Earlier, Valentine had been imprisoned for helping Christians, who were being persecuted in Rome. While in prison, he himself became a believer in Jesus Christ, and it was for that particular crime that he was executed.

Tradition tells us he sent messages from prison, especially to many little children whom he had befriended, saying "Remember your Valentine" and "I love you."

Today, we carry on the legacy by sending cards and gifts to our loved ones. As with most dates we commemorate today, Valentine's Day has been corrupted by commercialism, but business is not entirely to blame. While merchants make their living by convincing people to buy their wares, it is their customers who decide how to observe the day. No one forces a person to substitute cards, candy, flowers, or underwear as artificial symbols of Valentine's Day.

If these are artificial, then how can we meaningfully honor Saint Valentine's love?  We must first define love.

The basest, most common definition of love is the meeting of emotional and biological needs. We all long for words and acts of kindness, for reassurance, and for physical contact with other people. These expressions of affection are appropriate and productive, but there is a higher level of love worthy of attention: unconditional love.

In Greek it is called agape (pronounced ah-gah'-pay). It is giving someone not what he wants, but what he needs. It is loving the unlovable. It is loving someone who does not love us and will not return our expressions of love. Some of the most powerful statements in the Bible speak of love:

• For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

• But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

• Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. (John 15:13)

This agape love, then, comes from God. It is love in its purest sense. When we celebrate agape love, we honor Saint Valentine, we honor the person to whom we express the love, and we honor God, who loves us even when we are absolutely unlovable.

But how do we celebrate agape? Again, the Scripture (specifically, Jesus) speaks: "If you love me, keep My commandments (John 14:15). So, then, the purest expression of agape is found only in God, but we celebrate God's love by keeping His commandments. We find out what His commandments are by reading the Bible and trying to do what it says. If we do our best to live by His commandments, those around us will experience love at its best.