“Learn to defend your convictions without hating your adversaries and love those who think differently from yourselves.” –Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, one of the founders of St. Vincent de Paul Society, beatified by Pope John Paul II in the cathedral church Notre Dame de Paris in 1997.
Month: February 2011
Start with a smile
“So let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love …”
Mother Teresa
“Everything Is Yours” by Audrey Assad
When all the world is blossoming
And everything around is bursting into life
And I don’t have to strain to hear the beat of Your heart
When all the world is under fire
When skies are threatening to thunder and rain
And I am overcome by fears that I can’t see
If everything is Yours
Everything is Yours
If everything is Yours
I’m letting it go
No, it was never mine to hold
No, never mine
Who could command the stars to sing
Or hold the raging seas from breaking through the doors?
And tend the fragile roses with the very same hands
If everything is Yours
Everything is Yours
If everything is Yours
I’m letting it go
I am, I’m letting it go, letting go
Yeah, I’m letting it go
‘Cause everything is Yours
Yeah, everything is Yours
If everything is Yours, God
And everything is Yours
If everything is Yours
I’m letting it go, let it go, let it go, let it go
It was never mine, no, no
It was never mine, never mine
Saint Valentine ~ Patron of Love, Young People, Happy Marriages
There is not much known about Saint Valentine. Many historians claim that he was a temple priest jailed for helping persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius. Evidence that Valentine was a real person was excavated under a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine was discovered. Alongside a woodcut portrait of him, where text states that Valentinus was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius the Goth (Claudius II). Since he was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding any Christians who were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius in Rome (this was considered a crime), Valentinus was arrested and imprisoned. Claudius took a liking to this prisoner until Valentinus made a fatal error: he tried to convert the Emperor and thus was condemned to death.
Legend has it, while awaiting his execution, Valentinus restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter. On the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the her, signing it, “From your Valentine.”
“Has it been that long?” by Paul Eddy
February, the month that Valentine’s Day appears, a time for all of us to tell that special lady or man what they mean to us. February for myself finds me preparing for another wedding anniversary that numerically started a longtime ago, yet seems like yesterday. God has brought love into this world to be shared and when one is in love doesn’t it seem time stands still? When someone loves another, time becomes a slow clock, until you look back and realize everything you have shared with that special person must come to an end someday. Love is like that, blindly leading us on, until one comes to the certainty that they are getting older and hopefully wiser. I believe God granted us love so that no matter where we give it the returns are tenfold and the time we have love seems endless.
So where am I going with these seemingly rambling statements? Spring is coming soon and with it a renewed sense of “the love of life.” Doesn’t it seem winter has been here forever yet spring and summer and autumn go by so fast? I am talking about loving yourself as much as loving another. February and Valentine’s Day are a reminder that love is all around us and there for the taking and giving. We cannot love another without knowing how to love and therefore we must love ourselves first. Not a selfish love but a love for who we are and what we can give this world. God gives us love so that we can give love to others. Love makes the time on this earth seem short and long at the same time.
Married as long as I have been to my wonderful wife (I really mean that) has given me ample opportunity to learn love in many ways. From doing small chores for her, to comforting her in the hard times, to just listening. I was not born to live in love, that I believe is a learned experience, I was born to love and then receive God’s love in return. Married or single we all have someone who wants our love and it is up to us to give it freely. When we are without love it is winter in our lives and when we give our love it is the eternal spring, summer, and autumn of our lives. Has it been that long? No not really when one takes account of all the great and loving times of one’s life. Happy Valentine’s Day, another reminder that God gave us love to receive and give away so that we may be closer to Him.
Little Vivian Loves the Holy Family
21 month old Vivian is developing a relationship with God already. With her mothers help, and the example of the other holy souls in her life, she is learning how to pray. Vivian reminds us how important to Our Lady family prayer is.
God’s greatest sign to us: Love
If we want to love our best we must go to the source of love: God. God loves us more than we love ourselves or anyone. His love reaches far beyond what we can imagine. If we want to know how to love and be loved then we must get to know God.
Celebrating Love
As St. Valentine’s Day draws near we at LightsMyWay begin a series of inspirations and thoughts about love.
“If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
– Mother Teresa