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Coming to know God’s will is a prayerful process of individual and communal reflection combined with personal experience that takes place gradually over a period of time. Before a young woman is fully a member of the Sisters of St John the Baptist there are phases of increasingly greater incorporation into the experience of religious life. Each phase provides an opportunity for the applicant and the Community to come to know each other better.Time of Affiliation
This phase extends from 6 months to two years. During this time the candidate lives and works or studies from home. She meets on a regular basis with the Vocation Directress for prayer and vocational guidance.
Time of Postulancy
This phase extends from 6 months to one year. The "sister-in-formation" lives in a local convent and shares in the Sisters’ apostolic ministry under the direction of an experienced Sister.
Time of Noviceship
The duration of this phase is two years. The novice lives in a formation community. She devotes the first year to prayer, spiritual and theological preparation, and learning the history and mission of the Baptistine Community. In the second year the novice lives in a variety of local communities and engages in periods of apostolic ministry.
Commitment of Temporary Profession
For five years the professed Sister lives and serves as an active member of a Baptistine local community. During each of these years, as the Sister and the Congregation mutually evaluate her call to Baptistine religious life, there is the free choice to renew her vows.
Commitment of Perpetual Vows
Confirmed in God's call to follow Jesus by living in the Church as a religious Sister according to the constitutions of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist, the Sister undertakes a lifetime commitment of vowed love to God in and through the Congregation of the Sisters of St John the Baptist.