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Ponder Pond is a place to stop
and take a break ... and think about things that are a little bigger
than most thoughts. Have you been pondering? Send
us your thoughts. St. Valentine and the Outlawing
of Marriage It is believed that during the persecution of Rome, under Emperor Claudius II, soldiers were forbidden to have wives, because Claudius thought they would not be good soldiers if they had loved ones at home. Valentine was a priest and physician of Rome, who didn't agree with the Emperor's thinking. He continued to marry loving couples in secret, and so was jailed and beheaded for disobeying his Emperor. February 14th was the day on which it is said he was executed. Hence Valentine's Day is formally called “Saint Valentine's Day”. The reason we say 'be my Valentine' One day a jailer brought his daughter to see Valentine, so as to
see if she could have her sight gained. Valentine was said to have
rubbed an ointment on her eyes and told the jailer to bring her
back once a week to have the ointment rubbed on her eyes. During
this treatment, Valentine was arrested and thrown in jail for secretly
marrying couples. The jailer, who could not do a thing to help Valentine,
went to see him moments before he was to be executed. Valentine
asked for a piece of paper and pen. On the piece of paper it is
said he was supposed to have written a love letter to the jailer's
blind daughter signed "from your Valentine".
Inside the paper was a blossom of which it is said gave the girl
her sight. For this reason, the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers' tokens. So, this year as you give out your Valentine's, remember how the Saint wrote his first Valentine ever, just before dying, while his lover received the gift of sight from him. How tragic!
This year, you might think differently about Valentine's Day, knowing that poor St. Valentine was executed for going against his Emperor's wishes for the sake of true love! Can you imagine the days when Kings and Emperors controlled the land and whimmed their wishes into reality? If war were ever to make a president or leader outlaw marriages, what do you think would happen in today's world? Much pondering can be done on that question! * A MARTYR is an individual who has personally witnessed, suffered or sacrificed for a worthy cause. Many martyrs are still honored today. Those champions of freedom who won, by dying, the greatest victories in the history of the human race.
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Each
year, we celebrate Valentine's Day with hearts and candy, kisses
and cards. Do you know why, or how it all started? There are almost
as many stories about the origins of the celebration as there are
symbols of love and affection. The following historical information
is from the year 270, which was over 1700 years ago!
The
first of the Saints was considered to be a Roman Priest or Bishop
of the Christian faith, who was also a physician and practised his
trade from his house. He was said to cure the sick of ailments,
giving them special medicines or ointments. He was said to have
done this out of the goodness of his heart sometimes refusing any
payment whatsoever or accepting a loaf of bread or whatever could
be spared by the sick. Every night he would pray under the dark
of night for the sick to be cured. 
