3 March 2014

VALENTINE DAY ---- Romance or Love?

"Valentines Day" on 14th February each year is increasingly being celebrated as a feast of love in the secular world while in the Church calendar, St. Valentine, from whom this feast gets its name, is no more mentioned since 1969. Valentine, purported to be a 3rd century christian monk who risked his life helping young couples to remain faithful in love was venerated for centuries. The existence of such a saint has been lost in myths but the value of love, though distorted still remains. A search through the dictionary revealed the many aspects of Love with some equating it to Romance. However, in one dictionary I found a clear distinction between Love and Romance. It said: Love is a mutual commitment without conditions. Romance instead, is rather an affair surviving on many mutual conditions. As such therefore, Love tends to be a more permenant relationship "in good times or in bad times, in sickness or in health". Romance instead is a pseudo-love, or "puppy love" as the song goes. Too full of demands and conditions destined to crash the relationship at any time,before or after marriage. True Love in the pattern of Jesus' example is the biblical description: Greater love no man has than a man who lays down his life for his friend or spouse. All that goes by the name of love, today,is attractive Romance and explains the weak stability in marriage commitments. If Valentine Day is to gain its pristine purpose of fostering true love, our celebrations should shift from the trap of ephemeral Romance and promote true Love founded on honesty, sacrifice and faithful commitment.

1 comment:

  1. hi father nice thought
    i feel this way...

    http://manusdb.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/why-we-need-to-celebrate-valentines-day/

    ReplyDelete