Love is in the Details

Happy Valentine's Day!  Today isn't only the feast of St. Valentine, though, it is also the feast of two of the greatest missionaries in Church history, the brothers Cyril and Methodius.

Cyril and Methodius dedicated their entire lives to spreading the Gospel to the people of eastern Europe.  They went so far as to create an alphabet and writing system in the Slavonic, the mother of all Slavic languages; to translate the Bible into Slavonic; and to inspire generations of not only Faith, but literature, art, and culture for an entire section of the continent, all in the face of great opposition.

Their story teaches us something about Love, because these two saints truly loved the people to whom they ministered.  It teaches us that love is about the details, about noticing the little things and taking action.  It teaches us that love, true love, can inspire a flourishing and a flowering in the human person, compelling people to do great and beautiful things.  Finally, it teaches us that true love is sacrificial--it calls us to give everything that we have and everything we are for another.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day filled with love for God and love for others!

When the snow lay 'round about

I've always loved the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas and the snow this morning made me think about the story it tells.  St. Wenceslas ventures out into the snow and cold to bring firewood and rations to a poor man, a great symbol of Christ venturing into the dark and cold world to bring us salvation and hope.  He asks his young squire to follow him, but instructs him to step in his footsteps so that the cold of the snow doesn't chill him, showing us that when Christ asks us to follow him in service to those in need, he asks us to follow him closely and enjoy his protection and grace.  We might not be in the Christmas season anymore, but the cold and the snow can evoke powerful images of our faith like the story of Good King Wenceslas...

A reading from the book of Genesis...

Today at daily Mass we hear from the first creation story in the book of Genesis, a beautiful account of God's "good" and beautiful creation.  On Christmas Eve, 1968, as they watched the Earthrise from the Moon, the astronauts of Apollo 8 read this message to the people of Earth...

The New Colossus

This week's Gospel made me think of the beautiful poem written by Emma Lazarus, part of which is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.  It's a great reflection on what it means to be a "city set upon a mountain":

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

-Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus