It is always a joy to welcome a new member of the family! It is similar to welcoming new candidates into a religious community. Though this is a time of testing and discernment, we are grateful just the same for the opportunity to walk with those who are discerning a call to our Province. This past Tuesday, on the Feast of All Dominican Saints, we welcomed Kristen into our Aspirancy program. This six month time of formation, is a time of transition from lay life into the budding call of religious life. It is a time of reflection (though all the time of formation is a time of reflection! The same with perpetual formation!) and discernment whether God is indeed calling one to a religious vocation, and whether one is eager to pursue that call if indeed one has a call. Postulancy for a year follows after the six month time in Aspirancy.

We ask for prayers for Kristen, that she continue to give herself over to grace just as she has done by answering the promptings of the Holy Spirit into our Province. And, may God bless her family who have entrusted their daughter, sister, and friend to us.

Let us also pray for vocations to consecrated life and the priesthood! That those God is calling may not be afraid, and may courageously answer with eagerness, echoing with Our Lady, "Let it be done to me according to Thy word."

‍