Psalm 37:1-5 (antiphon, Psalm 37:7)– Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for Him; do not be
agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the man who carries out evil plans.
Psalm 37 – Wisdom over Worry
This psalm is simply titled A Psalm of David. Verse 25
tells us that it is David in his older years, giving wisdom in the pattern of a
song. This psalm is roughly acrostic in arrangement, with the lines arranged
with Hebrew sentences that begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew
alphabet. In style this is a wisdom psalm, directed not to God but to man,
teaching after the manner of the Book of Proverbs.
Rest in the
LORD, and wait patiently for Him.
Because God has promised to faithfully take care of those who put their trust
in Him, we can rest in the LORD. We
can wait patiently for Him instead of
fretting and fearing that God has forgotten us or intends evil for us.
Rest in the
LORD speaks of a particular kind of
rest – the rest of silence, ceasing from words of self-defense. The idea is
that we will not speak to vindicate ourselves; we will trust in God to protect
us.[2]
Collect for Psalm 37: Lord Jesus, you bless the poor with the kingdom of heaven. Teach us to put our trust in the Father and to seek his kingdom rather than to imitate the powerful or envy the right; so may we serve you now and forever. [3]-14 February 2022
Who was St. Valentine,
and why do we celebrate him on February 14?
1. The St. Valentine who inspired the holiday may have
been two different men.
Officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church,
St. Valentine is known to be a real person who died around A.D. 270. However,
his true identity was questioned as early as A.D. 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who
referred to the martyr and his acts as “being known only to God.” One account
from the 1400s describes Valentine as a temple priest who was beheaded near
Rome by the emperor Claudius II for helping Christian couples wed. A different
account claims Valentine was the Bishop of Terni, also martyred by Claudius II
on the outskirts of Rome. Because of the similarities of these accounts, it’s
thought they may refer to the same person. Enough confusion surrounds the true
identity of St. Valentine that the Catholic Church discontinued liturgical
veneration of him in 1969, though his name remains on its list of officially
recognized saints.
2. In all, there are about a dozen St. Valentines,
plus a pope.
The saint we celebrate on Valentine’s Day is known
officially as St. Valentine of Rome in order to differentiate him from the
dozen or so other Valentines on the list. Because “Valentinus”—from the Latin
word for worthy, strong or powerful—was a popular moniker between the second
and eighth centuries A.D., several martyrs over the centuries have carried this
name. The official Roman Catholic roster of saints shows about a dozen who were
named Valentine or some variation thereof. The most recently beatified
Valentine is St. Valentine Berrio-Ochoa, a Spaniard of the Dominican order who
traveled to Vietnam, where he served as bishop until his beheading in 1861.
Pope John Paul II canonized Berrio-Ochoa in 1988. There was even a Pope
Valentine, though little is known about him except that he served a mere 40
days around A.D. 827.
3. Valentine is the patron saint of beekeepers and
epilepsy, among many other things.
Saints are certainly expected to keep busy in the
afterlife. Their holy duties include interceding in earthly affairs and
entertaining petitions from living souls. In this respect, St. Valentine has
wide-ranging spiritual responsibilities. People call on him to watch over the
lives of lovers, of course, but also for interventions regarding beekeeping and
epilepsy, as well as the plague, fainting and traveling. As you might expect,
he’s also the patron saint of engaged couples and happy marriages.
4. You can find Valentine’s skull in Rome.
The flower-adorned skull of St. Valentine is on
display in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. In the early 1800s,
the excavation of a catacomb near Rome yielded skeletal remains and other
relics now associated with St. Valentine. As is customary, these bits and
pieces of the late saint’s body have subsequently been distributed to
reliquaries around the world. You’ll find other bits of St. Valentine’s
skeleton on display in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Scotland, England and
France.
5. English poet Geoffrey Chaucer may have invented
Valentine’s Day.
The medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer often took
liberties with history, placing his poetic characters into fictitious historical
contexts that he represented as real. No record exists of romantic celebrations
on Valentine’s Day prior to a poem Chaucer wrote around 1375. In his work
“Parliament of Foules,” he links a tradition of courtly love with the
celebration of St. Valentine’s feast day–an association that didn’t exist until
after his poem received widespread attention. The poem refers to February 14 as
the day birds (and humans) come together to find a mate. When Chaucer wrote,
“For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh there to
choose his mate,” he may have invented the holiday we know today.
6. You can celebrate Valentine’s Day several times a
year.
[1] Luther’s Seal, copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things
[3] Collect for Psalm 37, For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and By the Church, Vol. I © 1994 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
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