Valentine's Day

Valentine’s day, celebrated this Sunday, often brings images of red roses, large boxes of chocolate and candle light dinners to mind. The St. Valentine, whose feast day is February 14, is among the earliest of Roman martyrs, and on this day we celebrate and treasure love, love of all kinds. The romantic and committed love of husband and wife, the devoted love of parent and child and the affectionate and caring love between friends.

In my job, I get to see a very special kind of love everyday. This kind of sacrificial love motivates people to leave their homes, travel half a world away and share their gift of healing. Not flowers or chocolates, but the love we are all called to have for all of our sisters and brothers, a universal, faith motivated love.

The title of this blog and the prayer of St. Theresa - Christ has no body,
but ours, no hands but ours is always the challenge; how can we be
Christ to others; how can we ensure that they experience the love God
has for each of them?

This week Dr. Brent Burket and Dr. Jennifer Thoene, along with their four small children, began a
three year assignment to Hospitalito in Lake Attitlan. Brent and Jennifer are very close with their
families in California and Oregon - their families too make a sacrifice, sharing their loved ones
with the people who need them in Guatemala.

Please keep this young family, and their family at home in your prayers this week, and you can
let them know you are praying for them by signing a prayer card on our web site.