Vocation

Many hear the call of God to serve Him but only a few respond. If you have heard the Lord’s gentle invitation to religious life, it may have taken you by surprise. Fear is not an uncommon response to the first stirrings of a religious vocation. As the Lord begins to make his will known, we may find ourselves saying, “Who, me?”... “But, I am not good enough, holy enough, and pious enough!”… “What if I make a mistake?” However, if one is called to the religious life then, with time and prayer, fear turns to conviction and we can begin the first steps to finding and accepting his will. This conviction brings a peace and joy that nothing else can match. A young woman open to the call to give her whole life to Christ will find that she can only surrender to this irresistible prompting that He has placed within her heart.

I am happy to help you in any way that I can. Please feel free to contact me with questions, knowing that I welcome the opportunity to share with you what it means to be a Poor Handmaid of Jesus Christ. The Lord desires to reveal his plan for your life, and will give you the grace to respond with a generous and joy-filled heart!

Pope Francis has encouraged us to listen attentively for this invitation and to respond to it generously. During a recent Regina Caeli address he told the young people gathered, “The voice of Jesus is unique! If we learn to distinguish it, He guides us on the path of life…

I would like to ask you:
Have you sometimes heard the voice of the Lord which through a desire, a certain restlessness, invites you to follow Him more closely? Ask Jesus what He wants from you and be brave! Be brave, ask Him!!!” (St. Peter’s Square, April 21, 2013)

Do you want to know more about our community life?
Are you interested to share God’s love and mercy to the poor, sick children and needy?

Religious formation of the Poor Handmaids is a developmental process. It is concerned with the internalization and the integration of the Christian life of faith, with the individual’s own spiritual, emotional, intellectual, cultural and apostolic life. The heart and centre of formation is the living Spirit of Christ active in each individual and in community of Faith. Thus formation of the ‘heart’ and formation to be ‘witnesses’ are essential elements for formation for mission of Christ.

Purpose
To discover whether the young women can live responsibly in a religious community setting, can identify with the charism of our congregation and can participate in apostolic service as Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ.

Objectives
To deepen one’s relationship with Holy Trinity
To deepen her life of faith through study and reflection on scripture, spirituality, theology and liturgy
To understand through study and experience the evangelical counsels of poverty, celibate chastity and obedience and “our way of Service.”
To grow in sensitivity to God’s action in people and realities of daily life.
To grow in freedom in relationship to God, self and others
To integrate personal strength and weakness into a positive self-image
To grow in the responsibility and accountability of community living
To appreciate and to sense a relationship to the congregational charism and apostolate
To develop an awareness of and sensitivity to the needs of the universal church in society and to those needs responded to by the Poor Handmaids through active participation in the ministries of the area.