VOWS.
VOWS are less common than oaths, and this is something to be thankful
for, since being even more sacred than oaths, their abuse incidental to
frequent usage would be more abominable. The fact that men so far
respect the vow as to entirely leave it alone when they feel unequal to
the task of keeping it inviolate, is a good sign--creditable to
themselves and honorable to God.
People have become accustomed to looking upon vows as the exclusive
monopoly of the Catholic Church and her religious men and women. Such
things are rarely met with outside monasteries and convents, except in
the case of secular priests. 'Tis true, one hears tell occasionally of
a stray unfortunate who has broken away from a state voluntarily,
deliberately, chosen and entered upon, and who struggles through life
with a violated vow saddled upon him. But one does not associate the
sacred and heroic character of the vow with such pitiable specimens of
moral worth.
The besom of Protestant reform thought to sweep all vows off the face
of the earth, as immoral, unlawful, unnatural or, at least, useless
things. The first Coryphei broke theirs; and having learned from
experience what troublesome things they are, instiled into their
followers a salutary distaste for these solemn engagements that one can
get along so well without. From disliking them in themselves, they came
to dislike them in others, and it has come to this that the Church has
been obliged to defend against the change of immorality an institution
that alone makes perfection possible. Strange, this! More sad than
strange.
First of all, what is a vow? It is a deliberate promise made to God by
which we bind ourselves to do something good that is more pleasing to
Him than its omission would be. It differs from a promissory oath in
this, that an oath makes God a witness of a promise made to a third
party, while in a vow there is no third party, the promise being made
directly to God. In a violated oath, we break faith with man; in a
broken vow, we are faithless to God. The vow is more intimate than the
oath, and although sometimes the words are taken one for the other, in
meaning they are widely different.
Resolutions or purposes, such as we make in confession never to sin
again, or in moments of fervor to perform works of virtue, are not
vows. A promise made to the Blessed Virgin or the saints is not a vow;
it must be made directly to God Himself.
A promise made to God to avoid mortal sin is not a vow, in the strict
sense of the word; or rather such a promise is outside the ordinary
province of the vow, which naturally embraces works of supererogation
and counsel. It is unnecessary and highly imprudent to make such
promises under vow. A promise to commit sin is a blasphemous outrage.
If what we promise to do is something indifferent, vain and useless,
opposed to evangelical counsels or generally less agreeable to God than
the contrary, our promise is null and void as far as the having the
character of a vow is concerned.
Of course, in taking a vow we must know what we are doing and be free
to act or not to act. If then the object of the vow is matter on which
a vow may validly be taken, we are bound in conscience to keep our
solemn engagement. What we forbid ourselves to do may be perfectly
lawful and innocent, but by that vow we forfeit the right we had to do
it, and for us it has become sinful. The peculiar position in which a
vow places a man in relation to his fellow-men concerning what is right
and wrong, is the characteristic of the vow that makes it the object of
much attention. But it requires something lacking in the outfit of an
intelligent man to perceive therein anything that savors of the
unnatural, the unlawful or the immoral.
Concerning those whom a vow has constituted in a profession, we shall
have a word to say later. Right here the folly, to say nothing
stronger, of those who contract vows without thinking, must be apparent
to all. No one should dare take upon himself or herself such a burden
of his or her own initiative. It is an affair that imperiously demands
the services of an outside, disinterested, experienced party, whose
prudence will well weigh the conditions and the necessity of such a
step. Without this, there is no end to the possible misery and dangers
the taking of a vow may lead to.
If through an act of unthinking foolishness or rash presumption, you
find yourself weighed down with the incubus of a vow not made for your
shoulders, the only way out is to make a clean breast of the matter to
your confessor, and follow his directions.