Dear friends,
Here in Dublin in Ireland in Whitefriar Street Church in the city centre we have a shrine dedicated to Saint Valentine.
In the Roman Catholic tradition the feast of Saint Valentine is celebrated on the 14th of February.
So I thought that in honour of that saint and the importance of love I thought it might be appropriate to share some quotes about love and marriage.
Beginning with the famous words of Jesus on the subject.
A new command I give you,
Love one another as I have loved you.
By this everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another.
And from Saint Paul we have this,
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels but do not have love I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love I am nothing.
If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love I gain nothing.
Love is patient,
Love is kind,
Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way,
It is not irritable or resentful,
It does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.
Love bears all things bears all things,
Believes all things,
Hopes all things,
Endures all things.
Love never ends.
But as for prophecies they will come to an end,
As for tongues they will cease,
As for knowledge it will come to an end.
Faith,
Hope and love abide.
These three and the greatest of these is love.
On the subject of marriage and togetherness we have this by Kahlil Gibran.
Then Almitra spoke again and said and what of marriage master and he answered saying you were born together and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ah you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love,
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous but let each one of you be alone even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts but not into each other's keeping for only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together for the pillars of the temple stand apart and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.
So my wish for you today is that you will have love,
That you will give love,
That you will receive love and in the course of life you may find yourself falling out of love,
That can happen,
But it can be less painful if the break is not filled with resentment.
Having loved someone can we love them enough to let them go?
For situations like this we have some words from a song.
It's titled I Wish You Love.
It was first heard in the middle of the last century.
These are the words,
Some of the words.
My breaking heart and I agree that you and I could never be so with my best,
My very best,
I set you free.
I wish you shelter from the storm,
A cozy fire to keep you warm,
But most of all when snowflakes fall I wish you love.
Encouraged by those thoughts let's all continue to love one another.
Our world needs more love not less.
Namaste.
