“Stove off… dirty kitchen lights off… washing machine off and cleaned…,” Ellen gave one last look at the area to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.
“Mommy?” Bruce asked.
“Yes, honey, need anything?” she locked the back door.
“Can you please check the list I made?” the boy handed her a very crumpled piece of paper.
“Wow! Young man, am I seriously going to be able to read anything from this?” she jokingly sneered at him.
“I dunnoh…,” Bruce shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, Bruce it’s your big day! It’s your first confession in preparation for your first communion a month from now,” Ellen couldn’t hide her excitement as she embraced her son.
“What can you say about my list, mom?”
“Well, you don’t mind if I read it? ‘Coz you know, they’re your sins, right?”
“I don’t, mom. ‘Sides I don’t want to miss anything for Jesus.”
“Okay, let’s sit down here for a minute, dad is still dressing up and I’m sure we’ll have enough time to go over your list.”
After a few seconds of silence, Bruce interrupted his mother who was patiently trying to decipher his list, “Well…?”
“I guess it’s a pretty complete list, dear,” she carefully folds the paper and hands it back to Bruce.
“You think so?”
“Yup, but do the numbers mean the times you did them?”
“Yes…,” Bruce answered. “Sister Annie said that it’s important, for the more big sins, to at least say how many times we remember doing them.”
“Why so…?” she straightened her son’s collar.
“’Coz we mean it more when saying sorry to Jesus.”
“That makes a lot of sense, young man.”
“Everyone ready? Time for Church!” Bruce’s dad announced.
* * *
Bruce came out of the confessional clearly happy and beaming with excitement.
“So how was it, son,” his dad asked.
“The priest was so happy to hear my sins!”
“Really? You mean that he’s happy that you’re sorry for them,” his mother clarified.
“Yes, that one too! And I’m going to go to confession more often because it’s really fun!”
“Fun, how so?” his father was a bit puzzled.
“Because the priest liked the numbers I said after my sins.”
“…so?” both parents said.
“He gave me a ‘game penance’!” Bruce replied with a thrilled voice.
“Game penance…?”
“Father said that since I like to count my sins, it would be good for me to do a penance of counting grace.”
“Counting grace…huh?”
“So I should make a list of all the good things God has given me and show it you.”
“Did he give you some examples, Bruce?” his mom asked.
“Yes. First he said, my life… then my baptism… and my parents!”
Ellen couldn’t contain her emotions when she heard this.
* * *
G. Chevrot in his book, The Prodigal Son, says: “Its usefulness [of personal examination] does not consist in reckoning up the number of your sins—I beg you not to do that. God has already forgiven you for them, and you would be insulting His mercy if you doubted his forgiveness. No, what you need to do is recognize your —our— sinful condition, which will keep us really humble and, most of all, will invite us to thank God for the love he has for us in spite of our unworthiness. Understanding that we are sinners is itself a great grace, because we can be saved only if we fully recognize that we are lost.”
* * *
On their way home, Bruce climbed behind his mother’s seat and nudged her shoulder with his chin.
“Want anything?”
“When we get home, can you help me make my grace list, mom?”
“Certainly, honey, I would love to do just that!”