If you are considering religious life, you are probably interested in what you can do in your life right now to prepare yourself to follow God’s call. Here we offer some thoughts on Three Ways to Prepare while Considering a Religious Vocation (although they would also help prepare for any Christian state in life), followed by some Recommended Resources. These tips are general, and may need to be adapted for your particular situation. If you are considering contemplative Dominican life, and would like personal advice, feel free to contact us.
Three Ways to Prepare while Considering a Religious Vocation
In brief: grow in friendship with God, in human maturity and virtue, and in practical skills.
Grow in friendship with God
1 Grow in friendship with God: Vocation is based on relationship. Our Lord calls you to intimate friendship with Him right now, not just in a possible vocation as a nun. By your baptism, Jesus has claimed you as His own, and given you the life of grace—His Divine Life—in your soul. As you grow in His friendship, you will be increasingly able to hear and follow Him wherever He leads. He loves you intensely and personally, and desires your happiness more than anyone else does (even you).
Here are some helpful means:
- Sacramental life: Holy Mass, daily when possible; frequent Confession (anytime from weekly to monthly); Eucharistic Adoration regularly.
- 15-30 minutes daily, personal, silent, interior prayer with God. This can be just sitting still with Him, or through Lectio Divina or other meditation.
- Lectio Divina or meditating on the Word of God in Sacred Scripture. Use the readings from daily Mass, or read through a Gospel to start with.
- Pray the Rosary and love Our Lady! Make St. Louis Marie de Montfort’s Total Consecration.
- At some point, learn how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office). (On a daily basis, we think interior, personal prayer has a higher priority for a young person if you don’t have time for both, but becoming familiar with and participating in the Office at least on occasion is helpful.)
- Works of mercy. Even if you hope to enter the cloister, putting love for God into action through volunteering at your local parish or campus ministry, or getting involved in some way in helping others is an important way to grow in love of God and neighbor.
- Learn more about the Catholic Faith and its heroes, the saints.
You may also find helpful the Vocation Letter about “Two Preparation Pitfalls.“
Grow in human maturity
2 Grow in human maturity: One doesn’t have to be completely “grown up” to enter religious life, but communities look for “maturity proportionate to age.” Take responsibility for yourself and your duties, and learn to handle your emotions and relationships well. Even adults can continue to prepare themselves by growing in virtue. Some examples:
- Every day you make many decisions that create habits of acting: virtues or vices. Strive to live virtuously.
- If you are a student, be responsible and diligent in your studies.
- Make a special effort to be respectful of authority figures, whether your parents, teachers, priests and bishops and the Holy Father, etc. This is very counter-cultural today, yet it is the basis of living the religious life – a life based on obedience.
- Be prudent about what you do for fun. Spend time with friends who help, not hinder, a life of virtue in Christ.
- Moderate use of media. Being addicted to social media is antithetical to a life of prayer. Avoid books, movies, music, and entertainment that do not glorify God. Make time for silence, so you can hear God.
- If you are serious about considering religious life, do not date, or cultivate exclusive friendships with young men that are basically dating. The best advice we have heard on this: if you want to avoid dating, its fine to have guy friends, but do not do “dating” activities with a guy friend (that is, one-on-one activities at the times, in the places, and of the type that couples do–even studying together alone) because you will end up dating him.
- Especially if you are in high school or college, take opportunities for growing in maturity: learning to drive, getting a job, participating in various extra-curricular activities, all provide opportunities for human growth.
A good way to keep in touch with us is to sign up for our bimonthly Vocation Newsletter.
Grow in Practical Skills
3 Grow in practical skills. Other than requiring a minimum level of education (usually high school or college), religious communities typically are prepared to teach candidates the special skills required for their vocation. While the skills on this list are not required, they can be very helpful to have when entering our community in particular, and working to acquire them can help your growth in maturity and virtue in the meantime.
- Basic housekeeping skills: cleaning, cooking, laundry. Any practical skill can come in handy!
- Singing in choir is very helpful preparation if you are considering a community that sings the liturgy. (Especially a choir that sings the type of music your community sings–for us, chant, sacred music, and traditional hymns.)
- Playing piano or other musical instrument. Piano (or organ) is especially helpful for everyday accompaniment of liturgical prayer.
- Sewing, both by machine and by hand (such a buttons and mending).
- If you are considering a community such as ours that uses Latin in the Liturgy, studying that language is definitely helpful.
Also, real life hobbies such as gardening or other outdoor activities, artistic hobbies such as drawing or painting, or craft-type hobbies such as knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking—even enjoying playing games in a group!—are helpful in being a rounded human being.
Recommended Resources
On Religious Life
Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life by Fr. Benedict Croell, O.P. and Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P. is the best book we have read on discernment from a Dominican perspective. It is targeted toward young men, but most of it is relatively easily applicable to young women, taking the differences into account. Someday we will write a women’s supplement talking about how Our Lady is the model of our feminine consecration.
A Right To Be Merry by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. caused several of our Sisters to fall in love with the monastic life. It gives a charming and engaging window into the mendicant monastic life (the author is a Poor Clare Colletine). This can also be a good book for parents or families to read to help make the cloistered life more real and understandable to them, which can be very reassuring if their daughter is considering entering the cloister.
Vita Consecrata by St. John Paul II, and Verbi Sponsa, both available online.
More Resources to come . . .
What happens if you enter the monastery? Learn more on our Stages in Formation page.