Novitiate |
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You may have heard the term "novitiate" as you peruse materials with respect to religious life. Novitiate is a very special and intense time, usually two years, in which both the novice (which means "new") and the community get to know each other and discover if they are a good "match." In order to respond in depth, during one of the two years the novice gives full-time energy and time to the pursuit of the answer to the question "Is this my call and is it worth my whole life?" At the same time, the community considers, "Will this new member help take us into the future, while knowing and understanding our history?"
Because she is not engaged in formal work for the year, she is free to learn the tradition from stories told by the elders, as well as the formal study of IHM history. She may also volunteer in other areas to test her gifts and acumen in a more radical way than ever before. She lives with other IHMs and participates in community life and the household responsibilities. In a home with others, she learns how sisters live, some of which is "caught" more than "taught." She maintains contact with her family and friends, while giving priority to her new and developing relationships. Several months before the end of the two years, she will study the vows in depth and reflect with professed IHMs whom she admires and from whom she wishes to learn. If accepted by the president and her council, the novice takes the most important step in her life, profession of vows. In this covenant with God she dares to live her life within religious life in a prophetic stance before all.
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During this time, she lives the life of a professed (vowed) IHM Sister to the fullest extent possible. She enters into growth in prayer and relationship with God, as well as theological studies to equip her to be a public minister in the Church.
