Valentine’s Day in 2018: a day dedicated to the love of faith

By: Noelle Larino 

Photo: Marymount’s Flickr

While many on Valentine’s Day are enticed with the galore of chocolate, roses, and sweet treats, this Valentine’s Day, students at Marymount were in a time of prayer and reflection, with many donning ashes on their forehead in the shape of the cross.

Yes, the day dedicated to cupid lovers everywhere was also Ash Wednesday, a day which marks the first day of Lent for Christians, a time of intense prayer and repentance in the forty days leading up to Easter Sunday. Although some may view this intersection of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday as a time of joyful love and a time of humble reflection, Marymount students integrated these two commemorative occasions, expressing love for the time of Lent.

One Marymount junior,  Jeidy Luperon, expressed the importance of the Lenten season in the Catholic Church.

“Lent is one of my favorite seasons in the Catholic Church,” Luperon said. “I think it’s a season that invites us to stop and reflect on ourselves, what we have been doing, and to examine ourselves deeply…especially for Catholics, Lent is that period where we can be reminded of who we are, what our goals are.”

As Luperon said, Lent is a season which calls for Christians to be mindful of their actions and to draw closer to God. In order to accomplish this, many Christians will abstain from something, whether it is a bad habit, a guilty pleasure, or a favorite food, in order to rely more upon God for happiness.

Marymount junior Alison Tett explained the significance of Lent and why it is beneficial to give up something during this season.

“I think it’s important because it helps us to recognize our own sinfulness and the ways we can improve ourselves to become a better person and be more like Christ,” Tett said. “That’s why we tend to give something up; even though it is small it helps us to be more focused.”

In addition to giving something up for Lent, some Marymount students instead added something to their daily lives in order to have more connection with God in their daily routines. For many, this included prayer, fasting, or simply striving to be Christ-like through simple acts of kindness in good deeds.

Senior Nicole Neron added a unique practice to her life during this Lenten.

“Because there are forty days in Lent, I write a letter every day to forty important people in my life and then I pray for that person,” she shared.

For Christians, the Lenten season is the pinnacle moment in the faith to express intentional prayers and repentance in order to draw closer to Christ in the forty days preceding Easter. Here on Marymount’s campus, students are accomplishing this through various means of sacrifice or by adding good deeds to their daily routines.

Even though Ash Wednesday, which marked the start of the Lenten Season, fell on the same day as Valentine’s Day this year, Marymount students incorporated this day of love with a love of their faith.