First reading
From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God: To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Before the foundation of the world God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless before him in love.
God destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of God’s will, that is for the praise of his glorious grace that God freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight God has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.