A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 1:26-31
Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.
Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.
The word of the Lord came to me thus:/ Gird your loins;/ stand up and tell them/ all that I command you./ Be not crushed on their account,/ as though I would leave you crushed before them;/ For it is I this day/ who have made you a fortified city,/ A pillar of iron, a wall of brass,/ against the whole land:/ Against Judah’s kings and princes,/ against its priests and people./ They will fight against you, but not prevail over you,/ for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.
Brothers and sisters: Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.
Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the Church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
We instruct you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to shun any brother who walks in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us.
We ask you, brothers and sisters, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
The angel led me to the gate which faces the east, and there I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east.