AboutRev. Dennis W. Meinen Expertise I prefer answering questions that a typical parishioner in a typical parish asks.
Experience I was ordained to the priesthood in 1987. One year later I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I am chaplain at a Catholic retirement/nursing home. I have a scooter (With the help of the Veterans) so I?m never at a desk! I am also involved in the Diocesan Office of Ministry to Persons With Disabilities and serve at our Catholic Hospital doing night call usually once a week. I write a column on disability for our Catholic newspaper and I try to tell how people can overcome obstacles to their disability. I freely admit to everyone that the ways of God are sometimes mysterious, but exciting. Why did God call me to the priesthood, yet will that this disability be part of it? St. Theresa told God that "It's no wonder that You don't have many friends, what with the way You treat them!" According to my human finite reasoning, I could serve God a lot better (and longer) if I was cured. But then I remember that St. Paul said that Jesus told him, ?In weakness power reaches perfection, because you?re strong in the Lord!?
Question Since attending weekly meetings of "Why Catholic", starting a few years ago, I have been going to reconciliation once a month and examining my conscience more often than that, somtimes a couple of times a week. This has resulted in trimming down sin to the point where I may have no sin to confess on that monthly session. So, the question is....should one go to reconciliation when there is nothing to reconcile? I presume it depends on whether some grace is obtained from merely going to confession, yet I have never heard of such a thing.
Don
Answer Don,
I suggest you read a book by Dom Benedict Baur, O.S.B. called Frequent Confession Its Place in the Spiritual Life. ($9.95)
Frequent Confession presents convincing and strong evidence for the benefits of frequent reception of the sacrament of Penance for the health and growth of the spiritual life of all faithful.
"To win the battles of the soul, the best strategy often is to bide one's time and apply the suitable remedy with patience and perseverance." So wrote St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei who tirelessly urged the practice of frequent confession for spiritual advancement.
The book is divided into two parts. The first shows the purposes and practice of confession from the aspect of confessor and penitent. The second examines the many areas where confession applies.
An extensive introduction was written by Rev. Salvador Ferigle, who as a layman in 1949 began the apostolate of Opus Dei in the U.S. and died in 1997 at 72. The book is newly indexed.
