Soul Bleach

#3 made his first Confession today.  He knew his prayers, had thought about his sins, was primed and ready to go, then he asked me, “I know what we do, but why do we do it?  Nobody said the why.”

I frowned a bit at this gap in his knowledge, and remembered the words of Sr Katherine, my 2nd grade teacher.  “Think of your soul as a big white bedsheet hanging out on the line, just glowing in the sunlight.  Sins are like clods of dirt all over that white sheet.  You can try and wash it with soap, but the mark of that dirt hangs around.  If you dunk it in bleach, though, it comes out gleaming white and looking brand new.  That’s Confession, it’s bleach for your soul, it gets the spots out and makes you new again.”

As I repeated her words to my son, he started to nod in understanding, Confession is Soul Bleach.  He entered the confessional, and then floated out a few minutes later  grinning his own gap-toothed smile.  “Smell me, Mom?  I’m fresh and clean.”  I laughed and shook my head and then waited as he did his Penance. 

We went to lunch after that, the Computer Guy, the boy, and me.  I was a bit surprised when he started to talk back during lunch.  I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.  He dropped his head and mumbled something.
“What was that?”  I asked.
“Stain stick,” he answered.