I don’t know why I keep forgetting Saint Valentine’s story, but I do know I keep mixing it with what I remember about the Filipino Florante at Laura. Fortunately, if we had Google for so many years, even decades now, we also now have ChatGPT to help me out with remembering the real story behind the original:
Saint Valentine, the namesake of Valentine’s Day, has a fascinating story rooted in both history and legend.
The most common belief is that Valentine was a Roman priest during the third century AD. At that time, Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, believing that single men made better soldiers. However, Valentine defied this decree and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, Claudius ordered Valentine’s execution.
While awaiting his fate in prison, Valentine is said to have befriended the jailer’s daughter, who was blind. Through his prayers and companionship, Valentine miraculously healed her sight. Before his execution on February 14th, he is said to have written her a farewell letter signed “From your Valentine,” a phrase that has since become synonymous with expressing love and affection.
Over time, Valentine’s story evolved into a celebration of love and romance, and he was eventually canonized by the Catholic Church as Saint Valentine. Today, Valentine’s Day is celebrated around the world as a day to express affection and appreciation for loved ones.
While the historical details of Saint Valentine’s life are somewhat obscure and have been embellished over time, his legacy continues to inspire expressions of love and kindness centuries later.
So based on this, we’re to understand that Valentine was martyred because he was performing marriages, fully aware that Claudius decreed that it was against the law for young men to marry. I suppose it was a direct affront – Here the emperor was saying ‘it is not good for men to marry’, after generations literally spanning back to the makings of the first generation ever, established after God said ‘it is not good for man to be alone’.
These marriages were done in secret, obviously so that they would not be known to Claudius… but here I think I see another thing – It’s not that we ought to have grand marriage celebrations like the ones we have today, complete with games, people and feasting, and photography and videography packages, but the reason why folks do get married is to make their union publicly official, and officially public – first, and foremost, with God. Even if it was just Valentine and the couple in attendance, I’d like to think that what was of utmost importance was that the union was dedicated to God, before anyone or anything else.
That’s right, before making the union known to the state, and before celebrating the union of two families, it was apparently of utmost importance for the relationship to be dedicated to God.
I wrote elsewhere that in the days leading to today, I wasn’t feeling anxious, compared to so many times, and so many Valentines’ Days before. I think the biggest reason behind this is age (lol) and also, I don’t know if this is something I’m proud or ashamed about, but I’m at a time in my life that’s best described as sung by Ed Kowalczyk and Shelby Lynne – ‘I’ve had the scars to prove that love has had its day and its way with me’…
…but instead of singing the rest of the song, involving a last hurrah of sorts, or taking what sounds like a last attempt at love, I think now, I’m dwelling a little more on that lyric… If only to remember that ‘Love’ as this world insists it should be, truly has left me down for the count… But instead of asking someone else if they’d want to embark on that fabled last ride for another attempt at this ‘Love’, I think I’ve arrived at the point of understanding that through all of this, God was present.
God, the One whom I insist now that we talk about automatically when we talk about real love – God was present through all the times I found myself crying from the pain of rejection, or fretting from confusion and uncertainty.
God, the One whom the Scriptures says loves us with an everlasting love, and consequently the one true Love that ought to precede all other forms of ‘love’ – now that I think about it, He’s heard me time and time again, and when He does respond in a way that I see and feel, I have no doubt that it’s a response that only He could pull off.
May the scars we bear display the faithfulness of our God, more than the pain that we’ve gone through. I suppose that’s one thing that Valentine would pull all stops to share, in each and every secret marriage he performed – That even in the absence of the rest of the world, God is faithful to the man and wife, both as individuals, and then as a couple.
You’ll notice that I’m completely ignoring the story of the blind woman and the origins of the phrase, ‘Be my Valentine’. Maybe next time we’d touch base on that. But for now, I guess I’m just remembering God’s faithfulness.
Plain and simple, He is faithful to us, no matter what social status we place on our Social Media profiles. Single folks could celebrate the union of their friends in a relationship, knowing that God is faithful to them as much as He is to their friends. Married folks could celebrate those who are still on their way to tying the knot, knowing that God was and is faithful to them, as individuals, and as a couple.
There you have it. We’ve been talking a storm about trust, and we’ve also touched a little on how trust is involved in love… but today, of all days, we’re also reminded of how the true love we have from God is not without His faithfulness.
In the pattern of something we’re apparently developing through this 2024, I say: You can’t talk about faithfulness without talking about God, and you can’t talk about God without talking about His faithfulness… and you can’t talk about God’s faithfulness without talking about Jesus Christ. We celebrate Him, no matter if we’re single, double, or open about our relationship complications.
Despite our social status, and despite what issues we have in the relationships we’re in, God’s faithfulness never wavers, and God’s love is as it always is – everlasting.
Happy Valentines’ Day. God bless us all.
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