After explaining the mystery of Christ's priesthood and his once and for all sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins (4:14-10:18), the author exhorts his listeners to holy living, as they keep in mind the sacrifice of Christ, approaching God as they hold onto the fulness of faith (10:22) and unwaveringly hope in what they confess (10:23) knowing that they are not among those who shrink back and die but among those who have faith and are meant to be saved (10:39). With this mention of "faith" and "hope", the author begins the his recitation of examples from salvation history with a definition of faith (Heb. 11:1).

Colossians 3:1-17 begins the exhortatory section of the letter. The section actually goes on until 4:7 but the liturgical selection for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C limits the reading until verse 11¹. In our discussion of the liturgical selection we will assume a section that ends in verse 17 because the verses following it are exhortations to particular groups.

Colossians 1:15-20 is a hymn that was already used in the liturgy and incorporated in the letter to the Colossians as part of its introductory thanksgiving. The place of the hymn within this opening section of Paul can be traced thus:

• Paul thanks God for the way the Colossians have accepted the gospel through Epaphras (1:1-8)
• He then tells them how much he prays that their faith continue to grow, as they conduct themselves in the Christ and offering thanksgiving to God for what He has done for them: including them in the kingdom of His Son (1:9-14)
• The Hymn to Christ (introduced by a relative pronoun referring back to "His Son", 1:15-20)
• The application of the hymn's theology to the Colossians. They are now "reconciled" called upwards before Him and invited to stand firm in the faith and hope laid out in the gospel of which Paul is a minister (1:21-23)

Galatians 6:14-16 may not be one of the more important passages in Paul's treatise on Christian liberty. But it does summarize the more important ideas he spells out about freedom in Christ, life in the Spirit and the new status of the Christian before God. What is important to note here, I think, is the relationship that there is between the cross of Christ and the new creature produced by the blood of Christ. Galatians is not only about freedom; it also contains a theology of the cross that is borne from the experience of one who has suffered much for the Gospel. Paul's insistence that the Christian is already freed from the demands of the Mosaic Law derives from the conviction that the demands of the Law has been fulfilled more than sufficiently by Christ on the cross.

In Galatians 5-6:10, Paul draws the ethical implications of the freedom that Christians have received in Christ. Verses 2-12 are threads that connect the present section to topics he had previously expounded on:

Proverbs, one of the Wisdom Books, is a collection of sayings culled from experience and applicable for the formation of attitudes and a lifestyle in accordance with the Torah. It is also one of the poetic books and therefore is to be understood as poetry with an educational intent. What follows is a sampling of some of the sayings in the book. The selection is based on the OT reading for Tuesday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B and omits Prov. 21: 7-9.

John 6:41-51 forms part of the Bread of Life section that begins in 6:22 and ends in 6:71. This section is actually prefaced by a search for Jesus (6:22-25) about which he comments:

You are looking for me not because you saw the signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

Hosea 11:1-9 is one of the oldest texts in the Old Testament that refer to Israel as God's son (v. 1). The passage has been badly passed down in tradition such that modern translators have to make choices as to how render it. Most difficult is the passage in verse 7 which is rendered differently in different translations. Inspite of the difficulties presented by the text, it is clear however that it is a recital of God's grace and Israel's refusal which culminates in an explosion not of wrath, but of compassion.

Right at the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul explodes with a blessing, a berakah, to God who, he writes "has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavens in Christ." (v. 3). These spiritual blessings he enumerates throughout this long explosion of grateful joy: