A Greater Love
JUMP TO RECIPES
For some reason, Valentine’s Day has caused me much personal reflection this year. This is a holiday I have always relished, whether alone or not. What’s not to love about pink and red together, and chocolate?! All kidding aside, for me it has always been a day to be thankful for all love received, not bound to romantic love.
How We Got Valentine’s Day
But is this wrong? Is it really only a day for celebrating romance? Is that why “galentines” and “rotic—romantic without man” exist? Is that why flowers, candlelight and aphrodisiacs are so popular? Really, what is love? I hear expressions of love quite often that seem more like lust than anything.
Valentine’s Day is actually much more complex than I had realized. It became a holiday somewhere around 495 A.D. when Pope Gelasius instituted it in memory of the Roman priest Valentinus. Valentinus lived during the time of Emperor Claudius II, who made quite the challenge for ordinary folk when he banned marriage! He wanted unattached men who would devote themselves to the military.
Valentinus showed mercy to many young couples by marrying them secretly. For this, he paid with his life. He was beaten to death by clubs—not exactly what we want to remember every 14th of February.
But the story gets even more interesting. Valentinus’ regard for marriage caused Pope Gelasius to make him the focus of a new holiday, St. Valentine’s, to replace the violent pagan observance of Lupercalia. This is why Valentinus became associated with courtly love—so the holiday is, in fact, a celebration of romantic love meant to replace a lustful fertility ritual.
The Substance and Shadow of Love
However, Valentinus was operating at a higher level than just performing marriages and recognizing romance. He chose to risk—and ultimately give—his life to make two people echad, “one, a unity in plurality.” This is in the Bible in Genesis 2:24 where it says, “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” It’s different from the other word that means “one.”
Valentinus is famous for recognizing romantic love but the Source of that love is infinitely more. He would have known that verse in Genesis and also where it was repeated 1500 years later by a man who went on to explain it— “’a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32)
Romantic love is only a symbol of a greater love—the one that caused a Savior to leave paradise, bear a curse that wasn’t His, and give himself utterly for anyone who cared to accept what He did. That is what courtly love represents. So, Valentine’s Day is also a celebration of the real love that romantic love is a shadow of!
Sharing Comfort and Teatime
For me, Valentine’s Day is for remembering all who have loved me—parents, those precious grandparents who lived through the 1940s, brothers and sisters, other family and friends. But if none of them loved me, the Lord does and I can live by that love—on the 14th of February or any other day.
If you feel lonely or rejected on this holiday, I hope my personal journey will comfort and encourage you. And if you are looking for a little something special for the day, I am including here two recipes that go together to make a teatime treat. The shortcrust pastry recipe is from World War II-era England and the tart filling is a 1944 American recipe (which I halved). This is a fitting combination for Valentine’s Day, celebrating the history of two nations that worked together as friends.
I’m also sharing the lyrics of a hymn from the American South, discovered in the Appalachian region in the early 1800s. It has a hauntingly beautiful melody and is my favorite love song.
What Wondrous Love Is This
What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this
that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse
for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.
When I was sinking down,
sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down
beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown
for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.
To God and to the Lamb,
I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb
Who is the great I Am;
While millions join the theme,
I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme, I will sing.
And when from death I’m free,
I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free,
I’ll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity
I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
And through eternity I’ll sing on.
Wartime Shortcrust Pastry
Ingredients
Instructions
- Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
- Rub in the fat until the mixture is like fine breadcrumbs.
- Add sufficient water to make a dough with a firm rolling consistency.
Karo Tea Party Tarts
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine first 6 ingredients.
- Make sweet biscuit dough, or use prepared biscuit mix.
- Roll out dough 1/8 inch thick; cut into rounds; cover with Karo-nut mixture; top with "doughnut shaped" rounds.
- Bake in hot oven (425°F/218°C) 15 minutes until lightly browned.
- Serve with additional nut mixture in center if desired; top with nut or candied cherry.
References
Good Housekeeping, Vol. 118 No. 3 March 1944. New York: Hearst Corporation.
Patten, Marguerite. Victory Cookbook: Nostalgic Food and Facts from 1940-1954. London: Chancellor Press, 2002.
“By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.”
Psalm 42:8