An Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day Pro-Life Message

It is not often that Ash Wednesday and St. Valentine’s Day fall on the same day. The last time this happened was 2018 and it won’t happen again until 2029. St. Valentine’s Day always is February 14 – meaning it is an immovable celebration like Christmas – while the date of Ash Wednesday always depends on the date of Easter, a moveable feast. For Western Christians, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox. When the love fest of St. Valentine’s Day and the beginning of the penitential season of Lent coincide, a unique pro-life message emerges. On Valentine’s Day we celebrate love and life symbolized by the heart. On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded by the dark ash cross on our foreheads that the corrupt fruit of sin is death, and not just our own inevitable mortality. These two realities always coexist. Abortion stops a beating heart. We here at South Carolina Citizens for Life wish all of our friends and supporters – in fact everyone – a beautiful Valentine’s Day filled with God’s gift of love in all of its sacred expressions. We thank God your mom chose life. We also wish for those of us who participate in the penitential season of Lent a fruitful time of fasting, prayer, and repentance. Lent reminds us of the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying in preparation for His ministry. Restoring the Culture of Life in a world devastated by the culture of death is first and foremost a spiritual battle. Prayer and fasting help us prepare for the battle. Second, the pro-life movement is a secular battle to restore legal protection to those devalued by a society that sees human life as disposable. Most of all, the pro-life movement is about love: loving the unborn, loving pregnant moms, and loving and caring for all the members of our human family who cannot speak for themselves. May all our efforts to restore the Culture of Life be born of love. May God bless your celebration of Valentine’s Day and your observance of the 40 Days of Lent.