First Reading

Reading from the letter of the Apostle Saint Paul to the Ephesians

Ephesians 1, 1-10

I, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, wish you, the brothers and faithful Christians who are in Ephesus, grace and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in him
with every spiritual and heavenly blessing.

He chose us in Christ, before the creation of the world,
that we might be holy
and blameless in his sight, through love,
and he determined, because it pleased him,
that through Jesus Christ we might be his children,
that we might praise and glorify the grace
with which he has favored us through his beloved Son.

For through Christ, through his blood,
we have received redemption,
the forgiveness of sins.
He has lavished upon us the treasure of his grace,
with all wisdom and understanding,
making known to us the mystery of his will.

This is the plan he had determined to accomplish through Christ,
when the fullness of time had come:
to bring all things, those in heaven and those on earth,
under the headship of Christ.

Gospel

Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke

Luke 11, 47-54

At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law: “Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed! By doing this, you show that you agree with what your fathers did, for they killed them and you build their tombs.

Therefore the wisdom of God said: I will send them prophets and apostles, and they will kill and persecute them, so that this generation may be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the creation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Yes, I tell you: this generation will be held accountable.

Woe to you, teachers of the law, because you have taken away the key to the door of knowledge! You have not entered, and you have hindered those who were trying to enter.”

After Jesus left there, the scribes and Pharisees began to harass him terribly with many questions and to set traps for him to see if they could accuse him with any of his own words.