Leavetaking of Pentecost

to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. ⁹For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers, ¹⁰requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you. ¹¹For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established; ¹²that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you.

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁸Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.