This year, we can celebrate love on Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day since they fall on the same day. Since Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting for some faiths, it leaves me thinking if that means no heart-shaped boxes of chocolates for some people. This rare event happened in 2018, but before that it was 1945 the last time these two events occurred on the same date and it will happen again in 2029, but then that will be it for the rest of the century. And that alone makes it something unique in our lifetime. Also, Easter will fall on April 1 (AKA April Fool’s Day) this year, which last occurred in 1956.
Ash Wednesday Prepares Our Hearts
In the Christian world, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the forty days leading up to Easter Sunday. Many mark this day with fasting and a cross of ashes placed on the forehead as a reminder of repentance and mourning for our sins. This tradition started in the early Middle Ages, and many Christian churches adopted it as a day of celebration. Several Bible verses support using ashes:
- Ezekiel 9:4 – “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”
- Genesis 3:19 – “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your good until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Valentine’s Day Celebrates Love
This day also originated in the church as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine. We remember St. Valentine as a loving, compassionate and heroic person because he defied the emperor’s orders, and performed marriages for soldiers in secret. St. Valentine championed love during his lifetime and we follow suite be celebrating the love in our lives. There is no reference to St. Valentine in the Bible, but the church lists him as a martyred who died in February 269.
Both Celebrate Love
What do these two events share besides happening on the same date this year? They both celebrate love. The celebration of love is obvious for Valentine’s Day, but where is in Ash Wednesday? Ash Wednesday prepares us for Easter when we received the greatest Valentine’s gift ever, our Lord and Savior. God loved us so much that He sacrificed Christ on the cross so He could take our sins away. The Christian faith is based on love and repentance. The two go hand in hand and many Bible verses bear this out:
- John 3:16; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
- 1 John 4:7-8; “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
- 1 Corinthians 16:14; “Let all that you do be done in love.”
February 14–Love
So, this year as February 14 arrives, let’s double our efforts to celebrate love. Let us show love to all those around us and share the love of Christ with them. As you buy the cards and candy for Valentine’s Day, buy extra to share with someone who needs to feel the love of Christ. Or host a dinner with other couples after the Ash Wednesday service and celebrate both events. Whatever you do, remember to celebrate the love for those in your life and the love of Christ in this special combined event.
Prayer
to those that need extra love on this special day. Thank you for the gift of love in the death of your son on the cross. Thank you for your grace and thank you for your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Grace and Peace to you,
Yvonne M. Morgan is a Christian #author, #blogger, and #speaker. #BibleGatewayPartner
Matthew 28:19 “Therefore, GO and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
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