大象传媒

Good morning. Roses are red Violets are blue <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Carnations are sweet And so are you.

And so are they That send you this

And when we meet We鈥檒l have a kiss.

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Yes it鈥檚 Valentines Day and all sorts of corny but wonderful rhymes will be inscribed playfully on cards that will drop through front doors and bring a smile to the face for the one for whom it was meant. There is nothing to match the feeling that you are loved, nothing to match the knowledge that your life and what is in it matters to someone else, that you matter to them and they to you. For people of all ages, for Valentine鈥檚 Day is not just for the young, the feeling of being loved and of loving quite simply cannot be equaled.

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With that unmatched feeling comes a joy that anticipates all will be well with the world because love abounds. But we don鈥檛 have to live life very long to know that the feeling dissipates all to quickly or is interrupted by the raw experiences of life. This is also the anniversary of the bombing of Dresden, which took place on the night of the 13th and 14th February 1945, 听and it鈥檚 one of the most controversial moments in the history of the Allied campaign of World War II. Many civilians lost their lives. One survivor recounted what she saw:

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To my left I suddenly see a woman. I can see her to this day and shall never forget it. She carries a bundle in her arms. It is a baby. She runs, she falls, and the child flies in an arc into the fire.

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Lord, today we 听celebrate love and the difference it can make. But remind us too of 听the depth of human suffering and help us 听to pledge ourselves to costly love that makes the difference to all human relationships.听 Amen