Making promises involving God's name

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foundlostsheep

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Here are the cases:

Case 1
Privately, you promise not commit a certain sin any more. But the thing is you’re not sure if you fulfilled it because you have scrupulous tendencies and not sure if the scrupulosity is just an excuse or you really did commit that sin again. So what if, you confess that you think you didn’t fulfil it but still unsure, are you still bound to fulfil the promise? Would it be a sin to not fulfil a promise already made, even if it’s just for personal needs or it was made privately?

Case 2
Privately, you promise that you would fast within certain days and you wrote it on a paper. You fulfilled it.
But my question is, is it wrong to make such promise? Did one commit a sin by doing so?

Case 3
Few years had already passed, then you found a certain paper wherein you wrote a promise and you involved God’s name in it. I don’t know maybe it’s just a school requirement. You don’t remember making such promise any more. You went to confession and confess that you didn’t fulfil it. Now my question it, are you still bound to follow that promise?

Please help me. I’m really quite bothered. I want to live a new life with Jesus. But it seems like my past life keeps haunting me.:hammering:
I want to receive Jesus again in Holy Communion. It’s painful to attend a Holy Mass and not be able to receive Jesus sacramentally. 😦

What should I do?

I would prefer citing a teaching of the Church to answer my questions. But if you can’t find one, I hope that your personal opinion is not against the teachings of the Church.

Thanks for any help. 🙂
 
What you need to do is sit down with a priest and discuss these questions in light of your scrupulous tendencies. Lay it all out without fear of having to confess things “correctly.” Scrupulosity is a crippling spiritual disease, and you should do all you can to nip it in the bud before it takes over your spiritual life and makes you miserable for years on end. The best remedy is to have one confessor with whom you are always completely candid and whom you obey without question in matters of conscience. God is always pleased with obedience, so you can rest easy whenever you obey your confessor. You can ask your priest if he is comfortable dealing with scrupulosity or if he would prefer to refer you to someone else.
 
^Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions. :thankyou:

I know that the good God is reaching out to me. I can truly feel His loving presence and Divine Mercy as the days passes by, especially with the priest’s homily on EWTN last April 4, 2011.
I pray that the good God will grant me the grace to have a good confession with perfect contrition and be truly reconciled to Him again.
I’m still not sure how I’ll confess my confusions regarding making promises but I pray that God the Holy Spirit will guide me, for I am nothing on my own.
Please pray for me and for all people. :gopray: :grouphug:
 
Your questions deal mostly with Moral Theology, and a lot of Moral Theology is not “Thou shall” and “Thou shalt not”; it is a process of discernment based on Moral Law. This is something a Confessor or Spiritual Director would deal with. I am neither, but from what you wrote, here’s what I think.

Case 1: We are always to confess our sins, and make an Act of Contrition; we make a firm purpose of amendment to sin no more, and avoid the near occasions of sin. If you made a promise to not commit a certain sin, and you failed to keep that promise, you sinned. Not because you broke the spirit of the promise, but because the promise involved avoiding a particular sin, and by breaking the promise, you committed the sin. Breaking the spirit of the promise would at least be a fault, it may or may not be a sin depending on circumstances, This is where the Confessor or Spiritual Director is needed.

Case 2: I see nothing wrong subjectively here. In fact, to make and keep the promise would be most likely meritorious. Promises should not be made lightly, and not if one isn’t serious about fulfilling it. Making promises without the intent of fulfilling them would be deceitful and dishonest. As Jesus said, “Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no”.

Case 3: If you can still make the effort to fulfill the promise, you probably should. If the circumstances are such, that you cannot fulfill it, you probably aren’t obligated; but you should submit the particulars to the Keys of the Confessional and follow the advice of the priest.

Finally, someone prone to scrupulosity should probably avoid making such promises altogether. Ask the priest you confess to, I’d bet he would tell you to refrain from doing so. Please talk to a priest honestly regarding this. Unless you KNOW you are in a state of Mortal Sin, there is no need to avoid receiving Holy Communion. If you have doubts, it would be better to utilize the Sacrament of Reconciliation ASAP. Then what you should do, is obey whatever the priest tells you. You can never go wrong obeying your Confessor. That means if he says “Don’t make promises”; you don’'t make promises! 😛
 
^ Thank you very much for your help, especially for spending time to understand each of the cases that I had mentioned and for giving your personal advices. 😃

I pray that I’ll be able to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation soon. :gopray:
Oh, how my soul thirsts and hungers for Jesus. :imsorry:
 
I’ll pray that you avail yourself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation soon. :crossrc: While waiting to receive Jesus sacramentally, you can always receive Him spiritually. :getholy:
 
ClayPots47 said:
I’ll pray that you avail yourself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation soon. :crossrc: While waiting to receive Jesus sacramentally, you can always receive Him spiritually. :getholy:
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Hello fellow catholic friend 🙂
Thanks for praying for me 🙂
Praise and glory be to God!
He had granted me the great grace to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation today. ^^
He filled me with joy and peace. 😃
I can truly say, thanks be to God! :gopray: :extrahappy:
Let’s us pray for each other that we might not offend the good God anymore. :gopray:

Jesus, King of Mercy, have mercy on us poor sinners.
 
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