Monday, February 13, 2012

Celebrating St. Valentines Day?




Am I the only one that has noticed commercials for St. Valentine’s day have become much ‘racier’ than in the past? From the Super Bowl Victoria’s Secret commercial to floral ads promoting flowers for sex. Both of them encouraging us to give the gift of lingerie so they can ‘get it’ tonight. Or Tela-floral Flowers encouraging men to pony up because IF you “Give … and you shall receive.” (This is a BLAITANT distortion of a promise in Scripture) Why aren’t the women’s libbers speaking out about this stuff? Why aren’t women in general? Why aren’t people in general? I can only assume it must be because they like it too, or it goes ‘right over their heads’ because they don’t know any better, or worse yet they just don't care. We have truly forgotten what the true meaning of LOVE is. We have become a sexual oriented society at the cost of the dignity of the human being whether male or female. People often desire sex for purely SELFISH reasons and often never look at the consequences.

Each year there seems to be less and less talk of True Love, Affection, and appreciation for the person. It seems it is only “How can I (ME) ‘get it’ tonight, and with whom. The most beautiful act of creation; the act of a man and woman coming together as one, has turned into advertisements with the most selfish of motives and is ‘all about ME’ and how can I be satisfied. It is almost like Prostitution… I’ll give you flowers or lingerie or a beautiful box of candy or even jewelry, perfume, tickets to the game, tickets for two to the spa, etc. ALL in exchange for some “getting it” tonight. Think about it… what does this say about who we have become and what does it tell our children. They are seeing it all going on ‘un-checked’!

I long for the old days when “Love” was more important than the “sex”. You loved your partner because you made a CONCIOUS decision to do so. On St. Valentines Day you exchanged gifts in appreciation for the other person. It was NOT so that you could get selfish sex. Do you or your friends even KNOW WHO this “St. Valentine” was? I bet you DO NOT! Well let me tell you who St. Valentine was. He was a third century priest (presbytery) who served in Rome. Claudius was Emperor of Rome at the time and thought young men would be better GLADIATORS rather than Husbands and fathers. HE essentially outlawed MARRIAGE (something we seem to have done all on our own in less than 75 years in the US). He ‘drafted’ all the young men to be Gladiators who would entertain him by fighting to the death.  St. Valentine knew the importance of marriage and family and defied Claudius. He would marry young couples in secret. Eventually he was caught and Claudius had him put to death making him one of the early martyrs of the Church. The Development of the ‘holiday’ that we celebrate is based on this account mixed with other legends and stories of the MUTUAL Love and Devotion of men and women who were ‘Valentines’ over the ages. Almost un-recognizable today… isn’t it?

The Holiday was initially meant as a day when a man and a woman would celebrate their love and devotion to one another. It was a conscious decision, a commitment at working to insure that their Love would last. They were giving wholly of themselves. This was when they knew what REAL LOVE was and … still can be.  LOVE is not something that you buy, or earn, or bargain for, or ‘trick’ people into doing. The true definition of Love is, “a conscious decision to always desire the good of the ‘other’ as ‘other’.” That means you desire the good of the other more than breathe itself, simply because of who they are. It is a mutual decision that two people consciously make and keep, working hard at, together, communicating, to keep that focus. We all know that relationships require working TOGETHER. We all need to revisit this true meaning of Love and to celebrate it in a way that St. Valentine would know that his sacrifice for TRUE LOVE was not in vain. Think about it, won’t you?

Finally, I wish all of you in a relationship, a happy St. Valentine’s Day. I hope that you revisit for yourselves the true meaning of the day and COMMITT (I know that’s a dirty word to some people) yourselves wholly to one another as St. Valentine would have encouraged you too.

Until Next time May God Bless and keep you and yours,
Bill