14By reason of this grace, I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15from whom all paternity in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16And I ask him to grant to you to be strengthened in virtue by his Spirit, in accord with the wealth of his glory, in the inner man, 17so that Christ may live in your hearts through a faith rooted in, and founded on, charity. 18So may you be able to embrace, with all the saints, what is the width and length and height and depth 19of the charity of Christ, and even be able to know that which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20Now to him who is able to do all things, more abundantly than we could ever ask or understand, by means of the virtue which is at work in us: 21to him be glory, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, throughout every generation, forever and ever. Amen.
1A Psalm of David. Exult in the Lord, you just ones; together praise the upright. 2Confess to the Lord with stringed instruments; sing psalms to him with the psaltery, the instrument of ten strings. 3Sing to him a new song. Sing psalms to him skillfully, with loud exclamation. 4For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his works are in faith. 5He loves mercy and judgment. The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. 6By the word of the Lord, the heavens were established, and all their power, by the Spirit of his mouth: 7gathering together the waters of the sea, as if in a container, placing the depths in storage. 8Let all the earth fear the Lord, and may all the inhabitants of the world quake before him. 9For he spoke, and they became. He commanded, and they were created. 10The Lord scatters the counsels of the nations. Moreover, he reproves the thoughts of the people, and he rejects the counsels of the leaders. 11But the counsel of the Lord remains for eternity, the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation. 12Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his inheritance. 13The Lord has looked down from heaven. He has seen all the sons of men. 14From his well-prepared dwelling place, he has gazed upon all who dwell on the earth. 15He has formed the hearts of each one of them; he understands all their works. 16The king is not saved by great power, nor will the giant be saved by his many powers. 17The horse is false safety; for he will not be saved by the abundance of his powers. 18Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him and on those who hope in his mercy, 19so as to rescue their souls from death and to feed them during famine.
8Yet truly, I consider everything to be a loss, because of the preeminent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of everything, considering it all to be like dung, so that I may gain Christ, 9and so that you may be found in him, not having my justice, which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ Jesus, the justice within faith, which is of God.
49I have come to cast a fire upon the earth. And what should I desire, except that it may be kindled? 50And I have a baptism, with which I am to be baptized. And how I am constrained, even until it may be accomplished! 51Do you think that I have come to give peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52For from this time on, there will be five in one house: divided as three against two, and as two against three. 53A father will be divided against a son, and a son against his father; a mother against a daughter and a daughter against a mother; a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”