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foolishmortal
Guest
…and stop when one community allows them to be a postulant in their’s?
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miniquedoes
Guest
Well I don’t think it quite works that way. Remember, it is not like sending out resumes to see where you get hired first 
. In order to enter postulancy, one must be discerning with a particular community for a certain amount of time. Some communities refer to this time as aspirancy, affiliate, or in the case of my community candidacy and can last anywhere from several months, to a couple of years. In order to be accepted as a postulant, you must be approved by the community (meaning they feel you are right for the community) and must have met all the requirements (different for each one). The first thing you should do is look into the communities that interest you most. Start communicating with the vocation directors of these communities. As you go on, you will be able to narrow your choices. Once you think you know which community you are being called to, you will need to spend much time with them to become more familiar with their charism, ministries, and general way of living. You can start by joining them for dinner, prayer, Mass, and then maybe even a weekend stay. After much time, you along with your vocation director will be able to decide if you can proceed as a postulant. If after some time during these beginning stages (before postulancy) you feel you are not being called to that community it is okay to look into another community. The most important thing is to be patient. The process takes time but eventually you will find the right community. Good luck and God bless
. In order to enter postulancy, one must be discerning with a particular community for a certain amount of time. Some communities refer to this time as aspirancy, affiliate, or in the case of my community candidacy and can last anywhere from several months, to a couple of years. In order to be accepted as a postulant, you must be approved by the community (meaning they feel you are right for the community) and must have met all the requirements (different for each one). The first thing you should do is look into the communities that interest you most. Start communicating with the vocation directors of these communities. As you go on, you will be able to narrow your choices. Once you think you know which community you are being called to, you will need to spend much time with them to become more familiar with their charism, ministries, and general way of living. You can start by joining them for dinner, prayer, Mass, and then maybe even a weekend stay. After much time, you along with your vocation director will be able to decide if you can proceed as a postulant. If after some time during these beginning stages (before postulancy) you feel you are not being called to that community it is okay to look into another community. The most important thing is to be patient. The process takes time but eventually you will find the right community. Good luck and God bless
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CarmeliteGirl25
Guest
I really don’t think that applying to more than one community is such a good idea at all. You may feel pressed for time, but you really need to slow down and take a long look at what God’s will is for you. Communities correspond with each other, and if they think that you are not serious, they will not seriously discern with you.
foolishmortal, I’ve seen your posts here, and you appear to really want to do God’s will. What you really need to do is get yourself a good spiritual director and work with he/she on finding the community that God set you apart for. If you just apply to any ol’ community, you may end up getting accepted, and finding out that they are not what God wanted for you. Fortunately, things don’t work out like that so much. You really need to put time and effort in to finding the one that really intrigues you the most, and work with them as a joint effort in your discernment. It may take months, it may take years, but you need to be ready to accept what Jesus wants you to do.
I was like you, not so long ago. I hated the idea of waiting and searching and I wanted to be a Sister so bad that wait period was just painful to me. But I soon discovered that if I just went to “any community” and became a Sister, I would not be happy. What if I decided I wasn’t called to that community? I mean, this happens sometimes with those who seriously discern (I know a sister who was with a community for 9 years before she discovered she was called somewhere else), but I think it would be worse if I knew that the community was not for me and I went anyway.
I decided to slow down instead. I said to God, “I want your will above my own desires. Whatever You want of me, I am ready to do it, but I won’t do it until You say it is time.” That was 3 months ago. I’ve discovered that my calling is with the Carmelites (I knew this at the very beginning of my discernment), and I am checking out the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus in Milwaukee later this month. I discovered, through waiting, that God didn’t want me in the cloister as I initially thought. He wanted me to become a nursing assistant and eventually a registered nurse. I am going where HE wants me to go, not where I want to go, and His desires have become my own.
I hope that this helps you. I don’t want to see or hear you get into the trap of going wherever they’ll take you. Take some time out and reassess your discernment if you have to. Here is a poem that I think applies in this case:
WAIT
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait”.
"Wait? You say, wait! " my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By Faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.
My future and all to which I can relate hangs in the balance,
and YOU tell me to WAIT? I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,
or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign. And Lord,
You promised that if we believe we need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
I’m weary of asking! I need a reply!
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut and grumbled to God,
“So, I’m waiting… for what?”
He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And he tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want~~But, you wouldn’t know Me.
You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint;
You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there;
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.
You’d never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You’d know that I give and I save… (for a start),
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST.
You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that “My grace is sufficient for Thee.”
Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,
But, Oh, the Loss! If I lost what I’m doing in you!
So, be silent, My Child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, “WAIT.”
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miniquedoes
Guest
Foolishmortal I just saw your profile and realized that we have the same birthday. Sorry just thought that was neat 
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foolishmortal
Guest
That’s interesting how that happens, Miniquedoes. Just one click and something interesting gets known.
Carmelitegirl, I hope you are successful. I have realized I put off serious vocation searching so long. Many stop taking people at age 35. The Madonna house in Canada might be different. People can stay there for months and even make vows, as they have a community there and houses elsewhere. I’m more drawn to the Franciscans, as I’ve enjoyed doing stuff for people, but I do have much and many to pray for, and the monastic life would get a lot of that covered quickly. I heard Benedictines aren’t as strict in their selection process. Like you said, I should go for the community that looks best for me. I just don’t want to put my eggs in one basket so that, if I find I picked the wrong community, I’m not too old for another, if I’m meant for one at all.
I could be running from something, but I imagine myself with St. Francis, toughing the elements and scorn. besides the “romance” (as the daydreams are called) of the life, the life would help God repair damages of my sins and those of others. My life may make that necessary for my comfy, prideful life. Like I said, of course, the work, discomforts and hours of contemplative prayer of contemplatives helps accomplish that as well. Maybe just living with a lay community for life would do it.
Do you automatically have a spiritual director if you join a third order? Still, moral dilemmas come up when least expected and you can’t always make an emergency call to your spiritual director.
Carmelitegirl, I hope you are successful. I have realized I put off serious vocation searching so long. Many stop taking people at age 35. The Madonna house in Canada might be different. People can stay there for months and even make vows, as they have a community there and houses elsewhere. I’m more drawn to the Franciscans, as I’ve enjoyed doing stuff for people, but I do have much and many to pray for, and the monastic life would get a lot of that covered quickly. I heard Benedictines aren’t as strict in their selection process. Like you said, I should go for the community that looks best for me. I just don’t want to put my eggs in one basket so that, if I find I picked the wrong community, I’m not too old for another, if I’m meant for one at all.
I could be running from something, but I imagine myself with St. Francis, toughing the elements and scorn. besides the “romance” (as the daydreams are called) of the life, the life would help God repair damages of my sins and those of others. My life may make that necessary for my comfy, prideful life. Like I said, of course, the work, discomforts and hours of contemplative prayer of contemplatives helps accomplish that as well. Maybe just living with a lay community for life would do it.
Do you automatically have a spiritual director if you join a third order? Still, moral dilemmas come up when least expected and you can’t always make an emergency call to your spiritual director.
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