- An honorable name is more to be desired than great riches,
and high esteem is preferable to silver and gold. - I will instruct you
and guide you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you
and keep my eyes upon you. - For it is in him that the entire fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and you share this fullness in him who is the head of every ruler and power.
- Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal upon your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
and ardor is as relentless as the netherworld.
Its flames are flashes of fire,
an unending blaze. - When they arrest you and bring you to trial, do not be concerned beforehand about what you are to say. Simply say whatever is given to you when that time comes, for it will not be you who speak but the Holy Spirit.
- Hatred stirs up strife,
but love overlooks all offenses. - And God is able to enrich you with an abundance of every grace, so that, with all of your needs provided for, you may be able to produce a surplus of good works.
- Then he sat down, summoned the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he must become the last of all and the servant of all.”
- He is the head of the body,
that is, the Church.
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that in every way
he should be supreme. - Behold, he is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will mourn him.
So shall it be. Amen. - Above all, maintain the fervor of your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
- Dear children,
you are from God
and you have conquered them,
for the one who is in you is greater
than the one who is in the world. - When things are going well, be grateful for your blessings,
and in times of adversity consider this:
God has made both of them,
so that we cannot predict with confidence
what the future holds. - Hence, as sin’s reign resulted in death, so the grace of God also might reign through righteousness resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and offered worship and service to the creature rather than to the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural practices. Likewise, men gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameful acts with men and received in their own persons the fitting penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since these people did not see fit to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their depraved way of thinking and to all types of vile behavior.
- One who forgives a misdeed fosters friendship,
but he who divulges it separates good friends. - Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, where he was tempted by the devil. During that time he ate nothing, and at the end of it he was famished.
- I refrained from eating any choice food, abstaining from consuming meat or wine, and I did not anoint myself until those three weeks had passed.
- In the netherworld, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham, far off, and Lazarus by his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’
- Rend your hearts and not your garments,
and turn back to the Lord, your God.
For he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and always prepared to relent from punishing. - But from you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
among the tiniest of the clans of Judah,
from you will come forth for me
one who is to be a ruler in Israel,
one whose origins are from the distant past,
from ancient times. - Therefore, let us leave behind the basic teaching about Christ and advance toward maturity. We must not be forever laying the foundation: repentance for actions that lead to death, faith in God, instruction about baptisms and the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
- For the carved images of the nations are powerless;
they are nothing more than wood cut from a forest,
fashioned with a knife by craftsmen
and embellished with silver and gold.
Then they are fastened with hammers and nails
to prevent them from toppling.
Like scarecrows in a cucumber field
they are unable to speak,
and they must be carried from place to place
since they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they can do no harm,
nor do they have any power to do good. - When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
nor will the waters engulf you.
When you walk through fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not consume you. - For we are not struggling against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, the powers, and the cosmic rulers of this present darkness, and against the spirits of evil in the heavens.
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