Valentine's Day
Happy almost Valentine’s Day! And Ash Wednesday - if you’re not able to go to a service tomorrow night, try this hands-on practice from a previous year at home. Valentine’s Day is, of course, a lovely time for our children to load up on candy and become inexplicably attached to the little trinkets and cards they get at school. But it’s also a chance for families to remember the agape love that this saint’s day is about. Here’s what we do know about St. Valentine: He lived in the third century AD, and he was martyred for his faith. In one common version of the story, when the Emperor decided single men made better soldiers than married men, he decreed that men could not marry. St. Valentine defied these orders and secretly officiated ceremonies, eventually getting caught and martyred. In another version of the story, St. Valentine was helping Christian prisoners escape. After he was caught and put in prison, the jailer’s daughter visited and befriended him. Before his death, he sent her a letter with the post-script, “Your Valentine.” Whatever the real story, we know that St. Valentine was a man who followed Jesus’ directions to the disciples in John 13 - to love others with the same humble, self-sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrated.
Read It
John 13:34-35
"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - Jesus
"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - Jesus
Do It
Early childhood: Create a heart handprint or tracing with your child’s hands. Write a note on it, and send it to someone who could use a show of love. Alternately, you could create this, write part of the John 13 passage on it, and hang it on your child’s wall.
Older children: Ask your local prison or jail if you can write letters of encouragement to people who are incarcerated. Most prisons have very strict rules on what kinds of paper and even colors can be used, so be sure to ask! Have your children draw some pictures to send to them.
Serve others: Think of someone who often serves your family - a server at a restaurant you frequent, your mail carrier, a teacher or pastor… Find a way, as a family, to reverse the roles and serve them. Invite them for a meal, send them a card, or volunteer to do another act of service that seems fitting.
Older children: Ask your local prison or jail if you can write letters of encouragement to people who are incarcerated. Most prisons have very strict rules on what kinds of paper and even colors can be used, so be sure to ask! Have your children draw some pictures to send to them.
Serve others: Think of someone who often serves your family - a server at a restaurant you frequent, your mail carrier, a teacher or pastor… Find a way, as a family, to reverse the roles and serve them. Invite them for a meal, send them a card, or volunteer to do another act of service that seems fitting.
Pray It
Jesus, thank you for all the people through all the years who, like St. Valentine, followed your call to love as you love. Help us to be those people, to live in a way that makes it so people know we must follow you. Amen.
Explore It
The official Catholic version of the St. Valentine story.
This site, though not religious, gives some nice and do-able ideas for Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to share love with our children.
This site, though not religious, gives some nice and do-able ideas for Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to share love with our children.
