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."

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.