Women Religious: Vocations

We are committed to serve all without regard to religion or material means, especially those in greatest need. Community life and prayer sustain our witness to Christ’s presence wherever we live and work.

The first words spoken by Jesus to his disciples in the Gospel of St. John (Jn. 1:39-41) ask the question, What are you looking for? As the conversation develops, Jesus invites them to Come and See where he lives. They went and they stayed. It was a vocation moment, an invitation to relationship. Religious life begins in the meeting place where heart speaks to heart.

The process of making a decision about your life with help of the Holy Spirit is called "discernment." It is the process of discovering God's will for you. In this process you deal with two persons: you and God. Both you and God ultimately desire the same thing -- your happiness. You want to make a decision about your life that will bring you meaning and happiness.

Is God Calling You? Would you answer? Join us as a Daughter of Divine Charity to make God’s love visible in the world. Reaching out to those in need. to women… to the youth… and to the elderly…

Vocation to the contemplative life begins with the call of God and the decision of each one of us to follow Jesus Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit. Discernment requires a deeper kind of listening in one’s heart.

The call to religious life is one of life’s mysteries. For some of us, the call came easily and felt as natural as growing up knowing you want to be an artist or a doctor. For others of us, the call felt like a bolt out of the blue—an improbable, “You want me to do what?” For yet others, the call came as a gnawing feeling or question that just would not go away.

Loving God, I know that you have a plan for me, a plan that will fill my life with joy. You’ve blessed me with gifts and talents that I want to use to serve you and to build up your Church. Show me the way to find the path that you have prepared just for me

Responding to the call of Christ requires maturity and a time to verify the reasons for which one wishes to enter religious life. This is why the Church asks for sufficient time for discernment and formation before committing to public vows.

If you are discerning a religious vocation and think that God may be calling you to join our community, we invite you to continue to prayerfully discern with us.

As a religious family the active and contemplative Sisters comprise one congregation, while the Brothers and Fathers are three separate congregations. All share in the charism of Mother Teresa to satiate God’s thirst for love by personal holiness and by working for the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor. For all of the Sisters, Brothers and Fathers, Mother Teresa is “Mother.”

From the time of our pioneers, we have welcomed into our congregation women of different backgrounds and nationalities who respond to God’s call to serve as missionary sisters living in the spirit of Mary. If you think that you may be called to our way of life, we would welcome a contact from you!

A vocation is not a single event. It is a gradual unfolding of our journey in faith during which God invites us to find our distinctive style of loving.

In the spirit of Jeanne Chézard de Matel, we orient our lives in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. Therefore, a woman seeking membership must be first and foremost a person of prayer. In addition, she must be a person for others, able to give herself fully in service to people, places and works of ministry.

Discovering a call to a particular life commitment takes time. It requires honesty with ourselves about our gifts and talents, inclinations and deepest desires. The more we get to know ourselves, the better we are at detecting God’s movement within our hearts.

The journey to a vocation is yours to make, but we are here to help you discern if this is your true path. Life as a Sister Servant of the Blessed Sacrament is a joyful, challenging and beautiful life and one that fills us with God’s love each day. Only you can know if this is your life as well.

We commit our lives to live the Evangelical Vows of Poverty as Serving, Chastity as Loving and Obedience as Listening. In our diverse ministries and freedom of lifestyle we are united by commitment to the Gospel values of Love, Justice, Reverence, Forgiveness, Nonviolence, Equality, Diversity, Integrity and Care for Creation.

The process for becoming a sister takes at least seven years, during which a woman and the community mutually discern whether God is calling the woman to be a sister. During this time the woman learns about prayer, lives in community, studies theology and ministers alongside sisters. It is a time of deep reflection, growth and grace-filled joy!

A vocation is a gift from God which has the commitment made at baptism as its foundation. The Sisters of Nazareth model their lives on the Holy Family of Nazareth: Jesus, Mary and Joseph professing the three Vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. They live the Rule of Saint Augustine placing high importance on prayer and community living.

Is God nudging you? We invite you to become part of the family of Providence as a Sister or Associate. Grounded in faith, we walk with those on the edges of society, serving in many diverse ways. We support each other through a loving, tight-knit community. Our motherhouse is in Indiana, but we serve throughout much of the United States and in Taiwan.

The path of vocation is unique – the calling of every individual is a work of interaction with the Spirit of God. There is some mystery in this experience – there is a sense of being nudged, of wanting “something more.”

Ours is a rich heritage that has endured for more than 800 years and the Sisters of St. Clare trace their history back to the earliest days of St. Clare of Assisi. At the heart of the life of a Sister of St. Clare is Contemplative Prayer lived out in community. We are enriched in a family of members using our gifts and talents in praising God through our various Ministries.

Clinton Franciscans enthusiastically choose way a of life that reflects our belief in living completely the Gospel of Christ in our times, just as St. Francis and St. Clare did in their times. We invite you to learn more about the various ways to become part of the Clinton Franciscan family.

Why Become One of Us? Use your unique gifts to serve in the gaps and margins of our world. In a community of prayerful Franciscan women, living the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, you will join us in loving relationship with all that God has created. Be a part of something greater than yourself and respond to the spiritual and physical emptiness God calls us to fill.

Is this the time in your life when you feel challenged to a passage, something new, a change? Are you being challenged to be all you can be? Is the unique “seed” planted in you at the beginning of your life growing, moving, developing, changing? Consider investigating a relationship with the Sisters of Saint Francis.

Are you hearing an invitation to become part of something that is greater than yourself? We live to fulfill the mission of Jesus. We live simply, love inclusively and listen attentively for the good and the protection of God’s creation.

We are women in love with God. We respond to the needs of our world and the dear neighbor. Come explore the meeting point between seeking justice, being a bridge builder, and sharing life with other women who share in a desire to serve God with our whole life.

Everyone is called by God by virtue of their baptism! Our call to a particular state in life comes second to our baptismal call to be holy. The Church calls this our “Universal Call to Holiness,” and this call can be lived out in a variety of ways. We invite you to explore our Vocation website to discern if God might be calling you to a life of holiness as a Sister of the Precious Blood.

Support and encouragement is needed for anyone wanting to make an informed choice about this way of life. Sisters are available who have the commitment, skill and time to help a person in her discernment.

For many people the call to become a Sister is a growing awareness that religious life will bring them the most joy and a sense of fulfillment in their lives. This call may be sudden or a gradual process. As you think about a possible life-choice for a vowed religious life, we invite you to learn more about the Sacred Heart charism, our priorities, and the ways that we live and respond to addressing the problems and needs of our world today.

Vocational discernment is the process of discovering through prayer, reflection, and experience the vocation to which God has called you. It is a special time to probe the possibilities of where God may be leading. It helps to pay close attention to the feelings that are evoked when your reflect on different possible vocations. We learn to hear God’s voice by following these gentle movements of the heart.