Reading 1, Philippians 1:18-26 18 But what does it matter? Only that in both ways, whether with false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and for that I am happy; 19 and I shall go on being happy, too, because I know that this is what will save me, with your prayers and with the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ; 20 all in accordance with my most confident hope and trust that I shall never have to admit defeat, but with complete fearlessness I shall go on, so that now, as always, ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 2:19-22 19 So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors; you are fellow-citizens with the holy people of God and part of God's household. 20 You are built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, and Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. 21 Every structure knit together in him grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 and you too, in him, are being built up into a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit. Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 19:2-3, 4-5 2 day ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 6:10-20 10 Finally, grow strong in the Lord, with the strength of his power. 11 Put on the full armour of God so as to be able to resist the devil's tactics. 12 For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens. 13 That is why you must take up all God's armour, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 6:1-9 1 Children, be obedient to your parents in the Lord -- that is what uprightness demands. 2 The first commandment that has a promise attached to it is: Honour your father and your mother, 3 and the promise is: so that you may have long life and prosper in the land. 4 And parents, never drive your children to resentment but bring them up with correction and advice inspired by the Lord. 5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are, according to human reckoning, your ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 5:21-33 21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives should be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, 23 since, as Christ is head of the Church and saves the whole body, so is a husband the head of his wife; 24 and as the Church is subject to Christ, so should wives be to their husbands, in everything. 25 Husbands should love their wives, just as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her 26 to make her holy by washing her in ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 4:32-5:8 32 Be generous to one another, sympathetic, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ. 1 As God's dear children, then, take him as your pattern, 2 and follow Christ by loving as he loved you, giving himself up for us as an offering and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God. 3 Among you there must be not even a mention of sexual vice or impurity in any of its forms, or greed: this would scarcely become the holy people of God! 4 There must be no ...

Reading 1, Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 12 for the Lord is a judge who is utterly impartial. 13 He never shows partiality to the detriment of the poor, he listens to the plea of the injured party. 14 He does not ignore the orphan's supplication, nor the widow's as she pours out her complaint. 16 Whoever wholeheartedly serves God will be accepted, his petitions will carry to the clouds. 17 The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds: and until it does, he is not to be consoled, 18 nor will he ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 4:7-16 7 On each one of us God's favour has been bestowed in whatever way Christ allotted it. 8 That is why it says: He went up to the heights, took captives, he gave gifts to humanity. 9 When it says, 'he went up', it must mean that he had gone down to the deepest levels of the earth. 10 The one who went down is none other than the one who went up above all the heavens to fill all things. 11 And to some, his 'gift' was that they should be apostles; to some prophets; to ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 4:1-6 1 I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you therefore to lead a life worthy of the vocation to which you were called. 2 With all humility and gentleness, and with patience, support each other in love. 3 Take every care to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. 4 There is one Body, one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, over all, ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 3:14-21 14 This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, 15 from whom every fatherhood, in heaven or on earth, takes its name. 16 In the abundance of his glory may he, through his Spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self, 17 so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, 18 with all God's holy people you will have the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 3:2-12 2 You have surely heard the way in which God entrusted me with the grace he gave me for your sake; 3 he made known to me by a revelation the mystery I have just described briefly- 4 a reading of it will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ. 5 This mystery, as it is now revealed in the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets, was unknown to humanity in previous generations: 6 that the gentiles now have the same inheritance and form the ...

Reading 1, Second Timothy 4:9-17 9 Make every effort to come and see me as soon as you can. 10 As it is, Demas has deserted me for love of this life and gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia; 11 only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you; I find him a useful helper in my work. 12 I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus in Troas, and the scrolls, especially the parchment ones. 14 Alexander the coppersmith has ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 2:1-10 1 And you were dead, through the crimes and the sins 2 which used to make up your way of life when you were living by the principles of this world, obeying the ruler who dominates the air, the spirit who is at work in those who rebel. 3 We too were all among them once, living only by our natural inclinations, obeying the demands of human self-indulgence and our own whim; our nature made us no less liable to God's retribution than the rest of the world. 4 But God, ...

Reading 1, Exodus 17:8-13 8 The Amalekites then came and attacked Israel at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, 'Pick some men and tomorrow morning go out and engage Amalek. I, for my part, shall take my stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.' 10 Joshua did as Moses had told him and went out to engage Amalek, while Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses kept his arms raised, Israel had the advantage; when he let his arms fall, the advantage ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 1:15-23 15 That is why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all God's holy people, 16 have never failed to thank God for you and to remember you in my prayers. 17 May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. 18 May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, how rich is the ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 1:11-14 11 And it is in him that we have received our heritage, marked out beforehand as we were, under the plan of the One who guides all things as he decides by his own will, 12 chosen to be, for the praise of his glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came. 13 Now you too, in him, have heard the message of the truth and the gospel of your salvation, and having put your trust in it you have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the ...

Reading 1, Ephesians 1:3-10 3 Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ. 4 Thus he chose us in Christ before the world was made to be holy and faultless before him in love, 5 marking us out for himself beforehand, to be adopted sons, through Jesus Christ. Such was his purpose and good pleasure, 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved, 7 in whom, through his blood, we gain ...

Reading 1, Galatians 5:18-25 18 But when you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19 When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: sexual vice, impurity, and sensuality, 20 the worship of false gods and sorcery; antagonisms and rivalry, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels, disagreements, 21 factions and malice, drunkenness, orgies and all such things. And about these, I tell you now as I have told you in the past, that people who behave in these ways will not inherit ...

Reading 1, Galatians 5:1-6 1 Christ set us free, so that we should remain free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be fastened again to the yoke of slavery. 2 I, Paul, give you my word that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all. 3 I give my assurance once again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law; 4 once you seek to be reckoned as upright through the Law, then you have separated yourself from ...

Reading 1, Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1 22 Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave girl and one by the freewoman. 23 The son of the slave girl came to be born in the way of human nature; but the son of the freewoman came to be born through a promise. 24 There is an allegory here: these women stand for the two covenants. The one given on Mount Sinai -- that is Hagar, whose children are born into slavery; 31 So, brothers, we are the children not of the slave girl but of ...