First Reading

Brothers and sisters:

You heard of my former way of life in Judaism,

how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure

and tried to destroy it,

and progressed in Judaism

beyond many of my contemporaries among my race,

since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.

But when he, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart

and called me through his grace,

was pleased to reveal his Son to me,

so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,

I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,

nor did I go up to Jerusalem

to those who were Apostles before me;

rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas

and remained with him for fifteen days.

But I did not see any other of the Apostles,

only James the brother of the Lord.

(As to what I am writing to you, behold,

before God, I am not lying.)

Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea

that are in Christ;

they only kept hearing that “the one who once was persecuting us

is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”

So they glorified God because of me.