WEDNESDAY 12 MAY 2021 FIRST READING "What you venerate without knowing it, that is what I come to tell you" A Reading from the book of Acts of the Apostles (17, 15.22 - 18, 1)

WEDNESDAY 12 MAY 2021 

FIRST READING 

"What you venerate without knowing it, that is what I come to tell you" 

A Reading from the book of Acts of the Apostles (17, 15.22 - 18, 1) 

In those days, those who escorted Paul took him to Athens. Then they returned, carrying a message, with the order, for Silas and Timothy, to join Paul as soon as possible.

Then Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, made this speech: “Athenians, I can observe that you are, in all things, particularly religious men. Indeed, while walking and observing your sacred monuments, I even found an altar with this inscription: “To the unknown god.” Now, what you venerate without knowing it, that is what I have come to announce to you. The God who made the world and all that it contains, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not inhabit sanctuaries made with human hands; neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, he who gives everyone life, breath and everything necessary. From one man he made all peoples to inhabit all the face of the earth, fixing the moments of their history and the limits of their habitat; God made them to seek him and, if possible, reach and find him, he who, in fact, is not far from each of us. Because it is in him that we have life, movement and being. So also said some of your poets: We are of his descendants. If, then, we are of the offspring of God, we must not think that the divinity is like a statue of gold, silver or stone carved by the art and the imagination of man. And now God, without taking into account the times when men ignored him, now enjoins them to convert, everyone and everywhere. For he has appointed the day when he is going to judge the earth with righteousness, by a man whom he has appointed for this, when he has accredited him to all by raising him from the dead.

When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others declared: "With that we will listen to you another time. So Paul, withdrawing from among them, went away. However, some men became attached to him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris, as well as others with them. After that, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 

The Word of the Lord.

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