valentine's day

Today is both Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday. Could there be two more culturally different days?

Would you like your marriage and other significant relationships to be stronger and more loving? The answer is found in a place many of us would never think to look.

Wednesday is Valentine’s Day, marked by many with romantic dates, gifts of flowers and chocolates, and expressions of love to our significant other. Many forget that it is, more accurately, Saint Valentine’s Day (or the Feast of Saint Valentine). Saint Valentine of Rome was a third-century Roman saint who is commemorated on February 14, the day he was martyred and buried. It has been honored that way since A.D. 496.

Attempts to commercialize romantic love, what the Greeks called eros, is nothing new. But it’s quite clear that, in our Valentine’s Day traditions, we’ve lost the history of what was, historically, a feast day of the Church: The feast day of the third-century Christian martyr, Valentinus of Rome.

In the latest episode of the reality dating competition show The Bachelor, female contestant Madison Prewett confessed the importance of her faith in her life.

David Vryhof of the Society of St. John the Evangelist: “Why would we choose to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us? Because this is the way of God. 

“God never stops loving, never stops caring, never stops blessing. Yes, it’s outrageous. It’s impractical. It’s unrealistic. It’s beyond us. Which is why we need God and why we need each other."

United States figure skating couple Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim used their Thursday skate at the Winter Olympics to honor the 17 people killed in the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland, Fla.

Isn’t it odd that today is both Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday? If you ask me, it’s a clear case of divine providence.

Today’s holiday didn’t start with St. Valentine. Many historians think the tradition began more than two thousand years ago with an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia.

The thoughts of many will turn to love, true love, tomorrow on Valentine’s Day. But what does true love look like? Well, don’t look to Hollywood for an answer.