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Monday & Tuesday, February 5th
& 6th 2024
Memorial of
Saint Agatha, virgin and Martyr
Memorial of
Saint Paul Miki and Fellow Martyrs
·
1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13 & 1 Kings
8:22-23, & 27-30
·
Psalms 132:6-7 & 8-10 & 84:3-5 &
10-11
·
Matthew 4:23; Psalm 119:36, 29
·
Mark 6:53-56 &
Mark 7:1-13
Christians, as many as touched, the Lord
Christ Jesus, these were all healed: Christians, Christ Jesus still
has the same power to heal as he did, when he did heal all of these
folks in the land of Gennesaret and surrounding country…. The
questions of today do we have faith that he can heal and moreover,
faith and belief that he did heal but most importantly, what is God
the Heavenly Father’s purpose: for as Christ Jesus walked the face
of the earth, in his few years of his mortal ministry, it was God
the Heavenly Father’s purpose to announce the New Covenant with
humankind through his, Son the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah and to
manifest His righteousness, God the Heavenly Father’s Righteousness,
without the law, yet, being witnessed by the law and the
prophets…. Compare and contrast some of the healings and miracles
that Christ Jesus did: he rose several people from the dead, and
perhaps more individuals than what has been written as testimony,
given what Saint John, Apostles says in the last few lines of the
Gospel of John and Christ Jesus healed countless people, of diverse
illnesses and maladies and cast out demonic spirits that had entered
into individuals…. So, compare and contrast and then think about
your healing, when you pray to the Lord Christ Jesus: is it his
purpose, God’s purpose to heal as he did in the days of his ministry
on earth or is it our purpose that he heals us because we want to be
healed…. This is not a cop-out as unbelievers will accuse; rather,
it is the naked and bold face truth of the matter: when we are
healed today, when we pray it is in accordance with God our Heavenly
Father’s purpose and not our expectation of our prayers: not
according to our purpose…. It is a thing to realize that yes
whatever we ask in his name, Christ Jesus’s name that he will give
unto us; still, this is clearly understood as things that are in
accordance with his Gospel and not worldly lusts or a pretentious
life and most pointedly, our healing is in a manner that serves God
the Heavenly Father and not our ego of faith: for our faith is to be
in accordance with Christ Jesus’s Gospel and the righteousness of
God the Heavenly Father…. So, too, the promise is for eternal life
in the Lord Christ Jesus and not the whims of our
imaginations…. Now Christians, there was nothing in the ark of the
covenant other than the two stone tablets that were given to Moses,
which he put there upon the completion of building the ark of the
covenant in accordance with the design of God the Heavenly Father’s
specifications…. Christians, imagine if the Israelites would have
been building a precision watch and they had all the specifications
laid out before them, but they preferred the darkness to the light
of the specifications, so they gave lip-service to the law of the
covenant and did not follow the specifications given: this then is a
metaphor of what part of the history was like between God the
Heavenly Father and the people through who he chose to make himself
known…. Still, Christians, do not be quick to accuse the
Israelites; for in many of the Churches today, we see this same
lip-service being given to Christ Jesus, but the hearts of these
churches are with the sinful flesh of individuals and not with the
flesh of those who first seek the kingdom of heaven and the Heavenly
Father’s Righteousness, which is akin to the behavior of our, before
Christ brothers and sisters of the covenant of God the Heavenly
Father….
Yes! It is true
that God the Lord Christ left the ninety-nine to go out and find and
save the lost lamb, but it is also true that the Lord Christ Jesus
teaches to give no place, no room, and no opportunity to
sin…. Truly, now, when it came to equity, we learn that the princes
stole the people’s heritages and the people’s homes for their
purpose, but the people were never better-off from the thefts of
these heads of the house of Jacob: God the Heavenly Father called
their equity abhorrence and the failing to bring forth good
decisions, God abhorred: their feign acts were to help themselves
and were nothing but perversions and oppression, while the people
had the same old twos and threes…. This was also true about those
who called themselves liberal: for because, after and before the
dispersion the vile person was not to be called liberal nor is the
rascal, the churl to be called bountiful…. To understand who some,
of whom were these vile individuals; let us turn to what Saint Paul,
Apostle says: For this cause God the Heavenly Father gave them up
unto vile affection: for even their women did change the natural use
into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust – not
love – one toward another, men with men working that which is
unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error
which was meet: in other words, which was the results of process for
their sinful acts…. As well, we should understand that it was the
heads of Jacob, the heads and princes of Israel: those who took
pleasure in what God has called abhorrence; therefore, we see that
the equity they professed was treachery and the liberalism they
ascribed was abhorrence and an abomination in the sight of God the
Heavenly Father…. So, now, at the time of this testimony from First
Kings, Solomon had not yet committed the sin of idolatry that led to
the divided kingdom and then, while standing in the grandeur of the
Temple grounds, surrounded by the opulence of the adornment of it,
he stretched forth his hands towards heaven and realized: even
though the works of the many human hands that built the temple,
according to the specifications given to King David, by God the
Heavenly Father – man’s, humankind’s works pale at the works of
God’s universe and the creation thereof: Solomon said, “Lord God of
Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on the earth
below!’” Now Christians, let us rid our thinking and our
imaginations that God is faithful to the faithless: God said that he
does not let the guilty go unpunished and clearly, we also know that
God has punished and redeemed and reconciled his creation…. God
told the Israelites; today, there are blessings and curses before
you and today, there is life and death before you, therefore, choose
life: Christ Jesus is life; Christ Jesus is the way, the truth and
the life…. Christians, Solomon asks the question; can it indeed be
that God dwells on earth: we have several answers for this from the
Gospel of the Lord Christ Jesus: Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ
says: do not be going here or over there to look for the kingdom of
God, for God’s kingdom is within us…. Again, Jesus says: if a
person loves him, they will keep his words: and then God the
Heavenly Father will love them and they, God the Heavenly Father and
the Son the Lord Christ Jesus will come unto us and make their abode
with us…. Now, Christians, in the name of the Lord Christ Jesus let
us pray and be thankful…. Amen…
Tuesday, February 13th
2024
The Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
·
James 1:12-18
·
Psalms 94:12-15 & 18-19
·
John 14:23
·
Mark 8:14-21
Christians, Christ Jesus is: the way, the
truth and the life and Christ Jesus is the head of the one true
Church; being as he is one with the Lord of all creation, God the
Heavenly Father, the God of Jacob-Israel, and this Messiah, Christ
Jesus, Jesus the Lord, the Nazarene, the Son of the Virgin Mary our
Blessed Mother and the only begotten Son of God the Heavenly Father,
this Jesus, this Christ Jesus testifies, unto his Apostles and the
disciples and to the multitude of people, so many that they trode
one upon another: beware, of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy….
For these,
Pharisees, they give alms, from things as such that they have – as
if no sacrifice and then behold! everything is clean for them;
whereas, they failed to pay attention to the law and rendering good
judgement: as Solomon, rendered good judgement, and they did not
love God but only paid him lip-service for their benefit….
Truly, they wash the outside of the cup and make a good show
of it, putting in a so-called good appearance, but the inside is
filled with plunder, evil, ravening, and wickedness; truly, as the
Prophet Nahum testifies, the Lord will not acquit the wicked or in
other words, God does not leave the guilty unpunished….
Yes, in Christ Jesus all will be rewarded according to their
own deeds, and Christ Jesus is Lord over all creation: for through
him all things were created and by him all things were created and
for him all things were created; therefore, Christ Jesus is Lord
over all….
Yes, God the
Heavenly Father and the Son, the Lord Christ Jesus are one and they
are the same today, yesterday and forever: heaven and earth will
pass away, but the word that Christ Jesus testified will not pass
away….
Again, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no manner and
no wise, pass from the law, till all be fulfilled….
Truly, Christ Jesus said that it was done, when he spoke from
the cross, but that was the completed transferring from the kingdom
of darkness to the kingdom of light and becoming the sacrifice for
humankind’s sins, but it was not until he rose from the dead that he
overcame death and destroyed death, so we see, that till all being
fulfilled has a specific meaning but not a meaning from
imagination….
Clearly,
Saint Paul, Apostle testifies of filling up the Gospel, which is in
reference to Christ Jesus saying that he had a lot more to tell the
Apostles, but that they were not ready to hear….
Moreover, this idea of it all being fulfilled is of one
thing, but clearly it is not referring to the time when Christ Jesus
will come again to judge the living and the dead for that is a
different fulfillment: a rewarding each individual according to
their deeds….
Now
Christians, truly, we are all subject to temptations and in the
manner as: one person becomes a carpenter, while another becomes a
lawyer or another becomes a mortician, while another becomes a
baker: so, some are more tempted with one sinful thing, while others
are tempted with other sinful things: for some it is the sins of
pride and vainglory, while for others it is the sins of the flesh or
the bearing of false witness, and then too, some sin the sins of
covetous….
The word of
God tells us that God will visit the sins of the father upon the son
and this would also include the sins of the mother; whereas, father
and son are both, individually, responsible for working out their
own salvation, by repenting of their sins….
Again, repentance is acknowledging our sin and sins, and
sinfulness: yes, acknowledging our sins to the Lord Christ Jesus,
believing in the Lord Christ Jesus, turning away from our sins, and
then bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance….
It must be said; that yes, we must be born again and washed
clean from our sins in the blood of the Lord Christ Jesus’s
sacrifice, which is repentance: live worthily of being forgiven;
live worthy lives of the call of the Lord Christ Jesus – not
according to some individual’s tradition but in accordance with the
Gospel of the Lord Christ Jesus, which is the same today, yesterday,
and forever, while men and their traditions very according to
seasons or politics….
Do
not think, that, it is some mere whim of imagination that we must be born
again, for Christ Jesus’s very words on this are: verily, verily,
let it be said and understood, except a man, a person, be born of
water and of the Holy Spirit, they cannot enter into the kingdom of
God….
Now, Christians,
let us look at what Saint James, Apostle says: blessed is the person
who perseveres in temptation: what is this other than turning away
from our sins!
First,
there is the temptation and then at this point of temptation to sin
or if there is the desire to sin: learn to call upon Christ Jesus’s
grace and if we choose Christ Jesus’s grace, which is sufficient in
all things, we will overcome any and all sinful desires or
temptations….
We should
not look at this as our own will power; for self-control is a gift
of the Holy Spirit, and we need to grow more closely to the Lord
Christ Jesus – through, overcoming, every temptation or desire that
we may have and then in our quiet prayers calling on the Lord Christ
Jesus’s grace….
For,
Christians, not even the call to know Christ Jesus is of our own
will, Jesus teaches: that no one may come to the Son unless the
Father has called them, and then on the last day, Christ Jesus will
raise these up….
Yes,
Christians, we are to seek the Lord Christ Jesus and the Heavenly
Father’s righteousness: by seeking we shall find the Lord God our
Heavenly Father, but we are to search with all of our hearts….
Also, when we draw near to God, then the Lord Christ Jesus
and the Holy Spirit will draw nigh to us….
Yes Christians, though, we do know; yet, let us remember, and
pray: pray that we will choose to love the Lord God the Heavenly Father
with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul and with all
of our strength….
Saint
Paul teaches this spiritual lesson: that loving our neighbor as we
love ourselves is keeping the commandments, and this includes any
other commandments, but these are listed: do not commit adultery;
thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false
witness; thou shalt not covet….
Christians, do not let imaginations take you away from Christ
Jesus’s truth; rather, we are to bring all thoughts that rise up
against the knowledge of God, and bring them under the authority of
Christ Jesus’s Gospel: the simple fact that we have neighbors show
us that we are individuals, and that each individual must shine
their light in accordance with Christ Jesus’s Gospel: we do not sit
down to eat with thieves nor are we to associate with the vile, the
wicked and those who choose to be unjust….
Still, we are also called to let those who are filthy remain
in their filth and those who are unjust to remain in injustices,
yet, we are also called to let those who are holy remain in their
holiness and those who are just to continue In justice; therefore,
we are to put on the breastplate of justice, to shod our feet with
Christ Jesus’s Gospel of peace, to wield the sword of righteousness,
that being Christ Jesus’s Gospel of spirit and life and we are to
use the shield of faith to stand against all wiles of temptation and
desire, and as well, we are to put on the helmet of salvation: first
seeking the kingdom of heaven and the Heavenly Father’s
righteousness….
Yes, we
are to be candles on the lampstand: shining not the dark-light of
the flesh, but we are to shine the light of Christ Jesus’s Gospel of
spirit of life, this baptism of fire that is upon, within and is
us….
As Saint Paul
teaches: he was crucified with Christ Jesus, as we are to put to
death sin in our bodies, by crucifying our flesh in the sacrificial
blood of Christ Jesus….
For Saint Paul, Apostle says: that yes, he lives; yet, it is not
him, his sinful flesh, but it is Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit, that
lives within him and this is the life that we now are to live in the
flesh, we are to live by faith in the Son of God, the Lord Christ
Jesus, he who loves us, and chose to lay down his life as a
sacrifice for our sins….
Yes, an eternal sacrifice for the sin that we may commit, which we
receive the grace from this sacrifice, when we turn away from our
sins and sinfulness, repent of our sins and sinfulness, and go and
sin no more – living lives worthy of repentance: the greatest gift
ever given to humankind that Christ Jesus gave up his own will, to do
God the Heavenly Father’s will, so that we may be reconciled with
God the Heavenly Father, the God of Jacob-Israel….
Now Christians, in the name of the Lord Christ Jesus let us
pray and be thankful….
Amen….
Tuesday, February 20th
2024
The First Week of Lent
·
Isaiah 55:10-11
·
Psalms 34:4-7 & 16-19
·
Matthew 4:4
·
Matthew 6:1-15
Christians, Christ Jesus testifies that
whosoever believeth In him should not perish; Christ Jesus also
testifies that not every person that saith unto him, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of
his Father, which is in heaven; Christ Jesus then testifies that
strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads unto life, and
few there be who find it: so given these three verses of testimony
do we not understand that it is more, much more than simple belief
in Christ Jesus that is required of us so that we will be welcomed
into the kingdom of God and be saved; of course we do…. Moreover,
Christ Jesus tells us unless we repent, we will all perish; so,
clearly, this idea that it is simple belief, in Christ Jesus, and
then we may completely disregard every other word that has proceeded
out of the mouth of God is, of something that Christ Jesus tells us
to beware…. For the Lord Christ Jesus tells us beware of false
prophets: they come in sheep clothing, mild and mannerly, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves: ravening to seek to build their
own or as Saint Peter, Apostle testifies: that the true shepherd
willingly shepherd’s and not for filthy lucre sake or in modern
English, dirty money for sake of their own appetites: some dream of
building their own world and not being a shepherd that testifies of
Christ Jesus’s Gospel of spirit and life, in the Lord Christ Jesus’s
way, truth and life…. Some build for their own sake and not for the
sake of first seeking the kingdom of heaven and the Heavenly
Father’s Righteousness…. Yes, Christians, Christ Jesus testifies
that we are to strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many,
Jesus says unto us, will seek to enter in, and shall not be
able…. Yes, Christians, now, Christ Jesus teaches us this succinct
prayer: the Lord’s Prayer; yet, upon meditating on this prayer – the
realization of its completeness is like the realization of the
mustard seed: though it is a short prayer; the more that it is
realized, lived, and understood, the more we realize that it
stretches out to encompass and points to the completeness of Christ
Jesus’s Gospel…. Still, it is not a stand-a-lone prayer: for this
prayer is a prayer that we may be delivered from evil, but without
the rest of the Gospel and as well, even, the Old Testament, we may
not come to understand what is the evil from that we are praying to
be delivered: some may believe that we are praying to be delivered
from the Evil Doctor Doom from comic-lore but truly, the evil that
we are praying to be delivered from is our own sinfulness: our own
pride, our own vainglory, pray to not be as Caine who killed,
murdered his brother Abel, who this generation is still guilty for
the blood that was spilled…. When we pray to be delivered from
evil, we are praying to be delivered from the obvious sins of the
flesh -- that we will overcome them, not through our own pride of
will-power, but through the grace of the Lord Christ Jesus, his Holy
Spirit our comforter and advocate, which enables us to be of good
cheer, while we overcome and are delivered from evil through the
grace that Christ Jesus causes us to have, a grace that he bestows
upon us, when we acknowledge our sins and sinfulness, turn from our
sinfulness, believe in the Lord Christ Jesus that is, when we
repent…. Truly, Christians, this is one line of this prayer that
Christ Jesus taught us, and this line still has a deeper and
thorough and complete meaning of understanding that we will only
come to understand and know, if we know and come to understand all
that is possible to be understood, from the entirety of the Word of
the Lord, the Holy Bible; this is a life long journey…. There is
another verse from this prayer, that we, who pray it are familiar:
thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: the
obvious question is; how is God’s will done in heaven: the answer to
this is not so obvious, but it is according to his word: for heaven
and earth will pass away, but the word of God will remain
forever…. Christians, the word of God teaches us that God is the
same today, yesterday and forever and that it is not to the right of
his word nor to the left of his word -- that we are to live, and
then when upon meditating, gathering knowledge and understanding –
through the many testimonies, we learn that the kingdom of heaven is
at hand; therefore, repent and believe in the Gospel of the Lord
Christ Jesus…. Now Christians, let us juxtapose these verses from
Isaiah with some practical human behavior: instead of the behavior
that we are to become as new creatures in Christ Jesus….
It is practical to understand that God’s word will accomplish
what he purposed it to accomplish….
Therefore, when our emotions tell us; we are gaining ground:
this is but an illusion and when our emotions tell us that we are
falling behind, this too is but an illusion: for Christ Jesus tells
us the wheat will grow with the tares, and then at harvest the Lord
Christ Jesus will separate the wheat from the chaff….
Yes, since testimony of Christ Jesus is prophecy; let us
realize that there are children of the kingdom and there are
children of the wicked one: that these will be separated….
Yes, the Lord Christ Jesus shall send forth his angels, and
they shall gather out of his kingdom all that offend, and them which
do iniquity; casting them into the unquenchable fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth….
Again, so shall it be at the end of this age, the end of the
world: the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from the
just….
This should not
lead us to believe that we will not have to go through the times,
about, Christ Jesus did tell us, but exactly what these times will
be, we will not know until they happen: Christ Jesus’s language
could either be literal or figurative, the only thing we know for
certain is that these times will come to pass, so we should eagerly
await them and be ready.
Watch!
Saint Peter, Apostle says this: for the time is come that
judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begins with
the Apostles, disciples and those who believe in Christ Jesus, what
shall the end be, of them that obey not the gospel of God: what will
become of those who do not obey the Gospel of the Lord Christ Jesus?
Now Christians, in the name of the Lord Christ Jesus let us
pray and be thankful….
Amen….
Tuesday, February 27th
2024
The Second Week of Lent
·
Isaiah 1:10 & 16-20
·
Psalms 50:8-9, 16-17, 21 & 23
·
Ezekiel 18:21
·
Matthew 23:1-12
Christ Jesus changed the world; yes, all of
creation was reborn, through: Christ Jesus’s annunciation, the
baptism of fire, his gospel of spirit and life -- witnessed and
testified – through Christ Jesus speaking the way, the truth and the
life and being and living the same, as he spoke to the crowds and to
his disciples, practicing what he testified, which, we clearly know,
the scribes, and the Pharisees, although, they thought themselves as
elite were nothing but well dress malcontents….
Now Christians, Isaiah prophesies to the princes and scribes
and Pharisees of Israel and Judah, Jerusalem and Samaria, indeed, to
all of the twelve-tribes of Jacob, first by pulling a card out of
the deck of Elijah, the great Prophet of God the Heavenly Father, by
insulting them, these elders to the very sole of their feet and too
the tops of their heads and deservedly so, by telling these elders
of Israel that they are nothing but princes of Sodom and the people
of Judah and Israel are also nothing but the filth of Gomorrah.
Truly, it would be thought that the people who wondered in
the Sinai desert for forty years, with the pillar of God: right
before their very eye’s day and night and night and day that they
would know better than to descend into the filth of sexual
immoralities, the murdering of their children, the violence in the
cities – due to their disregarding the word of God and taking
lightly things that have weight, yet, apparently they preferred the
darkness to the light of truth….
The Israelites, these whose forefathers knew God, in the
Sinai: tactically, coherently, and with their sight, their hearing
and their senses -- fell back to the time, when Abraham was called
out from the people, to be a father of a great nation – fell back to
the time, and according to Isaiah even became worse than the
Sodomites and the Gomorrahians and the Prophet Isaiah makes no bones
about it; indeed, telling them exactly what they are and what they
had become: God the Heavenly Father fulfilling the promise that he
made to Moses and the forefathers of these Israelites.
For God the Heavenly Father set before the Israelites that
day on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal: today life and death are set
before you; therefore, choose life.
Christians, Christ Jesus warns us who we are to fear and we
are not to fear men – those who can harm us in this lifetime, but
after that can do no more; rather, Christ Jesus tells us, we are to
fear the one that after he has killed can also throw our souls into
eternal damnation….
So,
Isaiah continues in this testimony against the Israelites, while he
also prophesies about God the Heavenly Father’s plan of eternal
life, telling the Israelites to put aways their misdeeds….
Now clearly, the misdeeds that Isaiah is referring to are the
obvious works of the flesh, which Saint Paul, Apostles says, those
who do such things will in no way enter into the kingdom of God….
Of course, what Saint Paul, Apostle means is: those who do
not turn away from doing the obvious works of the flesh and those
who refuse to repent -- having committed these obvious works of the
flesh will in no way enter into the kingdom of heaven….
Since, Christ Jesus did not tell the adulterous -- who no one
through stones at, because we are all sinners – go ahead and keep
living in your sin and sinfulness but rather, Christ Jesus told her
to go and sin no more; in faith, truth and in accordance with Christ
Jesus’s Gospel, we too must go and sin no more: choosing to live in
our sin and sinfulness is not believing in Christ Jesus, but is
preferring the darkness….
Yes Christians, we do not wash ourselves clean in the blood
of the Lamb, Christ Jesus by remaining in our sins and sinfulness;
rather, we wash ourselves clean through turning away and going and
sinning no more; we wash ourselves clean, by repenting of our sins,
which is acknowledgement of our sin; turning away from our sin;
bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance; living lives worthy of
repentance; and believing in the Lord Christ Jesus….
Truly, in works, some profess to know God, but their fruits
of life are denying Christ Jesus, being abominable and disobedient
and unto every good work reprobate, while they then believe that
sinfulness is pure, which is of course an abomination of what Saint
Paul teaches: truly, God is light and there is no darkness in him at
all: we must walk in light, as he is in light, to have fellowship
with Christ Jesus….
If
we say that we have fellowship with God, but walk in darkness, we
lie and the truth is not in us….
Christ Jesus testifies that all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God; we are all in need of repentance….
Christ Jesus testifies that light came into the world, but
the world preferred darkness to the light: this word darkness is a
word to describe the obvious works of the flesh….
Isaiah testifies to the Israelites: though your sins are like
scarlet, they may become white as snow: this is God the Heavenly
Father being merciful and willing to forgive the Israelites, if they
would walk in the way, the truth and the life….
However, the Israelites preferred the darkness to the light,
but as far as their neighbors go: these believed that the little or
big things they made with their hands, graven images, actually had
life in them, and they would bow down and pray to them: God the
Heavenly Father’s apparent light will always shine and show the
falseness of idolatry because it can do nothing else, but be truth….
For Christ Jesus is truth, he is the way, the truth and the
life….
It is blasphemy
to believe that sin is acceptable to God the Lord Christ Jesus:
today, idolatry is not the falling down and worshipping of graven
images, for God the Heavenly Father took that away, but Idolatry
today is not believing the image that we as humans were created to
be: we were created in holiness to be holy….
As Saint Peter testifies: because it is written, we are to be
holy; for God the Lord Christ Jesus is holy….
Now Christians, in the name of the Lord Christ Jesus let us
pray and be thankful….
Amen….
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