EMMAUS' JOURNEY

February 2001

Hello dear friends,

Welcome to February - the month of love! Yes my friends, love is in the air! That’s because February 14 is Valentine’s Day. Happy "Love" Day everyone! Is there someone special in your heart on this day? Keep in mind, Valentine’s Day is not just for couples only, it’s a day to celebrate all kinds of love between all kinds of people. Your "valentine" does not necessarily have to be your boy friend or girl friend. Anybody can be someone’s "valentine"; for example: family members, relatives, friends, teachers, favorite celebrities and even...pets! If you look at it from this perspective, then each of us probably have many "valentines" in our life. These are usually the people we like, respect, admire and/or love. Each person can count on having at least one or two valentines - that’s their parents.

Unfortunately, not every one see things that way. Some people think that Valentine’s Day is just for lovers. This can be real depressing for those who are single because it leads them to think that they have no one to love or who loves them on Valentine’s Day. In the same context, some people feel that they’re not "loveable" unless somebody loves them. I know many young people who think that they’re not special unless they have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Somehow, your self-worth is determined by whether or not you have a boyfriend/girlfriend. I know this for a fact because during my teenager years, many of my friends and I went through that same experience - "you’re not really special until somebody loves you". Oh how I wish I’d known how wrong that was! That kind of belief can add tremendous pressure on you, especially in high school. Back then, I saw lots of kids my age paired up, holding hands and kissing each other - they seemed happy together and surrounded by friends. Most of the popular kids were the ones who had a boyfriend or a girlfriend. These "couples" seemed to get more respect from their peers as compare to those who were single. I didn’t have a boyfriend at that time and I thought that it was because I wasn’t special. My self- esteem gradually went down the drain. I had a low self-image and had no confidence in myself. My teenager years were not very memorable. When you’re at the age between 14-17, it’s the time when your hormones were changing, you’re trying to establish your own identity... It’s a time when you’re full of confusion, insecurity and doubt about your own self worth, your life, family, etc ... I had no one to talk to about these feelings. Both of my parents struggled long hours every day to put food on the table. I didn’t have anyone to help me through these difficult times. So Valentine’s Day was not one of my favorite back then... Until one day, when I least expected, "prince charming" walked into my life! Just like that (through no conscious effort on my part), out of nowhere, a nice, tall & handsome young man noticed me and took interest in me.

It was then that I began the journey to discover my true self. It was through this young man’s eyes that I saw the reflection of my own self-worth. He looked at me with eyes of love and he saw goodness and beauty in me - qualities that I never knew I had. He believed in me when I had no faith in myself. He persuaded me to fly high in the big blue sky when I was content to drag my feet on the dirt. The more I’m with him, the more I began to like myself. I began to discover new abilities in me. One discovery lead up to many others. Though I must say it was a very long and difficult journey for both of us to travel; but is was definitely worthwhile. It took me years before I recognized that the things he did for me was expressions of true love. It took me even many more years to realize that this true love, although beautiful in itself, was merely a shadow of God’s Love for me. God’s loving hands became so apparent every step of the way as my life was unfolding. I really believed that God had everything to do with how my life turned out. My meeting "prince charming" was only a threshold which God had placed there to lead me on the journey to discover the Ultimate Love - God Himself. To make a long story short, I ended up marrying "prince charming". Thank God, to this day, I can still brag to the world that I have the best husband in the universe!

Now in looking back at the past, I know that I didn’t need to have a boyfriend in order to be special and to be loved! I have always been special, with or without a boyfriend! I have always had many good qualities and abilities within me... If I had only take the time & put in the energy to discover the person I really am inside, then I would know that I am a unique & loveable person. In the same way, each person is special and loveable in his/her own unique ways. I didn’t know any of that when I was younger. No one told me this back then. But now, I’m telling you this and it’s the truth - you are very special, very loveable, very talented and beautiful and most importantly, you are loved! You are so loved (even if you’re still single)! How do I know this? I know, because I’ve experienced it. I can assure you, even if there are no one left in the world to love you, you are still loved tremendously - by the Father - the One who gave you life, the One who formed you in your mother’s womb, the One who created you in His own image! How can God not love you? He loves you because He sees His own perfect reflection in you. You are carrying God’s image deep inside of you and that’s precisely what makes you so special and so beautiful! When God looks at you, He sees His own goodness & beauty that’s why He can’t help but love you! You’ve got to believe that... He’d proven his Love for you when He died with arms outstretched on the cross!

So dear friends, the next time when you’re lonely or feeling down on yourself and you’re thinking you’re worthless and no one loves you, please remember: the Creator of the universe loves you! There’s no need to run around searching in vain for someone to love you, you’re already being loved by The Best! Respond to that Love first, and all other secondary needs will be provided for you.

Until next time, remain in God’s Love!

Ps: Smile, God loves you, He really does!

Saint Valentine’s Day Legends

Who was Valentine?

According to the Catholic Saints Index:

Valentine was a holy Roman priest who was martyred during the persecution of Claudius II. He was forced to renounce his faith but he refused to do so. As a result, he was beaten with clubs and then beheaded on February 14, in the year 270.

According to some traditional legends:

Valentine was a young man, although not a Christian, he helped Christians during a time of persecution. He was caught and put in jail, became a believer there and was clubbed to death for this on February 14, 269. While in prison he is said to have sent messages to friends saying, "Remember your Valentine" and "I love you".

Valentine was imprisoned for refusing to worship pagan gods. Making friends with the jailers daughter, he is said to have cured her through prayer, and on the date of his execution (Feb. 14th), he had written her a note signed: "Your Valentine".

The one thing we can be sure of is that there was a real person named Valentine who was killed for being a Christian and the 14th of February was set apart as the special day to remember Saint Valentine.

In the old days, there was a pagan love festival on February 15. In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius changed Lupercalia from the 15th to the 14th to try and stop the pagan celebration. The church realized that there was nothing wrong with celebrating love, only the pagan’ s superstitious elements that were insulting to God. Lupercalia was done away with, but it had left its mark on Saint Valentine's Day. Valentine had become known as the patron of lovers.

Part of the Roman festival of Lupercalia was the putting of girl's names in a box and letting the boys draw them out. These couples were supposedly paired off for the whole year. A similar practice began in the fourteenth century. A sweetheart was chosen for a day by lot. This was done to correspond with the belief that the springtime mating of birds took place on Valentine's Day. Messages sent between these randomly chosen pairs were a forerunner of the modern Valentine's Day Card. Specially printed card for Valentine's were just becoming common by the 1780's. They were a big hit in Germany where they were called Freundschaftkarten, or "friendship cards."

Today, Valentine’s Day is a day for celebrating all kinds of loving relationship between people. It should be an extra special day to express even more love than usual to those around us and it certainly should not be our only day to show love in the whole year.

(Condensed from Catholic Saints Index)