Love may be blind, but marriage is sure to restore your sight.

It may look like a fairy tale at the beginning, but eventually you realize that marriage is hard work, however old you are and however long you’ve been married. There is a moment in every marriage that makes or breaks the relationship. It might come early, or it might come late, and it might come multiple times—but it always comes.

That moment is when you have to decide whether you’re really “in it to win it.”

That means that when you see your spouse as a real human being, with flaws and imperfections (even ones that get on your nerves), you commit to making the marriage work no matter what. When bad financial times hit, or one of you has a health crisis, or attraction in the relationship is fading—you’re committed to making the marriage work, no matter what. Once you’re in it to win it, there is no taking back that commitment.

Saint Valentine sacrificed his life for young people to be able to make the lifelong commitment of marriage.

Valentine was a bishop in Rome when Emperor Claudius II made it illegal for young people to marry, believing it made the men worse soldiers. Valentine disobeyed the decree, and secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young couples. When he was discovered, Valentine was arrested and executed. 

Saint Valentine gave his life for the sake of marriage, even though he himself could never marry. He understood the sacred bond of marriage as a sacrament that joins two persons into one flesh. How would society look if we returned to treating marriage that way?

So, whether you’re married now, preparing to get married, or simply want to have marriage advice at the ready, remember this one question: Are you in it to win it?

Patron Saint of: Love, Young People, Happy Marriages, Epilepsy, Fainting, and Beekeepers

Symbols: A Pair of Birds and Roses

Feast Day: February 14

Feast Day Shared By: Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius