Many people desire to get their bodies “in shape.” They want to feel good and look good. Having a healthy, fit body is a good thing, but it’s not the only thing. The reality is that our bodies will die. Health and fitness are fleeting. The psalmist observes: “Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty, if we are strong” (Ps 90:10). Modern medicine and nutrition might even push life expectancy a few years longer. Yet our ultimate goal is not a few extra years of life, or a healthy, fit life, but the resurrection of our holy body to eternal life, so that our bodies will be members of the risen Body of Jesus.

How should we live in our bodies while on this earth so that our bodies and souls will be with Jesus forever? We make our bodies enemies of the world (Phil 3:19). We deny our very flesh and crucify ourselves to the world (Lk 9:23; Gal 6:14). We don’t wait until heaven to have “remade” bodies (see Phil 3:21); we let Jesus “remake” us right now (see 2 Cor 5:17). Our bodies are “begotten from above” in the waters of Baptism (Jn 3:3) and rise from those waters reborn, remade. Keep your body holy and pure (see 1 Jn 3:3) through frequent Confession and Mass.

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 Octobert 1, 2024, through November 30, 2024. Reverend Steve J. Angi, Chancellor, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio January 24, 2024"

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.