What is sin?  First of all, we know what God tells us not to do:  The Ten commandments.  Okay.  There's our basic little guidelines:  Follow these ten rules, those can be sins.  What's wrong about that sentence, though??

It still doesn't tell us what a sin is, it tells us what CAN be a sin!  So we still don't know what it means to sin.

Well, let's analyze what the ten commandments are, then.

Those are LAWS.  Those are guidelines.  Rules, amendments that we have to abide by, whatever you want to call it.  In a sense, you can view those as a crime.  A crime is something you're not supposed to do.  So, then, what is a SIN???

To sin is to simply be distant from God.  Sin isn't an action, it's a place.

To give you a little better understanding, imagine this:

Homer Simpson is working at the power plant.  He sees a bar of radioactive plutonium lying around.  He knows that this is a bad thing, so he picks it up to dispose of it.  Not knowing where to take it, he runs throughout Springfield with it, and then throws it into the Canyon.  Unfortunately, many people are exposed to enough radiation to give them cancer and they die.

Homer didn't purposely kill these people, he was trying to SAVE people.  But, had he had the intention of harming these people in any way, then he WOULD be sinning.

It only has to do with where your place is with God.  So, everytime you sin, you bring yourself far from God.

What sucks though, is you don't just shoot back.  Everytime you sin, you delve deeper and deeper into that sin.  That place of darkness and confusion.  Being deeper into that darkness, its harder to see where God is, which makes it even easier to wander helplessly and recklessly into that place of darkness, until eventually, you don't know how to get out.

Some people just don't see God in the first place, and they wander into the city of darkness without any thought of where they are.  It's up to us to be flashlights for them.  We can shine so bright, that their place of darkness is just a little bit brighter.

On a happy note, God provided us with a map, called the Bible.  His directions are really cool, because not only does he tell us where to go, but where NOT to go.  Ie, DON'T commit adultery, DON'T kill anyone, DON'T steal, etc.

But, like I said, he tells us where to go.  There are things that, if we don't do them, we sin.  For example, there's one highway that you pretty much can't get out of sin without: Confession.  Also known as the interstate 733.

Confession is a fast track out of the city of sin, chillin's! But, it's not like Highway 733 follows you around everywhere, you still have to take the surface streets that lead to it. Forgiveness of self, forgiveness of others, penance, etc. There are also some short cuts you can take to get to each street, like there's the good will province. This consists of doing good deeds and actions in your life. This will get you to the other streets faster, but you still have to cross those main streets in order to get out, though!

Now, in order to get onto the interstate 733, or confession, you have to use the EOC on-ramp. It's a steep onramp, and unfortunately, we all have manual cars, called free will. They don't do too well on hills, but they can manage, as long as we drive them correctly.

The EOC on-ramp stands for Examination of Conscience. In order to get on, you need to properly shift into gear for the freeway. In order to do this, you have to think about what it was that got you into the city of sin in the first place. You down shifted in order to get in, you have to up shift in order to get out, kind of thing. Recall all that happened, clear your mind of the sin that holding you back, if you keep looking back at the city, you're going to stall and fall back into it.

If you look ahead to what's happening on the freeway, prepare yourself for it, then you can get out, and back into the realm of God and Sainthood.

So I went to lunch with Richard the other day.  Good times.  We had a long, meaningful discussion.  A discussion about how sexism and racism are DUMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He came up with a good point:  Its funny how if you ask a girl to do the dishes, or clean the kitchen, or something along those lines, you're suddenly a disrespectful pig, and the girl gets all offended.  She starts telling you about how she shouldn't be expected to do these things JUST BECAUSE she's a woman.  She'll rattle on for another 10-20 minutes about how she's getting sick of being treated badly because she's a woman and crap.

Then if a girl ever asks a guy to change the oil in their car, claiming it's a "man's job," we're supposed to bend over and take it for what it is.

Bull!

THAT'S sexism!  Or one time, I was talking with a bunch of people about how it's terrible to be a chauvinist  (spelling??) and all this crap...  but it's encouraged for a girl to be a feminist.  Then a young lady came up and said "Well, yeah, that's because men are just trying to put down women, and control them.  A feminist is just someone who looks out for herself."  I was so pissed.  That's bull crap.  A feminist is a piece of crap who doesn't deserve to be honored with the title of "woman."  A woman is a blessing, a beautiful gift from God.  A wonderful breath of fresh air for a man.  Women are wonderful things, and should be respected.

I remember when a man's place was to respect his woman.  To hold her in a status above everyone else.  To cherish her for all she's worth.  To look on her as the most beautiful thing in the world.  As such, he would support her, pamper her, love her, RESPECT HER.

Why did he do these crazy things?

Because she would cook for him, clean for him (but he better help out a little, or else she should kick him), etc.

And y'know what?  THAT'S THEIR FREAKIN' ROLES!!!!!!!!!!!

A woman's purpose is to serve her man.  A man's purpose is to serve his woman.  I'm not saying a woman has to do ALL the cleaning, ALL the cooking, etc.  A man is called to respect his woman, to the point of helping out a little with all of that.  I'm not saying a woman should be a housewife.  Of course she has the right to get a job, she's a person!

I'm just getting so pissed off with women playing the martyrs, and saying they're the victims of crap.  Bull.  Your GREAT GRANDMOTHERS were the victims, and they were totally down with their lifestyles.  You girls are all pampered compared to them, and suddenly life is unfair for you.  Shutup and take out the broom.  Suck it up, and deal with it.  If I have to shutup and fix the breaks, mow the lawn, change the oil, paint the fence, whatever, you can shutup and clean my dishes, wash my clothes, clean my bathroom, cook me dinner.

I swear, I am the luckiest man alive, because my girlfriend has a straight head on her shoulders.  She understands that there are differences between men and women, but she respects herself for what she is.  Obviously, if I told her "WOMAN, clean the dishes!" I would be out of line, but if I ever asked her to do me a favor, she accepts, and I DO THE SAME.  If she asks me to hang a picture, I do.  If she asks me to move furniture, I do.  I'm always there to help her, and she's always there to help me.  THAT is how it should be.

THat shows you that women are not dumb altogether.  Don't think that, because then you're no better than a feminist.  It's just that I'm getting sick of the few that get too loud.

These torn roses have been gone for so long.  I've spent my life for the past eleven wall clocks petting my rose.  The whole- the vibrant- the beautiful- the quenching- the everlasting rose.  This rose is my life.  There will always be that one torn rose that exists now as a pop mark on the face I wear when I'm down.  That mask will never be the same, and it's all thanks to the deceitful rose.  That maniacal rose.  Such beauty from a few pedals was enough to form a puss-filled growth on my cheek for over a year.  Now that the puss, blood and grease has formed itself into an ocean for another world, I am content with my newfound rose.  She is certainly the hue I have been devoting my life to.  I couldn't count the blemishes and bruises that still exist from all the thorns and roots.  I have been cut, tangled, beaten, mangled...  Destroyed from the outside in, only for the inside to reject.  Now that my beautiful flower is upon me, I am full of happiness and joy.  This once hideous, mangled semi-corpse that carried my soul is now a beautiful body, and it's all thanks to the bud on top of this stem.  This beautiful hue, this beautiful, beautiful hue.  Now is the time.  I am complete.  I love you, rose.  I love you.  The torn roses of my past have decomposed and now nourish the very roots that you thrive from.  Now I am one with this whole rose, without a flaw, without a blemish, without a scar, without a single missing pedal.  You carry me into the sky, and for the first time in my life, I am not surrounded by a military of torn pedals and thorns and roots and dirt.

My beauty, my rose...  If you so need it, take my body as water, and break me down into the food you need to survive.  You will change the world with your hue, let me be your water.

One of the best movies ever made, is a movie called Labrynth.  If you haven't seen this movie, then make sure you do ASAP.  In any case, there is a riddle on that movie that goes like this:

There was a man who needed to go to a specific destination.  He came across a fork in the road, and there were two men there.  He had to ask them which way to go, but unfortunately, one of them always lied, and the other always told the truth, no matter what.  And, quite interestingly, he could only ask them one question.  He had to come up with ONE question he could ask them both, and find out which way to go according to the one answer.  He thought for a little while, and finally came up with one that would work.  Can anyone figure out what that is?

He figured out that if he asked one of them what the other would say, he could go the opposite way, and it would be the right direction.

Say hypothetically, the direction was left.  If he asked the liar which way the other person would tell him to go, he would lie, and say that the guy would say right.

BUT, if he asked the guy telling the truth, he would truthfully tell him that the liar would lie, and say right.  Therefore, either one would have to answer RIGHT, so he knows that he would just have to go the opposite direction, Left, which is the correct one.

This story is like our paths in our faith lives.  We know where we want to go, we want to be happy.  The guy telling the truth is like God, because He knows exactly where you need to go, and He's ready to lead you in the right direction.  The Liar is like the devil, because he wants to deceive us, and lead us down a path that we THINK is the road to happiness, but will end up getting us even more lost then we were in the first place.  Sometimes, the decisions we have to make can be really confusing, unclear, and cloudy.  Sometimes, it seems like all is lost.

Unfortunately, we don't have these cute little tricks to get us to go in the right path.  We don't have a directional map.  We DO have a directional manual on how to build a good vehicle, and that's the Bible.  It gives us tips on how to build OURSELVES spiritually, which will make the road easier traveled.  BUT, we have to make the decision on where to go OURSELVES.  We can't let others tell us where to go, what to do, how to live our lives.  We have to make the decision OURSELVES to love God.

When I was a bit younger, I wasn't sure if Catholocism was right for me.  Like many of you, I'm sure, I was a cradle Catholic, which is someone who was raised Catholic from a zygote.  But, later on, I questioned this.  I was blind to other religions, and I felt that if I REALLY needed to feel God in my life, I would have to choose Him on my own, not be told to love Him.  I went through of a series of studies on different religions from Mormonism and protestantism, to even hinduism and buddhism.  Eventually, however, I came back to Catholocism, and made the decision MYSELF to be a part of the Catholic Church, which is the point of our Holy Confirmation.

In case you were worried, God chose you a LONG time ago, before you were even born, or even before humanity existed.  All you have to do is choose Him.  But, I'm not going to tell you what to choose, nobody can.  That's up to you.

A while ago, I heard a story about a kid who had to do a project.  He had to fill up a jar as much as he could.  He had one big rock, a few smaller rocks, a bunch of little pebbles, and some sand.  Automatically, he knew what he had to do.  If he filled it up with the sand, it would fill up the jar more.  So, he poured it in, only to find that it only filled up a little less than half of the jar.  He decided to put in the pebbles next.  That only filled up to about 3/4 of the jar.  Then he fit in a couple of the smaller rocks, but he couldn't fit them all in.  When he was done, he had most of his small rocks, and the one big rock left.

He looked around, and most people did the same thing he did.  But there was one group who actually managed to fit EVERYTHING into their jars!  What they did, was they put in the One Big Rock first, and then stuck the smaller rocks wherever they would fit.  Then they poured in the pebbles, and those sank between the other rocks, to the bottom of the jar.  Then they poured in the sand, which also sank to the bottom the jar, and filled the jar up to the brim, no less, no more.

This can relate to our faith lives.  We have a bunch of stuff to choose from in our lives, no doubt about it.  We can devote our lives to anything from rebuilding a broken government in a third world country, to flipping burgers at a fast food restaurant.  We also have countless little things to attach to as well.  Magazines, girls, boys, video games, makeup, clothes, sports, music, etc.  The list goes on for decades.  But God only gave us one little heart to fit all this stuff.  Obviously, we can't fit everything in there.  But, nonetheless, we have to fill our hearts.  If we choose all these little things first, and work our to the big things, we won't be able to fit everything we want, and we will be left with a whole bunch of empty spots.

If choose God first, and then choose everything else, with all the little things being the last in our hearts, we can enjoy ALL those things at the same time.

Notice in the skit that Jesus didn't tell David to stop doing everything else, and choose him, he just said to choose.  As long as David chose God first, he had room for other things as well.

So we can't juggle all these things in life by ourselves, we need God.  Even if we fill our lives with a bunch of GOOD things, if we leave God out, we won't be able to do it correctly.  If we want to feel complete and happy in our lives, we need to choose God first, and then everything else.  That is how our faith is, it's a choice.

Faith doesn't mean that we HAVE TO OBEY GOD NO MATTER WHAT.  Faith doesn't mean we have to try not to sin, just because we're told to.  Faith means believing in God, just because you choose to.  We don't have solid proof for anyone that God exists, we just choose to believe him.  Faith means trying not to sin, because we have faith in God that it's for the best, that it's right.  It means leading a Christian lifestyle in spite of anything that might happen, because we trust that we are where we need to be.

We CAN'T DO THIS by ourselves, we need God to help us.