Initial
contact
The
journey you are about to begin is very serious. You are not simply
being asked to change your address, tastes, or work, but above
all to experience a radical interior conversion.
1.
Do you have a spiritual director?
It is essential
to verify the call you believe you may have with a spiritual director.
A spiritual director is a man or woman of faith whom you trust
and who has the time to speak with and listen to you. This person
could be a priest, a religious, or a layperson. Do not be afraid
to get to know yourself profoundly and to let your self be known
by your spiritual director.
2.
A Franciscan to accompany you
Let it be
well understood that you can always knock on the door of a Franciscan
community and make inquiries, even if your future is not yet clear
to you.
If there
are not Franciscans near you, you can always communicate directly
with any Franciscan Vocation Director. He or she is ready to accompany
you as you discern.
3.
I would like to join the Franciscans right away
It's normal
to want to begin your vocational journey right away. It's always
beneficial, however, to take proper time in preparing yourself
for such a step. "For which of you, intending to build
a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see
whether he has enough to complete it?" (Luke 14:28)
Don’t
be anxious. Continue to prepare your heart and give yourself entirely
to finding Christ and eventually the friars. Examine your self
and purify your motives for wanting to enter Franciscan religious
life. It is necessary that they become more and more clearly rooted
in faith: the total gift of oneself for the love of Christ and
of the poor.
Also, you
need to manifest your spiritual development in concrete action:
especially in daily times of prayer and Scriptural and spiritual
reading, in volunteering to assist the needy or in the parish
or community.
4.
Your discernment and vocational journey
"This
is how the Lord gave me, Brother Francis, the grace to begin
a life of penitence. While I was in sin, the sight of lepers
was unbearable to me. But the Lord himself led me among them;
I took care of them with all my heart, and in return, what had
seemed to me so bitter changed into sweetness of soul and body.
Afterwards, I did not wait long before leaving the world."
(St. Francis of Assisi, in his Testament, vv. 1-3)
There should
be at least several months between the time you first identify
a vocational call, until you make a firm and clear decision that
will change your life. During this time, your personal vocation
meetings (with the Vocation Director) and group meetings (with
others interested in religious life) have an important place in
determining whether your vocation is authentic and whether you
possess the qualities required for Franciscan religious life.
To make clearer
your discernment, find out more directly about the Franciscan
way of life by meeting friars. Visit a Franciscan friary and participate
in fraternal activities (prayer, meals, etc.). Get to know others
who are discerning the Franciscan life.
When you
feel ready for deeper discernment, the Vocation Director will
ask you to submit some information. With this he, along with the
Formation Committee and the Provincial Minister, will determine
your eligibility for admission to the first step of formation
with the Franciscans: Postulancy.
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