One of the good things about living in Rome is that every walk becomes an open door to history, to centuries-old experiences and to the possibility of rereading one’s own life based on those who have gone before us. And a long time ago, on one of those walks, I came across a relic of St. Valentine in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin
(in Italian they don’t put many accents). Accustomed to relate this saint with love, with a cute little angel that shoots arrows, or with a bear, it is very shocking to find a skull in an urn, surrounded by flowers (it seems that someone wanted to “sweeten” the scene a little).
Between history and legend, there is talk of three possible characters that may give rise to the idea of “St. Valentine” that has come down to us today. The one who perhaps best fits the description is a Roman physician who became a priest and married soldiers, even though this was forbidden by the Emperor Claudius II, who considered it incompatible with a career in arms. For this reason, St. Valentine was executed on February 14 for not wanting to renounce his Christian faith. Another legend tells that he is the patron saint of lovers because his feast day coincides with the time of the year when birds begin to mate.
However, now is not the time to focus on the history of this character, but our reflection revolves around love. And, for this, we are going to look at the image of the skull of St. Valentine. Because love is the greatest thing that human beings have, love moves the world, love can do everything, love is understanding, helpful… and we could cite here the entire 13th chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians or so many poems that have extolled love.
But, on the other hand, returning to that image of the skull, it is often said that love also gives many headaches, many disappointments, many misunderstandings… And it is worth asking, does love have a negative element? I would say no, because all these negative elements arise, in my opinion, when love disappears. Precisely, that is where the word “lack of love” comes from, which means “lack of love”.
On the other hand, it is true that no one gives what he does not have. Therefore, in order to give love, we must have experienced that love in ourselves. But what kind of love, is it that there are several ‘loves’? I would not say that: love is one, but human beings have different ways of loving. Taking the Greek culture as a reference, the Bible speaks of several types of love: “eros”, which is sexual love, the love of a couple; “phileo”, which is the love of friends, the love of family members; and “agape”, which is, properly speaking, the love of God. All of them have their importance and their peculiarity, but it is also true that there is only one that always remains, that never fails, that is certain. It is not very common that
happens, but, from time to time, we receive news of conflicts between parents and children, between siblings, relatives or friends, some of which have tragic consequences. The human being, by nature, is limited, and, as such, is capable of the best and the worst. And the same happens with the love that human beings can profess to each other; it is not a perfect love but is subject to the weakness and finiteness of their condition. There is only one love in which, truly, we can always and everywhere trust: the love of God, that “agape” love that gives itself without asking anything in return.
We, imperfect human beings, can also have access to this “agape” love , be bearers of this love, experience it and bring it to others. But this is only possible by turning to the source of this love: God.
Let us remember those words from the First Letter of St. John: “God is love.” These are three simple words that sum it all up. And we, why not, are called to carry out in our world something as simple and revolutionary as the revolution of love. It is simple, as St. Augustine said: “Put love into the things you do and things will make sense. Withdraw love from them and they become empty”. Quite an art! With a little bit of love from each one of us we will achieve great things.