A reading
from the letter of St Paul to the Romans
With God on our side who
can be against us? Since God did not spare
his own Son, but gave him to benefit us all, we may
be certain,
after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything
he can give. Could
anyone accuse those that God has chosen? When God
acquits, could
anyone condemn? Could Christ Jesus? No! He not only
died for us - he
rose from the dead, and there at God's right hand
he stands and pleads
for us.
Nothing therefore can come
between us and the love of Christ,
even if we are troubled or worried or being persecuted,
or lacking food
or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked.
These are the trials
through which we triumph,.by the power of him who
loved us.
For I am certain of this:
neither death nor life, no angel, no prince,
nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any
power, or height or
depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between
us and the love of
God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is the word of
the Lord.
A reading
from the letter of St Paul to the Romans
Think of God's mercy, my
brothers, and worship him, I beg you, in a
way that is worthy of thinking beings, by offering
your living bodies
as a holy sacrafice, truly pleasing to God. Do not
model yourselves on
the behaviour of the world around you, but let your
behaviour change,
modelled by your new mind. This is the only way to
discover the will
of God and know what is good, what it is that God
wants, what is the
perfect thing to do.
Do not let your love be
a pretence, but sincerely prefer good to evil.
Love each other as much as brothers and sisters should,
and have a profound
respect for each other. Work for the Lord with untiring
effort and with
great earnestness of spirit. If you have hope, this
will make you
cheerful. Do not give up if trials come; and keep
on praying. If any of
the saints are in need you must share with them; and
you should
make hospitality you special care.
Bless those who persecute
you: never curse them, bless them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice and be sad with those
in sorrow, Treat
everyone with equal kindness; never be condescending
but make real
friends with the poor. Do not allow yourself to become
self-satisfied.
Never repay evil with evil but let everyone see that
you are interested
only in the highest ideals. Do all you can to live
at peace with
everyone.
This is the word of
the Lord.
A reading
from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians.
The body is not meant for
fornication; it is for the Lord, and the Lord
for the body. God, who raised the Lord from the dead,
will by his power
raise us up too.
You know, surely, that
your bodies are members making up the
body of Christ. But anyone who is joined to the Lord
is one spirit with
him.
Keep away from fornication.
All the other sins are committed
outside the body; but to fornicate is to sin against
your own body. Your
body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit,
who is in you since
you received him from God. You are not your own property:
you have
been bought and paid for. That is why you should use
your body for
the glory of God.
This is the word of
the Lord.
A reading
from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians.
Be ambitious for the higher
gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better
than any of them. If I have all the eloquence of men
or angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong
booming of a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of
prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are,
and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all
its fullness, to move mountains, but without love,
then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that
I possess, piece by piece, and even if I let them
take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will
do me no good whatever. Love is always patient and
kind; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take
offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure
in other people's sins but delights in the truth;
it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and
to endure whatever comes. Love does not come to an
end.
This is the word of
the Lord.
A reading
from the letter of St Paul to the Ephesians
Follow Christ by loving
as he loved you, giving himself up in our
place. Give way to one another in obedience to Christ.
Wives should
regard their husbands as they regard the Lord, since
as Christ is head
of the Church and saves the whole body, so is a husband
the head of
his wife; and as the Church submits to Christ, so
should wives to their
husbands, in everything. Husbands should love their
wives just as
Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for
her to make her
holy. He made her clean by washing her in water with
a form of
words, so that when he took her to himself she would
be glorious, with
no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy
and faultless. In
the same way, husbands must love their wives as they
love their own
bodies; for a man to love his wife is for him to love
himself. A man
never hates his own body, but he feeds it and looks
after it; and that is
the way Christ treats the Church, because it is his
body - and we are
its living parts. For this reason, a man must leave
his father and
mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will
become one body.
This mystery has many implications; but I am saying
it applies to
Christ and the Church. To sum up; you too, each one
of you, must love
his wife as he loves himself; and let every wife respect
her husband.
This is the word of
the Lord.
A reading
from the letter of St Paul to the Colossians
You are God's chosen race,
his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed
in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness
and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each
other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven
you; now you must do the same.
Over all these clothes,
to keep them together and complete them, put on love.
And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts,
because it is for this that you were called together
as parts of one body. Always be thankful. Let the
message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home
with you. Teach each other, and advise each other,
in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing
psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God and never
say or do anything except in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
This is the word of
the Lord.
A reading
from the first letter of St Peter
Wives should be obedient
to their husbands. Then, if there are some
husbands who have not obeyed the word, they may find
themselves
won over, without a word spoken, by the way their
wives
behave, when they see how faithful and conscientious
they are. Do not
dress up for show: doing up your hair, wearing gold
bracelets and fine
clothes; all this should be inside, in a person's
heart, imperishable: the
ornament of a sweet and gentle disposition - this
is what is precious in
the sight of God. That was how the holy women of the
past dressed
themselves attractively - they hoped in God and were
tender and
obedient to their husbands; like Sarah, who was obedient
to Abraham,
and called him her lord. You are now her children,
as long as you live
good lives and do not give way to fear or worry.
In the same way, husbands must always treat their
wives with
consideration in their life together, respecting a
woman as one who,
though she may be the weaker partner, is equally an
heir to the life of
grace. This will stop anything from coming in the
way of your prayers.
Finally: you should all agree among yourselves and
be sympathetic;
love the brothers, have compassion and be self - effacing.
Never
pay back one wrong with another one; instead, pay
back with a
blessing. That is what you are called to do, so that
you inherit a
blessing yourself.
This is the word of
the Lord.
A reading
from the first letter of St John
My children,
our love is not to be just words or mere talk,
but something real and active
only by this can we be certain
that we are children of the truth
and be able to quieten our conscience in his presence,
what ever accusations it may raise against us,
because God is greater than our conscience and he
knows everything.
My dear people,
if we cannot be condemned by our own conscience,
we need not be afraid in God's presence
and whatever we ask him,
we shall receive,
because we keep his commandments
and live the kind of life that he wants.
His commandments are these:
that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ
and that we love one another
as he told us to.
Whoever keeps his commandments
lives in God and God lives in us
by the Spirit that he has given us.
This is the word of
the Lord.
A reading
from the first letter of St John
My dear people,
let us love one another
since love comes from God
and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows
God.
Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,
because God is love.
God's love for us was revealed
when God sent into the world his only Son
so that we could have life through him;
this is the love I mean:
not our love for God
but God's love for us when he sent his Son
to be tbe sacrifice that takes our sins away.
My dear People ,
since God has loved us so much,
we too should love one another
God will live in us
and his love will be complete in us.
This is the word of
the Lord.
