Yesterday, on the feast of St. Augustine of Hippo, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist welcomed their new postulants into the order. This order, which is very close to my heart, since I worked with these sisters at Saint Mary’s Catholic High School in Phoenix and at Saint Dominic Savio Catholic High School in Austin, has been featured on my blog numerous times (Facebook page).

There are two postulants entering this year that I had contact with while a high school theology teacher at Savio – now Sr. Ava and Sr. Robin. Sr. Ava was one of my actual students during her sophomore year of high school. At that time, I could see the vocation that Our Lord was nurturing in her heart. I find it hard right now to develop the write words to explain to you how amazing it is to know these two women of God.

Please read Sr. Ava’s vocation story – “Praying Daily for my Vocation to Mary” featured as a recent “Mondays with Mary” post. Please pray for Sr. Ava, Sr. Robin, and all the other new postulants as they give up their lives for Jesus Christ.

Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist welcome new postulants – August 28, 2014.

I found today the perfect opportunity to explain to you what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches on the Consecrated Life since Religious Vocations and Religious Life is part of this larger topic. Paragraph 914 states, “The state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and mission.”

The Catechism also states…

CCC 944: The life consecrated to God is characterized by the public profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, in a stable state of life recognized by the Church.

CCC 945: Already destined for him through Baptism, the person who surrenders himself to God he loves above all else thereby consecrates himself more intimately to God’s service and to the good of the whole Church.

For a more extensive understanding of The Consecrated Life, I suggest reading CCC 915-933.

To help promote the movement of Religious Life in the United States, please visit the organization, Imagine Sisters. They are on Facebook and Twitter.

To learn more about Religious Life, please visit the orders of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. They are faithful to the Magisterium and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

“Religious, therefore, faithful to their profession and leaving all things for Christ’s sake (cf. Mk. 10:28), should follow him, regarding this as the one thing is necessary (cf. Lk. 10:39) and should be solicitous for all that is his (cf. Cor. 7:32). The members of each institute, therefore, ought to seek God before all else, and solely; they should join contemplation, by which they cleave to God by mind and heart, to apostolic love, by which they endeavor to be associated with the work of redemption and to spread the kingdom of God” [#5].

– Perfectae Caritatis, Second Vatican Council – October 28, 1965.