As
we celebrate Valentine’s Day the giving of flowers, chocolates, cards and dining
out are all good expressions of saying
“I love you” but outside of the traditional
/ annual Valentine’s Day expressions how does your daily actions show what you’re
now saying?
When
the finances are out of whack; all the bills are overdue, creditors are
consistently calling and other issues arises do you say
“Baby, I love you we’re gonna be
alright”
Can I tell you that it’s
during challenging times that true love is mostly tested and tried?
Have you ever heard the saying
“When
the money gets funny, the honey gets funny”
Flat
out ignorance and religious stupidity would have many to live a life of lies
and pretense; but when a husband and wife can come together in unity, one mind
and one spirit in confronting life’s challenges; this helps in fostering an atmosphere
/ environment for the powerful love which initially brought them together. The romancing
of a wife by her husband should be a daily thing along with the giving of
flowers, chocolates and cards, etc; and not just a Feb 14th, exercise.
Far
too often we partake in things out of tradition and not knowing its origin and
meanings.
What
do you know about Saint Valentine’s Day?
Or does it really matter to you?
The Story behind St. Valentines Day
is a fascinating one. Although February 14th is celebrated as a lovers' holiday
today, with the giving of candy, flowers, Valentine's Day card and other gifts
between couples in love, it originated as a tribute to St. Valentine, a
Catholic bishop.
As early as the fourth
century B.C., the Romans engaged in an annual young man's rite of passage to
the God Lupercus. It's earliest origin was the Roman festival Lupercalia,
observed on Feb. 15. Lupercalia celebrated the coming of spring on the Roman
calendar. Lupercalia became a celebration intended to ensure the fertility of
flocks, fields and people.
The names of the teenage women were
placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men; thus, a man was assigned
a woman companion (a sexual partner) for the duration of the year, after which
another lottery was staged. After eight hundred years of this cruel practice,
the early church fathers sought to end this practice.
In an effort to do away with the pagan festival,
Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of
young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were
allowed to draw from the box, and the game was to emulate the ways of the saint
they drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young Roman
men were not too pleased with the rule changes.
Instead of the pagan god Lupercus,
the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place. They
found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who, in 270 AD had been beheaded by
Emperor Claudius.
According to church
tradition, St. Valentine was a priest near Rome. At that time the Roman
Emperor, Claudius II, had issued an edict forbidding marriage. Claudius had
determined that married men made poor soldiers because they were emotionally
attached to their families. So he banned marriage from his empire.
Valentine, a bishop, seeing the
trauma of young lovers, met with them in a secret place, and joined them in the
sacrament of matrimony. When Claudius found out about this "friend of
lovers," Valentine was thrown in jail and condemned to death.
While Valentine was in prison awaiting his
fate, he befriended his jailer, Asterius, who had a blind daughter. Asterius'
daughter befriended the kind priest by bringing food and messages to him.
Valentine fell in love with the jailer's daughter. Asterius requested that he
heal his daughter. Through his faith he miraculously restored the sight of
Asterius' daughter and converted the two of them to Christianity.
After some time in prison the priest
was ordered to appear before the Emperor. The emperor, impressed with the young
priest's dignity and conviction, first tried to convert him to paganism to save
him from certain execution. But Valentine reversed the strategy, trying instead
to convert Claudius. He failed. Just before his execution, he asked for pen and
paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to the jailer's daughter
and signed it, "From Your Valentine." He was stoned and beheaded on
February 24, 270 AD.
Valentine became
a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of the annual festival. Although the
lottery for women had been banned by the church, the mid-February holiday in
commemoration of St. Valentine, involved young Romans offering women they
admired and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February
14th.
Happy Valentine’s Day:
Eph.5:
25.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Pastor
Matthew & Brendalee Allen
Kingdom
Minded Fellowship Center Int’l
