First Reading: 2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus,
² To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
³ I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience, as did my fathers, when I remember you constantly in my prayers.
⁶ Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands;
⁷ for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
⁸ Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel in the power of God,
⁹ who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago,
¹⁰ and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
¹¹ For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,
¹² and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.