Valentine’s Day. Single’s Awareness Day. Or, as my five-year-old sister calls it, Love Day.
Whatever you want to call it, February 14th really bothered me until this year. I always saw it as a silly secularized holiday celebrating romantic love (which society often confuses with lust). It seemed that if a man really loved a woman, he would find ways to appreciate her every other day of the year—isn’t that what anniversaries are for? Why is it necessary for there to be a day when all the couples in the world are allowed to revel in their love bubble all at the same time? It makes one acutely aware of her singleness. I suppose that if I had someone in my life, it would be different. I would want to celebrate love, too, with flowers and doilies and candy hearts.
As it is though, I see what society has made the holiday become, especially after seeing the film Valentine’s Day that came out earlier this year. It is clear that society and the media do not understand what love is. The movie was entertaining at times, and I admit it brought tears to my eyes more than once (it doesn’t really take much for me!), but it was severely lacking. Every time it seemed like it was about to say something decent or even remotely true about love, something vulgar or funny ruined the moment. Such is life, I suppose. Human love is never perfect. Society portrays us as having candy hearts. They are hard and empty of all satisfaction. Candy hearts ask for someone to “text me,” or “call me.” They affirm that “ur gr8,” or “ur hott.” I received one that said “be mine,” but when I took it and ate it, I was not satisfied.
This year, the night before Valentine’s Day, I attended BeLoved, a mini-retreat for the women on campus. We heard testimonies from a married woman, a Franciscan nun, and a student who is discerning/spent almost a year in a convent before deciding to come to Franciscan. They all spoke of loving God first (where I got the idea for this blog’s title!), and of the joy and peace that comes from following His will. It was an incredibly inspiring night, which ended with adoration and midnight Mass. The priest gave a beautiful homily saying, “He is madly, passionately in love with you, and that is not liberal or conservative—it's just the plain Truth.” Then he thanked us for taking our vocations as women seriously, and for beginning Valentine's Day with the One True Love—Jesus in the Eucharist! Only when we receive Him, will we be satisfied.
Oh, it was beautiful. It gave me a new perspective: The whole night I kept thinking how beautiful it is that we have a day to celebrate love! It may be a lame holiday promoted by greeting card companies and florists as one of the most profitable holidays of the year, but why can't we de-secularize it and make it a day to celebrate everyone that we love, and to especially celebrate God’s love for us? By celebrating with the Sacred Heart rather than candy hearts, we can mark it as a day to remember the source of all life and all love. *He gives us His heart at each Mass.* By coming to the Eucharist, we can receive Christ into our hearts and allow the graces of His love to fill and satisfy us. With this grace, we can share His love with others, especially those who have no one else to love them.
My little sister understands it (it’s that whole childlike confidence we are called to by St. Therese), as she decorates the walls with Disney princess valentine’s and heart stickers. It is Love Day, a day to renew our love for God and for everyone He has put into our lives, and to recognize that without Him and His sacrifice of love, we would have hard, candy hearts. But it is the fire and passion of His burning love for us that melts them into cushy, lovable hearts that say, "I am Yours, first and forever." And we will live with Him happily ever after....
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