By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Catholic East Texas - In this issue of the Catholic East Texas Magazine, we turn our attention to topics that lie at the very core of what it means to be human. Life is the most foundational gift that our Lord gives us. New life comes to us in a beautiful way: “a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). In the marital act, when the two become one flesh, this beautiful expression of love cooperates with the creative power of God to produce a new human being. The parents provide the genetic material, while our heavenly Father creates the immortal soul.