February 14th is St. Valentine?s Day, named after the patron saint of romantic love. On that day people?s search for their perfect partner finds special expression through gift cards, flowers and cosy candlelit dinners.
But love includes much more than finding that special person in your life. The highest form of love is the love of Christ for his church, and the love we share with each other because he first loved us.
The church is the expression of the supreme love of Christ for his people, not just to us as individuals. It is the manifestation of the love of Christ on this earth. As members of the body of Christ, all our relationships ? marriage, family, friendship, celibacy ? must reflect this truth. We are called together to show his love to the world and to demonstrate that God is not only sufficient, but that knowing his love is the ultimate way of fulfilling our God-designed capacity and our longing for perfect love and intimacy.