February, 2012 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

It’s February, so you know what that means!  Enjoy, Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae day!  …Ok, so we haven’t used that name in a while; like in sixteen hundred years.  Now we call it Valentine’s Day, but we still enjoy it.

With all its changes, would it surprise you to know that Valentine’s Day didn’t start out as a day of romance?  For the most part, it was a holy observance of martyrs.  There were actually, a number of early Roman Christians named Valentine who died for their faith.  In fact, the feast day of Saint Valentine remained on the Roman Catholic Calendar until 1969. 

From the days when Christianity was outlawed, one legend speaks of a believer named Valentine.  He impressed the Emperor Claudius II so much, that the Roman ruler tried personally, to convert him to paganism.  It was the only way to save the saint from his sentence.  However, Valentine stayed true to his faith and was executed.

Martyrdom and love seem to be opposites, but there is a connection.  Real love, according to God IS the pouring out of one’s life for another.  Imagine if that’s how we really practiced love!