First Reading1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b-27
From the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians
16For if I preach the Good News,I have nothing to boast about,for necessity is laid on me;but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News.17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward.But if not of my own will,I have a stewardship entrusted to me.18What then is my reward?That when I preach the Good News,I may present the Good News of Christ without charge,so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.
19For though I was free from all,I brought myself under bondage to all,that I might gain the more. verses 20–21 are not read22To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak.I have become all things to all men,that I may by all means save some.23Now I do this for the sake of the Good News,that I may be a joint partaker of it.24Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run,but one receives the prize?Run like that, so that you may win.25Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things.Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown,but we an incorruptible.26I therefore run like that, not aimlessly.I fight like that, not beating the air,27but I beat my body and bring it into submission,lest by any means,after I have preached to others,I myself should be disqualified.