Taking a "Pledge" to God?

[tonyk84]

Hi all,

I was just wondering has anyone got any experience/info with taking a pledge.

I believe you can go to a priest and ask him to God, it can be for anything for example; giving up drinking for 2 months.

What is the church teaching on this? and what is the practice what the priest follows?

Any help or information on this will be greatly appreciated,

Thanks.

 

[CentralFLJames]

Hi all,

I was just wondering has anyone got any experience/info with taking a pledge.

I believe you can go to a priest and ask him to God, it can be for anything for example; giving up drinking for 2 months.

What is the church teaching on this? and what is the practice what the priest follows?

Any help or information on this will be greatly appreciated,

Thanks.

I have not heard this Tony - assuming I understand you properly. Anyone can at anytime make a special pledge to God. Don’t forget though that we have all given our commitments to God in Baptism and Confirmation - we are in fact ALL consecrated to God Himself and this is why we need to keep Holy for Him. But if you want to self impost additional personal penance on yourself and discipline this is VERY MUCH Catholic and a good thing. If you are in a state of grace then your self disciplines and acts are all meritable to you in heaven since they are actually grace working through you and God it means God is calling you to do this. I would in conjunction with doing anything like this also add in a dedicated time for prayer for the repentance of sinners everywhere. This makes it specifically an act of Charity. I also recommend that you go to confession and get yourself in as high a state of grace as you can.

Related to all this are the various indulgence devotionals. Again, you can do these at anytime without priestly approval. But if you want a special blessing then by all means just ask the priest after mass for his special blessing after telling him you would like to pledge a certain sacrificial act to God. That will petition God to give you the extra graces to persevere in that pledge of suffrage. In a certain sense what you are doing here is identifying with Christ’s self-sacrifice in a special way.

Go for it.
James

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Hi all,

I was just wondering has anyone got any experience/info with taking a pledge.

I believe you can go to a priest and ask him to God, it can be for anything for example; giving up drinking for 2 months.

What is the church teaching on this? and what is the practice what the priest follows?

Any help or information on this will be greatly appreciated,

Thanks.

That is what a vow is And vows are the subject of a lot of moral theology & doctrine.​