大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Chine McDonald, director of Theos - the religion and society think tank

Good morning,

Happy Valentine鈥檚 Day. If you鈥檙e one of the lucky ones, you can expect to be bombarded with gifts and cards today 鈥� the day we celebrate all things love. For weeks now, the shops have been adorned with red hearts, tempting shoppers to buy chocolates and roses for their loved ones to show how much they care. This celebration of love is wonderful.

I myself appreciate the excuse to show love to my husband. But this Valentine鈥檚 Day, I鈥檓 thinking about love as a greater concept than just the romantic love between my husband and me. In his 1960 book The Four Loves, CS Lewis explores different types of love from a Christian perspective. In his exploration of Eros 鈥� the romantic love celebrated on Valentine鈥檚 Day 鈥� we can get a glimpse of what it is to love as God loves us. But it doesn鈥檛 end at a love of one person. He writes that through Eros: 鈥淪pontaneously and without effort we have fulfilled the law (towards one person) by loving our neighbour as ourselves.

It is an image, a foretaste, of what we must become to all if Love Himself rules in us without a rival.鈥� Loving our romantic partners 鈥� amazing as it is 鈥� is also an opportunity for us to understand and demonstrate what it is to profoundly love another human as much as we love ourselves. This sense of selfless love is an idea fundamental to the Christian story. We love God; God loved us first; and God asks us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Who is our neighbour? So the famous question goes in the story of the Good Samaritan. The one who shows mercy. This Valentine鈥檚 Day, may we show love to those around us, even those that might least expect it from us.

Amen.