Today, like other days, is a birthday for each of us. Passion may be conceiving and giving “birth to sin” (Jas 1:15), or God the Father may be bringing “us to birth with a word spoken in truth so that we may be a kind of first fruits of His creatures” (Jas 1:18). Today is the birthday of both sin and salvation, both death and life. If we accept God’s grace to crucify our “flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24) and to receive the seed of God’s Word (see Lk 8:11), we will be begotten from above, born again (Jn 3:3-5). If we yield to our carnal desires (1 Pt 1:14) and choke the Word of God (Mk 4:7), we will give birth to sin, which results in death (see Rm 6:23).

Each day the Lord sets before us “life and death, the blessing and the curse” (Dt 30:19). Let us choose life. Let us resist the temptations to be sexually and spiritually contraceptive and abortifacient. Let us repent of sin and live the new birth. Let us displace the culture of death with a civilization of love and life. Make today another happy birthday!

Rescript:  "In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat for the publication One Bread, One Body covering the time period from February 1, 2026, through March 31, 2026. Reverend Steve J. Angi, Chancellor, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio August 27, 2025"

The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.