1. It is because of this that I, Paul, a prisoner of the Lord Jesus on behalf of you gentiles. . .

2. You have surely heard the way in which God entrusted me with the grace he gave me for your sake;

3. he made known to me by a revelation the mystery I have just described briefly-

4. a reading of it will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.

5. This mystery, as it is now revealed in the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets, was unknown to humanity in previous generations:

6. that the gentiles now have the same inheritance and form the same Body and enjoy the same promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

7. I have been made the servant of that gospel by a gift of grace from God who gave it to me by the workings of his power.

8. I, who am less than the least of all God's holy people, have been entrusted with this special grace, of proclaiming to the gentiles the unfathomable treasure of Christ

9. and of throwing light on the inner workings of the mystery kept hidden through all the ages in God, the Creator of everything.

10. The purpose of this was, that now, through the Church, the principalities and ruling forces should learn how many-sided God's wisdom is,

11. according to the plan which he had formed from all eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12. In him we are bold enough to approach God in complete confidence, through our faith in him;

13. so, I beg you, do not let the hardships I go through on your account make you waver; they are your glory.

14. This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father,

15. from whom every fatherhood, in heaven or on earth, takes its name.

16. In the abundance of his glory may he, through his Spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self,

17. so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love,

18. with all God's holy people you will have the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth;

19. so that, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you may be filled with the utter fullness of God.

20. Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine;

21. glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.





“O Anjo de Deus não nos abandona jamais.” São Padre Pio de Pietrelcina