大象传媒

Good morning. Tradition has it that every four years, on Leap Year Day, the 29th of February, women could, for once, take the initiative in proposing marriage.

Some of the customs that grew up around Leap Year Day are rather amusing to contemporary ears, such as that a woman intending to pop the question should signal her intentions by wearing a scarlet petticoat!

Other traditions have a sadder edge 鈥� for example, that a man who turns down a proposal must give his suitor 12 pairs of gloves, so she could hide what would be seen as her humiliation at being without an engagement ring.

And certainly, the underlying assumptions are more than outdated, in today鈥檚 times of increasing equality in relationships and marriage.聽

While we all love a love story, and hope couples everywhere will live happily ever after, true love is not just found in romantic relationships. Genuine, deep and lasting love comes in many different guises, and deserves celebration.

And whether it is in partnership, within families, or among friends, true and lasting love comes when we care most for others as they really are, not as we would like them to be.

The Twentieth Century monk and spiritual writer, Thomas Merton, puts it this way:聽

鈥淭he beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.鈥�

I鈥檒l try to remember that next time I find myself annoyed by my nearest and dearest!聽

Loving God, help us to persevere and grow in loving others as you love us 鈥� compassionate with our weaknesses and failings, and always encouraging us to be our best authentic selves. Amen.聽