Valentine’s Day has been around since the middle ages. The British Library in England has a valentine greeting from 1415: a poem that Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote for his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. An ancient valentine!
While the holiday currently celebrates romance, its origin is a bit mysterious. Some legends say that Valentine was the name of a priest serving under Claudius II in third century Rome. When Claudius decided that young men couldn’t marry (bachelors made better soldiers), Valentine married lovers in secret—and was put to death when Claudius discovered his illegal activities.
Another legend claims that Valentine was a man who helped Christians persecuted by the Roman Empire. When Valentine was imprisoned for his deeds, he wrote a letter to a young woman he loved and signed it, “from your Valentine,” a sentiment still used today.
Yet another legend claims that the church decided to celebrate St. Valentine on February 14 so that it would overshadow the pagan fertility festival of Lupercalia, held on February 15. (For more fun facts about Valentine’s Day, visit History.com.)
Whatever the reason, people now celebrate Valentine’s Day in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K., France, and Australia. In fact, Valentine’s Day is second only to Christmas in greeting card rank. According to the Greeting Card Association, we send about 1 billion Valentine cards each year! That’s a lot of pink and red envelopes. But with all of the hostility and angry words floating around in our world today, I think we need something more than roses and lace this Valentine’s Day. We need more heart.
This February 14th, instead of celebrating love in the just romantic way, let’s also celebrate love the “agape” way. Agape is a Greek word, the one most frequently used for love in the New Testament. In this Biblical context it describes an unconditional, self-sacrificing love, one that is shown to both friends and enemies. It is often used to describe God’s unending love for humanity.
Wouldn’t it be nice if it described us too?
Even if you don’t believe in a God, or aren’t familiar with the New Testament, I hope you recognize that our world would be infinitely better if we all tried harder to love selflessly. If we acknowledged the flaws within ourselves before harshly judging the flaws in others. If we embodied the practice of treating others the way we want to be treated. If we considered our words carefully before speaking or posting to social media.
This Valentine’s Day, we need more than cupids and chocolate. We need to show love the agape way, selflessly showing respect and concern for those we like and for those we don’t like so much.
Thanks for getting “agape” with me!
Amen!
🙂 Thanks Debbie!