Malachi 1: 14- 2: 2, 8- 10
| 1:14 | Cursed is the deceitful, who holds in his flock a male, and, when making a vow, offers in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Gentiles. |
Malachi 2
| 2:1 | And now, O priests, this command is to you. |
| 2:2 | If you will refuse to listen, and if you will refuse to take it to heart, so as to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, I will send destitution upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yes, I will curse them. For you have not taken it to heart. |
| 2:8 | But you have withdrawn from the way, and you have scandalized very many in the law. You have nullified the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. |
| 2:9 | Because of this, I also have made you contemptible and debased to all the people, just as you have not served my ways, and you have accepted a face in the law. |
| 2:10 | Is there not one Father of us all? Did not one God create us? Why, then, does each one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers? |
First Thessalonians 2: 7- 9, 13
| 2:7 | And although we could have been a burden to you, as Apostles of Christ, instead we became like little ones in your midst, like a nurse cherishing her children. |
| 2:8 | So desirous were we for you that we were willing to hand over to you, not only the Gospel of God, but even our own souls. For you have become most beloved to us. |
| 2:9 | For you remember, brothers, our hardship and weariness. We preached the Gospel of God among you, working night and day, so that we would not be burdensome to any of you. |
| 2:13 | For this reason also, we give thanks to God without ceasing: because, when you had accepted from us the Word of the hearing of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but (as it truly is) as the Word of God, who is working in you who have believed. |
Matthew 23: 1- 12
| 23:1 | Then Jesus spoke to the crowds, and to his disciples, |
| 23:2 | saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down in the chair of Moses. |
| 23:3 | Therefore, all things whatsoever that they shall say to you, observe and do. Yet truly, do not choose to act according to their works. For they say, but they do not do. |
| 23:4 | For they bind up heavy and unbearable burdens, and they impose them on men’s shoulders. But they are not willing to move them with even a finger of their own. |
| 23:5 | Truly, they do all their works so that they may be seen by men. For they enlarge their phylacteries and glorify their hems. |
| 23:6 | And they love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, |
| 23:7 | and greetings in the marketplace, and to be called Master by men. |
| 23:8 | But you must not be called Master. For One is your Master, and you are all brothers. |
| 23:9 | And do not choose to call anyone on earth your father. For One is your Father, who is in heaven. |
| 23:10 | Neither should you be called teachers. For One is your Teacher, the Christ. |
| 23:11 | Whoever is greater among you shall be your minister. |
| 23:12 | But whoever has exalted himself, shall be humbled. And whoever has humbled himself, shall be exalted. |