A Passionist Blog

Stage 7: Moral Certitude - Stage 7 is not really a stage of discernment so much as an end to discernment. This woman is no longer asking God if she should become a nun; rather, she has achieved moral certitude that this is God’s will for her.

Stage 6: Consistent Peace - Stage 6 of discernment can be associated with the period of the novitiate. This woman has been in monastic formation for two to four years and has grown tremendously in faith, prayer, knowledge, and generosity.

Stage 5: Monastery Discernment - Stage 5 can be associated with the time of aspirancy (sometimes called pre-postulancy) and postulancy, the first two to four years of monastic formation.

Stage 3.5 - When In Doubt…: A woman sometimes reaches a point of discernment where she simply does not know what to do next. She is between stage 3 and stage 4 and seems to have reached a stalemate.

Stage 4: Discernment Shift - A woman in this stage is moving quickly towards surrender and resignation to the will of God.

Stage 3: Assessment Period - A woman in stage 3 realizes that this attraction to religious life will not go away, even though she has tried to avoid it.

Stage 2: Latency Period - A woman in stage 2 has now been thinking about religious life for some time.

I thought I would share with you 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.