As a preteen, collecting valentines to line up on my dresser, I would count the cards and sort them and arrange. Valentines from friends were put where I could see them readily; ones from boys I liked were given pride of place. It was not unheard of for a girl to receive two or more valentines from the same young man: a definite sign of not-so-secret love.
"The Bible is a letter from Almighty God to His creatures," wrote Pope St. Gregory.
What a missive! The length of it, the poetry, the repeated declarations of total and absolute LOVE.
"I have loved you with an everlasting love... I am constant in My affection for you." (Jeremiah 31:3)
"Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you." (Isaiah 54:10)
"My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them out of my hand." (John 10:27-28)
I can turn page after page of Scripture and find such love. Love that would suffer and die for me, declaring itself over and over and over - a definite sign of not at all secret Love.
This is Love that deserves first place in my heart. This Valentine's day, I shall (anew) accept it. And I pray for grace to give love in return.
Through prayer, through acts of charity, through aspirations of love and praise, I hope to give Our Lord a number of "valentines"... repeated declarations of a not-so-secret love.
This was originally posted on my blog The Breadbox Letters, 2012
Samuel Melton Fisher painting
