1/9/2024 0 Comments Romantic photo holding hands![]() ![]() In turn, the love of their marriage provided a foundation for “the very birth of the reality of the Church,” as Pope Benedict XVI wrote. It taught them to make their home a home for love. The reciprocal love they forged in marriage trained their hearts in a spirit of hospitality. Paul recognized for opening their hearts and home to the earliest Eucharistic liturgies. Priscilla and Aquila, a married couple who St. Just as the love of spouses overflows into the gift of children, so also the love of the family overflows into the Church. The “living icon” of the family allows us to feel that love, to have an experience of what the interior life of the Trinity must be like. The great icons of the East allow us to peer into the life of the Trinity, to witness the love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Perhaps that is why Pope Francis says, “The couple that loves and begets life is a true, living icon … capable of revealing God the Creator and Savior” (“Amoris Laetitia,” 11). From the beauty of their commitment, new life is born, and with it a new kind of love: the love of fathers and mothers for their children, of children for their parents, and of siblings for one another. Out of the strength of their bond, God invites married couples to have a share in this overflowing love. The same is true of his plan for marriage. Out of the depths of romantic love, a faithful, lifelong commitment is forged, binding husband and wife together across all the dimensions of their personality: physical, emotional and spiritual. “Marriage is the most beautiful thing God has created,” Pope Francis has said. Perhaps it is in the bitterness of winter that we most need to turn our hearts to the great gifts God has provided in marriage and family. But all around us, the world seems bleak and new life scarce. It is a holiday about the vitality of love, centered around the promises and plans romantic love inspires, the joys of marriage, the hope of new life, and the gift of family and friendship. When Valentine’s Day comes around this time each year, its timing always seems a little strange. We long for new life, but it still seems so far off. The anticipation of Advent and the joy of the Christmas Octave are behind us, and the hope of spring is still to come. All around us, we see the signs of winter wearing on: the trees are bare, the sky is grey, the air is cold and the ground is frozen. Our days are short, and our nights are long. Eliot wrote, “April is the cruelest month,” but I think some of us disagree and believe it is February.
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