Valentine’s Day observance: Priest tells youth: It’s not for dating, but sacrificing

ORMOC CITY, Philippines — The youth must be able to distinguish loving from simply liking, and not confused the two that would lead to premarital sex instead.

This was the message of Father Kim Margallo, director of the youth commission of the Palo Archdiocese, during the recollection with the youth in this city in connection with the observance of Valentine’s Day.

“Young people should understand Valentine’s Day in a broader perspective and not solely on the context of romantic love,” said Margallo, calling for a deeper comprehension of love—propounded in Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is Love)—in self-giving (eros), sacrificial (philia) and brotherly love (agape).

For single-blessed Catalina Gayas, a Math teacher at the Leyte Normal University in Tacloban City and an active laity in the archdiocese, “Valentine’s Day is to be remembered and celebrated in the context of genuine love that respects each other, thinks for the good of the other and sacrifices for the other.”

Gayas reminded the youths that February 14 is the memorial of Saints Cyril (monk) and Methodius (bishop) who both expressed their great love for God through His people, by tirelessly preaching the Gospel, the immense love and endless mercy of God.

The younger generation has been marking this Day of Hearts with dating and partying with icons, like heart and the legendary Cupid hanged on walls and ceilings, flowers, chocolates and cards, forgetting all along the real kind of loving others as what Jesus Christ does to the faithful despite their sinfulness, said Margallo.

The priest commented that, in these modern days, the agape dimension of love, is missing. “We now focus on romantic kind of love, especially among the youths, in that liking is already considered as loving.”

Margallo clarified that the feast of Saint Valentine, observed in ancient times, was removed from the General Roman Calendar in the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, as the notion about the three Valentines remained legend. They were touted though to have done works of mercy, all out of love, but these were basically on the dimension of physical sexual pleasure.

Margallo told the youth to do away with the concept of having a partner during Valentine’s Day, otherwise it will be an “Independence Day” celebration. This is a misnomer that should be eradicated in the mind of the youths because “love could be shared with those who are needy.”

Loving he said should not only be expressed on Valentine’s Day but all the months of the year, so long as this is done with full responsibility to the consequence of such act of loving, he said.

One better way of doing this is the La Mesa ni Martha project, launched by Palo Archbishop John Du in November last year. With the seed money the prelate provided to each of the 78 parishes in the archdiocese, the parish could provide decent breakfast to indigent families on Sunday mornings.

Margallo added that couples could better celebrate Valentine’s Day by sharing their time with the poor and giving them something they could sacrifice instead. (FREEMAN)