A LAMP TO MY FEET. A LIGHT FOR MY PATH.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out;

it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye

than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell.”

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– Mark 9:47 (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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Jesus gives the basis of Christian moral teaching

on the subject of situations liable to lead to sin.

He is very explicit:

a person is obliged to avoid proximate occasions of sin,

just as he is obliged to avoid sin itself.

As God already put it in the Old Testament:

“Whoever lives in danger will perish by it.” (Sir 3:26-27)

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The eternal good of our soul

is more important than any immediate self-satisfaction

and so we should always be conscious

of anything that places us in immediate danger of committing sin,

and we should be prepared to suffer so as to avoid sinning.

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The apparent harshness of our Lord’s words

reflects how serious our obligation is to avoid sin.

What He says also makes it clear

that we must distance ourselves from people who are persistent in evil

and who seem to be ever-ready

to entice others to evil behaviour and erroneous beliefs.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord, give me the strength of character to heed your warnings

and to carefully avoid the occasion of sin.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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O send out Your light and Your truth;

let them lead me;

let them bring me to Your holy hill

and to Your dwelling.

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– Psalm 43:3.

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QUOTE…

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“That very “Light” and “Truth” are indeed two in name;

the reality expressed is but One.

For what else is the “Light” of God, except the “Truth” of God?

Or what else is the “Truth” of God, except the “Light” of God?

And the one Person of Christ is both of these.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” (Jn 8:12)

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”(Jn 14:6)

He is Himself “the Light:”

He is Himself “the Truth.”

Let Him come then and rescue us […].

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– St. Augustine

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Jesus, my Lord, send out Your light and Your truth and let them lead me!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Whoever obeys what Christ says

is the kind of person in whom God’s love is perfected.

That’s how we know we are in Christ.

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– 1 John 2:5 (GW)

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REFLECTION…

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"That’s how we know"

– keeping the commandments

is a sign of true knowledge of God.

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Knowing God, or knowing Jesus,

is not a merely intellectual exercise

nor does it mean that the immensity of God

can be grasped by man’s limited understanding.

It is something much simpler and more important:

knowing God means being united to Him

by faith and love…by grace.

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It isn’t enough for us to say that we love God

and that we know Him

– we must keep His commandments,

keep His word,

walk in the same way in which He walked…

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As we identify our life with Christ’s,

we become in Christ.

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QUOTE…

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"Walk as He walked:

does that not mean giving up the comforts He gave up,

not being afraid of the kind of trials He bore,

teaching what He taught […],

persevering in helping even those who show no appreciation,

praying for one’s enemies,

being kind to evildoers,

serenely tolerating the proud?"

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– St. Prosper

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord, I want to be with You, I want to be like You, I want to be one with You!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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I fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God

and prayed:

‘I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to You,

because our sins are higher than our heads

and our guilt has reached to the heavens.’

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– Ezra 9:5b-6 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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This is a remorseful confession of sin.

It is a genuine prayer put up in faith.

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A true penitent resents sin,

is ashamed of it,

repents from it

and seeks God’s forgiveness.

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In true repentance,

holy shame is as necessary as holy sorrow.

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We may sometimes wonder

how we have not yet wearied out the Lord’s patience

and brought destruction on ourselves.

But a strong faith provides the contrite believer

with comfort and reassurance

that although his or her sins may have “reached to the heavens”,

there is God’s mercy in the heavens.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Oh my Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,

I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to You,

but Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

"My mother and my brethren

are those who hear the word of God

and do it."

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– Luke 8:21 (RSV)

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REFLECTION…

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Imagine being able to share in Jesus’ life

as intimately as if we were members of His family.

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If we follow Him,

listen to Him,

and, importantly, obey His Law and do His will,

we do become part of the Lord’s close family!

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When we truly recognise Jesus as the Son of the Living God,

our bond with Him actually becomes much stronger

than that with our own natural family.

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Our bond with Christ is fulfilled…when we do as He says.

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QUOTE…

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“Everyone who does the will of the Father,

that is to say, who obeys Him,

is a brother or sister of Christ,

because he is like Him who fulfilled the will of His Father.”

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– St. Thomas

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Sweet Mary, Mother of God,

teach us to listen to your divine Son

and pray for us, that we may do His will.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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As Jesus went on from [Capernaum],

He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.

“Follow me,” He told him,

and Matthew got up and followed Him.

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– Matthew 9:9 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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It is not man who takes the initiative;

it is Jesus who calls,

and man who responds to this call through a free personal decision.

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Matthew’s promptitude in "following" Jesus’ call is to be noted.

Jesus calls him in the midst of the ordinary circumstances of his life,

as He does with each and every one of us,

intensifying His call when He sees us moving away from Him.

The Lord never gives up on us.

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But when God speaks, the soul may be tempted to reply,

"Tomorrow; I’m not ready yet."

In the last analysis,

this excuse and other excuses

are nothing but a sign of selfishness and fear.

Moreover, "Tomorrow" runs the risk of being too late.

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A decision to follow Christ

means that we should make ourselves totally available to Him;

whatever sacrifice He asks of us we should make.

The call to follow Christ means staying up with Him,

not falling behind;

we either follow Him

or we risk losing Him.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Here I am, Jesus, determined to follow You.

Hold my hand and lead me, Lord.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Unfaithful people!

Don’t you know that to be the world’s friend

means to be God’s enemy?

If you want to be the world’s friend,

you make yourself God’s enemy.

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Don’t think that there is no truth in the scripture that says,

“The spirit that God placed in us is filled with fierce desires.”

But the grace that God gives is even stronger.

As the scripture says,

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

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So then, submit yourselves to God.

Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.

Come near to God, and He will come near to you.

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– James 4:4-8a (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Only people who are humble are given the grace

to be able to do what God asks,

and have it bear fruit.

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The proud, who are full of self-love,

even fail to realise that they need grace,

and so they do not ask for it,

or do not ask for it properly.

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To counter pride

we must undergo a sincere and deep conversion,

which must begin with the humility

of recognising that we are sinners and in need of purification.

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So then, submit yourselves to God.

To draw near to God the sinner needs purification – of sins –

and upright actions,

and there is nothing more significant

than for us to approach the Sacrament of Penance

with a humble and contrite heart.

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Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.

When I resist the devil’s temptations,

the devil leaves me alone:

he cannot force me to commit sin,

because he has no power against me.

The devil “cannot lord it over those who are servants of God with their whole heart

and who place their hope in Him.

The devil can wrestle with, but not overcome them.

So, if you resist him,

he will flee from you in defeat and confusion." (The "Shepherd of Hermas")

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QUOTES…

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"Worldly society

has flowered from a selfish love which dared to despise even God,

whereas the communion of saints

is rooted in a love of God that is ready to trample on self"

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– St. Augustine

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“How can you be at peace

if you allow passions you do not even attempt to control

to drag you away from the ‘pull’ of grace?

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Heaven pulls you upwards; you drag yourselves downwards.

And don’t seek excuses – that is what you are doing.

If you go on like that, you will tear yourself apart”

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– St. Josemaria Escriva

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord, give me the grace to be humble

and the strength to resist temptation.

Lord, I submit myself to You – come live in me!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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At just the right time

Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God,

the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

He alone can never die,

and He lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach Him. No human eye has ever seen Him, nor ever will.

All honour and power to Him forever! Amen.

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– 1 Timothy 6:15-16 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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This hymn of praise

is one of the richest and most beautiful in the New Testament,

probably inspired by the Old Testament,

which speaks of God in similar language.

Whatever its origin,

the important thing about the hymn

is that it expresses faith in God who merits all praise.

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At a time known only to Him,

God the Father will bring about the glorious manifestation of Jesus Christ:

He who is Lord and God,

Almighty and Blessed,

King of kings and Lord of Lords, exercising sovereignty over all.

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Jesus is immortal,

for immortality is proper to God, who is Life.

Jesus is light and brightness,

awesome and supreme.

Jesus is God,

transcending all created things

and far beyond the capacity of the human mind.

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The Lord cannot be fully comprehended by man,

yet we believers are fully aware

that man’s true purpose in life is to give glory to God!

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QUOTE…

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“We do not live for the world, or for our own honour,

but for the honour of God,

for the glory of God,

for the service of God.

That is what should motivate us!”

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– St. Josemaria Escriva

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Jesus, You are Lord, You are God!

All honour and glory and power to You for ever and ever. Amen.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Fight the good fight for the true faith.

Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you…

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– 1 Timothy 6:12a (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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We are all called to fight the good fight

– that difficult and arduous spiritual combat against the passions.

But it is important for us to be aware

that the passions are not evil in themselves.

They become so because of the poor use that human freedom makes of them,

exploiting and demeaning them

and bringing about the loss of our soul in the process.

If we call upon the Holy Spirit

He will help us with our genuine and incessant efforts to follow the Lord’s teachings and commands.

He will unify our energies through self-discipline and grace,

and our perseverance will be strengthened

as we grow in trust and hope in the Lord.

It is as the Spirit helps us persevere with gaining control over our passions

that they serve to open to us the path towards God.

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QUOTE…

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"Blessed is he who has mortified his own will to the end

and has entrusted the care of his person to his master in the Lord:

He will be placed at the right of the Crucified One"

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– St. John Climacus

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"The eternity of God is the source of perseverance […].

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Who hopes and perseveres in love

but he who imitates the eternity of [God’s] charity?

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Truly, perseverance reflects eternity in some way;

only to perseverance is eternity granted

or, to put it better, only perseverance obtains eternity for man."

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– St. Bernard

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Help me, O Holy Spirit, to persevere;

inspire me as I fight the good fight of the faith.

In Jesus’s holy Name, I pray. Amen.

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TODAY’S WORD…AND TEACHING…

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Since you are God’s dear children, you must try to be like Him.

Your life must be controlled by love,

just as Christ loved us and gave His life for us

as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God.

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Since you are God’s people,

it is not right that any matters of sexual immorality or indecency or greed

should even be mentioned among you.

Nor is it fitting for you to use language which is obscene, profane, or vulgar.

Rather you should give thanks to God.

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You may be sure that no one who is immoral, indecent, or greedy (for greed is a form of idolatry)

will ever receive a share in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

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Do not let anyone deceive you with foolish words;

it is because of these very things

that God’s anger will come upon those who do not obey Him.

So have nothing at all to do with such people.

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Try to learn what pleases the Lord.

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– Ephesians 5:1-7,10 (GNT)

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QUOTES…

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"Reflect on the example that Christ gave us,

from the crib in Bethlehem to His throne on Calvary.

Think of His self-denial and of all He went through

– hunger, thirst, weariness;

heat, tiredness, ill-treatment, misunderstandings, tears […].

But at the same time think of His joy at being able to save all mankind.“

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– St. Josemaria Escriva

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"Take special care of chastity

and also of the other virtues which go with it – modesty and refinement.

They are as it were the safeguard of chastity.

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Don’t take lightly those norms of conduct

which help so much to keep us worthy in the sight of God:

a watchful guard over our senses and our heart;

the courage – the courage to be a ‘coward’ – to flee from occasions of sin;

going to the sacraments frequently, particularly to the sacrament of Confession;

complete sincerity in personal spiritual direction;

sorrow, contrition and reparation after one’s falls.

And all this imbued with a tender devotion to our Lady

to have her obtain for us from God the gift of a clean and holy life"

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– St. Josemaria Escriva

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Make me holy, Lord, I want to be like You.

Mother of God, pray for me that I may live a clean and holy life.

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