7 Stages of Discernment - The First Stage

Special thanks are due to Theresathoma at Phatmass for the idea of checking the cache for the previous blog posts that were lost. Yea!  We were able to recover all of them except Stage 4 of the 7 Stages of Discernment.  I hope to post the lost articles this coming week.

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…I thought I would share with you over the next month or so the 7 Stages of Discernment that Fr. Brett A Brannen talks about in his book To Save A Thousand Souls: A Guide to Discerning a Vocation to Diocesan Priesthood. I have made some modifications to fit the discernment of a religious vocation. Today I will share with you Stage 1.

Stage 1: The Initial Call

A woman feels attracted to religious life for the first time. This stage often takes place in childhood, perhaps in a Catholic school setting, while reading the lives of saints who were religious or meeting a religious sister. Often she will dress up like a Sister or have a little nun doll.

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However, for some this initial call can happen as an adult. It may happen after someone mentions that they think she would make a wonderful nun. Perhaps she sees a movie with nuns in it, reads a book about nuns or even endures a tragedy. It is a mysterious attraction made all the more mysterious as she has almost no information about religious life, discernment, convents or monasteries. The primary emotions are excitement and wonder. “Could God be calling me to be a Sister?

Next Stage - Stage 2: Latency Period