Values of Valentine

Moving from Valentine’s Day into Lent (February 18-April 2), Community Renewal Society (CRS) reflects on the deeper meaning behind why February 14 is celebrated. Saint Valentine, the patron saint associated with Valentine’s Day, expressed love through action and conviction.

According to Christian tradition, Valentine was a priest in third-century Rome under the Roman Empire, when the state sought sovereignty over personal relationships, religious practice, and loyalty. He was condemned by imperial authorities for defying laws that restricted marriage and suppressed Christian faith. Valentine chose to align with the people the state wanted to command or condemn, quietly blessing unions and ministering to each who was denied by the regime. He was imprisoned and executed on the holiday around 270 AD, demonstrating how love rooted in faith must demand justice.

Entering the Lenten season, that same spirit calls us to protest the systems that were built for harm and to keep individuals in hierarchical positions. Instead, we turn our hearts and our efforts toward solidarity.

This is why CRS lifts the struggle against the Constitution Pipeline, which threatens sacred Native American land in the name of profit. As recent federal rollbacks undo protections put in place under previous administrations, we again see how political power is used to exploit land, people, and creation itself.

Rev. Julian DeShazier, Rev. Dr. Yvonne V. Delk, Rev. Jamar A. Boyd II, and CRS’s very own Keron Blair have reminded us that love is not passive.

• Love listens to the cries of the marginalized. 

• Love refuses excess so others may have enough. 

• Love redistributes resources, challenges harmful traditions, and confronts the modern-day pharaohs: systems of exploitation, racism, and environmental destruction.

Inspired by Saint Valentine, let your love be loud, a public devotion to protect dignity, defend the sacred, and stand with all bearing the weight of oppression.