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HIS Servant
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 DENYING SIN
- By Bro. Pete
Lapid
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Very recently, I
read a brief story about a man who went to Confession. He told the
priest that he had taken some pieces of wood from where he worked. The
priest asked him, “How many?” The man replied, “Not much, Father, just
enough to make a garage at the back of my house.” The priest told him,
“You know that’s not right and for your penance, I want you to make the
Stations of the Cross.” The man replied, “What size do you want them
Father, so I can get the right wood?”
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Funny isn’t it?
And yet in reality, this is happening to many of us. Even now. Because
this is exactly what we’re doing. We deny sin. We circumvent sin.
We call sin by any other name except what it is – SIN.
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How? Simple. Take
a look at what we do. We color lies white and call them white lies.
Why, is there such a thing as a black lie in order for it to be
an authentic lie? A lie is a lie. Period. And a lie is a sin. No
matter how you color it. Even if you color it with rainbow,
it will still be a lie and a sin.
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We send email or
text messages to other people, which contain green jokes. And we think
it’s funny and we’re not sinning. Even worst, we send
to our relatives and friends messages, which “murder” or
assassinate the character or reputation of people, like presidential
candidates. And we think it’s funny. Perhaps, we even think that we’re
doing them a favor because we’re sharing funny messages with them.
Still, we think we’re not sinning. If we can deny these, we might say,
“little” sins, what about the big sins in our life?
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Those who are
parents, if you see your teenage son looking at pictures of nude women
on the internet, would you tell him, “Good for you son, you are
beginning to appreciate art”?
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But that’s what we
do. We rationalize or justify even the wrong things we do and convince
ourselves and others that we are not sinning. And this, Brothers and
Sisters, is one of our greatest sins – denying sin or the existence of
sin in our lives. And this is practically the same as hypocrisy.
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And do you know
who is enjoying himself watching us do this? Do you know who is roaring
and rolling with laughter? Only the father of lies himself – Satan! And
he must be thrilled to death when he sees us destroying ourselves.
Brothers and Sisters, would you allow yourselves to remain as Satan’s
clowns? Only you can answer this question.
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I thank the Lord
that we have the Lenten season every year. Thru Lent, we are reminded
and are given the opportunity to look at how we have lived our life for
the past year.
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Let us therefore
take advantage of the Lent this year. Let us make it different and more
fruitful than the previous years. Let us make it a point to go to
Confession. Or go on a personal retreat either alone or with the whole
family. What is important is that we spend enough quiet time with the
Lord in prayer and examine ourselves, our lives, our relationships, our
priorities and above all, our relationship with God.
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This Lent 2004,
let us all aspire to make the Father of Truth – our God and Father, and
our Lord Jesus Christ – delight in us!
- TELL US LIKE IT IS!
- Has something
wonderful and unique happened in your life lately? Did God answer your
prayer in a very unexpected way? Did you, like Isaiah, meet God’s
whisper?
- Have you felt His
powerful hand working in your life recently?
- Everyday, people are
experiencing God’s mighty Word in their lives and it is a pity that very
few know about it. Do you have a story to tell? Some Good News to
share?
- E-mail us (genesis@catholic.org) or fax us
(021-6627384), and tell us about it. That’s right! You don’t have to be
a great writer to do this. We can help you write it – just tell us like
it is!
- Don’t forget to write
the subject: “Let Me Tell You A
Story”
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moment to sign our guestbook.
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