My boys have this video game where they are soldiers fighting in war. They have to shoot the bad guys and they sometimes get shot too.

At the bottom of the screen is a bar which shows how much strength they have left. If it is all the way to the right and is green they are full strength. As they get wounded it blips down to the left and goes red. When it is only a slim line of red that means they are almost dead. Then when it goes black they are dead and the game is over.

But if they are wounded they can look around the battlefield for a first aid kit. It might be hidden behind a rock or inside a closet in an abandoned house. They have to look for it. The more wounded they are the more desperately they have to find the first aid kit. If they find they first aid kit and open it they get their full strength back. The bar zooms up from red through orange and yellow and blue back to green again and they’re good to go.

That’s what confession is like. There is nothing to be so ashamed about with sin. We sin. It’s a fact. In the battle against evil we take some hits. We get wounded. What we have to do is remember that the more wounded we are the more we need the first aid kit of confession. When we get there it’s like instant healing. God forgives us completely and we return to full strength. Our baptismal purity is restored. We are ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. We’re good to go.

It’s a lesson for children of all ages.