Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. It is a day that we Celebrate our love for one another, and God’s love for us. Even as a little boy I always looked forward to our celebrating Valentine’s Day, making boxes and giving little cards to my school friends. And now it is even more special as I have Judy, my four children & spouses, and my grandchildren to show love.
Have you ever heard the history of St. Valentine? St. Valentine was a Christian minister near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor was imprisoning Christians for not worshiping the Roman gods. During this persecution Valentine was arrested. Some say he was arrested because he was performing Christian marriages, but others say it was for helping Christians escape prison. (The emperor. Claudius II, prohibited young men from marriage because he felt bachelors made better soldiers)
During the trial they asked Valentine what he thought of the Roman gods Jupiter and Mercury. Valentine said they were false gods and that the God that Jesus called Father was the only true God. So the Romans threw him in prison for insulting the gods.
While in prison Valentine continued to minister. He witnessed to the guards. One of the guards was a good man who had adopted a blind girl. He asked Valentine if his God could help his daughter. Valentine prayed and the girl was given her sight. The guard and his whole family, 46 people, believed in Jesus and were baptized. Because these people had come to know Jesus, Valentine praised God right there in his prison cell. When the emperor heard about this he was furious that Valentine was still making converts even in prison, so he had Valentine beheaded. (Legend says that Valentine fell in love with the guard’s daughter and before he was executed sent her a note ‘from your Valentine)
The Bible Says: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”(John 15:13) God showed us this love by coming in Christ to die for our sins. And St. Valentine demonstrated this love when he died for his Lord and his friends. This is the kind of love that Valentine’s Day is really about.
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