(enjoy the pics of Sr. John-Mark’s progression through these steps…)
Step 1
Getting to Know You – Beginning discernment with our community starts by filling out the Vocations Inquiry Form. Tell us a little bit about yourself, ask any questions you might have, and share with us where you are on the discernment journey.
Whether you are at the beginning stages of discovery of vocation or whether you have been actively discerning God’s Call for quite some time, we encourage you to get in touch. This first step is often the hardest. But, take heart!, and remember that this first step does not require that you have any of the answers. It’s a simple inquiry into our way of life and a sharing of the good things the Lord is doing in your life. Discernment is a process and a journey…one that you don’t have to walk alone. Praise the Lord! We look forward to accompanying you along the way…
Step 2
Aspirancy
Cor Orans tells us that “The aspirancy, considered as a first knowledge of the monastery by the candidate and the candidate by the monastery community, involves a series of contacts and times of community experience, even prolonged.”
Step One: Conversations and Questionnaires.
Aspirancy begins with getting to know one another via a series of phone conversations and questionnaires, as as to gradually get to know the aspirant and vice versa.
Step Two: Visits.
First Visit: Meet, Greet, and Retreat. A two day initial visit where the aspirant meets and greets our Abbess and Community and is led in a time of prayerful retreat by our vocation directress.
Second Visit: This 3 day visit provides the aspirant with more hands-on experience of our way of life, horarium, and community, as she spends a portion of the day within the Monastery with the Nuns.
Third Visit: This 5-7 day visit affords the aspirant more opportunity to be immersed in the rhythm of our life, community, and cloister, as the aspirant lives the horarium more fully within the Monastery.
Fourth Visit: This final stage of aspirancy consists in a one month live-in experience in the Monastery (known as Candidacy).
At each stage of this process, our Abbess, Council and Vocation Directress (along with the aspirant herself) prayerfully consider whether or not the aspirant ought to move forward to the next step. For this reason, we ask that aspirants enter in to this process with a spirit of prayer and docility to the Holy Spirit, as well as with the resolve to proceed with both openness and sincerity.
The minimum duration of Aspirancy is 12 months.
Step 3
Postulancy
After the application process is successfully completed, the candidate is accepted for entrance as a postulant. The term “postulancy” is derived from the Latin word “postulare” which literally means “to ask”. As noted in Cor Orans, during this time, the postulant “confirms her determination to be converted through a progressive passage from secular life to contemplative monastic life.” The postulant, helped by the formator, is especially dedicated to her human and spiritual formation and deepens her baptismal commitment and is gradually introduced to the process of assimilation of the fundamental elements of contemplative monastic life. The duration of postulancy is typically one year, then the postulant may petition the Community for admittance to the novitiate.
Step 4
Novitiate
After the successful completion of Postulancy, the Sister is invested in the Holy Habit, receives a new name, and begins her Novitiate. Novitiate typically lasts for 2 years – the second year being the canonical year (a time of more intensive formation and preparation for first vows). In Cor Orans we read: “The novitiate is the time of trial, and its objective is to lead the candidate to become more fully aware of the vocation according to a specific charism, verifying the real and concrete ability to live it with joy and generosity, particularly in reference to fraternal life in community….The spiritual edifice cannot be built without human foundations, so the novices must perfect the gifts of nature and education, and develop their own personality, feeling truly responsible for their own human, Christian, and charismatic growth.”
Step 5
Juniorate
After Novitiate, the Sister makes her First Profession of Vows. She vows to live in poverty, chastity and obedience for 1 year, in accord with our Constitutions. These Vows are renewed each year for five years. During this time of formation, the Sister is a Junior-Professed nun. Cor Orans explains: “In this stage, insertion into the life of the community is full, so the goal is to experience the capacity of the temporary professed to find a proper balance between the various dimensions of contemplative monastic life (prayer, work, fraternal relationships, study …) , succeeding in creating their own personal synthesis of the charism and incarnating it in the various situations of daily life.”
Step 6
Final Profession
After at total of nine years – beginning with aspirancy and progressing through the five years of Juniorate, the Nun make her Final Profession of Vows. This is the definitive moment of her life-long commitment. And it is at this time that she becomes fully incorporated into the Community. Ongoing formation continues and is a life-long endeavor. With gratitude the Nun is called to live her whole-hearted YES to Jesus on a daily basis in the midst of community.