Nihil Obstat
Rev. Fr. Stephen Una
Catholic Diocese of Abakaliki
Assisting Chaplain, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Dodan Barracks, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria
It’s Valentine Day,
A day having its roots in ancient times and promoting pure and sacrificial love as espoused in the life, deeds and circumstances of Valentine but which in today’s popular culture has been bastardised becoming synonymous with not just exchange of gifts particularly among amorous young lovers but with fun seekers who just want to take time out of ‘life’ to express themselves romantically and to mostly engage in wild adult pleasure activities.
Valentine Celebration: Cover up for Promiscuity
Unknown to many though, this celebration evolved from Catholic history but today it’s celebration is not a preserve of the Catholic faithful (the church herself not giving it official recognition) but is for any and everyone who wants to be identified with it.
In fact, the celebration is now so popular worldwide (and ever growing among Catholic lay faithful) that some Priests celebrate it as Mass for the day, supposedly because of what’s happening in our world today in connection to it’s celebration (even though it is not at all mentioned in the rubrics of the church), probably to bring awareness to the fact that the true features of the Saint’s life and times are in opposition to how it’s viewed and upheld in the secular world when it’s being celebrated.
This year, I had decided to make a keen observation of the mood that would pervade the celebration amidst the economic hardship dictating the pace of things in our country Nigeria, where there has been a conscious effort by people not to be totally put down in spirit. So with the date approaching and seeing that the signature red colour and rose flowers, whether real or plastic, chocolate packs dotting shops, heavy advertising and hyping gimmicks by businesses and entertainment events sponsors which would usually make the whole atmosphere agog, were virtually absent, I couldn’t help but ask myself if the resilience of spirit of our people had not been broken.
However, as I was ruminating on that, another possible reason for the lull in activities surrounding the celebration occurred to me. This year, the date of the celebration, 14th February falls on a more important and universally observed event; Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. This event being the first of landmarks in the lead up to what is inarguably the most important feast (Easter) in Christendom and which the Catholic church places a lot of premium on, could just be the main reason why Valentine this year, is on a very sober note worldwide, afterall, it is not a feast local to Nigeria, my country of domiciliation, where the economic hardship is so gruelling as to singularly cause the lull which evidently is a worldwide one.
The above must therefore be the more plausible reason as there is no way that the about 1.5Billion Catholics worldwide, no matter how insignificant the fraction that usually celebrates Valentine, would not come to a huge number in actual terms and make a huge difference if they said no to celebrating Valentine this year but rather, answered the call to facing their religious obligation, squarely on that day.
So, the question is, if Valentine is not relevant at all or is antithetical to the values of Christianity, as to make it be dropped like red hot iron by those that celebrate it in the Catholic fold when it clashes with Ash Wednesday, why is it at all upheld by them at those times when there’s no clash?
The point lies in the angle from which it is viewed. Many would argue that joining the Valentine train is not necessarily to partake in the immorality it is now noted for but actually to detract from that immorality and set those involved in such, on the right course, just as those Priests who celebrate it at Mass intend to do. If we consider Jesus’ action with the tax collectors, it may be easier to understand this line of reasoning, that is, it is not to join in ill practices but to redirect to the right course.
Promoting Pure & Chaste Love
To me, this line of thought strikes a good chord, for since, in the Catholic church, whenever Two feasts fall on the same day in any given year (because of the Gregorian Calendar Cycle used in general dating) the more important one is given pre-eminence and so in this case of a clash, towing the line of liturgy, even Priests that would ordinarily have celebrated the mass of St. Valentine for reasons mentioned above, would not, even if Valentine were an officially recognised feast in the church, and happily, many lay people tow this line. It’s indeed consoling that in the world of today where secularism is gaining the upper hand, there are many who would rather hang on to spirituality. People have simply said ‘Yes’ to their spiritual obligation and made it known that, in their lives, when the lion of Judah comes, other lions run away!
Point is, anything that has to do with our lord is placed above every other thing, no matter how good, even above his mother Mary, even as things that have to do with her special privileges are placed above all else and so it goes down the line.
Celebrating Valentine
Now, there are those who consider the clash, whenever it occurs a killjoy claiming Valentine is celebrated by them mainly for its virtue promoting story. They, contrary to many see it as an effective brand for promoting the virtues of purity and selfless love both within and outside the confines of marital relationships and they use the celebration to further enhance their beliefs on the true definition of these terms; of how true and pure love can be chaste and still be fun and so, its a yearly brand involving friends and family members, bringing them together in such a unique way that they would rather not miss. And so, they feel that they are usually left out at such times of a clash (the last of which was in 2018) since generally, at least on the fun side of things, the celebration has a very different and highly contrasting tone with Ash Wednesday which is of a sober mood.
An attempt is made in the above table to highlight this contrast.
As seen, hardly do the practices of these Two celebrations point in the same direction and so they can’t be co-celebrated without friction.
However, for those who celebrate Valentine outside the ambits of the stated negative elements, the question remains how this can be co-celebrated without detracting from the sublime and lofty purpose of Ash Wednesday?
Rev. Fr. Chinonye Ezema, a homilist at an Ash Wednesday Mass, this year 2024 when Valentine Day clashes with it, said, and I am in total agreement, that there is essentially no difference in the essence of both, if Valentine is observed correctly because Ash Wednesday leads to Good Friday, when the sacrifice on the cross – the main event of the passion of our Lord – takes place and Valentine celebration is a reminder that purity and sacrifice are necessary to gain from that passion.
To substantiate this position, one should take a look at the different symbols of both celebrations, as immediately above. It is seen that there is an agreement and a synthesis of the elements and goals of both celebrations. The colours for example, ash means sorrow for and intention for repentance from sin while purple means hope for gain from Christ’s passion. These are the colours of Ash Wednesday and they invariably point to the ultimate passion of Christ that is celebrated on Good Friday when that passion was consummated in the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus’ life to save us from sin and that passion is symbolised by red, the colour of Valentine whose sacrifice, on an emulative level points to the need for purity – signified by white – the reason he was killed. These colours symbolise elements wrapped up in the package of true and pure love with which we can gain more gtaces from the passion of Christ, if we follow what they stand for.
So in fact, there’s no clash of interests or goals, but what actually is, is a bow to and an acknowledgement of a superior being who is the source of all and from whom all draw their essence and who must be deferred to by all and that is why every well catechised and right thinking Catholic would drop Valentine in favour of Ash Wednesday observation whenever there’s a clash between them, aware that both the purple – the colour of the day that clad the Altar – and the season it heralds with the red of Valentine which is undermined in a clash year, point to the same source and both when considered critically and intrinsically are geared to the ultimate good of man, that is, for those who go with the values they hold.
Now, strictly speaking, for Catholics who would like to celebrate Valentine, there is actually the need to drop the fun aspect of Valentine and its scarlet branding colour when there’s a clash, so as to join the rest of the church as one body to celebrate the beginning of the lead up to the commemoration of the ultimate consummation of the salvific sacrifice of our Lord and that is no big price to pay, if you ask me.
For others not in the Catholic fold, I can only say that as long as the reason and mode of the Valentine celebration are in line with what is good as stated here, then anytime, anywhere, you are good to go.
Either way, for these above two classes of people, its a win win situation.
Now you can tell why Ash Val doesn’t actually clash in colours!!!
Ephphatha…there’s a lot more to talk about!
