chanting

⁷And when praying, do not choose many words, as the pagans do. For they think that by their excess of words they might be heeded.

¹Most beloved, do not be willing to believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are of God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²The Spirit of God may be known in this way. Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has arrived in the flesh is of God; ³and every spirit who contradicts Jesus is not of God. And this one is the Antichrist, the one that you have heard is coming, and even now he is in the world. ⁴Little sons, you are of God, and so you have overcome him. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵They are of the world. Therefore, they speak about the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶We are of God. Whoever knows God, listens to us. Whoever is not of God, does not listen to us. In this way, we know the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

⁶Let no one seduce you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God was sent upon the sons of unbelief. ⁷Therefore, do not choose to become participants with them. ⁸For you were darkness, in times past, but now you are light, in the Lord. So then, walk as sons of the light. ⁹For the fruit of the light is in all goodness and justice and truth, ¹⁰affirming what is well-pleasing to God. ¹¹And so, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead, refute them.

¹³For this reason also, we give thanks to God without ceasing: because, when you had accepted from us the Word of the hearing of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but (as it truly is) as the Word of God, who is working in you who have believed.

¹³Preserve all that I have said to you. And by the names of foreign gods you shall not swear; neither shall these be heard from your mouth. ¹⁴Three times in each year, you shall celebrate feasts to me. ¹⁵You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, just as I instructed you, at the time of the month of new grain, when you departed from Egypt. You shall not appear empty-handed in my sight, ¹⁶for it is the solemnity of the harvest of the first-fruits of your work, of whatever you have sown in the field. Likewise, it is a solemnity at the end of the season, when you will have gathered in all your crops from the field. ¹⁷Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God. ¹⁸You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven, nor shall the fat of my solemnity remain until morning.

¹⁸We know that everyone who is born of God does not sin. Instead, rebirth in God preserves him, and the evil one cannot touch him. ¹⁹We know that we are of God, and that the entire world is established in wickedness.

⁹Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. ¹⁰Give glory to your mercy and your truth, lest the Gentiles should say, “Where is their God?” ¹¹But our God is in heaven. All things whatsoever that he has willed, he has done. ¹²The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men. ¹³They have mouths, and do not speak; they have eyes, and do not see. ¹⁴They have ears, and do not hear; they have noses, and do not smell.

³And they were crying out to one another, and saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!”

²All the ways of a man are open to his eyes; the Lord is the one who weighs spirits.

^133:1A Canticle in steps. Behold, bless the Lord now, all you servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. ^133:2In the nights, lift up your hands in sanctity, and bless the Lord. ^133:3May the Lord, who made heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

^134:1Alleluia. Praise the name of the Lord. You servants, praise the Lord. ^134:2You who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God: ^134:3praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing psalms to his name, for it is sweet.

⁹Do you not know that the iniquitous will not possess the kingdom of God? Do not choose to wander astray. For neither fornicators, nor servants of idolatry, nor adulterers, ¹⁰nor the effeminate, nor males who sleep with males, nor thieves, nor the avaricious, nor the inebriated, nor slanderers, nor the rapacious shall possess the kingdom of God. ¹¹And some of you were like this. But you have been absolved, but you have been sanctified, but you have been justified: all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. ¹²All is lawful to me, but not all is expedient. All is lawful to me, but I will not be driven back by the authority of anyone.

¹“Pay attention, lest you perform your justice before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have a reward with your Father, who is in heaven. ²Therefore, when you give alms, do not choose to sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the towns, so that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your almsgiving may be in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you. ⁵And when you pray, you should not be like the hypocrites, who love standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets to pray, so that they may be seen by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.

¹At that time, Jesus went out through the ripe grain on the Sabbath. And his disciples, being hungry, began to separate the grain and to eat. ²Then the Pharisees, seeing this, said to him, “Behold, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbaths.” ³But he said to them: “Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: ⁴how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? ⁵Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbaths the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath, and they are without guilt? ⁶But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here.

¹³Temptation should not take hold of you, except what is human. For God is faithful, and he will not permit you to be tempted beyond your ability. Instead, he will effect his Providence, even during temptation, so that you may be able to bear it. ¹⁴Because of this, most beloved of mine, flee from the worship of idols. ¹⁵Since I am speaking to those who are prudent, judge what I say for yourselves. ¹⁶The cup of benediction that we bless, is it not a communion in the Blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of the Lord? ¹⁷Through the one bread, we, though many, are one body: all of us who are partakers of the one bread. ¹⁸Consider Israel, according to the flesh. Are not those who eat from the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

¹And Elijah the Tishbite, from the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord lives, the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew or rain during these years, except by the words of my mouth.” ²And the word of the Lord came to him, saying: ³“Withdraw from here, and go toward the east, and hide at the torrent Cherith, which is opposite the Jordan. ⁴And there you shall drink from the torrent. And I have instructed the ravens to feed you there.” ⁵Therefore, he went and acted in accord with the word of the Lord. And going away, he settled by the torrent Cherith, which is opposite the Jordan. ⁶And the ravens carried bread and flesh to him in the morning, and likewise bread and flesh in the evening. And he drank from the torrent.

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest; they are: fornication, lust, homosexuality, self-indulgence, ²⁰the serving of idols, drug use, hostility, contentiousness, jealousy, wrath, quarrels, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy, murder, inebriation, carousing, and similar things. About these things, I continue to preach to you, as I have preached to you: that those who act in this way shall not obtain the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forbearance, ²³meekness, faith, modesty, abstinence, chastity. There is no law against such things. ²⁴For those who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh, along with its vices and desires.

²⁸Come to me, all you who labor and have been burdened, and I will refresh you. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is sweet and my burden is light.”

¹This is to David, when his land was restored to him. The Lord has reigned, let the earth exult. Let the many islands rejoice. ²Clouds and mist are all around him. Justice and judgment are corrections from his throne. ³A fire will precede him, and it will enflame his enemies all around. ⁴His lightnings have enlightened the whole world. The earth saw, and it was shaken. ⁵The mountains flowed like wax before the face of the Lord, before the face of the Lord of all the earth. ⁶The heavens announced his justice, and all peoples saw his glory.

¹⁵And so, when you extend your hands, I will avert my eyes from you. And when you multiply your prayers, I will not heed you. For your hands are full of blood.

¹The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, in order to make known to his servants the things that must soon occur, and which he signified by sending his Angel to his servant John;