Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 162: Oaths and Vows

Transcript

Show 162: Oaths and Vows · The Uncensored Catholic

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The f A Hey, y'all, welcome today's show. Today we will wrap
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up the first of the Ten Commandments. We're going to get into a very
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interesting topic. But before we do that, of course, we're going to
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start with a few questions and answers from radio replies. And this is pretty
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common. You're going to anytime you interact with people that have a bias against
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the Catholic Church, you're going to find these arguments pretty much repeated. And
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you know, I'm reading from a book from the nineteen, I guess thirties
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through forties. So these are old, tired arguments that have been answered a
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million times. But I think the fathers, Rumble and Cardi did a particularly
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good job. The person says, we Protestants believe that Christian doctrine was kept
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pure as long as the Apostles lived, but after their deaths errors crept in,
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and they answer you air both in fact and doctrine. In fact,
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the Apostles complained of errors not of the Church, but of individual professing Christians,
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even in their own days. In doctrine, because you practically assert that
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Christ failed to preserve his church, that the Holy Spirit did not remain with
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her, and that the Gates have held did prevail against her. In other
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words, your doctrine is that Christ could not do what he said he would
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do. No individuals in all ages have fallen into error in so far as
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they departed from the teachings of the Church, and in falling into error,
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they have fallen out of the Church, even as Protestant Reformers did themselves.
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As I mentioned many times, it was reading the Early Church Fathers in large
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part that led me to Catholicism. First of all, it was learning that
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Protestant doctrine didn't match for the Bible. The more I learned of Protestant doctrine,
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the more I realized it was fallacious. You know, it was against
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the very words of Christ. You don't believe me. Well, the other
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night a girl got in touch on Twitter, someone who is considering converting to
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Catholicism, said, give me one example of where Protestant doctrine is false and
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Catholic doctrine is true. And I said, well, this is pretty darn
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obvious. Actually, in all four Gospels, Jesus forbade divorce. Every Protestant
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denomination allows divorce. Yet they say they take the Bibles or soul authority,
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they do the opposite of what Jesus said, and we went through it.
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She said, but what about putting away your wife? And I said,
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well, that's separation. You know, separation is allowed. But Jesus said
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specifically they were not allowed to remarry. Said, anyone who separates from his
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wife and marries another commits adultery, and that you know, he would cause
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her to commit adultery, and all that absolutely forbidden, not allowed. And
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we talked about annoyment, and I've done a whole show on annoyments and the
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difference between annulment and divorce. And you know, she had to come to
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the conclusion that you're right. All fifty thousand Protestant denominations, and to some
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large extent, the Orthodox Churches, practice a false doctrine, a doctrine that
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does not agree with the words of playing very plain words of Jesus Christ.
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Only the Catholic Church remains true to his teachings. But anyway, that's real
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simple. Now, if Protestants would take the time to read the early Christian
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writings starting with the d dot K, then Pope Saint Clement of Rome,
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the third Pope, who was actually ordained by Saint Peter, Saints Ignacious Polycarp
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Justin Martyr Barnabas. Even though that's not a book, it's ever been officially
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affirmed as being written by the Barnabas of the Bible, Paul's protege, Saint
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Paul's protege. The voice of it is very much what you would call Paul
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line. It is very much in the in the voice and rhetoric of Saint
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Paul, and and the early Christians, I mean, in the like third,
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fourth, fifth centuries believed it was written by Saint Barnabas. So you
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always have to get that little caveat. But those are the earliest Christian writings
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outside of the Bible itself, and you will see that, especially when they
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address the gnostic heresies and such. First, I mean, it took almost
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four hundred years for the Church to produce a Bible. Jesus left us a
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church, not a Bible. But you will see during the first two and
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well first century, second century, third century that the early Christians were extremely
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rigorous in defending the teachings passed on to them by the apostles, incredibly orthodox,
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and the Church of the of one hundred a d. Two hundred A
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d. Three hundred a d All long before we had a Bible, is
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exactly the same as the Catholic Church is today, same practices, same doctrines,
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and doctrines develop over time, you know, but same basic teachings as
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you will find in the Bible, and the same practice. Another thing,
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you know, protests don't have is the masks. They don't have the Eucharist,
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they don't believe in the role of the priests, they don't believe in
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the sacraments, marriage being one of them. The Catholic Church still does as
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is taught in the Bible and was practiced in the earliest years of Christianity,
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the very first years of Christianity. I mean, you got to remember Saint
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John lived, well, he was the only one not martyred, and he
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lived to be very very old. And I mean he was. I mean
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he was communicating with these early bishops of the Catholic Church that are Christian writers.
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They were sending letters back and forth. The Blessed Virgin Mary was receiving
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and sending letters written on her behalf. I guess she would. I don't
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know that anything was actually written in her hand, you know. I believe
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they were more like dictate. So yeah, we know exactly what the church
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actually is. And of course all this is in my book Confirmation, Autobiography
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of Faith. But you have to be willing to read a book. The
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young lady I spoke with the other Knight said that she didn't really have the
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patience for attention span to read a book. As an author, I find
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that a great shame, and I recommended my podcast. I hope she'll listen
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to my podcasts, but one never knows. All you can do is say
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a prayer for people and hope God works on their hearts. And speaking of
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the incredible actions of God, I hope you've thanked him for saving President Trump's
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life the other night. We almost it was almost one of the greatest disasters
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to ever happen in this country. And I don't think people fully understand the
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gravity of it. Yet what would have happened had that bullet hit his head
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instead of his ear. So that was a miracle, That was an absolute
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miracle. That was Saint Michael, the Archangel, that was his guard angel.
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That was the very power of God. A lot of people have said
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that, oh something, and I cannot remember the exact source, but it
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was one of the apparitions as the Blessed Mother may was it Fatima, It
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could have been was on the very anniversary like this Zack day and time as
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when that bullet went past his head, and they believe it was the Blessed
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Mother's intercession. It was absolutely a miracle. There's no way it wasn't a
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miracle. That is not coincidence. We saw a miracle with our own eyes,
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and God saved President Trump's life. And boy, if you're not motivated
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to get out and vote for Trump this year over the apostate Joe Biden,
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I don't know what I can tell you. I mean, because when God's
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on your side, you better figure out whose side you're on. You know,
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if God's on his side and you're on the other side, you may
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be on the wrong side. Yeah. So anyway, let's get to the
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next question. The person says, it was the Catholic Church which early departed
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from the doctrines of Christ and thus forfeited the claim to be the true Church.
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And of course, I answer, if you think that by departing from
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the truth, the Catholic Church forfeited the claim to be the true Church,
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then you believe that the infallible. Retention of the teachings of Christ must be
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a mark. For the true church is your own church. Therefore infallible does
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it even claim to be. I admit that if the Catholic Church had failed
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in witnessing to the truth, she is not true, and I would at
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once leave her. But as this would mean that Christ was uncable to keep
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his promise, I would also abandon belief in Christ. Certainly, wherever else
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I might go, I would not go to a Protestant church based on the
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doctrines of Christ that has failed to keep his promise. Person says, but
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you cannot tell me that the Catholic Church, that the Catholic religion is carried
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out today in accordance with the quite simple teachings of Jesus. And they say
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Catholicity does not differ from what you call the simple teachings of Jesus, although
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they were not as simple as you suppose. However, the Catholic Church teaches
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all that Christ taught, whether his teaching was explicit or implicit. Essentially,
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she exists. Essentially, she exists just as He would have her exist.
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There have been many secondary developments during the ages, but they were all foreseen
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and approved by Christ. After all, Christ established a living church, and
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a living church grows. He likened it to a seed, even as a
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boy grows into a man with exactly the same personality, yet with many secondary
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changes in size, knowledge, and manners. So too has the church rightly
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developed. And this person has several more questions. We'll pick up on him
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next time, but they're getting into more specific doctrinal issues. And I'd like
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to move on to the last part of the First Commandment, and it has
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to do with an interesting topic. We don't really think about a whole lot
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anymore, well, at least outside of the Catholic Church. It's about what
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we call the extraordinary worship of God. That means taking oaths or making a
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vow to God. Of course, this is what Catholic religious do. I
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mean when a monk, a non a priest, I mean anybody who enters
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the religious service of the church takes a vowel, makes an oath. Those
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are you know, of course they're informal, they're more informal ones. But
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I don't know that that's necessarily a concept that is retained in Protestantism. The
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idea of making vowels or taking oaths, although when you take your marriage vowels,
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you have just vowed to God to stay married to this person a lot
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for life, never to cheat on him or her, to help them when
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they're sick or in health. I mean, obviously, Protestants don't put a
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lot of stock in vowels, solemn vowels taken before God. They did,
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they couldn't believe in divorce. But I think most would still look at testifying
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in the witness stand in court when you swear to tell the truth as a
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vow before God, and would be hesitant to commit perjury, although Martin Luther
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certainly wouldn't have. He was quite big on perjury and lying. He wrote
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that he thought it was a real good thing if it was to suit his
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purposes. Well, anyway, Father Spiago and the Exhaustive Catechism says, we
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can moreover honor God by taking an oath or making a vow. To take
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an oath or make a vow is not an ordinary occurrence of our lives.
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It is only done in particular, extraordinary cases, and oath is taken when
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human witnesses or when a human witness or asservation is not sufficient. That would
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be like when you swear to tell the truth. A vow is made when
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we voluntarily pledge ourselves to do something for God. Another very good point,
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marriage must always be voluntary. There is no valid marriage in which someone is
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forced into it. It actually grounds for annulment. So an oath must be
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voluntary. You cannot force someone into an oath. We honor God by an
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oath because we thereby acknowledge his omnipotence, his justice, his holiness, And
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by a vow we offer him a sacrifice, because we bind ourselves by a
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solemn promise to perform a work pleasing to God. Under the topic of oaths,
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cases sometimes occur in which a man would not believe the word of another.
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But if a witness comes forward and affirms that is so I myself saw
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it, then the speaker is more readily believed, and all the more of
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the witnessing question is known to be a man of honor. Now it may
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occur that a man calls God to witness, that is to say that he
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appeals to omniscient God to make known the truth of what he has said by
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his almighty power. This case, his word will be regarded as the word
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of God, as an official seal gives force to a decree. So the
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oath is a seal God gives us to corroborate a statement. It is a
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coin of high value stamped with the name of the Living God. Our Lord
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took an oath when Caiaphas adjured him by the Living God to speak the truth.
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So did Esau when he confirm an oath by the promise he made to
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relinquish his birthright for the pottage of lentils, which of course was the worst
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trade in history. I love lentils, but he could have grown a lot
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of litls if he get that lamb. To swear or take an oath is
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to call God to witness that one is speaking the truth, or that one
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will keep a promise. In swearing, a man calls either upon God or
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upon something he holds sacred. If a man swears by God, he makes
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use of words such as these as the Lord liveth in Jeremiah four to two.
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As surely as there is a God in heaven, God is my witness
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Romans one nine. God may punish me at etc. Or't we swear by
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holy things such as the Holy Gospel across the Christ or the blessed sacrament.
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But as these things are incapable of attesting anything of themselves, or of punishing
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a deceiver, it is in fact the equivalent of calling God to witness.
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My Lord himself speaks of swearing by the temple, by Heaven, or by
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the Throne of God in Matthew three, twenty one twenty two. But to
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use such expressions as upon my word, by my honor, as surely as
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I stand here, etc. Is merely emphasizing an assertion and not swearing it.
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An oath may be simple or solemn. A simple oath is between a
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man and a man an ordinary intercourse. A solemn oath is taken in the
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court of law or in the presence of an official personage. An oath is
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administered to soldiers and officers of the state. In taking a solemn oath,
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one is required to kiss the holy scriptures or a crucifix, and to say
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so help me God, to intimate that if he departs from the truth,
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he renounces the divine assistance and the blessings promise in the Gospels. Jews and
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mohammed Muslims have their own particular ceremonial. The latter raised one finger to show
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their belief in God. Now you may know that in courts now people have
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objected to swearing to tell the truth to God. They say, I so
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affirm to tell the truth. That's I don't even know why that's admissible.
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It's admissible because you're I mean, the person is saying I swear to tell
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the truth by my own veracity as an honest person. That's not exactly an
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oath before God. And that's a very good example of how our laws that
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were once based upon Christian teaching have become thoroughly secular and have very little foundation
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in anything. And we don't have honest judges. We certainly don't have honest
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lawyers. And you know what is perjury now if you're not swearing to God
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to tell the truth, saying believe me because I promise I'm an honest man.
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Yeah, that's not really got a lot of weight behind it. I
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don't care who you are, believe it or not. Attorneys, lawyers swear
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to uphold the truth, not to lie knowingly in court, and they lie
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all the time. You won't find a bigger lawyer a bigger liar than a
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lawyer, and the best liars become the most successful lawyers, and they usually
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become judges. So what is our law really based on? Honestly? All
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right? So anyway you could say it's based on the British tradition, Well
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how good is that? Right? That all kind of changed? I mean,
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look at the execution of Saint Thomas More, the greatest attorney of England,
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because he would not accept secular authority over the authority of God. All
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right. So Christians are not obliged to refuse to take an oath, for
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it is permitted to God and pleasing in his sight. If swearing were forbidden,
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would not have made use of an oath in Matthew twenty six sixty four.
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Nor would God have sworn to Abraham on Mount Mariah that he would multiply
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his seed as the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore Genesis twenty
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two sixteen. Nor would Saint Paul so frequently have taken God to witness in
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his apostles such as Romans one nine and Second Corinthians one twenty three. The
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oath has beside it a good object. It serves to put an end to
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disputes, such as in Hebrews six sixteen it is pleasing to God because it
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is because by it we make a public profession of faith in his omnipotence,
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his justice, his omniscience, and thus we honor him on this account.
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Atheists and social democrats, Remember this is written in the eighteen nineties. He's
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already talking about social democrats cannot be induced to take an oath. In other
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words, you cannot believe anything an atheist or a socialist social democrat, or
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just call him a democrat these days, says, because they are liars such
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as you know, Joe Biden. There's a real good example. You know,
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no police officers were killed. On January sixth, Two protesters were killed
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by the police, one innocent woman shot in the head and another one essentially
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kicked him beaten to death as she begged for help. Joe Biden doesn't say
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that, does he. Donald Trump never said that klansmen and neo Nazis were
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good people. Joe Biden keeps saying he did. Even snops and NewsBusters,
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i mean, the most liberal left wing of fact checkers have had to say.
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You know, what Joe Biden is saying is faults. But he repeated
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again unless her wholt show because he would love for Donald Trump and be shot
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in the head, and he's encouraging people to shoot at the president. You
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can't take his words any other way unless you just want to assume that he's
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so mentally gone he doesn't know what he's doing, But I think he knows
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exactly what he's doing in that regard anyway. It is God's will that we
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confirm our word with an oath when necessary, such as in Exodus twenty two
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eleven, where our Lord said, let your speech be yes or no?
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Is your speech be a ya no no? And that which is over and
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above these is of evil. In Matthew five thirty seven, the modern translation
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that you yes be yes, and your no be no. That's whey I'm
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getting confused. He meant to warn the Pharisees against the habit to which they
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were addicted of using idle and necessary oaths. Catholics need not refuse to take
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an oath, as some sectaries do some sex some Protestants. However, no
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one ought to be compelled to do so. Anyone who forces a man to
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swear when he knows he was where falsely is in some way worse than a
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murderer. For the murderer only kills the body where he who makes another swear
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falsely causes the death of the soul, nay, of two souls, his
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neighbour's soul and his own, for he is responsible for the other's death.
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That's that's that's pretty heavy right there. I had not thought of it that
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way, But yes, that is true. We ought, therefore, to
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make use of an oath only when it is absolutely necessary, with deliberation and
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in the interest of truth and justice. When Christ says the oath is of
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evil in Matthew five thirty seven, he intends to signify that it is occasioned
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by man's evil tendencies, and that rash oaths are sinful. Had mankind not
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fallen from its original state of integrity and justice, there would have been no
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need for an oath. But since faith and fidelity of vanish recourse has been
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had, recourse has been had to it. Not until evil prevailed any everywhere
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did swearing become an ordinary practice. When by reason of the general perfidity and
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corruption, no man's word could be relied on, then God was called to
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witness. Saint Augustine compares the oath to a medicine, which must not be
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taken without good reason. It is to a man's word what the crutch is
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to the cripple. Consequently, it is wrong to swear heedlessly about try rightfully
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manners, as salesmen often do when speaking about their wares. Frequent swearing is
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aptly default swearing. A man that swearth much shall be filled with iniquity,
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and a scourge shall not depart from his house Ecclesiastes twenty three to twelve.
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Wherefore, we must make use of oaths as seldom as possible, unless it
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is required of us by the government or in a court of law. Our
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oath must always be true, that is to say, when our oaths.
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When on our oath, we must always say what we really believe to be
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true, and we must have the intention of keeping our word. The Roman
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general Regulus in two fifty BC affords a fine instance of this. He was
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taken a prisoner of war by the Carthaginians, and after being kept six years
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in captivity, he was sent to Rome to sue for peace. Before leaving
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the Carthaginian camp, a solemn oath was administered to him to return thither,
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provided the Romans would not conclude peace on arriving in Rome, he informed the
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Senate of the enemy's weakness and urged them to pursue to pursue the war.
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He then returned to the prison, even though everyone in Rome, even the
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Pagan High Priest, spared no effort to detain him. Saint Peter, on
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the contrary, swore falsely in the outer court of the High priest Palace.
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Matthew twenty six seventy two. You know, he said he didn't know Jesus
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blessed. Thomas Moore, the High Chancellor of England, was run into prison
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by Henry the Eighth because he would not concur in the hostile attitude that the
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monarch monarch assumed toward the Catholic Church. He might have purchased his release by
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merely swearing to conform to what the sovereign decreed. He was advised to do
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this mentally applying the word God, his Supreme Sovereign and Lord, so in
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other words, in his mind, substituting God for the king right. But
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he would not consent, saying he dared not swear falsely. It is possible,
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however, that one may swear under misapprehension, or one may be prevented
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by illness or misadventure, some other sufficient from fulfilling a promise made under an
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oath. In other words, you could be wrong. You could be saying
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which you think is true, but be wrong. Or you could say I
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will do this, and you could be prevented from doing it. That is,
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we must consider well beforehand whether our statement is strictly true, or whether
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we shall be able to accomplish our promise. King Herod at the feast wore
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rashly, for he promised with an oath to give the damsel who danced before
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him whatever she would ask, and her mother's instigation, she asked for the
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head of John the Baptist. Mark six twenty three, we read that forty
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Jews, and their enmity to Saint Paul's were neither to eat nor drink till
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they had killed him in X twenty three twelve. In the present day,
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Freemasons buying themselves by oath not to express any desire to receive the last sacrament
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on their deathbed. Such oaths are sinful and highly displeasing to God. Never
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forget that freemasonry is the absolute enemy of the Catholic Church and of Christianity in
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general. It is purely Satanic. And you know it's really interesting. You
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know, we've got like the val Waldensians and other Protestant groups that came from
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Europe here in North Carolina, and I think the Anabaptists a couple others would
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probably fall into this category. They don't really explain why the kings of Italy
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and France and whatever countries they were kicked out of didn't want them there and
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called them treason us. Well, they said that they couldn't swear any oath,
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and that meant they couldn't do military service, they had no loyalty to
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the king, they couldn't write any contracts as far as buying or selling property,
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that all marriage vows were invalidated, and of course the kings decided they
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were traders and kicked them out of the country. They could have just put
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them in jail, but they were actually quite merciful as Catholic kings to do
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so. So anyway, we do need the Catholic Church to teach us what
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the words of Jesus mean, because a lot of people get them really wrong,
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really really wrong. Anyway, he says, he who swears falsely commits
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a grave act of blasphemy and draws down upon himself the curse of God and
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the penalty of eternal perdition. False swearing is also called perjury. Who swears
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falsely, who confirms by oath a statement he knows to be untrue, or
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who swears to do something although he is conscious conscious that he cannot fulfill his
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promise, is like a man who stamps a forged document with an official seal,
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an act which cannot escape punishment. Swearing falsely is a mortal sin,
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whatever be the subject of the oath. The curse of God rests upon the
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house of him who swears falsely Zacharaya five to three. God often punishes false
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swears by a speedy and sudden death. Not exactly sure how to pronounce his
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name se d e c I A s anyway, he was the King of
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Judah, swore falsely to Neba Chutton, nor another one I can have trouble
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with and broke his covenant fourth with God re announced to him by the lips
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of the prophet Ezekiel that he should meet with severe chastisement and dying Babylon.
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That's Ezekiel seventeen and in fact Nebo Chud non nosor there's one extra vowel in
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that word always throws me. Nebu chud Nanosaur took the king captive and put
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out his eyes, and brought him to Babylon, where he died. Fourth
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Kings twenty five to seven Vladislaus see I can actually pronounce that Vladislaus, King
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of Hungary, concluded a peace with the Turkish Sultan Moura the second, and
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confirmed in the treaty with an oath. Yet he resumed hostilities against him.
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He fell in battle in the Battle of Warna in fourteen forty four, with
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all the flower of his nobility. Perjury is punishable by the law, by
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the law with imprisonment. The Emperor Charlemagne made it a law with that all
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who are convicted of swearing falsely should have their right hand cut off. Later
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on, three fingers only on the right hand, wherewith they took the oath
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were struck off. Rash Swearing is at least a venial sin. It is
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a bad habit. And he who is always ready to confirm every statement,
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whether true or false, by an oath, lives if he knows the value
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of his words in a state of mortal sin. If a man has sworn
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wrongfully, he must not keep his oath, but deplore it. That is
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what Herod ought to have done with regard to breaking an oath, that is
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to say, the non fulfillment of a promise made under an oath. It
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may be a venial or mortal sin, according to as the matter concerned is
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weighty or not. And the same is true of a vow. A vow
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is a solemn promise. A vow is a promise voluntarily made to God to
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perform some good action. The vow is a promise made to God. We
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call upon God implicitly, if not explicitly, when we say, my God,
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I promise that I would do this or that. A simple intention is
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not No one, not even God himself, can require anything of us because
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of it, which is, because of an intention, A vow is solemn.
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A vow is a promise made of our own free will. No one
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is bound to make it Deuteronomy twenty three, twenty two, and no one
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can be compelled to make it. A vow made under compulsion is invalid,
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not so one made under apprehension of danger or stress of want, For then
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the act is voluntary. We must only promise what will be pleasing to God,
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not anything wrong, as did Jephtha, who, before going to battle,
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vowed to the Lord that if he was victorious, he would offer as
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a holocaust whose show average should first come out of the door of his house.
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His only daughter came to meet him, and she was sacrificed. That's
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in Judges eleven. Such a vow is foolish and is pleasing to God Ecclesiastes
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five to three, and ought not to be accomplished. Usually something is promised
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which is not of obligation, a pilgrimage, for instance. But one may
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also promise something which one is otherwise obliged to do, for instance, to
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observe fast to the church, to keep the Holy days, to be temperate
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in eating and drinking. In this case, failure to keep one's promises a
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twofold sin. The owner of a factory whose only child was dangerously ill,
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promised before God that if she recovered that he would never have worked done on
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Sundays and Holy days. She got well and he kept his word, he
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was then doubly bound to observe the Holy days. Vows are sometimes accompanied by
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a condition, a kind of bargain made with God. Jacob promised to give
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tithes of his possessions to God if he brought him back prosperously to his father's
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house. In Genesis eighteen twenty through twenty two. The procession on the Rogation
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Days originated through a vow made about the year of five hundred by Saint Mamertis,
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Emeritus, Bishop of Vienna, in the time of a famine, and
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about a century later, the procession on Saint Mark's Day was instituted in consequence
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of a vow made by Pope Gregory the Great while plague was raging the inhabitants
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of umer Amergau Uber Amergau, I've never heard of this place anyway, They
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pledged themselves to perform the passion play every ten years. In sixteen thirty three,
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at the time of an epidemic, Saint Louis of France promised, if
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he recovered from a severe illness, to undertake a crusade. In twelve forty
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eight. In the present day, many persons promise, in illness or affliction
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to visit some place of pilgrimage, to make an offering to some church,
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to give a statue, to fast from certain days. The celebrated sanctuary of
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Maria Zel, which attracts so many pilgrims, is due to a vow made
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before the Battle of the Turks by King Louis the First of Hungary in thirteen
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sixty three. The most important vows of religious vows, that is to say,
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the solemn promise made voluntarily by persons entering into a religious order to follow
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the evangelical councils. Poverty, chastity, and obedience are the three vowels taken
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by the religious. They are very useful, for by them a man entirely
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gives up the world in order to serve God better. These vowels are most
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pleasing to God, for those who take them consecrate not only all they do,
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but their own selves to God. Saint Anselm says, he who gives
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the tree gives more than he who gives only the fruit of the tree.
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Many persons offer oblations to God a vestment, for instance, candles or flowers,
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but a better, more perfect oblation is to give one's self to God.
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The vowels of religion are either solemn, so called because because the obligations
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incurred, or greater or simple vowels Solemn vowels are those in which there is
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irrevocable and irrevocable consecration of one's self accepted by the Church on the part of
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the one who takes him. What is consecrated to God can never again be
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employed for secular purposes with that which is simply dedicated. It is otherwise does
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anyone who take the solemn vowels is irrevocably consecrated to the service of God.
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The Pope alone can release from solemn vowels, and that only for weighty reasons.
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Before taking the solemn vowels, I e. Being professed, it is
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necessary to have spent a year and then navitiate. I have trouble that one
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too these extra syllables get me and have been under the simple vows for at
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least three years. Bishops of the superior General of an order. Bishops or
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the superior General of an order can generally release from the simple vowels, and
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for a less grave cause. A vow renders the good action which we pledge
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ourselves to perform more acceptable to God. Consequently, by means of a vow
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we obtain a more speedy answer prayer and make more rapid progress in the way
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of perfection. By a vow, we prove our fidelity to God, and
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we also make an offering to God, because we thereby bind ourselves to the
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performance of a good work. Thus, for instance, who fasts and fulfillment
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of a vow performs a more perfect action than he who fasts without a vow.
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Hence, it is that the prayers of those who make vows are more
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speedily granted. After the inhabitants of Omer Amargal had made the promise already mention,
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not one more fell victim to the pestilence. The pious Anna made a
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vow of the Lord when she prayed that a son might be granted to her,
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and she became mother of the great prophet Samuel. In One Kings one
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eleven, Why don't we see so many ex votos in place of pilgrimage,
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so many votive offerings and churches vows enable to attain more quickly the perfection to
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perfection. According to Saint Francis South, we therefore gain strength in the practice
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of virtue because our will is fortified by the vow. The thought I have
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promised my God to do this is a powerful incentive performance of good actions.
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Many persons of great sanctity have taken vows as a useful restraint to keep themselves
34:58
in fear of God. We may obtain special graces from God by pledging ourselves
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to make novenas in honor of the saints, or to be particularly devout to
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the Mother of God during the month of May or October, to perform certain
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mortifications or good works. He who does not keep a solemn promise offends against
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God, and so does he who needlessly postpones the fulfillment of the promise.
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If we are bound to keep our word to our fellow creatures, how much
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more ought we to fulfill promises made to God. It is much better not
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to vow than after a vow not to perform the thing's promised. Ecclesiastes five
35:34
to four. The debtor is compelled by the law of the land to pay
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his debt, and can it be supposed that he would go scot free?
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Who withholds from God? What is his do? The non fulfillment of a
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vow may be either a venial or moral sin. It is according to the
35:49
importance of the matter in question. The guilt is doubled if, at the
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same time we cansgress a command and show disrespect to God, as for instance,
35:58
by violating a vow of chastity. If we are unable to fulfill a
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promise, we are exempt from blame, provided we do our utmost perform the
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thing promised. Therefore, anyone who is desirous of taking a vow ought to
36:09
consider well beforehand whether he will be able to keep his word. A man
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who wishes to build first mason an estimate of cost to see whether he has
36:16
the means to allow him to complete the structure Luke, fourteen twenty eight.
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No one ought to make a promise for his whole life without first testing his
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ability to keep it. Saint Francis desal made a vow of saying the Rosary
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every day of his life. He often regretted having been so hasty in that
36:32
promise. If in any serious matter, it is advisable, In any serious
36:38
matter, it is advisable to consult an experienced priest. For this reason,
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the Church has made the rule that everyone who wishes to take the vows of
36:45
religion should have a twelve month noviceship. During that time he can make up
36:52
his mind as to whether he has a real vocation to religious life. If
36:54
he takes the vows without feeling certain about his vocation, he has only himself
36:59
to lame. A religious who finds himself unable to keep his vowels must apply
37:06
to his superior to be released from them or have them commuted. Our Lord
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says to us his apostles, whoever you show loose on earth, shall be
37:13
loosed in heaven Matthew eighteen eighteen. Hence, the bishop or other superior is
37:19
authorized to absolve from vowels. The vow is usually commuted for some good work
37:23
or that is more conducive to the spiritual well being of the individual. There
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are five vowels from which the Holy Father alone can dispense. The vow to
37:32
enter a religious order, the vowe of lifetime chastity, the vow to visit
37:37
the tombs of the Apostles in Rome. The vow to make a pilgrimage to
37:40
Jerusalem the Holy Places, or to Compostella's to Saint James under certain circumstances.
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The bishop also has power to dispense from these vowels if they have been made
37:52
conditionally under some measure of compulsion, without mature deliberate deliberation, or in ignorance
37:59
of what they involved. In a time of jubilee, every confessor has power
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to commute vowels for some good work of another nature. One may always do
38:07
more than one has promised. God will not be displeased anymore than an ordinary
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credit, or if he was paid more than what is due to him.
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And that's going to wrap this one up. So y'all, like I said,
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other than actually testifying on a witness stand or when you sign up for
38:27
military duty or want to be an officer of a court, or swearing in
38:30
for But like the president, you know, we don't take many vowels in
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the second world anymore. And I don't think many. I think few Protestants
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and probably very few Catholics actually understand what vowels and oaths are all about and
38:50
what they mean. So you know, this is actually a very important topic
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because if you swear rashly, you know you can be held accountable by God
39:00
for doing so, and if you swear falsely that that's a very grave sin.
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And like I said, I mean our courts, I mean I think
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the witnesses are probably far more honest than the lawyers and judges, and God
39:15
help him. Yeah, if you believe that attorneys are honest. You've probably
39:21
never met an attorney. I know one entirely. Now. I've known two
39:25
really good ones. One was a constitutional law attorney, was a great friend,
39:30
and he was a real character. I don't know. I would not
39:35
attest to his veracity, but I would attest to his good character and a
39:39
really good guy, funny, big, sloppy, just really intelligent guy.
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I liked him a lot, and he helped me out when I needed help.
39:49
So, but I knew one attorney that was so scrupulously honest that no
39:55
one really wanted to hire him. I mean, that's how honest he was.
40:00
And when he wanted to run for governor, and basically everyone said,
40:04
you're too honest to be a politician, and they thought he was eccentric and
40:07
weird because he was an honest man. So that I'll tell you something about
40:12
it. Anyway, y'all have a good one, remember the words of Saint
40:15
Padre Pio, pray, hope and don't worry, and I'll talk to you
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next time.