{"id":2727,"date":"2018-02-14T00:01:40","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T00:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/?p=2727"},"modified":"2018-02-13T17:10:23","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T17:10:23","slug":"to-love-or-not-to-love-what-a-silly-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/to-love-or-not-to-love-what-a-silly-question\/","title":{"rendered":"To Love or not to Love? \u2026 What a silly question!"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Today, the world celebrates Valentine\u2019s Day. Today, Christians mark Ash Wednesday.\u00a0 It is the first time since the Second World War that Ash Wednesday and Valentine\u2019s Day are marked on the same day. For many this has raised a peculiar question: \u00a0Is it fasting or champagne? Is it ashes or chocolate?\u00a0 Is it celebration or abstinence?<\/p>\n

But if we step back a moment and take the broader view it is probably most appropriate that the beginning of Lent this year is celebrated with the confluence of these two days. Lent after all is about reminding us of the unconditional love of God for all people. Fr. Ben Butler (St Stephen\u2019s Church, Nashville) says, ‘With Lent itself, it’s a constant reminder of how God has been good to us. But also how in our individual lives, we’re called to love God and grow in that love even more.’\u00a0 That is the journey that every Christian is on \u2013 to grow in the love of God. Pope Francis in\u00a0Amoris Laetitia<\/em>\u00a0says, ‘If we accept that God\u2019s love is unconditional\u2026then we will become capable of showing boundless love.’<\/p>\n

As Christians we look to Jesus in whom love found its perfect expression. Ash Wednesday sets us on that journey when we reflect on how Jesus lived out the love he experienced from his Father and in turn shared with all humanity to the point of dying on the cross. It is the ultimate expression of love – to give one\u2019s life for another.\u00a0 It is love that we strive for. A love that is generous and totally self- giving.<\/p>\n

Valentine\u2019s Day gives us the opportunity to thank the people in our lives who give us a glimpse into the love of God. It is a time to be grateful for all the people who open us to receive and give love. It is an occasion when we affirm the love that we share with the significant people in our lives.<\/p>\n

And no better day to do it than on the day when we are reminded that we were created in the image and likeness of God! It is a day when we rejoice in the fact that we are made of stardust. It is a day when we acknowledge the faltering ways of human love. It is a day when we commit ourselves to journeying towards the perfection of the love shared by Jesus and lavished by God.<\/p>\n

So this 14th<\/sup>\u00a0of February, while we celebrate the love we share with each other and the significant people in our lives, we also remember that we are created and loved by God and \u2018in him we live and move and have our being.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ<\/strong>:\u00a0Eat, Pray, Love: An Ash Wednesday and Valentine\u2019s Day Dilemma<\/a><\/p>\n

WATCH<\/strong>:\u00a0The Joy of Love<\/a><\/p>\n

CONSIDER<\/strong>:\u00a0Lectio Divina for Ash Wednesday<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, the world celebrates Valentine\u2019s Day. Today, Christians mark Ash Wednesday.\u00a0 It is the first time since the Second World War that Ash Wednesday and Valentine\u2019s Day are marked on the same day. For many this has raised a peculiar question: \u00a0Is it fasting or champagne? Is it ashes or chocolate?\u00a0 Is it celebration or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.growinlove.ie\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}