St. Augustine wrote that, “God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us.”
St. Augustine’s words are both simple and profound. God’s love is desirous of each one of us completely.
This is a beautiful thought by itself, but it becomes even more astounding when we consider the radical nature of God’s love. The love of God is complete, total, selfless, and totally directed towards you.
His profound and total love is best captured in the Greek word agape. Agape is a completely selfless love for another in which one seeks nothing back in return—a total gift of self.

In Greek, there are several words for love: phillia, eros, storge, and agape. Each of these words emphasizes a different type of love: phillia is brotherly or friendly love; eros, romantic love; storge, a family-oriented love; and agape—the highest type of love—a total, selfless, and unconditional love.
Each of these words for love can be found in the New Testament. However, whenever the New Testament authors speak of God’s love, they specifically use agape.
This agape love is the love that unites the Trinity, it is the love by which God spoke Creation into existence, and it is the love that God has for you, a love that overcomes any fault or failing.
As we begin the month of February, we begin to see symbols of love all around us—but the love our culture promotes is often far from agape love. Especially during this time, it is important to meditate on the truth of God’s love. Our prayer when making the St. Valentine’s roast was to give a caffeinated reminder to start your day by reminding yourself of true love. We pray that it reminds you both of God’s love that He showers upon us every day and the love of His creation, His angels, saints, and our brothers and sisters here on earth bestow upon us through prayer. We pray that your sipping of St. Valentine’s roast gives you the stimulus to have a transformative meditation on the love of God through an examination of St. Valentine’s life that he laid down out of love for others.
Whether for St. Valentine’s Day, as a Lenten practice, or as a personal devotion, we dedicated this roast to St. Valentine to be a beautiful reminder of the complete love God has for you.
St. Valentine, pray for us!