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First Reading: 1 John 3:22–4:6
22 And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of him: because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment: That we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as he hath given commandment unto us.
24 And he that keepeth his commandments abideth in him, and he in him. And in this we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.
1 Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 By this is the spirit of God known. Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus is not of God. And this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh: and he is now already in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome him. Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world. Therefore of the world they speak: and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
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Psalm: Psalms 2:7-8, 10-12
R I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.
7 The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.
R I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.
10 And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth.
11 Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling.
12 Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way.
R I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.
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Gospel: Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25
12: Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee;
13: and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Caper'na-um by the sea, in the territory of Zeb'ulun and Naph'tali,
14: that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15: "The land of Zeb'ulun and the land of Naph'tali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles --
16: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."
17: From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
23: And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.
24: So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.
25: And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decap'olis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
