Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Liturgical Season: 
II The Season of Yaldo-Denho

Eph 6:10-17

Battle Against Evil. 10* Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. 11Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.g 12For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.h 13Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground.i 14So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate,j 15and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace.k 16In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one.l 17And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.m

Lk 3:1-6

The Preaching of John the Baptist.* 1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,* when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,a and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,* the word of God came to Johnb the son of Zechariah in the desert. 3* He went throughout [the] whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,c 4* as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:d

“A voice of one crying out in the desert:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,e

make straight his paths.

5Every valley shall be filled

and every mountain and hill shall be made low.

The winding roads shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth,

6and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”f