Ecclesiasticus 15: 15-20
Goodness is possible for everyone. No one has permission to sin.

1 Corinthians 2: 6-10
True wisdom of life is found in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 5: 17-37
Goodness is never skin-deep.  Virtue is not cheap.


Isaiah 58: 7-10
Kindness towards others brings light to a darkened world.

1 Corinthians 2: 1-5
Paul relies on the power of God rather than any show of oratory or philosophy in order to convey his knowledge of the crucified Christ.

Matthew 5: 13-16
The disciples of Jesus are to be salt and light to the earth, so that their good works may bring praise to our heavenly Father.

Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13
Like many prophets Zephaniah stresses the need for people to seek out the Lord, to heed his word and to become a humble people.

1 Corinthians 1: 26-31
God chose those who are deemed weak in the eyes of the world to be God’s own.

Matthew 5: 1-12
Jesus outlines those to whom the kingdom of God belongs, including those who are poor in spirit, the merciful, those who mourn and those who hunger and thirst for what is right.

Isaiah 8: 23-9:3
The prophet foresees the great day of liberation when the Lord will visit his people.

1 Corinthians 1: 10-13. 17
Paul reminds the Corinthians that the person of Christ and his sacrificial death and resurrection are the basis of their unity.

Matthew 4: 12-23
Jesus proclaims that the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled in his own person, and he begins to gather the apostles about him.

Isaiah 49: 3. 5-6
God’s servant is called to bring all people to God, to be “the light of all nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth”.

1 Corinthians 1: 1-3
Paul prays that the people of Corinth will experience the grace and peace of Christ, and be called into communion with one another and with Christ.

John 1: 29-34

John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God come down upon Jesus in the form of a dove and identities Jesus as “the Chosen One of God’ and ‘the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world”.