A question about private vows

[Aeden]

I was reading about vows a little while ago and I saw that “Can. 1197 The person who makes a private vow can commute the work promised by the vow into a better or equal good” how is the vow-maker to know when something is a better or equal good? Are there criterion or is it a more case-to-case sort of thing?

 

[Trishie]

I think you need to trust in God about this.
Only God can know which is the greater or lesser good.
Great good can come out of the smallest things…for instance, I’ve even found that a simple, honest post in response to someone’s thread has been life-changing or defining, even long after I’ve posted it, someone will contact and let me know how it blessed or affected their subsequent life, but for me it was just an honest effort to help, didn’t seem like much…
because that’s how God does things,
we don’t know what the consequences will be even from a single, simple act,
so you may already have some idea what you can choose, although it mightn’t seem like much to you.

“A spark of pure love is more precious before God, more useful for the soul, and richer in benedictions for the Church than all other works taken together.” (St John of the Cross)

“Believe me,” St Therese of Lisieux told her sister Celine, “the writing of pious books, the composing of the most sublime poetry, all that does not equal the smallest act of self-denial.”

“If you feel too lazy to pick up a bit of thread, and yet do so for love of Jesus, you acquire more merit than for a much nobler action done in a moment of fervour. Instead of grieving, be glad that, by allowing you to feel your own weakness, our Lord is furnishing you with an opportunity of saving a greater number of souls.” (Saint Therese of Lisieux)

May God guide you.

 

[Aeden]

I do trust God. The question is how to know if something is an equal or greater good?

 

[Julia_Mae]

I was reading about vows a little while ago and I saw that “Can. 1197 The person who makes a private vow can commute the work promised by the vow into a better or equal good” how is the vow-maker to know when something is a better or equal good? Are there criterion or is it a more case-to-case sort of thing?

It’s up to you, it’s a private vow. If I make a vow to God to do something, and break my leg and can’t, I can then substitute what I can do. Like, say, the same number of hours I might have volunteered for the homeless (my original vow) into that many hours of saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for the homeless.

But if it seems like a very serious matter, and vows should be very serious including private ones, you can always talk to your Pastor.

 

[Bookcat]

I do trust God. The question is how to know if something is an equal or greater good?

Lets say you made a private vow to goto Fatima on pilgrimage. But decided to change it to a pilgrimage to Lourdes. It would seem that one can say such would be an example.

Ones confessor can assist one.

And ones Pastor can even commute it to a lesser or dispense it.

 

[Trishie]

I do trust God. The question is how to know if something is an equal or greater good?

As I mentioned, you possibly cannot know for certain what is a greater or equal good.
Only God knows that. God can bring surprising good even from the smallest good and prayerful acts, as St John f the Cross and St Therese mention in the quotes given.

If one wishes to make promises to God, one’s guide can be to faithfully live the commandments, to love God above all and others as self [Matthew 22: 35-40]
the beatitudes, e.g. as represented in [Matthew 5:1-12]
[Matthew 25: 31-40]. And to avoid temptation, resist temptation

A private person’s lived-out promise to God can be their promise to be faithful in avoiding occasions of sin, and in obeying the Gospel and all that the Holy Spirit within the Church desires of us.
To what degree do private persons need to make vows about resisting temptation and evil,
and by living in practical kindness to others and in thankfulness and love to God,
because we already promise to do so, for instance, in Baptism and Confirmation and at Easter? Therefore we are already bound by these promises.

 

[domNoah]

I was reading about vows a little while ago and I saw that “Can. 1197 The person who makes a private vow can commute the work promised by the vow into a better or equal good” how is the vow-maker to know when something is a better or equal good? Are there criterion or is it a more case-to-case sort of thing?

You have to discern that the action gives greater glory to God. Which means that the change to your vow will either help your salvation or the salvation of others more.

You might find the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius useful in discerning something of this sort or listening to this homily which will give you a good idea of how to discern something like this