TulaneLSU's Happy Valentine's Day card for his friends of the OT

Friends and especially my dear Houstonian friend, OWL,

I will be brief because I have had the most tiring, though exhilarating, day. We just returned from Antoine's, which is an annual tradition. It was marvelous, even if Antoine's isn't in my top 10 restaurants of the French Quarter. There's much to be said about tradition, and eventually, you realize that the pomp and casing of tradition sometimes have more gravity than a single sense like taste. Valentine's Day wouldn't be Valentine's Day without a trip to Christ Cathedral to remember St. Valentine.

St. Valentine is the patron saint of courtly love, beekeepers, and those with epilepsy. We don't know that much about him. There are lots of stories and stories are good. We do know he was executed for his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The story I was taught as a child was that he was killed because he performed Christian marriages between man and woman who promised to remain faithful in sickness and health. With the heathens in our days, he would likely be hated today. But most of those who oppose Christian marriage today are rather spineless and likely would not have murdered him, like the Romans did.

Anyway, Mother and I, as we are in the tradition of doing, go through old Christmas, birthday, and Valentine's cards on Valentine's Day. It's a worthwhile tradition, and it brings as much joy to my heart as I think it does to her heart. I found this 1991 Valentine's card I gave to her. It shows my distaste not for the poster Winston but for tobacco. The next year I made one that is anti-alcohol.



I am so happy at how society has become anti-tobacco since that time. I hope in another thirty years it will be as anti-alcohol as it is anti-tobacco. I'd argue alcohol has ruined more lives in some way or another, either through addiction, poor choices, injury, or disease, than pretty much anything else in the world.

We kept rummaging and came across a Christmas card from a familiar face. Miss Gayle, as I knew her in the early 90s, was a friend of the family. She has since gone on to become quite the figurehead in the city. I hope when the time comes, she gives the Archdiocese ownership of the Saints. That would be appropriate.




May your Valentine's Day be holy. May we all be willing to die for Christ, who resisted evil not with fist and sword but with love, mercy and forgiveness.

Faith, Hope, and LOVE,
TulaneLSU