another happy birthday?
"He wills to bring us to birth with a word." —James 1:18
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!
Prayer: Father, I choose You as Lord of life. I reject you, Satan, the prince of death (Heb 2:14).
Promise: "Happy the man who holds out to the end through trial! Once he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life the Lord has promised to those who love Him." —Jas 1:12
Praise: Challenged in a homily to "get off the fence," Shawna decided to see if Christianity was really true by reading the Word of God every day. The Lord touched her deeply, delivered her of fear, and poured out His Spirit on her in a life-changing way.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Ralph J. Lawrence, July 28, 1999
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, August 3, 1999