If you enter aren't you committed to stay?

But if you enter aren’t you committed to it?


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?

How do I know if I have a vocation?

If you have the desire to be a religious does that mean that it is your vocation?


The desire is only one of the three parts of discerning a vocation. It is only natural that if God wishes a particular person to be a religious. He would also give them the necessary qualifications of mind, health. and character that are necessary to live a religious life. This is the second step to discerning a vocation, for even though the desire may be there, if the qualifications are not, then the person does not have a vocation.

By qualifications here, we are not referring to degrees in education or medicine, but things like average intelligence,emotional stability, maturity equal to age, physical well being, a sense of humor, etc.

Nor should you be afraid to apply to an order that teaches (for example) if you don't have a high schoolor college diploma. Not every member of a teaching order teaches, nor does every member of a nursing order nurse. Sisters with other talents are needed to run the convents and free the teachers and nurses for their duties. If you like a particular community, apply and let the Superior judge whether you are the type of material their religious order needs.

Who is the best judge of your vocation?


The candidate herself is the only judge as to whether she has the willingness to become a sister, but only the Superior of the order she joins is a competent judge as to her qualifications.

Can a girl be sure that she has a vocation?


Now the candidate is at the crossroads—she has the desire. and a community is willing to accept her. The first two steps to discerning her vocation are complete, there is only one thing left for her to do if she wishes to be sure she has a vocation and that is enter.

Prayer will not make her sure, nor advice from parents or confessors, nor waiting a year or two. Living the life is the only sure way.

Looking in from the outside is not the same as being inside and living it. Here she will have ample tests made of her character by her superiors. and here she will find many ways to test her willingness to serve Christ.

Is the call from God an actual voice?

Is the call from God an actual voice?


This "call" from God is not necessarily an actual voice. It appeals to the heart and not the ear. It is best described as a desire to serve Our Lord in a better way than we are serving Him now, much like the desire of the young man in the Gospel. Our Lord's call to the heart He has captivated and wants to possess varies with the facets of His own Wisdom considering each human's own unique personality. The calls are infinitely varied: some distinct and overpowering, others like a whispering breeze that must be carefully listened to to be discerned. Some hear the call from childhood and only wait until they are of age, others receive it suddenly. Some are drawn quietly, others hesitatingly. This last is attracted and repulsed also. They desire to make the sacrifice but tremble at the cost.

What is a vocation and is it wrong not to follow it?

What is a vocation?

The word "vocation" means calling. God calls us to perform a certain work for which He has fitted us. Long before the world was made, each of us existed in the Mind of God. Long before we existed in our mother's womb He knew us and already had prepared a certain work for us in life. To that end He bestowed on us the necessary gifts. Hence a vocation does not mean a career or calling that we pick out for ourselves according to our likes and dislikes, but fulfilling the vocation that God has selected for us. There is only one consideration here, and that is the Holy Will of God.

Is it wrong not to follow your vocation?

Three freedoms intervene in the salvation of a soul: the freedom of God who grants grace as He wills, the freedom of each soul which can accept or reject that grace, and the freedom of each of us to be an instrument for good as regards other souls in a greater or lesser degree according to God's will. Now suppose that someone is called by God to cultivate a particular portion of His vineyard as a religious and she failed to respond to that call. What will become of those souls who might have been saved through her work? Think then of the terrible responsibility each vocation enjoins. A specific work destined by God from eternity awaits you. If you do not do it, it will remain undone. The evil of missing your vocation lies not so much in failing to correspond with God's greater graces, but rather in refusing to help those souls that may need your assistance. That is one of the reasons for the paltry number of religious vocations. God calls as many or more than He ever did, but the prevailing selfishness of this generation makes them heedless to any Will but their own—regardless of the consequences to the world.

Isn't it heartless to renounce your family like that?

Isn’t it heartless to renounce your family like that?

It isn't considered heartless when a girl does it to marry. Some people think that those who renounce the world and family are heartless, but, on the contrary, it is because they have such a great heart that they go to the convent. So for the love of Christ these specially chosen maidens leave their families only to find that in Christ they can love them more than before and the parents in turn find that of all their children the ones in Religion are the only ones that will ever be truly theirs forever. They leave the world only to find that from morning to night they spend their lives in preparation or service to it, and the world becomes richer and nobler for their presence. They leave their riches to find that all their needs are met and untold spiritual wealth pours out before them. They leave their own will behind to find a sure knowledge of the Will of God and a secure Guide unknown to seculars. They leave the promise of marriage and children to find the ecstasy of Christ's love from a pierced Heart, secure in the knowledge that the servant is not greater than the Master, and in Him they rejoice to find that "many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband."

Isn’t this a special type of girl then?

St. Teresa of Jesus said "If the love of God takes hold of a woman's heart who can tell what a great saint she will become?" These girls who enter are no different than their peers. They also love life, liberty, and luxury, but their love of Christ is stronger still, for a love that does not include service and suffering is not real. She hears the voice of her beloved saying to the young man "what doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul." And to her own heart, "If thou wilt be my disciple, deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me." The vast majority of those in the convent have much in common with that Gospel youth. Like him they have had their moments of weakness, guilt, even mortal sins, but they have soon surrendered to the solicitations of His Love.

Considering the Samaritan woman after her conversion Abbe Landrieux said "A woman is worth twelve apostles preaching from the housetops." Through one woman's zeal a whole town came to rejoice Christ's Heart, but He was saddened also. He saw that there would be few apostles to continue the Samaritan woman's missionary work. Hence those words with the haunting note of sorrow for those who can hear it: "The harvest indeed is great but the laborers are few." For the religious Christ is the only reality, the constant Companion who makes all things possible. He is her Friend, her Beloved, her Spouse. He will not be outdone in generosity, nor will He wait until He clasps His spouse to His Sacred Heart in Heaven to give her sweet tokens of His acceptance. All lives are short, but the life of a religious is full. Can you say your life has been a fruitful harvest or just a meaningless gesture?

Why do women go to the convent?

Don’t women go to the convent for other reasons too?

A woman should not go to the convent: for security, because of an unhappy romance, because she is over thirty and unmarried, because she prefers to pray than to work, because she is worn-out or melancholy, or because she has some physical or mental handicap and her parents want her settled in life. True, convents offer a stable and secure life. True, an unhappy romance may lead to a vocation by pointing out the Will of God. Yes, it is good if the candidate likes. to pray, but be warned that it is no place for the lazy, for the work is hard and abundant. True, many convents take handicapped people (usually depending upon the type and degree) but there is no room for the melancholy.

Then, why does a woman go to the convent?

For one reason and only one reason—the love of God. We are not talking here of a general attitude, but of something very special and intimate. Her love for Christ is as profound, and passionate as the love of any woman who has been tenderly courted and wed. She is so consumed by a love stronger than human love that the thought of marriage to any other besides Christ becomes impossible. It is a love totally disinterested to the point that to be His bride she will make any sacrifice: her possessions, her will, her parents, sisters, and brothers. This love must be there to make all the trials and sacrifices of religious life bearable.

Why take a vow of Chastity?

Why take a vow of Chastity?

"These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These we purchased from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb." Chastity also offers its share of thorny roses. It is a hard thing for a woman to know that she will never be a mother, never have children of her own blood. More than that she is obliged to cut herself off from all familiarity and practice a detachment even from her own family and sisters in religion. Why? The one and only reason she entered religious life—the love of God. A love that has taken a dimension unknown to seculars, an intimacy more profound than the happiest of newlyweds. Christ wooed her and won her heart. She gave him her virginity. her body, her goods, her will at her reception day. He is to her now as her own Spouse. She now practices His words literally to love God with her whole heart, soul. mind and strength. Love is sacrifice. She is the holocaust and poverty, chastity, and obedience the fires that consume her and separate the pure precious gold from the dross; that burn the incense that releases to God the pure odor of sanctity. "Blessed is he who understands what it is to love Jesus, and to despise himself for the sake of Jesus. We must leave what is beloved for the sake of the Beloved, for Jesus will be loved alone and above all things. Sooner or later you must be separated from all, whether you will or no. The nature of your Beloved is such that He will not admit of a rival, but He will have thy heart for Himself alone." (A' Kempis)