Reading
The Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians 2: 1-3, 14-16
2:1 But we ask you, brothers, concerning the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our gathering to him,
2:2 that you not be readily disturbed or terrified in your minds, by any spirit, or word, or epistle, supposedly sent from us, claiming that the day of the Lord is close by.
2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For this cannot be, unless the apostasy will have arrived first, and the man of sin will have been revealed, the son of perdition,
2:14 And so, brothers, stand firm, and hold to the traditions that you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle.
2:15 So may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who has loved us and who has given us an everlasting consolation and good hope in grace,
2:16 exhort your hearts and confirm you in every good word and deed.
Gospel
The Holy Gospel According to Matthew 23: 23-26
23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you collect tithes on mint and dill and cumin, but you have abandoned the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, while not omitting the others.
23:24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat, while swallowing a camel!
23:25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you clean what is outside the cup and the dish, but on the inside you are full of avarice and impurity.
23:26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish, and then what is outside becomes clean.