麻豆社

Good morning. Today is Valentine鈥檚 Day. Saint Valentine was a third century Roman martyr who became associated in the Middle Ages with the courtly love tradition. Courtly love was an expression of unrequited yearning declared by a troubadour to a woman who was unattainable 鈥� usually because she was married to somebody else.

Medieval Christian mystics borrowed the language of the troubadours to speak of their love for Christ and the Virgin Mary. They turned to the Song of Songs 鈥� that intensely seductive Hebrew love poem which improbably found its way into the Christian scriptures 鈥� to express their desire for Christ: 鈥淟et him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth鈥攆or your love is more delightful than wine.鈥�

I regret that religious faith today is primarily associated with moral rules and not with desire. I agree with those who say that one doesn鈥檛 have to be religious to be moral, and religion can as easily corrupt morals as it can refine them. The function of religion is not to make us obedient conformists to the status quo. It鈥檚 to give shape to the longing for a love that exceeds anything this world has to offer, and yet which shines mysteriously through all that is beautiful, loving and good. Faith is first and foremost about falling in love with God.

To recognise the erotic potency of faith is not to deny that, like every kind of desire, it has a potentially dark and violent aspect. I鈥檝e been watching the television series You about a romance that becomes a murderous obsession. Religious believers too can become violently obsessive and possessive in their desire for God.

For me, becoming a practising member of a faith community (in my case Roman Catholicism) was a bit like getting married. Like marriage, religious traditions domesticate eros and provide a context within which, after the red roses and the Valentine cards, falling in love can become remaining in love.
Of course, religious institutions, like all institutions including marriage and family life, can go badly wrong. Faith, like marriage, doesn鈥檛 always go smoothly and it can be a source of anguish as well as joy. But for me there is much to be discovered about how others have learned to sustain their love of God and neighbour through a diverse and complex tradition which, in spite of its failures, remains a source of wisdom and inspiration for many.

But whoever you are and whoever you鈥檙e with today, I hope you are loved, and that you can say with that ancient poet of the Song of Songs: 鈥淢any waters cannot quench love.鈥�

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