October 8, 2004, Tuesday of the 27th week in ordinary time.

A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians.

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 Sefas and remained with him for 15 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

Silesia, and I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.

They only kept hearing that the one who was once persecuting us

is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.

So they glorified God because of me.

The Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm. The response is,

Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way. Oh, Lord, you have probed me and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I stand. You understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys

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