Join Us - Become a Sister of St Joseph of Cluny
○ Do you feel moved to commit your life to God and his people?
○ Are you attracted to the Spirituality of Anne Marie Javouhey?
Are you
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○ Over 21 years of age?
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○ Completed Secondary Schooling?
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○ Gainfully employed?
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○ In reasonably good health?
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○ A practising Catholic?
Could it be, that God calls you to be a Sister of St Joseph of Cluny?
Come and See! You need to have contacts in order to see things for yourself and be directed in your choice.
If you feel you are called, you should go to a "welcoming" community for a period of preliminary formation. This is the first step towards religious life which would help you to see if your calling were in keeping with the spirit and mission of the Congregation. You would get to know us and we would get to know you. If you still feel called, you would then be admitted to the novitiate.
The novitiate lasts for two years. It is a time which is intended to bring about a deep interior life as well as religious formation. This is "centered on the person of Christ. It is he the novices will try to know and love better".
(Const. Art. 208)During the second year of the novitiate the novice spends some time in a community. Here she tries to harmonise her prayer life with her apostolic and community life. After evaluating the experience she has lived, she makes the request to pronounce vows for three years. It is only after six years of temporary vows that the young religious consecrates herself definitively to God by perpetual profession.
"It is not the end of the journey; it is but the beginning of 'God's Today' to be lived 'in attentiveness to the Lord's continuous call'".
For more information, write to:
The Formation Directress
Novitiate
St. Joseph's Convent
Arouca
Trinidad, West Indies
The Life of a Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny
may be summed up under these four headings:
○ Contemplation-Communion
○ Contemplation-Action
○ Active Obedience
○ Community Living
Contemplation-Communion:
Prayer is essential and it is given a very important place. There has to be an attitude of true listening to the Word of God, of waiting, of selflessness, of welcome so that Christ's life in us may be seen in all our daily contacts.
"It is precisely into the heart of this mystery of Christ the Saviour that we are incorporated". (Constitutions, Art. 3)
Contemplation-Action:
To evangelise means to throw in our lot with our brothers and sisters no matter where they be, no matter what their specific needs, to be among them as "those who are sent" and who bear witness to God's love.
The explicit message of Jesus Christ is felt as something which is of great importance to be lived in our day. This obliges us to read the Father's Will in "the signs of the times" and to become aware that God works through the changes which take place in persons and in peoples. Consequently, we must acquiesce and comply. "But our mission is not limited to our apostolic activities; our whole life contributes to it". (Constitutions, Art. 11)
Active Obedience:
"When we belong to God, our will is no longer our own. We must will what he wills and nothing else". (A.M Javouhey, Letter 220)
Through the inspiration of the life and charism of our Foundress, we learn from her that the Will of God is made manifest through ways which are varied, accidental and unforeseen, and that it requires a disposition of soul to welcome "all events" with complete availability. For, "obedience has its source in the very heart of the filial obedience of Christ". (Constitutions, Art.17)
It is in this disposition that we try to become one with the people in the milieu to which the Spirit sends us. This attitude demands "renouncement" which is something that is never achieved; it has to be interiorised in prayer before being lived.
It exacts detachment and real poverty. This poverty liberates us for the mission, enables us to understand those most in need and to be all things to all in cordial simplicity after the sincere example of Anne Marie Javouhey.
Mary, Mother of the Church, who gave her whole life to her redemptive mission, guides us on our way and teaches us to be united with her Son. "She invites us to enter with her into the Father's plan of salvation". (Constitutions, Art. 22)
Community Living:
The sisters live together in community. Our Constitutions state this explicitly:
"Community life and consecration are closely linked. The community helps us to live the evangelical counsels of obedience, chastity and poverty; these in turn unite us at a deep level and give to our community life all its spiritual significance". (Constitutions, Art. 51).
Each community adapts to the times in the place where it is situated. It draws up a concrete project to try to fulfil the mission entrusted to it. The community is the sign of a life in sisterly love where interpersonal relations are genuine and deep.
Our Foundress wrote in 1818:
"Above all let union and peace reign among the Sisters of St. Joseph; may it be always unalterable. 'Love one another as much as I love you' ... then you will be happy". (Letter 31)
To become an Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny click here
