Today marks the cultural celebration of Valentine’s Day in our culture. Valentine’s Day as a holiday is steeped in mystery and legend. From what I can discern, there actually was a person named Valentine (may have been a few of them…) who was martyred related to his Christian faith by the Romans in the 3rd century CE. A bunch of stories emerged about what happened to this person, but no one seems able to settle on one story. In fact the Catholic Church removed “St. Valentine” from the canon of saints in 1969, BUT it seems that Valentine’s Day speaks to something much deeper in us.
The great author and public intellectual, bell hooks (who just passed in December), has written extensively about love. In one of her books called, All About Love: New Visions (2001), she says that
Everywhere we learn that love is important, and yet we are bombarded by its failure. In the realm of the political, among the religious, in our families, and in our romantic lives, we see little indication that love informs decisions, strengthens our understanding of community, or keeps us together. This bleak picture in no way alters the nature of our longing. We still hope that love will prevail. We still believe in love’s promise.
For me, Valentine’s Day represents something deep in us that wants to believe in love’s promise – regardless of what we see around us.
In our culture so much of our focus goes to romantic love. On this day we are encouraged to buy things to show our love for our partner. What I find unfortunate, however, is that the intense focus on romantic love eclipses so many other forms of love all around us.
In English, we have one word for love. In Greek, for example, they had at least 7 words for different kinds of love. These loves celebrated romantic love but also the love of friends, the love of parents for children, playful love, the love of family relationships, long-term love and the love of our neighbor.
Today, I encourage you to celebrate the love you have with a partner (if, in fact, you are partnered). AND I encourage you to celebrate all the loves we have in our lives – the love of friendships and families, the love of playful connections and mature love and the self-less love of neighbor that we are called to by our faith.
– Mike Boucher
6 Comments
Kathy Kearney
Happy Valentine;s Day, Mike! I just opened the bathroom window and yelled to a complete stranger walking down my street with her dog, ” Happy Valentine’s Day!” She yelled back,”happy Valentine’s Day, my love!” I just wanted you to know, Mike,i I am caring and sharing. Thank you for you and your wonderful writings!
Christine McEntee
Thank you. A warm way to start the week. Like Hope and Faith love saves lives. Happy Valentines Day.
Nannette Dusseault
Happy Valentine’s day to everyone who’s reading these comments and thank you, Mike, for this post. Kathy, I have tears in my eyes and a huge grin on my face because that is exactly something I’d do, too. I feel a kinship. LOVE the response you received.
Claire Benesch
What a pleasant surprise to find this reflection in my mail this morning. A perfect Valentine’s greeting! Thank you! I hope you have a day filled with Love. You are filled with Love. 💕
Mary Heveron-Smith
I echo Claire’s comment — this fresh and insightful column was a pleasant surprise. Like Kathy, I’m ready to open the window and share the message with all.
Dawn
Thanks Mike your wisdom and insights. Always learn something from you.
Commenting has been turned off.