"As Peter reached the house Cornelius went out to meet him, knelt at his feet and prostrated himself. But Peter helped him up. ‘Stand up,’ he said ‘I am only a man after all!’
Then Peter addressed them: ‘The truth I have now come to realise’ he said ‘is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.’
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came down on all the listeners." (Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44)
What was Peter saying while the Holy Spirit descended? Sunday’s first reading omits the passage immediately before this verse, so it seems as if Peter’s words were: "God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:34-35).
