Eat, Pray, Love: An Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day Dilemma
The New York Times’s Sharron Otterman writes that for this first time since 1945, Ash Wednesday—the beginning of Lent—coincides with Valentine’s Day. The date presents a conundrum for many Christians, since Lent is a time of fasting, as opposed to the indulgence of celebrating Valentine’s Day. Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, though, “sees no harm in marking both days at once.” He tells Otterman, “Take your heartthrob to a small-plates place, because fasting in the Catholic Church doesn’t mean that you go without, or with just water,” he said.