Following Jesus in the religious life is a beautiful adventure of the spirit. It is not a thing for everyone, but reserved for those whom He calls: and you can be among them. Religious life is not improvised: it matures slowly, like an ear from the seed.
A first encounter with the reality of religious life takes place in the POSTULATE. A time during which we experience living together in study, prayer, but also in fun; and in the meantime we reflect on the call to religious life: its connotations, needs and value are better known. The whole group of Postulants is engaged in this work of deepening and clarification, with the help of their Teacher.
Having completed this period with a positive result, we pass to the NOVITIATE.
It is the time of intense and immediate preparation for religious profession. A life is led according to a Regulation that provides for the necessary education and practical experience, so that a Novice is able to experience the kind of life that will be hers, before committing herself with the Lord, with the Church and with the Society in a public state of life. Religious profession must not be a leap in the dark.
Religious vows are already being practiced, even though they are not yet pronounced, to test their ability to joyfully accept and not just passively bear the renunciations that the practice of the evangelical counsels imposes.
He spent a lot of time studying the doctrine of spiritual and religious life and canon law for the relevant part.
Much space is given to the encounter with the Word of God: for a living and lived knowledge of Scripture which must nourish mental prayer and the whole life of prayer in its various forms of personal and community worship, among which the Eucharist excels and the Liturgy of the Hours.
Community life is lived intensely, because the novices a particular community, under the guidance of a teacher who accompanies them throughout the itinerary of this intense formation. The success of the vocation largely depends on a fruitful novitiate.
The vocation becomes mission with the RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. It is the goal towards which the years of preparation have been oriented. Those who have spent those years with commitment run to the altar of profession with a jubilant heart: the encounter with Jesus is no longer just the model, but the beloved husband.
It is a great celebration for the whole community, because it is expanding its ranks; and it is also the day in which a new state of life is entered: the religious one, which is initially characterized by a further period of intensive training: the UNIORATE: during which the religious profession is made for a fixed period to worthily prepare for the PROFESSION RELIGIOUS. These are the years in which one’s spiritual formation is completed and diplomas and professional titles are usually obtained to deal competently with the various activities of our apostolate.
Years that pass quickly and we arrive at PERPETUAL PROFESSION, with which the covenant with Christ and with the Church becomes irrevocable.
It is an evocative rite, rich in meaning in its various moments: above all it is an ineffable gift and definitive consecration to the mission and to ecclesial witness.
Our Congregation carries out its apostolate in the social-welfare field, with preference towards the little ones of the Gospel: (Const. 2) those to whom Jesus said he was sent (Lk. 4,16) to the point of identifying himself with them. What you have done to the least of my brothers you have done to me (Mt 25,40).
