Mark Mallett
MARK is coming to the Toronto, Canada this weekend to speak at a Catholic Women’s Conference, and a Special Evening for Mothers & Daughters. Details below…
The Refiner’s Fire
The following is a continuation of Mark’s testimony. To read Parts I and II, go to “My Testimony”.
WHEN it comes to Christian community, a fatal mistake is to think that it can be heaven on earth all the time. The reality is that, until we reach our eternal abode, human nature in all its weakness and vulnerabilities demands a love without end, a continual dying to oneself for the other. Without that, the enemy finds room to sow the seeds of division. Whether it is the community of marriage, family, or followers of Christ, the Cross must always be the heart of its life. Otherwise, community will eventually collapse under the weight and dysfunction of self-love.Continue reading
Music is a Doorway…
Leading a youth retreat in Alberta, Canada
This is a continuation of Mark’s testimony. You can read Part I here: “Stay, and Be Light”.
AT the same time that the Lord was setting my heart on fire again for His Church, another man was calling us youth into a “new evangelization.” Pope John Paul II made this a central theme of his pontificate, boldly stating that a “re-evangelization” of once Christian nations was now necessary. “Whole countries and nations where religion and the Christian life were formerly flourishing,” he said, were now, “lived ‘as if God did not exist’.”[1]Christifideles Laici, n. 34; vatican.vaContinue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Christifideles Laici, n. 34; vatican.va |
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Stay, and Be Light…
This week, I want to share my testimony with readers, beginning with my calling into ministry…
THE homilies were dry. The music was dreadful. And the congregation was distant and disconnected. Whenever I left Mass from my parish some 25 years ago, I often felt more isolated and cold than when I came in. Moreover, in my early twenties then, I saw that my generation was completely gone. My wife and I were one of the few couples that still went to Mass.Continue reading
Forward in Christ
Mark and Lea Mallett
TO be honest, I really don’t have any plans. No, really. My plans many years ago were to record my music, travel around singing, and continue to make albums until my voice croaked. But here I am, sitting in a chair, writing to people all over the world because my spiritual director told me to “go where the people are.” And here you are. Not that this is a total surprise to me, though. When I began my music ministry over a quarter century ago, the Lord gave me a word: “Music is a doorway to evangelize.” The music was never meant to be “the thing”, but a doorway.Continue reading
Our Lady of the Storm
The Breezy Point Madonna, Mark Lennihan/Associated Press
“NOTHING good ever happens after midnight,” my wife says. After nearly 27 years of marriage, this maxim has proven itself true: don’t try to sort out your difficulties when you should be sleeping.Continue reading
The Storm of Our Desires
Peace Be Still, by Arnold Friberg
FROM time to time, I receive letters like these:
Please pray for me. I am so weak and my sins of the flesh, especially alcohol, strangle me.
You could simply replace alcohol with “pornography”, “lust”, “anger” or a number of other things. The fact is that many Christians today feel swamped by the desires of the flesh, and helpless to change.Continue reading
Becoming an Ark of God
The Church, which comprises the elect,
is fittingly styled daybreak or dawn…
It will be fully day for her when she shines
with the perfect brilliance of interior light.
—St. Gregory the Great, Pope; Liturgy of the Hours, Vol III, p. 308 (see also The Smoldering Candle and Wedding Preparations to understand the coming corporate mystical union, which will be preceded by a “dark night of the soul” for the Church.)
BEFORE Christmas, I asked the question: Is the Eastern Gate Opening? That is, are we beginning to see signs of the ultimate fulfillment of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart coming in to view? If so, what signs should we see? I would recommend reading that exciting writing if you have not yet.Continue reading
Finding True Peace in Our Times
Peace is not merely the absence of war…
Peace is “the tranquillity of order.”
—Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2304
EVEN now, even as time spins faster and faster and the pace of life demands more; even now as tensions between spouses and families increase; even now as cordial dialogue between individuals disintegrates and nations careen toward war… even now we can find true peace. Continue reading
Striking God’s Anointed One
Saul attacking David, Guercino (1591-1666)
Regarding my article on The Anti-Mercy, someone felt that I was not critical enough of Pope Francis. “Confusion is not from God,” they wrote. No, confusion is not from God. But God can use confusion to sift and purify His Church. I think this is precisely what is happening at this hour. Francis’ pontificate is bringing into full light those clergymen and laymen who seemed as though waiting in the wings to promote a heterodox version of Catholic teaching (cf. When the Weeds Begin to Head). But it is also bringing to light those who have been bound up in legalism hiding behind a wall of orthodoxy. It is revealing those whose faith is genuinely in Christ, and those whose faith is in themselves; those who are humble and loyal, and those who aren’t.
So how do we approach this “Pope of surprises”, who seems to startle nearly everyone these days? The following was published on January 22nd, 2016 and has been updated today… The answer, most certainly, is not with the irreverent and crude criticism that has become a staple of this generation. Here, David’s example is most relevant…
The Anti-Mercy
A woman asked today if I’ve written anything to clarify the confusion over the Pope’s post-Synodal document, Amoris Laetitia. She said,
I love the Church and always plan to be a Catholic. Yet, I am confused about Pope Francis’ last Exhortation. I know the true teachings on marriage. Sadly I am a divorced Catholic. My husband started another family while still married to me. It still hurts very much. As the Church can’t change its teachings, why hasn’t this been made clear or professed?
She is correct: the teachings on marriage are clear and immutable. The present confusion is really a sad reflection of the Church’s sinfulness within her individual members. This woman’s pain is for her a double-edged sword. For she is cut to the heart by her husband’s infidelity and then, at the same time, cut by those bishops who are now suggesting that her husband might be able to receive the Sacraments, even while in a state of objective adultery.
The following was published on March 4th, 2017 regarding a novel re-interpretation of marriage and the sacraments by some bishop’s conferences, and the emerging “anti-mercy” in our times…Continue reading
Getting Ahead of God
FOR over three years, my wife and I have been trying to sell our farm. We’ve felt this “call” that we should move here, or move there. We’ve prayed about it and surmised that we had many valid reasons and even felt a certain “peace” about it. But still, we’ve never found a buyer (actually the buyers that have come along have been inexplicably blocked time and again) and the door of opportunity has repeatedly closed. At first, we were tempted to say, “God, why aren’t you blessing this?” But recently, we’ve realized that we’ve been asking the wrong question. It shouldn’t be, “God, please bless our discernment,” but rather, “God, what is Your will?” And then, we need to pray, listen, and above all, wait for both clarity and peace. We haven’t waited for both. And as my spiritual director has told me many times over the years, “If you don’t know what to do, don’t do anything.”Continue reading
The Cross of Loving
TO pick up one’s Cross means to empty oneself out completely for love of the other. Jesus put it another way:
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:12-13)
We are to love as Jesus loved us. In His personal mission, which was a mission for the entire world, it involved death upon a cross. But how are we who are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, priests and nuns, to love when we are not called to such a literal martyrdom? Jesus revealed this too, not only on Calvary, but each and every day as He walked among us. As St. Paul said, “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…” [1](Philippians 2:5-8 How?Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | (Philippians 2:5-8 |
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The Cross, the Cross!
ONE of the greatest questions I’ve faced in my personal walk with God is why I seem to change so little? “Lord, I pray every day, say the Rosary, go to Mass, have regular confession, and pour myself out in this ministry. Why, then, do I seem stuck in the same old patterns and faults that hurt me and the ones I love the most?” The answer came to me so clearly:
The Cross, the Cross!
But what is “the Cross”?Continue reading
You Be Noah
IF I could collect the tears of all the parents who have shared their heartbreak and grief of how their children have left the Faith, I’d have a small ocean. But that ocean would be but a droplet compared to the Ocean of Mercy that flows from the Heart of Christ. There is no One more interested, more invested, or burning with more desire for the salvation of your family members than Jesus Christ who suffered and died for them. Nonetheless, what can you do when, despite your prayers and best efforts, your children continue to reject their Christian faith creating all kinds of internal problems, divisions, and angst in your family or their lives? Moreover, as you pay attention to the “signs of the times” and how God is preparing to purify the world once again, you ask, “What about my children?”Continue reading
The Relics and the Message
A Voice Crying Out in the Desert
ST. PAUL taught that we are “surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.” [1]Heb 12:1 As this new year begins, I wish to share with readers the “little cloud” that surrounds this apostolate through the relics of the Saints that I have received over the years—and how they speak to the mission and vision that guides this ministry…Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Heb 12:1 |
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God Has a Face
AGAINST all arguments that God is a wrathful, cruel, tyrant; an unjust, distant and disinterested cosmic force; an unforgiving and harsh egoist… enters the God-man, Jesus Christ. He comes, not with a retinue of guards nor a legion of angels; not with power and might nor with a sword—but with the poverty and helplessness of a newborn infant.Continue reading
The Late Consecration
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for December 23rd, 2017
Saturday of the Third Week of Advent
Liturgical texts here
Moscow at dawn…
Now more than ever it is crucial that you be “watchers of the dawn”, the lookouts who announce the light of dawn and the new springtime of the Gospel
of which the buds can already be seen.
—POPE JOHN PAUL II, 18th World Youth Day, April 13th, 2003; vatican.va
FOR a couple of weeks, I have sensed that I should share with my readers a parable of sorts that has been unfolding recently in my family. I do so with my son’s permission. When we both read yesterday’s and today’s Mass readings, we knew it was time to share this story based on the following two passages:Continue reading
The Coming Effect of Grace
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for December 20th, 2017
Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
Liturgical texts here
IN the remarkable approved revelations to Elizabeth Kindelmann, a Hungarian woman who was widowed at the age of thirty-two with six children, Our Lord reveals an aspect of the “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart” that is coming.Continue reading
Justin the Just
Justin Trudeau at Gay Pride Parade, Vancouver, 2016; Ben Nelms/Reuters
HISTORY shows that when men or women aspire to the leadership of a country, they almost always come with an ideology—and aspire to leave with a legacy. Few are just mere managers. Whether they are Vladimir Lenin, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Donald Trump, Kim Yong-un, or Angela Merkel; whether they are on the left or the right, an atheist or a Christian, brutal or passive—they intend to leave their mark in the history books, for better or worse (always thinking it is “for the better”, of course). Ambition can be a blessing or a curse.Continue reading
When They Listened
WHY, does the world remain in pain? Because we have muzzled God. We have rejected His prophets and ignored His mother. In our pride, we have succumbed to Rationalism, and the Death of Mystery. And thus, today’s first reading cries out to a tone-deaf generation:Continue reading
Mother Calls
A month ago, for no particular reason, I felt a deep urgency to write a series of articles on Medjugorje to counter long-standing falsehoods, distortions, and outright lies (see Related Reading below). The response has been remarkable, including hostility and derision from “good Catholics” who continue to call anyone who follows Medjugorje deceived, naive, unstable, and my favourite: “apparition chasers.”Continue reading
The Testing – Part II
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for December 7th, 2017
Thursday of the First Week of Advent
Memorial of St. Ambrose
Liturgical texts here
WITH the controversial events of this week that unfolded in Rome (see The Papacy is Not One Pope), the words have been lingering in my mind once again that all of this is a testing of the faithful. I wrote about this in October 2014 shortly after the tendentious Synod on the family (see The Testing). Most important in that writing is the part about Gideon….
I also wrote then as I do now: “what happened in Rome was not a test to see how loyal you are to the Pope, but how much faith you have in Jesus Christ who promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church.” I also said, “if you think that there is confusion now, wait till you see what’s coming…”Continue reading
The Papacy is Not One Pope
The Chair of Peter, St. Peter’s, Rome; Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)
OVER the weekend, Pope Francis added to the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (the record of the papacy’s official acts) a letter he sent to the Bishops of Buenos Aires last year, approving their guidelines for discerning Communion for the divorced and remarried based on their interpretation of the post-synodal document, Amoris Laetitia. But this has served to only further stir muddy waters over the question of whether or not Pope Francis is opening the door for Communion to Catholics who are in an objectively adulterous situation.Continue reading
Barquing Up the Wrong Tree
HE looked at me intensely and said, “Mark, you have a lot of readers. If Pope Francis teaches error, you must break away and lead your flock in truth.”
I was stunned by the clergyman’s words. For one, “my flock” of readers do not belong to me. They (you) are Christ’s possession. And of you, He says:
The Art of Beginning Again – Part V
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 24th, 2017
Friday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of St. Andrew Dũng-Lac and Companions
Liturgical texts here
PRAYING
IT takes two legs to stand firm. So too in the spiritual life, we have two legs to stand on: obedience and prayer. For the art of beginning again consists in making sure that we have the right footing in place from the very start… or we’ll stumble before we even take a few steps. In summary thus far, the art of beginning again consists in the five steps of humbling, confessing, trusting, obeying, and now, we focus on praying.Continue reading
The Art of Beginning Again – Part IV
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 23rd, 2017
Thursday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
Opt. Memorial of St. Columban
Liturgical texts here
OBEYING
JESUS looked down upon Jerusalem and wept as He cried out:
If this day you only knew what makes for peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. (Today’s Gospel)
The Art of Beginning Again – Part III
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 22nd, 2017
Wednesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of St. Cecilia, Martyr
Liturgical texts here
TRUSTING
THE first sin of Adam and Eve was not eating the “forbidden fruit.” Rather, it was that they broke trust with the Creator—trust that He had their best interests, their happiness, and their future in His hands. This broken trust is, to this very hour, the Great Wound in the heart of each of us. It is a wound in our inherited nature that leads us to doubt God’s goodness, His forgiveness, providence, designs, and above all, His love. If you want to know how serious, how intrinsic this existential wound is to the human condition, then look at the Cross. There you see what was necessary to begin the healing of this wound: that God himself would have to die in order to mend what man himself had destroyed.[1]cf. Why Faith?Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. Why Faith? |
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The Art of Beginning Again – Part II
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 21st, 2017
Tuesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Liturgical texts here
CONFESSING
THE art of beginning again always consists in remembering, believing, and trusting that it is really God who is initiating a new start. That if you are even feeling sorrow for your sins or thinking of repenting, that this is already a sign of His grace and love at work in your life.Continue reading
Judgment of the Living
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for November 15th, 2017
Wednesday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Opt. Memorial St. Albert the Great
Liturgical texts here
“FAITHFUL AND TRUE”
EVERY day, the sun rises, the seasons advance, babies are born, and others pass away. It is easy to forget that we are living in a dramatic, dynamic story, an epic true tale that is unfolding moment by moment. The world is racing toward its climax: the judgment of the nations. To God and the angels and saints, this story is ever-present; it occupies their love and heightens holy anticipation toward the Day when the work of Jesus Christ will be brought to completion.Continue reading
The Convergence and the Blessing
Sunset in the eye of a hurricane
SEVERAL years ago, I sensed the Lord say that there was a Great Storm coming upon the earth, like a hurricane. But this Storm would not be one of mother nature, but one created by man himself: an economic, social, and political storm that would change the face of the earth. I felt the Lord ask me to write about this Storm, to prepare souls for what is coming—not only the Convergence of events, but now, a coming Blessing. This writing, so as not to be too lengthy, will footnote key themes that I’ve already expanded elsewhere…
Medjugorje and the Smoking Guns
The following is written by Mark Mallett, a former television journalist in Canada and award-winning documentarian.
THE Ruini Commission, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to study the apparitions of Medjugorje, has ruled overwhelmingly that the first seven apparitions were “supernatural”, according to the leaked findings reported in Vatican Insider. Pope Francis called the Commission’s report “very, very good.” While expressing his personal skepticism of the idea of daily apparitions (I’ll address this below), he openly praised the conversions and fruits that continue to flow from Medjugorje as being an undeniable work of God—not a “magic wand.” [1]cf. usnews.com Indeed, I’ve been getting letters from all over the world this week from people telling me about the most dramatic conversions they experienced when they visited Medjugorje, or how it is simply an “oasis of peace.” Just this past week, someone wrote to say that a priest who accompanied her group was instantly healed of alcoholism while there. There are literally thousands upon thousands of stories like this. [2]see cf. Medjugorje, Triumph of the Heart! Revised Edition, Sr. Emmanuel; the book reads like the Acts of the Apostle on steroids I continue to defend Medjugorje for this very reason: it is achieving the purposes of Christ’s mission, and in spades. Really, who cares if the apparitions are ever approved so long as these fruits blossom?
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. usnews.com |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | see cf. Medjugorje, Triumph of the Heart! Revised Edition, Sr. Emmanuel; the book reads like the Acts of the Apostle on steroids |
Sad and Startling Revelation?
AFTER writing Medjugorje… Truth You May Not Know, a priest alerted me to a new documentary with an explosive alleged revelation regarding Bishop Pavao Zanic, the first Ordinary to oversee the apparitions in Medjugorje. While I had already suggested in my article that there was Communist interference, the documentary From Fatima to Medjugorje expands on this. I have updated my article to reflect this new information, as well as a link to the diocese’s response, under the section “Strange Twists….” Just click: Read More. It’s well worth reading this brief update as well as seeing the documentary, as it is perhaps the most important revelation to date regarding the intense politics, and thus, ecclesial decisions that were made. Here, the words of Pope Benedict take on particular relevance:
…today we see it in truly terrifying form: the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from external enemies, but is born of sin within the Church. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, interview on flight to Lisbon, Portugal; LifeSiteNews, May 12th, 2010
Why Did You Quote Medjugorje?
Medjugorje visionary, Mirjana Soldo, Photo courtesy LaPresse
“WHY did you quote that unapproved private revelation?”
It’s a question I get asked on occasion. Moreover, rarely do I see an adequate answer to it, even among the Church’s best apologists. The question itself betrays a serious deficit in catechesis among average Catholics when it comes to mysticism and private revelation. Why are we so afraid to even listen?Continue reading
All In
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for October 26th, 2017
Thursday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Liturgical texts here
IT seems to me that the world is moving faster and faster. Everything is like a whirlwind, spinning and whipping and tossing the soul about like a leaf in a hurricane. What is strange is to hear young people say they feel this too, that time is speeding up. Well, the worst danger in this present Storm is that we not only lose our peace, but let The Winds of Change blow out the flame of faith altogether. By this, I do not mean belief in God so much as one’s love and desire for Him. They are the engine and transmission that move the soul toward authentic joy. If we are not on fire for God, then where are we going?Continue reading
Hoping Against Hope
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for October 21st, 2017
Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Liturgical texts here
IT can be a terrifying thing to feel your faith in Christ waning. Perhaps you are one of those people.Continue reading
The Great Liberation
MANY feel that Pope Francis’ announcement declaring a “Jubilee of Mercy” from Dec. 8th, 2015 to Nov. 20th, 2016 bore greater significance than may first have appeared. The reason being is that it is one of numerous signs converging all at once. That hit home for me also as I reflected on the Jubilee and a prophetic word I received at the end of 2008… [1]cf. The Year of the Unfolding
First published March 24th, 2015.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. The Year of the Unfolding |
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How to Know When Judgment is Near
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for October 17th, 2017
Tuesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Opt. Memorial St. Ignatius of Antioch
Liturgical texts here
AFTER a warm cordial greeting to the Romans, St. Paul turns on a cold shower to awaken his readers:Continue reading
Changing Our Culture
The Mystical Rose, by Tianna (Mallett) Williams
IT was the last straw. When I read the details of a new cartoon series launched on Netflix that sexualizes children, I canceled my subscription. Yes, they have some good documentaries that we’ll miss… But part of Getting Out of Babylon means having to make choices that literally involve not participating in or supporting a system that is poisoning the culture. As it says in Psalm 1:Continue reading
Debunking the Sun Miracle Skeptics
Scene from The 13th Day
THE rain pelted the ground and drenched the crowds. It must have seemed like an exclamation point to the ridicule that filled the secular newspapers for months prior. Three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal claimed that a miracle would occur in the Cova da Ira fields at high noon that day. It was October 13, 1917. As many as 30, 000 to 100, 000 people had gathered to witness it.
Their ranks included believers and non-believers, pious old ladies and scoffing young men. —Fr. John De Marchi, Italian priest and researcher; The Immaculate Heart, 1952
On How to Pray
THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for October 11th, 2017
Wednesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Opt. Memorial POPE ST. JOHN XXIII
Liturgical texts here
BEFORE teaching the “Our Father”, Jesus says to the Apostles:
This is how you are to pray. (Matt 6:9)
Yes, how, not necessarily what. That is, Jesus was revealing not so much the content of what to pray, but the disposition of the heart; He was not giving a specific prayer so much as showing us how, as God’s children, to approach Him. For just a couple verses earlier, Jesus said, “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.” [1]Matt 6:7 Rather…Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Matt 6:7 |
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Fullness of Sin: Evil Must Exhaust Itself
First published October 20th, 2009. I have added a recent message from Our Lady below…
THERE is a cup of suffering that is to be drunk from twice in the fullness of time. It has already been emptied by Our Lord Jesus Himself who, in the Garden of Gethsemane, placed it to His lips in His holy prayer of abandonment:
My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will. (Matt 26:39)
The cup is to be filled again so that His Body, who, in following its Head, will enter into its own Passion in her participation in the redemption of souls:
The Worst Chastisement
Mass Shooting, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 1, 2017; David Becker/Getty Images
My older daughter sees many beings good and bad [angels] in battle. She has spoken many times about how its an all out war and its only getting bigger and the different kinds of beings. Our Lady appeared to her in a dream last year as our Lady of Guadalupe. She told her that the demon coming is larger and fiercer than all the others. That she is not to engage this demon nor listen to it. It was going to try to take over the world. This is a demon of fear. It was a fear that my daughter said was going to envelop everyone and everything. Staying close to the Sacraments and Jesus and Mary are of the utmost importance. —A letter from a reader, September, 2013
TERROR in Canada. Terror in France. Terror in the United States. That’s just the headlines of the past few days. Terror is the footprint of Satan, whose chief weapon in these times is fear. For fear keeps us from becoming vulnerable, from trusting, from entering into relationship… whether it is between spouses, family members, friends, neighbours, neighbouring nations, or God. Fear, then, leads us to control or give up control, to restrict, build walls, burn bridges, and repel. St. John wrote that “perfect love drives out all fear.” [1]1 John 4:18 As such, one could also say that perfect fear drives out all love.Continue reading
Footnotes
| ↑1 | 1 John 4:18 |
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