Depending on who you read and what source you choose to trust, Valentine’s Day is either in honor of a church leader choosing to support marriage in defiance of the Emperor, or it is connected to a fertility feast by the ancient Romans. Maybe its both, which wouldn’t be such a horrible thing necessarily, though it is certain that the idea of the day wasn’t connected to cards, candy or flowers. Instead, both point to the marriage of a man and a woman.
In the ancient Roman celebration, according to some sources, single women would place their name in a big jar and the single men would draw out those names. In other words, it was something of an arranged date that could last as long as the entire year till the next celebration. However, many of those relationships would end up in marriage, a commitment of the man and the woman to each other.
The Saint Valentine story, meanwhile, also celebrates marriage. As the History Channel website puts it, “Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.”
Certainly, today, we can and should express our love to others important to us, perhaps your daughter or son, maybe your parent. At the core of the idea, however, is a romantic love based on a mutual commitment between a man and a woman.
I hope you have a special someone to whom you can express forever love. I hope if you are married, you remember the magic of the day you said your vows. Perhaps you should try to find those vows again, maybe watch your marriage video with your mate. Think about just how much in love you were in. Maybe today, like my parents, you are past your 50th year of marriage together; maybe like some in my church, you are heading only towards year 5. You could be mourning the loss through death of your mate, or maybe today you are celebrating the kindling of a new love that could head towards the commitment of marriage.
Regardless, as you celebrate with this special someone, know that it was God who instituted marriage. It was his plan for communion between two people. He was the one who made procreation fun, thrilling and amazing for a husband and wife to enjoy. So, let your love be professed and not hidden; be extravagant in your love, even if it is with “merely” a hand-written card or a home-cooked meal. Valentine himself would approve.