I love that Valentine’s Day falls on Ash Wednesday this year. It has a certain yin and yang to it. The commercial hawking of one compared to the saving grace of the other, proving once again that opposites attract.
The black ash symbolizing death countered with the puffy red heart celebrating love adds an element of realism. And when you have a holiday as syrupy as Valentine’s Day, a-la doilies, hyped up expectations, and besotted poetry, that darkness is rather refreshing.
I know I sound terribly unromantic, but I have loved long enough to know that true love has little to do with those trappings and more to do with the ashen cross on the forehead. (My poor husband is probably not feeling too wooed right now.)
Ash Wednesday is a day of penitential prayer and fasting. It marks a season that is purposefully non-celebratory, while Valentine’s Day is about bubbly champagne, decadent desserts, and red roses.
I like the juxtaposition of it. But there is also a commonality that exists between the two. At the core of each is love and there is no greater example of that than God sacrificing his only son for our salvation.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NRSV).
On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of God’s mercy, which has the power to take away the stain of our sins. Our hearts, blackened by the wounds of the world, grudges, indifference, neglect, and injustice can be wiped clean. We are called to seek mercy during the Lenten season. It is this mercy that allows for everything: forgiveness, second chances, redemption, and the glory of new life. The days leading up to the victory of the cross are a sacred time to examine ourselves, our relationship with God, and our neighbor.
That might seem dull next to shiny, red, heart-shaped balloons bobbing and boasting like a frog bellowing for a princess’s kiss. Yet it’s anything but. Everyone knows helium balloons eventually sink, chocolates are consumed, and flowers die. But what God promises is eternal and real. It has the power to heal the dark wounded places we hide from the world. It forgives our failings and delights in our efforts to know, love, and serve him. It carries us in our loneliness, desperation, and grief. It doesn’t inflict pain like the thorny rose of the world but offers the bloom of eternal life.
Anyone who has moved past infatuation knows that love is messy. It’s trying again, like Jesus when he fell carrying his cross. It’s forgiving like Jesus did before he drew his last breath. It’s beautiful and redemptive like Jesus rising from the dead.
It’s fitting then that Valentine’s Day falls on as significant a day as Ash Wednesday.
It’s the perfect preface to the greatest love story ever told.
While obviously, Ash Wednesday takes precedence of Valentine’s day, love and Lent aren’t mutually exclusive ♥ what are you doing to honor both today? Please comment! Want more related to Lent https://larapatangan.com/2018/02/06/stillness-the-action-of-finding-god/ and https://larapatangan.com/2014/03/05/shine-this-lenten-season/
XO
I received this prayer card years ago from the Cenacle in Chicago. I loved it so much that I keep in in my top drawer..
By Pedro Arrupe, S.J.
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.
Oh my, Molly! I love that so much! It is so beautiful and so complete. Thank you for sharing this – it really is the ultimate goal to know this ultimate love.