Stages of IJ Formation
There are are four stages of formation before a sister takes her first vows and final vows.
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Vocation & Religious Life
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Vocation & Religious Life
The Church is the people of God.
Vocation to religious life is a gift from God to the Church adn the community.
The Institute has its origin in the very heart of God , who so loved the world that He gave His only Son to instruct all people and teach them the way to salvation so that those who believe in Him may have eternal life.
The Institute of the Infant Jesus is essentially apostolic with the members living in community.
First Stage (Aspirancy)
SA person may feel attreacted to the Religious life. She may have a sense of God's call of which she is not too clear or sure about. It is at this stage that the Vocation Directresss through personal accompaniment and reflection on self/work and life based on Gospel values helps the candidate to discern the 'initial call' and prepares her for postulancy.
Second Stage (Postulancy)
A person wishing to join religious life should have a period of time to provide for gradual transition from secular to religious life as well as to allow for growth in mutual knowledge of the Institute and of the candidate before admission to the Novitiate.
Third Stage (Novitiate)
The Novitiate is a time of initiation, probation and formation.
The period of initiation gives the person who wats to commit herself to Jesus Christ in the Institute, the opportunity of making the gift of the charism her own.
The period of probation helps her to discern if the way she is going to follow is really for her the call of God. The Institute also discerns if she is apt to live and work apostically in the Institute.
The period of formation prepares her to follow Christ in a total gift of self, fully aware of the free choice she is making. This formation is achieved through infooration, interiorisation/asssimilation, transformation(heart, values and attitude).
The Novitiate ends with the incorporation of the novice to the Institute through the first vows.
Fourth Stage (Juniorate)
The young professed Sister begins her Juniorate in a Community to which she is attached. She is being prepared to grow in human and spiritual maturity according to the charism of the Institute through an on-going process of discernment until the final incorporation in the procession of final vows to the partcular way of life of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus - an integrated life: ministry, silence, solitude, prayer, community relationships, leisure and celebrations.