A reading from
the Letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians1:12-20
Brothers and sisters: Let us give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light. He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God,/ the firstborn of all creation./ For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,/ the visible and the invisible,/ whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;/ all things were created through him and for him./ He is before all things,/ and in him all things hold together./ He is the head of the body, the church./ He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,/ that in all things he himself might be preeminent./ For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,/ and through him to reconcile all things for him,/ making peace by the blood of his cross/ through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.
The word of the Lord.
