Ways Women Can Respond to God’s Call

Yes, you are called! It might be the call to build a family here on earth (with a husband and children) or a spiritual family (with a community), or remaining single but with a mission focused on God's plan for you.

If you go through the right discernment process you should be able to hear God's voice inside you.

Most congregations follow this: pre-postulant, postulant, novitiate, temporary vows, final vows.

It depends on each congregation. It could take 6-12 years before the final vows.

The daily life of the sisters can be slightly different from each community depending on their charism. They usually wake up early and begin their day with morning prayers - most communities pray the liturgy of the hour twice a day, morning and evening, and attend Mass daily. They also commit at least one hour of personal prayer daily. They share community life with one another, which helps them to live in simplicity and dependence. Together they establish a rhythm of life in a community that ensures a balance in prayer, ministry, recreation, and leisure, and which allows time and space for reflection.

Communities of Consecrated Women involve women who live together in intentional communities dedicated to the sanctification of the world, particularly by working and evangelizing within the world through their specific charism and mission. These women take formal vows of poverty, chastity and obedience not in a religious order but in a lay movement in the Catholic Church.

In contrast, women called to Consecrated Virginity live individually in the world rather than in a community. They make a public commitment to lifelong chastity, dedicating themselves solely to Christ while continuing their work and ministry within society. Consecrated virgins witness to God’s love through their personal devotion and service without joining a formal community.