Applications Processes differ from community to community.
If you indeed feel called truly called to one order then why not ask their vocation director what the next step is? One natural step is going to be your relationship with your parish and with your spiritual director. If I were you I would ask the sister in charge of vocations what the procedure is. Every persons journey is unique and questions and issues faces a bit different.
Blessings and Are you getting closer to finding a specific community or are you still discerning?**
Thank you for your answer, Poor Clare tobe.
I feel like I’m almost there. I’m visiting the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus in Milwaukee next week, and I keep getting signs that this is it. I got a Christmas card from them when I prayed about where I should go next (when I had no contact with this Province; all the provinces are autonomous), I’ve had several dreams starring me in their habit, and my prayers about going to visit them have been answered (I was granted Unemployment Pay right after I prayed).
When I asked Jesus where to go next, I wasn’t specific to the Carmelites, but it’s what I’ve felt called to all along. When I discovered that I was called to Carmel, I started checking out all possible orders, and then, without warning, I was sent a friend who is a candidate for the Carmelites DCJ. I had never heard of them, so I checked them out. I went on a vocations retreat last August and felt something when I was praying with them in their choir, but I felt like I still needed to look. That’s when God told me to look into the Northern Province after getting my certificate of completion for Nursing Assistant school. I realized during clinicals that I was being called to be a Sister AND a nurse, and I needed to find an order that would allow me that. After having short contact with the Vocations Director, Sr. Immaculata, through email, I sent her a letter explaining as best I could my vocation. She called me a week later to tell me that I should think about visiting them, and that I could become a nurse after I joined the order, if I couldn’t become one before. I really got goosebumps after that.
I don’t know if it’s possible to have the “home” feeling before meeting them in person, but I have it, and I feel like this is the end of my search. I am trying my hardest to take it at the pace God is leading me, and He’s the one leading me this quickly. I don’t know yet if I will feel it’s time to ask for an application while I’m there this visit, or if I will wait. It’s all about what God wants.
I realize I may have to wait 9 more months before requesting entrance papers because I got off of an antidepressant 3 months ago. Some Sisters I spoke to (in the same order, but a different Province) said that I would most likely have to wait (to enter their’s, but I didn’t have a vocation there). I’m ok to wait, if it’s what God wants, but just knowing that I may have found THE community gives me great peace. This discernment process has been difficult, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
