On February 14, many around the world celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, a day traditionally symbolized by a heart. It is a providential symbol, as it encourages us to seek out the Heart that loves us and brought us into existence.

Saint John Paul II reminded us in his apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio of how God loved us from the beginning.

“God created man in His own image and likeness: calling him to existence through love, He called him at the same time for love. God is love and in Himself He lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in His own image and continually keeping it in being, God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion. Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being.”

Love is inscribed in our very being as our Creator created us in love. This means that the only possible response is to love him in return and to participate in God’s ongoing mission of love and mercy in the world.

We can do this by delving into the “Way of the Heart,” a spiritual pathway that aims to bring God’s love into the world so as to respond to the needs of today’s people.

This spiritual pathway of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is a school of the heart. Through it we are invited to live a personal covenant of love with the Heart of Jesus, and to offer daily our readiness to collaborate with him in his mission, as his apostles.

On this Valentine’s Day, let us put ourselves at the service of the Church and prepare ourselves to be sent out to make God’s compassionate love present in the world.