(The Atlantic) – Death reminds us of the limits of romantic love, but it also sets romantic love free. It allows love to take its place alongside other goods, some that last and others that are fleeting. Death brings a certain clarity. We can exercise and diet, use modern science to fix our bodies, but they will wear out. They will return to dust. Therefore, the joys we are given should be cherished, and the time we have not wasted.

Both Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day present visions of the meaning of life. But Ash Wednesday offers the more radical hope. As it looks toward Jesus’s death and resurrection, it dares to suggest that there is a divine love not limited by mortality, and that although we are sprinting to our graves, we might one day rise from them and face an affection that defies description. (Read More)