Do not ever think that upon entering you have taken an irrevocable step, and that the doors will be locked behind you and you will be forced to stay. There is a saying in the convent that it is as good to get rid of a bad candidate as to receive a good one.
The candidate will go through a long period (about six years) of testing, rather like a long engagement before marriage. But unlike marriage she has a chance to live and try every facet of her future life to see if she measures up or wishes to remain in it forever. The doors are open to her at any time. If her Superiors feel in that period that she does not have a vocation (and they often do) to their community or religious life, they will tell her so, and send her back to the world.
If however, she makes her way through these periods of postulancy, novitiate, and temporary vows and is allowed by her Superiors and the Church authorities to profess her final vows, then there can no longer be any question. She has, indeed, a vocation.
It is perhaps the only state in life where a person can reach such an absolute decision. What other state offers such a chance to try it first, and so much guidance along the way by proven professionals"? What other state in life offers itself to the applicant in small steps, allowing for a chance to acclimate, knowing that the world of religious is so far different from the worldly one left behind?
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