February 13
Birthday of the Million, 1300
Edward Hays
The Old Hermits' Almanac
Forest of Peace Publishing Company

Cathedral church bells must have rung out loudly and canons boomed their salutes to accompany the joyful shouts of clergy, nobles and peasants at the birth of the Million.  With narrow medieval streets filled with celebrators, university scholars must have pondered the rapidly expanding world that now required the ability to count things to the staggering sum of one million.  Prior to this awesome event, the largest number used was the Greek myriad, which meant 10,000. When asked how many poppy seeds existed in the entire universe, the mathematician Archimedes (200 B.C.) is reported to have said, "myriads of myriads of myriads."

In only seven hundred hears we have come to counting in not only hundreds of millions but billions and trillions, if not zillions of trillions.  Numbers beyond those we can count on our fingers are easily lost in the whirl of such staggering figures. As you prepare for tomorrows feast of lovers and friends, recall that…while your beloved may be worth a million dollars, love can only embrace numbers like one or two, or for those with extra-large hearts perhaps as many as five to ten. Reflect, today, on the fact that God does not love a million people.  God loves one at a time. Rejoice on this eve of Valentine's Day that to God you are Number One.  On this birthday of the Million, rejoice if you are loved by someone, because to that person you are also Number One.

Reflection
As God loves us,
so we are also to love one another.
Think how wonderful it would be
if we would treat each other in our families and our communities
as one of the Number One in our life. crsr