Letter to the Colossians 2:6-18.

So, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him,
rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.
For in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily,
and you share in this fullness in him, who is the head of every principality and power.
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ.
You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
And even when you were dead (in) transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions;
obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross;
despoiling the principalities and the powers, he made a public spectacle of them, leading them away in triumph by it.
Let no one, then, pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or sabbath.
These are shadows of things to come; the reality belongs to Christ.
Let no one disqualify you, delighting in self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, inflated without reason by his fleshly mind,

Psalms 145(144):1-2.8-9.10-11.

Praise. Of David. I will extol you, my God and king; I will bless your name forever.
Every day I will bless you; I will praise your name forever.
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love.
The LORD is good to all, compassionate to every creature.

All your works give you thanks, O LORD and your faithful bless you.
They speak of the glory of your reign and tell of your great works,

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:12-19.


Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon
came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.
Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.

Commentary of the day
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein] (1891-1942), Carmelite, martyr, co-patron of Europe
The Prayer of the Church (trans. ©Institute of Carmelite Studies