JOIN US
Would you like to follow Jesus more closely by consecrating yourself to His service, through Religious vows?
FORMATION
“I have called you by your name” (Is.43:1)
Those who are called by the Lord to follow him in a special way in religious life need a time to confirm their vocation, through a serious process of formation and discernment that allows them to verify their call and the sincerity of their response.
The formation of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary is organized in five stages, with gradual and progressive experiences, demands and commitments.
The DHM give emphasis for the formation of their trainees, in order to develop in them:
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to live a life of union with God,
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to be responsible and available to the needs of others,
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to be alert and to respond to the signs of the times,
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to promote human dignity and dialogue with people of diverse cultures,
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to build networks of solidarity that make the world a place of unity in love.
1. Aspirancy
“Teacher, where do you live?”. (Jn.1:38)
The aspirant who comes to the Society has perceived the call of Christ and wishes to respond to His love by a totally dedicated life.
It is the stage of formation in which the aspirant is helped by her mentor to develop her prayer life and her human qualities and to organize her life with a spirit of detachment, availability and service.
2. Postulancy
"Come and see" (Jn. 1,39)
A stage in which the postulant acquires a clearer awareness of God's call and prepares herself for a freer and more responsible response. She becomes aware of the essential requirements of religious life and of the Society. In this stage, the postulant comes into contact with the life of the community and she continues to deepen her prayer life and the evangelical virtues that lead her to a more intimate relationship with Christ.
She begins to learn the History of the Society and the life of the founders.
3. Novitiate
“They went and saw where He lived, and stayed with Him” (Jn.1:39)
The novice discerns more clearly the demands of her vocation to the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary and prepares herself for a definitive answer. She begins to live according to the form and the spirit of the Society, the constitutions and the vows. She welcomes the self-denial and renunciation that these require in the growing love for the person of Christ in order to live like Him and for Him.
4. Juniorate
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" (Jn.14:6)
In this stage, the junior learns to live according to the interior law of love and charity and fully integrates herself into the life of the community and shares prayer, work, mission, sorrows and joys of daily life with the sisters. .
She continues to develop her human qualities and becomes familiar with the writings of the Society, the founders and the first sisters to get a better understanding of its specific and universal mission in communion with the Church.
5. Third Year
"I will lead her to solitude and I will speak to her heart"(Hos. 2:16)
This stage of formation is for the sisters who have been professed for around ten years, have a deeper experience of religious and apostolic life, and have reached sufficient maturity.
The sister listens to the Spirit in an atmosphere of recollection and prayer. She is free from all activity for a clearer awareness of the gift of her vocation to the Society and of the fullness of the response that God expects of her. She is strengthened by prayer, develops enthusiasm for the mission and lives in fraternal communion.
VOCATION STORIES
