Friday, February 15, 2013

Will I be your Valentine? Let me get back to you on that.

Yesterday was Saint Valentine's day. Making the rounds of the Catholic facebook groups were photos such as the one to your left.

The small point is obvious. Every February 14th, we spend billions celebrating the feast day of a saint we know nothing about by sending each other chocolates, candy, flowers, balloons and who knows what else, when all these things have nothing to do with a saint who was imprisoned, mocked, brutalized and murdered.

The larger point is even more telling.

If you truly and fiercely love, you will leave this world looking a lot like Saint Valentine did when he left it- beaten and bloodied.

To truly love someone who is often utter unlovable is a work in patience and suffering equal to any vocation on this earth. To be that utter unlovable creature who is loved anyway is to come to grips with the scene in Luke 7:37-48 and to know that love, far from a trip through the clouds with a cherub with a bow is the hardest work there is on earth.

In love on earth, we hope to draw nearer to the love of God and to contemplate it and understand it. In the frustration of loving someone almost hell-bent on destroying himself, perhaps we can understand the deep pain of loss felt by Our Savior when one won't come to Him, though he had every opportunity to do so.

Yesterday, I stayed home from work because I was having back and neck pain. The same back and neck pain that kept me tossing and turning all night and bothers me right at this moment.

     Yes, I took my pain meds. However, rather than rest my back and get better, I argued on facebook all day and loaded myself with carbs and sugar, like a complete idiot. My amazing wife made me this amazing dinner of Steak, Lobster and Champagne but, afterwards, I was too dizzy to stay up and went to bed.

     This morning, 8 hours later, my blood sugar level was still off the chart. Happy Valentines day, sweetheart....but I gotta tell ya......Your husband is a real jackass.








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