A VALENTINES’ DAY PRAYER

We pray to God our Father,
As we celebrate Valentines’ Day

May we celebrate in earnest thought
about love beyond romance.
Dispel in us the artificial images of love
spawned by commercialism.

Let us not be blinded by passion
and protect us from lust.
Teach us temperance and
warn us against our excesses.

We pray that our expression of love
for each other grow to a
Greater extent to others specially
to those who needed it most.

As we experience the moments of love
let us express it with sincerity.
May we be ever forgiving and
ready to let go as fate wills it.

Remind us to always keep our relations
within Your tenets, Lord
And deliver us from illicit affairs and
guard us from selfish interests.

As we go through the rituals of valentines’
let us be reminded that You
O, Lord is love itself.

Grant us the wisdom to live in true love
not only today but everyday.

AMEN.

Jesus, Meek and humble of heart
Make our hearts like unto Thine!

FAITH NEEDS CONSTANT RENEWAL

Commitment requires effort, giving of one’s time, sacrifice. What are important are not grandiose words but concrete deeds. It’s a warning against professing our faith and then failing to practice it; against making a good beginning and then not persevering.

Moreover, we must remember that faith is not a once-for-all decision, and then “live happily ever after”. But faith must be constantly renewed and reaffirmed.

- Fr. Bel R. San Luis, SVD
From his column “Word Alive”
in the Manila Bulletin, 10 July 1997