There was a certain man from Ramathaim, Elkanah by name, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives, one named Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless. This man regularly went on pilgrimage from his city to worship the LORD of hosts and to sacrifice to him at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were ministering as priests of the LORD. When the day came for Elkanah to offer sacrifice, he used to give a portion each to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, but a double portion to Hannah because he loved her, though the LORD had made her barren. Her rival, to upset her, turned it into a constant reproach to her that the LORD had left her barren. This went on year after year; each time they made their pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the LORD, Peninnah would approach her, and Hannah would weep and refuse to eat. Her husband Elkanah used to ask her: "Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you refuse to eat? Why do you grieve? Am I not more to you than ten sons?"

How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all his people. Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. I am your servant; the son of your handmaid; you have loosed my bonds. To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. My vows to the LORD I will pay   in the presence of all his people.   In the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem.

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

When they came to him they were fishers of fish and then they became fishers of men! As it is written: “Look, I will send many catchers of men, and they will catch them on every mountain and high hill” (Jer 16,16). If he had sent wise men it would have been said they had persuaded the people and won them over that way, or that they had deceived them and thus caught them. If he had sent the wealthy it would have been said they had fooled the people by giving them food, or that they had bought them with money and so gained the upper hand. If he had sent strong men it would have been said they had won them over by force or constrained them with violence, But the apostles had nothing to do with any of this. Our Lord demonstrated it to everyone with the example of Simon Peter. He lacked courage since he took fright at the words of a serving girl; he was poor since he was not even able to pay his share of the temple tax (Mt 17,24f). “Gold and silver have I none” was what he said (Acts 3,6). And he was without sophistication since, when he denied the Lord, he had no idea how to get out of it by guile. And so these fishers of fish set out and carried away the victory against the strong, the rich and the wise. What a miracle! Weak though they were, they drew strong men to their teaching without force; poor, they taught the wealthy; unlettered, they made the wise and prudent their disciples. The wisdom of this world gave way to that wisdom which is itself the wisdom of all wisdoms.

Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my Spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

Give to the LORD, you sons of God, give to the LORD glory and praise, Give to the LORD the glory due his name; adore the LORD in holy attire. The voice of the LORD is over the waters, the LORD, over vast waters. The voice of the LORD is mighty; the voice of the LORD is majestic. The God of glory thunders, and in his temple all say, “Glory!” The LORD is enthroned above the flood; the LORD is enthroned as king forever.

Peter proceeded to speak to those gathered in the house of Cornelius, saying: “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation, whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him. You know the word (that) he sent to the Israelites as he proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?" Jesus said to him in reply, "Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened (for him), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

The heavenly Father has himself undertaken the task of establishing for us, (…) our ideal of sanctity. He predestined for us to become like, not to any creature, nor to an angel, but to his Son, (…). Saint Paul reveals this thought of the Father to us when he says: “He predestined them to be like the image of his Son” (Rm 8:29). God provides for us a divine model of perfection. He wishes to see reproduced in us the characteristics of his incarnate Son, and, thereby, to see our soul resplendent with the reflection of his own sanctity. (…) Though God, that ocean of perfection, is incomprehensible to all created intelligence, he himself in his infinity, grasps at once, the fullness of his grandeur; he expresses his knowledge in one thought, in one single expression, his Word. To this Word, he communicates all his divine life, all his light, all that he is. This generation within the very bosum of Father, being the very life of God, had no beginning and will have no end. At this moment as I write, the Father, in infinite exultation, says to his Son: “You are my Son; today – that is to say in an eternal present – ​​I have begotten you” (Ps 2:7). The Father has given us this Son as a model and as the source of all sanctity. “In him reside all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God” (Col 2:3). An eternity of contemplation will not be enough to exhaust the knowledge of this mystery and to thank God for this benefit. If, as Saint Thomas Aquinas writes, “the natural and eternal filiation of the Word in the bosom of the Father is the sublime example of our adoptive filiation” (Sermo, XXXI, 3), the holiness specific to humanity of the true only Son of God must also serve as a model for the holiness of adopted sons.

Beloved: We have this confidence in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours. If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly. We know that no one begotten by God sins; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the evil one cannot touch him. We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Children, be on your guard against idols.

Sing to the LORD a new song of praise in the assembly of the faithful. Let Israel be glad in their maker, let the children of Zion rejoice in their king. Let them praise his name in the festive dance, let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp. For the LORD loves his people, and he adorns the lowly with victory. Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy upon their couches; Let the high praises of God be in their throats. This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia!

Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, for John had not yet been imprisoned. Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings. So they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him." John answered and said, "No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said (that) I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease."