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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Validity of and Punishment for Breaking a Private Vow	Joanna	Saturday, August 4, 2007
Question: Hello, God bless you for what you do. I must preface this by warning you that I suffer from scrupulosity, and by admitting that what I have done here was quite imprudent. Here is my situation: My doctor told me several days ago that I might be diabetic. I was so worried that I began praying fervently for the test to come back normal, and I promised God that if it did, I would take a personal, private "vow of temperance." Well, I found out yesterday that the test was well within the healthy range (praise be to God), so that evening I wrote out a pretty serious letter binding myself with a “lifelong vow of temperance,” meaning that I would never let myself "overindulge" again (slight indulgences on occasion are one thing, by overindulging I meant really “pigging out”). I was a little scared when I was doing it, and I had definite (and warranted) fears that I would fail at such a lofty endeavor, but I wanted to keep my promise to God. Plus, keeping that vow would do me a lot of spiritual and physical good. Well, today rolled around, and sure enough, I found my excuses and pretty much overindulged the very day after I took that "vow." When I took it, I never explicitly thought "and if I mess up, I want it to be a grave/mortal sin," but I assumed that breaking a vow was a big deal. When I came home tonight, a bunch of strange and inconvenient things happened, which I assume were only part of the punishment I must have incurred. Was this vow probably "valid?" I'm guessing it was. And if so, since I understood that taking a vow was a serious thing to do (even if I was scared and pretty much knew I would fail), am I bound under penalty of mortal sin any time for the rest of my life that I have an off day and "overindulge?" If so, what should I do? Should I ask our pastor to release me from the vow I made? He knows about my scrupulosity, and I am terrified that he would be really annoyed and angry with me for doing something like this if I told him about it face to face. Or, should I just really try not to overindulge ever again and confess it (explaining the vow) any time I fail? Thanks for your guidance, and again, God bless. Joanna
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Joanna: From what you are telling me your vow in invalid on several points: 1) you made the vow under duress of an illness, and fear about ability to fulfill it 2) the vow itself is not something that is reasonable possible. Canon Law says that a Vow "...is a deliberate and free promise made to God, concerning some good which is possible and better." Deliberate and free promise is impaired by duress and fear. A vow of temperance in perpetuity is something that is not really possible because of human nature AND you doubted whether or not you could fulfill it anyway. Thus, your vow was invalid and you are not bound. Thus, there is no vow to be released from. The vow does not exist. As a side note, breaking a personal vow is normally a venial sin, not a mortal one (but in your case, the vow is invalid anyway). What I need to do is to scold you for even thinking about making a vow in the first place. We are not to bargain with God. If you are in a situation like this in the future you may ask God that the test will turn out okay, but do NOT make bargains. Just ask God what you need. And, since you have warned me about scrupulosity, NO, you have not mortally sinned by making the bargain with God in making the vow. Just avoid the vowing like this in the future. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Validity of and Punishment for Breaking a Private Vow

Joanna

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Question:

Hello,

God bless you for what you do. I must preface this by warning you that I suffer from scrupulosity, and by admitting that what I have done here was quite imprudent.

Here is my situation: My doctor told me several days ago that I might be diabetic. I was so worried that I began praying fervently for the test to come back normal, and I promised God that if it did, I would take a personal, private "vow of temperance."

Well, I found out yesterday that the test was well within the healthy range (praise be to God), so that evening I wrote out a pretty serious letter binding myself with a “lifelong vow of temperance,” meaning that I would never let myself "overindulge" again (slight indulgences on occasion are one thing, by overindulging I meant really “pigging out”). I was a little scared when I was doing it, and I had definite (and warranted) fears that I would fail at such a lofty endeavor, but I wanted to keep my promise to God. Plus, keeping that vow would do me a lot of spiritual and physical good.

Well, today rolled around, and sure enough, I found my excuses and pretty much overindulged the very day after I took that "vow." When I took it, I never explicitly thought "and if I mess up, I want it to be a grave/mortal sin," but I assumed that breaking a vow was a big deal. When I came home tonight, a bunch of strange and inconvenient things happened, which I assume were only part of the punishment I must have incurred.

Was this vow probably "valid?" I'm guessing it was. And if so, since I understood that taking a vow was a serious thing to do (even if I was scared and pretty much knew I would fail), am I bound under penalty of mortal sin any time for the rest of my life that I have an off day and "overindulge?" If so, what should I do? Should I ask our pastor to release me from the vow I made? He knows about my scrupulosity, and I am terrified that he would be really annoyed and angry with me for doing something like this if I told him about it face to face. Or, should I just really try not to overindulge ever again and confess it (explaining the vow) any time I fail?

Thanks for your guidance, and again, God bless.
Joanna

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Joanna:

From what you are telling me your vow in invalid on several points:

1) you made the vow under duress of an illness, and fear about ability to fulfill it

2) the vow itself is not something that is reasonable possible.

Canon Law says that a Vow "...is a deliberate and free promise made to God, concerning some good which is possible and better."

Deliberate and free promise is impaired by duress and fear. A vow of temperance in perpetuity is something that is not really possible because of human nature AND you doubted whether or not you could fulfill it anyway.

Thus, your vow was invalid and you are not bound. Thus, there is no vow to be released from. The vow does not exist.

As a side note, breaking a personal vow is normally a venial sin, not a mortal one (but in your case, the vow is invalid anyway).

What I need to do is to scold you for even thinking about making a vow in the first place. We are not to bargain with God.

If you are in a situation like this in the future you may ask God that the test will turn out okay, but do NOT make bargains. Just ask God what you need.

And, since you have warned me about scrupulosity, NO, you have not mortally sinned by making the bargain with God in making the vow. Just avoid the vowing like this in the future.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum