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."

In humility, which is my assistant, he has conceived every creature on God's orders. And yet in humility, God leaned toward me to raise the dead leaves that fell and bring them happiness, because you can do everything you want. He formed them in the land where modesty after his fall. And I heard again the voice from heaven said, all the works that God has done, have led to the perfection of charity, humility and peace, why man should want charity, embrace humility preserve peace and not to go to perdition with which, from the beginning, he mocked such virtues. These virtues are not separated by divinity, just as it is not the root of the tree. For God, who is love, humility retains in all his works and all his judgments. Charity and humility descended to earth with the Son of God and accompanied him when he went to heaven. One is wrapped in purple glow and other dazzling white, so you can not see them well. This means that charity burns like purple celestial love, and humility rid of earthly squalor with the whiteness of righteousness. Charity adorns the works of God as gemstone adorns a ring. Humility intact Star of the Sea. openly manifest in the humanity of the Son of God, who came into the world. Humility does not take anything from anybody, but keeps everything in charity, and in it God leaned toward the earth, and all the virtues meet her.

Beloved: Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the one that testifies, and the Spirit is truth. So there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord. If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is surely greater. Now the testimony of God is this, that he has testified on behalf of his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. He has granted peace in your borders; with the best of wheat he fills you. He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs his word! He has proclaimed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. He has not done thus for any other nation; his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia

It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I do will it. Be made clean." And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but "Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them." The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.

O my Lord, how you are the true friend; and how powerful! When you desire you can love, and you never stop loving those who love you! All things praise you, Lord of the world! Oh, who will cry out for you, to tell everyone how faithful you are to your friends! All things fail; you, Lord of all, never fail! Little it is, that which you allow the one who loves you to suffer! O my Lord! How delicately and smoothly and delightfully you treat them! Would that no one ever pause to love anyone but you! It seems, Lord, you try with rigor the person who loves you so that in extreme trial he might understand the greatest extreme of your love. O my God, who has the understanding, the learning, and the new words with which to extol your works as my soul understands them? All fails me, my Lord; but if you do not abandon me, I will not fail you... I already have experience of the gain that comes from the way you rescue the one who trusts in you alone. While in [a] great affliction ... these words alone were enough to take it away and bring me complete quiet: "Do not fear, daughter; for I am, and I will not abandon you; do not fear"... And behold, by these words alone, I was given calm together with fortitude, courage, security, quietude and light, so that in one moment I saw my soul transformed.

Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the father loves (also) the one begotten by him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king's son; He shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment. From fraud and violence he shall redeem them, and precious shall their blood be in his sight. May they be prayed for continually; day by day shall they bless him. May his name be blessed forever; As long as the sun his name shall remain. In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed; All the nations shall proclaim his happiness.  

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

Drink first of the Old Testament so as to drink afterward of the New. If you do not drink of the first you will not be able to quench your thirst at the second. Drink of the first to take your thirst away, of the second to staunch it completely... Drink of the cup of both the Old Testament and the New for in these two you drink Christ. Take away your thirst with Christ for he is the vine, he is the rock that caused water to gush forth, he is the spring of life. Drink Christ for he is “the stream whose runlets gladden the city of God”, he is peace and “from his breast flow rivers of living water”. Drink Christ to quench your thirst with the blood of your redemption and the Word of God. The Old Testament is his word and so is the New. We drink Holy Scripture and we eat it and then the eternal Word descends into the veins of the spirit and the life of the soul: “Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God”. Therefore, quench your thirst with this Word yet in its proper order: first drink it in the Old Testament and then, without delaying, in the New. He himself says almost insistently: “People who walk in darkness, see this great light; you who dwell in a land of death, a light has shone upon you”. So drink without delay and a great light will enlighten you: no longer the ordinary light of day, whether that of the sun or the moon, but the light that casts out the shadow of death. (Biblical references : Jn 15:1; 1 Co 10:4; Ps 36[37]:10; 45[46]:5; Eph 2:14; Jn 7:38; Dt 8:3; Mt 4:4; Is 9:1 LXX; Mt 4:16; Lk 1:79)