Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

15He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. 16For in him was created everything in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers. All things were created through him and in him. 17And he is before all, and in him all things continue. 18And he is the head of his body, the Church. He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, so that in all things he may hold primacy. 19For the Father is well-pleased that all fullness reside in him, 20and that, through him, all things be reconciled to himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, for the things that are on earth, as well as the things that are in heaven.

1A Psalm of Confession.

2Shout joyfully to God, all the earth. Serve the Lord with rejoicing. Enter into his sight in exultation.

3Know that the Lord himself is God. He made us, and we ourselves did not. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

4Enter his gates with confession, his courts with hymns, and acknowledge him. Praise his name.

5For the Lord is sweet, his mercy is in eternity, and his truth is from generation to generation.

33But they said to him, “Why do the disciples of John fast frequently, and make supplications, and those of the Pharisees act similarly, while yours eat and drink?” 34And he said to them: “How can you cause the sons of the groom to fast, while the groom is still with them? 35But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast, in those days.” 36Then he also made a comparison for them: “For no one sews a patch from a new garment onto an old garment. Otherwise, he both disrupts the new one, and the patch from the new one does not join together with the old one. 37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine ruptures the wineskins, and it will be poured out, and the wineskins will be lost. 38Instead, the new wine is put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39And no one who is drinking the old, soon wishes for the new. For he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”