Our worship this Friday happens to fall on Valentine’s Day –
also known as the Feast of St Valentine.
So, who was St Valentine?
Well, the short answer is, we don’t really know. Sure – there are a few facts that have
made their way down to us through the centuries. Valentine was a priest . . . or a bishop (or there was a
priest named Valentine and a bishop named Valentine whose stories got
combined). And he probably lived
in the in 3rd or 4th Century. And he was martyred.
But that’s all that history preserves about the mysterious saint.
Still, the story of a human life yearns to be told, and so
St Valentine’s life grew in the telling, becoming legend. Especially told and retold is the story
of that part of a martyr’s life leading up to their death, which is called
their passion – (from the Latin word for
suffering). St Valentine’s passion
includes the legend of his friendship with his jailor’s daughter, a friendship
that led to her conversion to the way of Jesus. And according to the legend, the condemned priest signed his
final note to his friend as “Your Valentine.”
Now, I’m not sure what all of that has to do with flowers,
chocolates, and secret admirers, but as Bob likes to say, “What better way to
memorialize the life of a celibate priest than to celebrate romantic
love?”
So, definitely make Valentine’s Day plans, definitely take
your special-someone out this Friday evening . . . but start the night off with
Southside Abbey dinner, prayer, and fellowship first. It’s what St Valentine would have done. And what can be more romantic than
that?
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