Three couples shared their wedding vows last Kasalang Bayan held on February 8, 2020
People expect a lot today. What they see on social media greatly affects them, most especially the young ones.
When asked, “Sino ang mga may karelasyon dito?” Surely, just a very few of them will raise their hands. They will definitely forget that not only their partners but it is also their families and friends whom they have relationships with.
Teenagers have this trendy phrase nowadays, the ‘SANA ALL’. This is commonly used when they see or heard someone experienced what they want. For instance, when a lady who hasn’t been to Batanes saw a picture of another in that beautiful place, she might probably say, “Sana all nakapunta na ng Batanes!”
Today is Valentine’s Day, not just a special day for lovers, but today, we also commemorate the memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the feast day of Saint Valentine.
St. Cyril was a priest and a philosopher and accompanied his brother St. Methodius to Moravia to preach the Gospel. They both perfected a Slavonic alphabet which is now known as the Cyrillic alphabet and translated the liturgy into this language. They were summoned to Rome, where Cyril died on this date in 869, and Methodius was consecrated bishop and sent to Pannonia. He died on April 6, 885, in Velehrad, Czech Republic, after working tirelessly on spreading the Gospel. According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, their feast is celebrated on July 7.
According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Valentine. St. Valentine, a priest of Rome, was martyred, it would appear, in about 270. On the Flaminian Way, at the site of his martyrdom, Julius I built a basilica which was visited frequently.
Legend states that Valentine, along with St. Marius, aided the Christian martyrs during the Claudian persecution. In addition to his other edicts against helping Christians, Claudius had also issued a decree forbidding marriage. In order to increase troops for his army, he forbade young men to marry, believing that single men made better soldiers than married men.
Valentine defied this decree and urged young lovers to come to him in secret so that he could join them in the sacrament of matrimony. Eventually he was discovered by the Emperor, who promptly had Valentine arrested and brought before him. Because he was so impressed with the young priest, Claudius attempted to convert him to Roman paganism rather than execute him. However, Valentine held steadfast and in turn attempted to convert Claudius to Christianity, at which point the Emperor condemned him to death.
— Excerpted from The Church’s Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
The phrase ‘Sana All’ may be our expression of how envious we are to someone else for something that we want to have or experience, materialistically speaking.
This Valentine’s Day, Sts. Cyril, Methodius, and Valentine teach us to change our expression of the phrase ‘Sana All’.
‘Sana All Handang Ibigay Ang Buhay Kay Lord!’
This should be the thing that smashed us, especially the young people, after reading the story of the three saints. Like them, who have sacrificed their lives for the love of God, let us not be anxious of what’s ahead of us. We might say that everyday, we are ready to offer our lives for the Lord. But the question here is, are we really ready to sacrifice our lives for Him? Are we prepared? Are we in for the consequences that we are about to encounter?
There are three things that can be learned from ‘Sana All Handang Ibigay Ang Buhay Kay Lord!’ :
- Valentine’s Day is not just about romantic relationships, but it is mainly a very special day for the Lord as it teaches us to offer our lives to Him, the essence of our lives.
- Let us not just dream of the things that we want. But, we must take an action for us to have it. We must pursue it. And by pursuing things that we want, we must note that ‘We must do things for Him, through Him, and for Him’. The saints did not just dreamed of loving God up to the extent of their lives but, they faced the consequences of it even if it means death. Above all, let us be reminded that everything has a time and we should trust God on his perfect timing for us to get what we truly deserve.
- Most especially, we must not only dream of our material goals in life, our career, our personal triumphs, but we must also dream for our ultimate goal in life and that is to be with God in Heaven.
A Student? A Girlfriend? A Parent? A Grandparent? A Peace Maker? A Teacher? Let our responses and actions be: ‘Sana All Handang Ibigay Ang Buhay Kay Lord!’
Source: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2020-02-14
