Lent, and we start to think about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, and his journey to his execution, his death on a cross.
It's a sombre time in the Church, but it's also a time of hope, because in a way the cross is also a message of love, from Jesus Christ, our high priest and king, to each of us whom he loves, who are healed by his wounds.
As we enjoy our pancakes, let us remember God’s message of love to each of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment