IT BEGINS
Formation begins in the family. All our life experiences, religious and worldly, shape our identity and way of thinking and acting, and these important environmental factors continue to impact us in our adult life as wife/mother, religious Sister, or consecrated lay woman.
So, the first step is learning to accept ourselves as we are and to be reasonably at peace with our personal and family history. Please understand that this part of the journey is not a ‘one and done’, to be ‘perfectly’ completed before considering or entering religious life. Not at all! It’s a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance by the grace of God’s love and light that unfolds throughout our lives. A good spiritual director, your religious community formator, your Confessor, good friends, good books, prayer – these are all life-long means by which serenity and inner freedom grow.
THE BRIDGE
At some point, better sooner rather than later, you will want to contact the Vocation Director. After conversations and visit(s), you are ready to apply when you and the Vocation Director have discerned together that God may be calling you to be a Salesian Sister! This time of communication is an important part of the formation journey as the Vocation Director accompanies you through the process of discernment, application, and acceptance by the Provincial.
IT CONTINUES
Then, formation continues with the religious community to which you are called. Every religious community provides a formation program appropriate to its charism (spirituality and mission in the Church). For us, Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco, the process includes four phases:
Aspirantate: 1-2 years as an Aspirant
Postulancy: 1 year as a Postulant
Novitiate: 2 years as a Novice
Temporary Vows: 6-9 years as a Sister in Temporary Vows
Perpetual Profession: for life as a permanent member of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians!
The “primary objective of the formation process is to prepare people for the total consecration of themselves to God in the following of Christ at the service of the Church’s mission” (Vita Consecrata, 65). Therefore, our formation program is designed to help you grow in the understanding of God’s call; in friendship and love of God, Mary, and the Church; in greater self-awareness; and in integration into our Salesian way of life, to render you capable of a free response in love and joy.
Until perpetual vows, these phases are not binding. They are a gradually deepening discernment to see if you are called to live with and among the young as a contemplative-in-action in the spirit of St. John Bosco and St. Mary Mazzarello. This journey is always made with a formator/Animator (superior) and lived in community, where you will be engaged in our community life, prayer, ministry, and the necessary studies.
During the years of initial formation, you will be able to enjoy home visits and open communication with family and friends, just as a perpetually professed Salesian Sister does, in prudence and an evangelical spirit. Contact us to begin discerning if God is calling you to be a Salesian Sister!
