We all know that Feburary 14th is Valentine’s Day, but what you might not realize is that it is also the Salute to Hospitalized Veteran’s Day.  For the past thirteen years, I have asked members of my non-profit organization, The Twilight Brigade (www.thetwilightbrigade.com) to deliver Valentines to Veterans in order to brighten their day with appreciation for the sacrifices they made on behalf of America. As I sat thinking about this today, I surfed the Internet to explore the origins of Valentine’s Day. Of course, I found at least one hundred different explanations for the day so, I picked the one I liked the best.

It appears the celebration of Valentine’s Day began as a pagan fertility festival, called the celebration of Lupercus. He was the Hunter God. To the Greeks, he was called, Pan. To the Semites, he was known as Baal. The purpose of the event was for men between the ages of 16 and 25 to pick, from a bowl, the name of a single young maiden in the village with whom they would live for on year (after that year, the couples most often married). When Rome conquered much of world that celebrated this yearly tradition, they tried many times to do away with the holiday. However, they were repeatedly unsuccessful. That was until the rule of Claudius II, during the third century. Due to the fact that Claudius II had spread himself way too thin in his thirst for conquest, he decided to outlaw marriage. He knew that young men would not want to leave their sweethearts or wives and children to go fight a war, sometimes, thousands of miles from home. Moreover, often these campaigns lasted for years (sounds a lot like modern times, to me)!

A priest named Father Valentine, a very common Roman name at the time, decided to defy Claudius’ law and continued to marry young couples. When Claudius II heard of this, he had Father Valentine arrested and imprisoned. During his incarceration, the priest fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Claudius II order Valentine’s execution on the evening on February 14, 269 A.C.E., the day before the pagan celebration of Lupercus. Claudius used the execution to deter the ancient tradition that was leading to too many marriages within the Empire. What really amazed me was the fact this celebration, known by many different names, was taking place in every nation under Roman rule, although the people had no interaction whatsoever! From Ireland to the Middle East, native tribes all had the same idea and celebrated it at the same time of year without any form of communication with each other. Now how do you suppose such a thing could happen 1700 centuries ago?

However, the death of one man, in a place called Rome, did not stop the thousand year-old celebration of Lupercus. Two hundred years after the execution of Father Valentine, Pope Gelasus came up with a bright idea: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Under the Holy Roman Church, living together outside the sacrament of marriage was declared a sin. Pope Gelasus granted Father Valentine sainthood and decreed that the celebration of Lupercus would be forever banned. In its place, the tradition of young man giving young woman notes or letter of admiration was born. The modern celebration of Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, did not become popular until the mid-1880s. At that time, the US Post Office released the one-cent postcard, making the mail a much more viable means of communication. And thus, America learned to embrace the holiday of love.

For me, Valentine’s Day, and all other commercial holidays, come to think of it, have held little to no meaning in life. Since my first death experience, after being struck by lightning in 1975, I have lived life as if every day was Valentine’s Day. Every second of life on this side of the veil is a celebration of love. How I wish I could infuse everyone with this appreciation for the preciousness of life. I’ve not only seen the Divine Nature of Love, on my journeys through the Heavens, but I continue to see it in so many expressions on this side, that it never ceases to amaze me.

In my personal life, I see the presence of Divine Love whenever I look into my beautiful wife’s eyes. The love and support Kathryn lavishes upon me, helps to keep me focused on what I believe to be my ultimate destiny: The Centers. With her help and constant prodding, I know that I will experience the joy of bringing this program into the world this year.

Also, being a part of the Peters-Brinkley ever-expanding empire, reminds me of life’s greatest gifts. Recently, I saw one of the most magnificent examples of what Valentine’s Day represents. I stood at the front door of our home watching three of our daughters, Alysia, Angelica and Adriana packing the car in preparation for a 500 mile journey together. The were driving to their grandfather’s 85th surprise birthday party. As I stood there watching them trying to fit guitars and computers, books and CDs along with all their luggage into Angel’s tiny Subaru, my heart filled with pride. They were giving up a weekend of leisure or time spent with young friends, to drive for 8 hours to surprise their grandfather in the celebration of his life’s journey. This is my family and these are the moments that take my breath away!

Please take time this month to look around in your life and find the presence of Divine Love in all the magnificent ways it shows itself. Appreciate it and then pass it on…

                       From your Valentine,  Dannion

PS -  Please send a Valentine to a Veteran this month!