Vocation
It begins as an unquenchable thirst, a restless longing for “something more.” Then the question arises, “How can I ‘prove’ my love for God? How can I satisfy this desire to give Him . . . ALL?” Our blessed Mother Foundress too experienced this gnawing at the heart. She writes, “For years I had desired to make a real sacrifice for God in order to prove my love for Him. In vain did I search for such an opportunity. Finally, the hour arrived.” This hour was only the first step in a journey that led to the foundation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus.
The journey always begins with the first step.
If you are a young, single woman desiring to live a life of prayer and service to the Church and are interested in discerning a possible vocation to the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus, » please contact us.
STAGES OF FORMATION
The path of formation from the first to the final response and total gift of self to God encompasses the following stages:
1. CANDIDACY is the time of closer contact with the Congregation. During this period, the candidate has the opportunity to become familiar with our way of life, its values and requirements. At the same time, the congregation will come to know her and evaluate her suitability for our religious life.
2. POSTULANCY begins with the entrance to the convent. It is a time of discovery as the postulant opens herself to new life, strengthening her relationship with God as she grows in faith and learns our way of life through her participation in our prayer, work and life of our community.
3. NOVITIATE is a time of integral initiation as the novice engages in deeper discernment of God’s call and come to know the essential requirements of religious life. The novice acquires the fundamental values of consecrated life in the Carmel DCJ.
4. JUNIORATE is a new starting point in a life of giving and receiving love. This is the time for the synthesis of contemplation and action.
5. TERTIATE is a time of intense preparation for a sister readiness in responding for a radical, definitive and total dedication to God in order to understand better the mystery of her vocation and mission that will give her more certainty in the decision to profess Final Vows. By her Perpetual Profession, the sister decides to bind her life to God and to our Congregation.
ONGOING FORMATION
Religious vocation is not a one-time event, because the call of God is ever new, calling out to us, so that the religious vocation requires growing and deepening throughout life. It helps to animate and deepen fidelity to one’s vocation in all dimensions of human, Christian and Carmelite DCJ life, in each individual sister as well as in the community.
(Ratio Institutionis Carmel DCJ Sittard 2020)
Vocation Stories
Sr. M. Matea Elizabeta
My name is Sr. M. Matea Elizabeta of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, and I am a juniorate Sister in the Croatian Province.
Sr. Bruna Maria
When I turned a teenager, I left behind the things of God and the Church. And with this I went searching for other things to fill me, but these vanities, these superfluous things left me empty. I realized that I was in a void. I wanted something to fill me again as I realized that my life was without meaning.
Sr. Mary Michael
“I want to be your hands. I want to be your feet. I’ll go where you send me.” It was while singing these words at a Steubenville Youth Conference that I first opened my heart to God’s call.
Sr. Narcisa
“I only want to do what the Lord deigns to ask of me, in His holy hands, I place myself.”
Sister M. Magdalene Therese
“Over the years of high school and college, Jesus really worked on my heart and showed me that He was the only One that could completely fulfill all my desires.”