"Love is drawn to love."
___Welsh proverb (trans. CM)
On this day, the Celtic equivalent of St. Valentine's Day, Welsh lovers celebrate the patron of love; St. Dwynen's Day (DWIN'wen), by sending each other St. Dwynwen's Day cards. Many legends tell of St. Dwynwen, including one that speaks of her love for Maelon Dafodrill (MY'lon Day-OD'ril). Things did not work out, however, and one night St. Dwynwen prayed to be cured of her love. God appeared to her in her dreams, giving her a draught that cured her of love and causing Maelon to be frozen into a block of ice. But St. Dwynwen was offered - and made - three divine wishes. The first she uttered was that Maelon be unfrozen; the second was that any true lovers whose love was not reciprocated might be cured of their love; the last was that she might never marry.
Love is one of our world's most cliched words. It has to work hard to cover all kinds of conditions and relationships, from the intimacy of lovers to the filial, parental and national forms of love that surround us. We look for love and approval everywhere without understanding that love must also be extended by ourselves, that the giving of love is an essential part of the process. There is a lack of grace, a kind of lovelessness that inhabits the body of someone who has not been a receptacle of love.
The presence of love calls out the gift of love in others. Love's reciprocity is catching if we once allow it in. Unreciprocated love, however, is a curse not a gift - one that St. Dwynwen herself seems to have well understood.
"Mediate upon the gift of love. How has it been manifested in your life?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
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