{"id":18920,"date":"2020-03-14T06:03:37","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T10:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/?p=18920"},"modified":"2021-03-06T06:09:13","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T11:09:13","slug":"the-kindness-and-mercy-of-the-lord-second-saturday-of-lent-march-14-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-kindness-and-mercy-of-the-lord-second-saturday-of-lent-march-14-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kindness and Mercy of the Lord, Second Saturday of Lent, March 14, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Roger J. Landry<br \/>\nVisitation Mission of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan<br \/>\nSaturday of the Second Week of Lent<br \/>\nMarch 14, 2020<br \/>\nMic 7:14-15.18-20, Ps 103, Lk 15:1-3.11-32<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-18920-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/3.14.20-Homily-1.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/3.14.20-Homily-1.mp3\">https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/3.14.20-Homily-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The\u00a0following points were attempted in the homily:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Today we reach the dramatic end of the first phase of the Lenten Season. From Ash Wednesday through Saturday of the Second Week of Lent, the readings from Sacred Scripture are all fundamentally geared to helping us understand and live the type of conversion to which God is calling us. Tomorrow, we begin a heavy emphasis\u00a0on the meaning of baptism, to assist catechumens in their journey toward the saving waters and to reinvigorate all those who have already been baptized in the ever new life that is supposed to flow from baptism. At the end of the Fourth Week\u00a0of Lent, we will make another transition to consider specifically all those prophecies and historical events that predicted and led to Jesus\u2019 passion and death.<\/li>\n<li>Today, however, we come to the exclamation point of the phase in which God has been calling us, as Jesus told us on Ash Wednesday, to \u201crepent and believe in the Gospel,\u201d to pray, fast and give alms in such a way that we begin to think with the mind of God, hunger for what he hungers, and gratefully participate in his providential care of our brothers and sisters. It\u2019s a time to become holy like God is holy, perfect as God is perfect, merciful like the Father is merciful. It\u00a0is a time to focus on how his mercy endures forever and therefore on our recognizing our need for it, our coming to receive it, our rejoicing in it and our seeking to pass it on to others like we\u2019ve first received it, are all meant to grow.<\/li>\n<li>In today\u2019s readings we focus on that mercy, which is the driver of the whole season of Lent, especially this first part concerning conversion. The Prophet Micah exclaims with wonder and gratitude about God\u2019s\u00a0<em>hesed<\/em>, his merciful faithfulness to us despite our sins: \u201cWho is there like you, the God who removes guilt\u00a0and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;\u00a0Who does not persist in anger forever,\u00a0but delights rather in clemency, and will again have compassion on us,\u00a0treading underfoot our guilt?\u00a0You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;\u00a0You will show faithfulness to Jacob,\u00a0and grace to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers\u00a0from days of old.\u201d In the Responsorial Psalm we ponder how \u201ckind and merciful\u201d he is who \u201cpardons all your iniquities, \u2026\u00a0heals all your ills, \u2026\u00a0redeems your life from destruction, \u2026\u00a0crowns you with kindness and compassion, \u2026 will not always chide, \u2026 does not\u00a0keep his wrath forever, \u2026 who does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our crimes,\u201d who has \u201cput our transgressions\u201d further from us as the east is from the west and the heavens are high above the earth.\u201d And then in the Gospel, Jesus illustrates for us the love of God who delights in clemency, who shows his faithfulness to his wayward children, who does not deal with us according to our sins but who treats his with paternal kindness and compassion. It\u2019s perhaps the most famous short-story of all time. It\u2019s called the Parable of the Prodigal Son after the youngest of two boys, but it could easily have been called the Parable of the Merciful Father or the Parable of the Merciless Brother. We\u00a0conclude this phase of Lent pondering what Jesus wants to teach us about mercy through all three characters in today\u2019s Gospel.<\/li>\n<li>We begin with the younger son. His essential sin was not all that he did to blow his inheritance on a dissolute life. It was to treat his Father as if he were dead. To ask for the inheritance while the Father was still living was tantamount to saying, \u201cYou\u2019re dead to me, Old Man. I don\u2019t want to wait until you croak. Give me now, as if it\u2019s a right I have rather than an unmerited grace, what you\u2019re planning to give me when finally you breathe your last.\u201d And the Father, doubtless more concerned\u00a0over the direction of his son\u2019s life than nursing his own wounds at the son\u2019s ingratitude and presumption, gave him the inheritance, probably figuring out it would be the only chance that the son might have of learning the lesson he had long missed.\u00a0The son, as we know, went and squandered everything in an immoral life. Eventually when a famine hit the land where he was, he needed to do work that no Jew would ever have signed up for, to care for pigs (whom the Jews considered unclean animals). He was eventually so hungry that he longed for what the pigs were eating, something that indicated basically that he had become almost subhuman. But that\u2019s when the grace of conversion first hit him. \u201cComing to his senses,\u201d St. Luke writes, he realized that his Father\u2019s hired hands were always well-fed and he decided to return to his Father\u2019s house, to apologize for his sins, and asked to be treated like a hired hand. He recognized that at least his Father was a good man who cared for those who worked for him. When we hear the word today, \u201chired hand,\u201d most of us, I think, imagine he was being asked to be treated as an \u201cemployee,\u201d but it was nothing really of the sort. He was asking to be treated as \u201cless than a slave.\u201d The slaves were considered members of the household to some degree and they were taken care of and fed. The \u201chired hands\u201d were not members of the family. They were responsible for their own upkeep, if they could get a job day-by-day. But the younger son recognized that the Father was kind and gave \u201cmore than enough food to eat\u201d even to those who had no right to food. The son was beginning to reawaken to the Father\u2019s goodness. But he still didn\u2019t understand the Father.\u00a0He rehearsed his speech as he was returning home, that he had sinned against God and against his father \u2014 both of whom he had treated as if they were dead to him \u2014 and didn\u2019t deserve to be treated as a son, thinking that the relationship of filiation would now have been \u201cdead\u201d since he had basically already pronounced his father\u2019s obituary. But the Father, seeing him far off, was filled with merciful love and\u00a0<em>ran\u00a0<\/em>to his son. I\u2019ve always imagined a 60 year old man in sandals looking foolish running to embrace his long-lost son, running the way a child scampers across the airport to greet his or her father returning from military service overseas. The son began with his well-practiced confession, but the Father interrupted him. He called for the finest garment to be put around him to cover up all of the swine excrement with which doubtless he had been covered. He put a signet ring on his finger, to show that he still had \u201cpower of attorney\u201d over the Father\u2019s goods. He had sandals placed on his feet to symbolize that he was free to go about as he pleased \u2014 slaves never had sandals. Whereas he was prepared to ask to be treated like a hired hand lower than slaves, the Father restored him to his full dignity!<\/li>\n<li>This is obviously an allusion to what God seeks to do to all of us through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. When we come to our senses, when we realize the Father not only is not dead but is good and cares for us and we begin to make the journey home, he runs out to meet us to restore us to who we really are. In the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin elsewhere in the same chapter of Luke 15, Jesus tells us that heaven rejoices most of all for the return of one sinner, because every forgiven sinner is a restored beloved son or daughter of the Father. The Father initiates a massive celebration, having the special fattened calf slaughtered for the son\u2019s return, because, as he says, \u201cMy son was dead and has come back to life again. He was lost and has been found.\u201d That\u2019s what happens every good Confession. Every reconciliation is a resurrection, when we\u2019re raised from the dead by the Father\u2019s mercy (which is why, I believe, Jesus founded it on Easter Sunday evening). The Sacraments is God\u2019s great lost-and-found department for his beloved children. The whole point of this first phase of Lent was to bring us back fully into the house of the Father so that he could restore us to who we really are.\u00a0Lent is a time for us to recognize that we\u2019re the prodigal son and make the journey to the Father\u2019s restorative embrace. As Pope Francis said at the beginning of his papacy, \u201cGod never tires of forgiving us, but it\u2019s we who tire of asking for forgiveness.\u201d The Father is always ready to embrace us with his merciful love, but we must be sensible enough to recognize who he is, come back to say sorry, and be grateful for the way that he does far more than feed and employ us.<\/li>\n<li>During this Lenten season we have to do more than respond to God\u2019s grace to restore our relationship with God the Father, however. We also have to seek to restore our relationship with our brothers and sisters. And that\u2019s where the second, older brother comes into the scene. In some ways, Jesus told the whole parable in order to focus on his reaction to the loving mercy of the Father toward his younger brother. The setting for the parable was in response to the Pharisees and Scribes\u2019 complaints that Jesus \u201cwelcomes sinners and eats with them.\u201d They would rather have had the sinners never convert than for Jesus to have shown mercy to them. They were a society of older brothers in the parable. And we can see in the older brother\u2019s behavior that he, too, never really grasped the Father\u2019s goodness or love.\u00a0When he got angry and refused to enter the party the Father was throwing for the younger son\u2019s return, he passive-aggressively waited outside until the Father came for him. He couldn\u2019t join in the celebration because, in his heart, his brother was still dead. When the Father pleaded with him to enter the party, he replied with anger that betrayed that he had never related to his Father out of love but only out of duty. He was essentially a slave who, even though he never left the Father\u2019s house, really didn\u2019t want to be there either and resented his Father out of the type of envy we heard about yesterday in the betrayal of Joseph by his brothers and the prophesied betrayal of Jesus by his own people. \u201cLook, all these years I\u00a0<em>served<\/em>\u00a0you and not once did I ever\u00a0<em>disobey your orders.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>That\u2019s the language of a slave, not a son! You can almost hear him calling his Father \u201cMaster\u201d or \u201cBoss-man\u201d rather than \u201cDad.\u201d And it gets worse. \u201cYet when this\u00a0<em>son of yours\u00a0<\/em>returns\u2026\u201d He can\u2019t even refer to his own flesh-and-blood as his brother. The younger brother had wasted his inheritance \u201cwith prostitutes,\u201d he said, a detail that isn\u2019t in evidence, a sign that that\u2019s likely what he would have done had he been bold enough to do what the younger brother had done and gotten his own half of the inheritance.\u00a0He was filled with envy and hatred against his brother as well as against the Father. He had never even been allowed to kill a young goat for a party with his friends and yet the other brother got a fatted calf. By this point of the story, we can clearly see that while the younger brother was restored to health the older brother was still sick. The younger brother now at least understood the love of the Father and was rejoicing in it, whereas the older brother was still in a judgmental, bitter pigsty of his own.\u00a0Jesus concludes the parable by telling us that the Father basically thought he had no choice but to celebrate because of his younger son\u2019s being brought back morally from the dead, for his being restored fully into the inheritance, which was not a thing fundamentally of money but of fatherly love. We don\u2019t know whether the older brother entered the party with him or not. The reason is because that was still an open question for the scribes and the Pharisees who were listening to the parable of Jesus, whether they would share his joy and come to welcome and eat with the same sinners, the same prodigal sons and daughters with whom Jesus was dining, or whether they would continue to remain defiantly and enviously outside. There\u2019s an obvious application for all of us, too, of this second part of the parable. Do we rejoice when other sinners return to the faith or do we resent that after they \u201chad their fun\u201d they are now restored to the same status as we have? \u00a0When we\u2019re tempted toward this type of hardness of heart of the Scribes and the Pharisees, the most common\u00a0reason is because we look at the practice of the faith in general as a series of duties, of God as a powerful task master, rather than as a drama of love with God as the most loving Father ever. It\u2019s also because we look at others not with the love of\u00a0brothers and sisters but rather begrudgingly as fallen away sons and daughters of God but with whom we don\u2019t want really to associate. The first phase of the Lenten season is meant to help us not only to make the journey of the Prodigal Son but also the journey to which Jesus was summoning the Scribes and the Pharisees. The Father comes out and wants us to join in the party. God\u2019s greatest joy is forgiving, as Pope Francis likes to say, and he wants us to enter into that joy. In fact, he wants us to join him in going out to others to invite them to return to the Father\u2019s house so that the joy of heaven will be even greater.<\/li>\n<li>Today we\u2019ve all come as repentant prodigals to the Father\u2019s house here, where he seeks to renew us in our baptismal garments, to restore us to our full inheritance and help us to walk with true freedom. We\u2019ve come here so that as we join ourselves worshipping him with the whole Church from the rising of the Sun to its setting, we may realize that he desires to put our sins as far away from us as Los Angeles is from Alexandria. And in his kindness and mercy, he hasn\u2019t prepared a fattened calf but something far greater \u2014 a Lamb looking as if he has been slain \u2014 so that through communion with His own beloved Son on the inside, we may live always in the love of the Father and have his love become fully alive in our lives. This is the path by which our Lent will be translated into an Easter joy that will know no end.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>The readings for today\u2019s Mass were:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<h4>Reading 1<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/micah\/7:14\">MI 7:14-15, 18-20<\/a><\/h4>\n<div>Shepherd your people with your staff,<br \/>\nthe flock of your inheritance,<br \/>\nThat dwells apart in a woodland,<br \/>\nin the midst of Carmel.<br \/>\nLet them feed in Bashan and Gilead,<br \/>\nas in the days of old;<br \/>\nAs in the days when you came from the land of Egypt,<br \/>\nshow us wonderful signs.<\/div>\n<div>Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt<br \/>\nand pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;<br \/>\nWho does not persist in anger forever,<br \/>\nbut delights rather in clemency,<br \/>\nAnd will again have compassion on us,<br \/>\ntreading underfoot our guilt?<br \/>\nYou will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;<br \/>\nYou will show faithfulness to Jacob,<br \/>\nand grace to Abraham,<br \/>\nAs you have sworn to our fathers<br \/>\nfrom days of old.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h4>Responsorial Psalm<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/103:1\">PS 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12<\/a><\/h4>\n<div>R. (8a)\u00a0The Lord is kind and merciful.<br \/>\nBless the LORD, O my soul;<br \/>\nand all my being, bless his holy name.<br \/>\nBless the LORD, O my soul,<br \/>\nand forget not all his benefits.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0The Lord is kind and merciful.<br \/>\nHe pardons all your iniquities,<br \/>\nhe heals all your ills.<br \/>\nHe redeems your life from destruction,<br \/>\nhe crowns you with kindness and compassion.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0The Lord is kind and merciful.<br \/>\nHe will not always chide,<br \/>\nnor does he keep his wrath forever.<br \/>\nNot according to our sins does he deal with us,<br \/>\nnor does he requite us according to our crimes.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0The Lord is kind and merciful.<br \/>\nFor as the heavens are high above the earth,<br \/>\nso surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.<br \/>\nAs far as the east is from the west,<br \/>\nso far has he put our transgressions from us.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0The Lord is kind and merciful.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h4>Gospel<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/15:1\">LK 15:1-3, 11-32<\/a><\/h4>\n<div>Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,<br \/>\nbut the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,<br \/>\n\u201cThis man welcomes sinners and eats with them.\u201d<br \/>\nSo to them Jesus addressed this parable.<br \/>\n\u201cA man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father,<br \/>\n\u2018Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.\u2019<br \/>\nSo the father divided the property between them.<br \/>\nAfter a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings<br \/>\nand set off to a distant country<br \/>\nwhere he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.<br \/>\nWhen he had freely spent everything,<br \/>\na severe famine struck that country,<br \/>\nand he found himself in dire need.<br \/>\nSo he hired himself out to one of the local citizens<br \/>\nwho sent him to his farm to tend the swine.<br \/>\nAnd he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed,<br \/>\nbut nobody gave him any.<br \/>\nComing to his senses he thought,<br \/>\n\u2018How many of my father\u2019s hired workers<br \/>\nhave more than enough food to eat,<br \/>\nbut here am I, dying from hunger.<br \/>\nI shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him,<br \/>\n\u201cFather, I have sinned against heaven and against you.<br \/>\nI no longer deserve to be called your son;<br \/>\ntreat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.\u201d\u2019<br \/>\nSo he got up and went back to his father.<br \/>\nWhile he was still a long way off,<br \/>\nhis father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.<br \/>\nHe ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.<br \/>\nHis son said to him,<br \/>\n\u2018Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;<br \/>\nI no longer deserve to be called your son.\u2019<br \/>\nBut his father ordered his servants,<br \/>\n\u2018Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him;<br \/>\nput a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.<br \/>\nTake the fattened calf and slaughter it.<br \/>\nThen let us celebrate with a feast,<br \/>\nbecause this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;<br \/>\nhe was lost, and has been found.\u2019<br \/>\nThen the celebration began.<br \/>\nNow the older son had been out in the field<br \/>\nand, on his way back, as he neared the house,<br \/>\nhe heard the sound of music and dancing.<br \/>\nHe called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.<br \/>\nThe servant said to him,<br \/>\n\u2018Your brother has returned<br \/>\nand your father has slaughtered the fattened calf<br \/>\nbecause he has him back safe and sound.\u2019<br \/>\nHe became angry,<br \/>\nand when he refused to enter the house,<br \/>\nhis father came out and pleaded with him.<br \/>\nHe said to his father in reply,<br \/>\n\u2018Look, all these years I served you<br \/>\nand not once did I disobey your orders;<br \/>\nyet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.<br \/>\nBut when your son returns<br \/>\nwho swallowed up your property with prostitutes,<br \/>\nfor him you slaughter the fattened calf.\u2019<br \/>\nHe said to him,<br \/>\n\u2018My son, you are here with me always;<br \/>\neverything I have is yours.<br \/>\nBut now we must celebrate and rejoice,<br \/>\nbecause your brother was dead and has come to life again;<br \/>\nhe was lost and has been found.\u2019\u201c<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Pompeo_Batoni_003.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18921\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Pompeo_Batoni_003.jpg?resize=216%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"216\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Roger J. Landry Visitation Mission of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan Saturday of the Second Week of Lent March 14, 2020 Mic 7:14-15.18-20, Ps 103, Lk 15:1-3.11-32 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:\u00a0 &nbsp; The\u00a0following points were attempted in the homily:\u00a0 Today we reach the dramatic end [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11775,1063,3,4],"tags":[3409,5121,5123,5118,5122,3470,5115,5120,5124,1006,5114,2394,2550,520,1940,3027,5119,2395,5117,5126],"class_list":["post-18920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2019-2020-year-ii","category-audio-homily","category-homily","category-year-ii","tag-envy","tag-fathers-love","tag-fattened-calf","tag-finest-garment","tag-gods-great-lost-and-found-department","tag-hardness-of-heart","tag-inheritance","tag-joy-over-resurrection","tag-judgmentalism","tag-lk-151-3-11-32","tag-mic-714-15-18-20","tag-pharisees","tag-prodigal-son","tag-ps-103","tag-reconciliation","tag-resurrection","tag-sandals","tag-scribes","tag-signet-ring","tag-welcoming-sinners-and-eating-with-them"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Kindness and Mercy of the Lord, Second Saturday of Lent, March 14, 2020 - Catholic Preaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-kindness-and-mercy-of-the-lord-second-saturday-of-lent-march-14-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Kindness and Mercy of the Lord, Second Saturday of Lent, March 14, 2020 - Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fr. Roger J. Landry Visitation Mission of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan Saturday of the Second Week of Lent March 14, 2020 Mic 7:14-15.18-20, Ps 103, Lk 15:1-3.11-32 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:\u00a0 &nbsp; The\u00a0following points were attempted in the homily:\u00a0 Today we reach the dramatic end [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-kindness-and-mercy-of-the-lord-second-saturday-of-lent-march-14-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-14T10:03:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-06T11:09:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Pompeo_Batoni_003.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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