DONATION ANGEL

St. Valentine

FEAST DAY • FEB. 14

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

The Church celebrates the memorial of St. Valentine, bishop and martyr, on Feb. 14. So does the rest of the world. Many people just don’t know it.

Most of us know St. Valentine as the patron saint of love. Sacrificing his life out of love for Christ and His Church, Valentine modeled a mind set on the Spirit of God. “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Rom 8:6) He truly lived because he loved.

Christ asks spouses to be obedient to each other’s needs and give themselves up for one another as Christ did for the Church. (Eph 5:24-25) Christ laid down His life for us. Let us find new ways (or just one for today) to lay down our lives for each other. However, St. Valentine’s example is not only for spouses. His (ultimate) act of love nurtured the beginning of the Church. We can do the same with our daily acts of love that begin in our homes, workplaces and parishes. The martyrs “paid back the price Christ paid for them, thus fulfilling the words of St. John: Just as Christ laid down his life for us, we too must lay down our lives for our brothers.” (St. Augustine, Common of Martyrs) How can we apply this to our lives?

Consider how Jesus, after three hours of agony on the cross, is finally overwhelmed with suffering and, abandoning Himself to the weight of His body, bows His head and dies. (Pause) Jesus, give to all who are considering their vocation a deep love of the Eucharist, the Most Holy Sacrament of Your Passion, death and resurrection. Let them find in the Mass a daily renewal of Your invitation to live their lives through You, with You, and in You, giving glory and honor to God our Father.

More than 1,700 years after St. Valentine’s martyrdom, it is still Love that keeps the Church moving forward. Not that we have loved Christ, but He has loved us. And as He has loved us, we must love one another. (1 Jn 4:19) Just as St. Valentine did.

If the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” (Tertullian), our everyday acts of love are the fertilizer. If “the Church everywhere flourishes through the glorious deeds of the holy martyrs” (St. Augustine, Common of Martyrs), the Church also grows each time we put ourselves aside for the wellbeing of another.

St. Valentine, pray for us.