I wrote a blog regarding being single on Valentine’s Day back when I was a freshman in college, and it was interesting to go back and read what I said (https://fearlessadventuring.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/st-valentines-day/). I had gone to confession prior to writing the blog, and before entering the confessional, I was aware of the fact that I was alone in the chapel with three couples my age. I didn’t bring this up, but after confessing my sins, the president of my university, who is first a priest of Jesus Christ, looked at me for a bit before saying “The Lord has His Heart set on you, and He loves you more than anyone on this earth can.” It was something I needed to hear then, but it’s also a truth that I need to be reminded of each day.
Roses are red, violets are blue, I was beaten with clubs, beheaded, buried under the cover of darkness, disinterred by my followers, and you commemorate my martyrdom by sending each other chocolates.
-something St. Valentine didn’t actually say
I think it is very ironic that the grand, secular celebration that is Valentine’s Day is held on the feast of a martyr—someone who performed the greatest act of love by dying for his Beloved. If the Lord loves us more than anyone else on this earth can, and if we can reciprocate this love in our broken, human way, our belief in this incredibly beautiful relationship and this unfathomable love should lead us to be martyrs. Maybe we won’t be beheaded, or roasted on a grille, or crucified, but in what ways are we being called to die to self and sacrifice our desires for the Lord?
For me right now, dying to myself looks like being a full-time student with all the extra responsibilities of pioneering a new missionary program tacked onto it, but I feel fully alive in it.
This Valentine’s Day, and really every day, we should spend some time contemplating how we are being called to be martyrs in our daily lives in order to better love the Lord. In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ, yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (2:19-20). We should ask ourselves the question: How much more do I need to love in order to truly die to myself, so that Christ may live in me and, in that, I may be more fully alive?
May St. Valentine pray for us on this journey to grow in charity and love for our Lord and those He has placed in our lives. San Valentino, prega per noi!
In regards to Valentine’s Day, I’ve seen tons of #CatholicPickUpLines over the years, and these were too creative not to share:
· Here’s a rose. I think St. Thérèse wanted you to have it.
· Wojtyła doing later?
· I believe you have one of my ribs…
· Hey girl, your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
· Are you a penitential season? ’Cause I’d give up anything for you.
· You may need to go to confession because you just stole my heart.
· What’s a nice girl like you doing in a confession line like this?
· The Bible says to give food to the hungry…how about dinner?
· I prayed to St. Anthony to find my heart, and I think you have it.
· Hey girl, are you the Resurrection? Because you are a glorious mystery.
· Are you the sacrament of Confirmation? ’Cause you complete me.
· You are so unblemished that I would sacrifice you.
· So last night I was reading the book of Numbers, and then I realized I don’t have yours.