On St. Valentine's Day

Even though the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of St. Valentine the Presbyter on July 6, and the Heiromartry Saint Valentine (Bishop of Interamna, Terni in Italy) on July 30, I figure today is as good a time as any to remember those men who gave their name to a day that is associated so strongly in our culture with the concept of love. There's not much to be known for certain about either man, except that the fact that they are remembered lovingly many centuries later as saints is a testament to the fact that they both exemplified in their lives a passionate love for Christ -- both gave their lives as servants of Christ as pastors of His church, one sacrificing to the point of violent death.

While I doubt either of the pastors named Valentine thought of love as the stuff of flowers, candy and over-priced cards, it's not too far a stretch between the love these men demonstrated in their lives for Christ and the ideal expression of human romantic love. Christ's love for the Church is set up as the biblical example of the love of a groom for his cherished bride. The Orthodox Church still crowns wedded pairs with the dual crowns of royalty (as rulers of a home dedicated to Christ) and martyrdom (as those who are pledged to lay their lives down for each other as Christ did for his bride). Truly Christ's sacrifice for His beloved bride was the greatest expression of love we will ever know.

I'm especially grateful today -- as I recover from surgery and wake with a new reminder of the fragility of life and the gift it is to face each new day, whatever challenges it may bring -- for the many manifestations of God's love in my life, the most tangible of which come in the form of friends and family who are there, loving me in their unique and cherished ways.

I hope you know that you are loved deeply and perfectly by God, and loved imperfectly, but dearly, by me.