They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary replied, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!”

While he was with them, he declared, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait there for what my Father promised, which you heard about from me.

“And now I know that none of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom will see me again.

When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.

First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

and I always ask in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God.

on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!”

“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!”

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

Pray that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea and that my ministry in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,

who risked their own necks for my life. Not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

Also greet the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus the city treasurer and our brother Quartus greet you.

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages,

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, for you are the confirming sign of my apostleship in the Lord.

I do not mean yours but the other person’s. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience?

and after he had given thanks he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”