Due to an unfortunate lap of calendars, Ash Wednesday and
Valentine’s Day fall on the same day this year. For the Church, there is no
question: Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent trumps a saint’s feast day.
But on a practical level, people are trying to figure out how to have nice
dinners and chocolates on a day of fasting and penance.
It truly shows the secularity Valentine’s Day has taken.
Because some people aren’t concerned at all with Ash Wednesday’s arrival. It’s
a day of romance and celebration. Although the martyr Valentine would probably
be more than happy to suppress his feast for Lent.
But people have a hard time letting go of feasts and are
eager to look for loopholes out of fasts. I feel like trying to find
compromises of combining the two kind of miss the point of both.
Cardinal Dolan recently pointed out that the day of feasting
and the day of fasting do have something in common: they are both matters of
the heart. Romance is a shadow of greater love. Pink paper hearts and lace
prepare us for bloody hearts and spears. This year, the 14th is still about a
heart, but the Sacred Heart. It’s about the love that dies for its creation,
the love that led Valentine to martyrdom, the love that encourages us to spend
40 days in fasting and penance. Lent is somber, but it needn’t be dreary. There
is beauty and expressions of love to be found in a toned down season. It’s a
time to work on your relationship with Christ. It’s a six-week getaway with the
one you love.
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