A Reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans

Brothers and Sisters:

Hence, now there is no condemnation 

     for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus 

     has freed you from the law of sin and death.

For what the law, weakened by the flesh, 

     was powerless to do, this God has done: 

     by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh

     and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin 

     in the flesh, so that the righteous decree of the law

     might be fulfilled in us, who live 

     not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh 

     are concerned with the things of the flesh, 

     but those who live according to the spirit 

     with the things of the spirit. 

The concern of the flesh is death, 

     but the concern of the spirit is life and peace. 

For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God; 

     it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it; 

     and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, 

     you are in the spirit, 

     if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. 

Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ 

     does not belong to him. 

But if Christ is in you, 

     although the body is dead because of sin, 

     the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead 

     dwells in you, 

     the one who raised Christ from the dead 

     will give life to your mortal bodies also, 

     through his Spirit that dwells in you. 

The Word of the Lord