– Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, OCD
(Edith Stein)

Each person in Carmel is called to be our Lord's good friend, totally surrendered to God in a profound and complete "fiat!" — yes! that allows God to use her as an instrument to carry out His divine plan of salvation for all people. "Therese of Lisieux and Elizabeth of the Trinity understood the act of total surrender to the triune God as the highest possible form of engagement on behalf of the world's salvation. They knew that this calling burrowed itself into hiddenness even as roots disappear into the ground. Above ground the visible church and her activity feed from these roots." (von Balthasar) The call to Carmel is a call to this hidden but powerful encounter with God. It is standing before God for all people and drawing them to His mercy and love.



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Every vocation is part of God's plan and is always a personal call that God speaks to a person's heart. First of all, one must discern the call to Carmel as a way of life for her. Some questions that might be helpful in the process of personal discernment are:

• Do I have a deep desire for intimate friendship and union with the Lord?
• Do I believe in the power and effectiveness of prayer as an apostolate in the service of God and of others? Am I willing to forego all forms of active ministry and give up seeing the ‘results' of my work of prayer?
• Does my desire to deepen my friendship with Jesus Christ enable me to:

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• generously give myself to a life of sacrifice and self denial?
• live a life of solitude and silence that is balanced with sisterly sharing in community?
• generously and freely embrace a life of simplicity and poverty, chastity, and obedience to authority? Do I see these as means toward greater inner freedom?
• live a cloistered life: a life lived apart from the world's attractions? Can I live a life that has limits on personal contact with family and friends?

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If you are inclined to respond affirmatively to these questions, God may be giving you a vocation to Carmel. At the time of personal discernment, it is always helpful to seek the advice and help of an experienced spiritual director to clarify the movements of your heart.

When one's desires for consecrated life are strong and seek to find expression in a life lived in community, a discernment process involving both the inquirer and the community begin.





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After becoming acquainted through letters and visits, one may ask to do a six-week live-in. This allows the candidate a taste of life within the monastery enclosure and familiarizes her with the community.

If the decision is made to continue the process, the candidate is accepted as a postulant. The postulancy is a period of 9 months to a year and a half. This time allows the candidate to experience more deeply the rhythm of Carmelite life and to make adjustments to community living.

After the period of postulancy, the candidate becomes formally incorporated into the community as a novice. The novitiate begins with the rite of initiation in which the candidate is given the habit of the Order with the veil.

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This is a 2 year period during which the novice learns and interiorizes Carmelite spirituality as taught by our Rule, by our founder St. Teresa, and by our other Carmelite Doctors and saints.

Temporary profession follows the novitiate. By religious profession, the sister pledges herself by public vow to live according to the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. This is a period that extends from 3 to 5 years during which the sister increases her practical understanding and knowledge of Carmelite spirituality in order to interiorize it more completely and prepare herself adequately for the definitive consecration of solemn vows.



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Before a decision is taken to admit an inquirer for postulancy, we require:

• a brief autobiography
• certificates of baptism and confirmation
• letters of recommendation
• a physical exam
• psychological screening
• an interview with a minister of the Church

Generally, we do not accept candidates over the age of 45.

Candidates must have at least a high school education and some work experience. We also ask that candidates be free from obligations such as debts and dependents. All candidates must be unmarried and free to enter a religious community.

"I keep nothing in my hands. All that I have, all that I gain, is for the Church and for souls."
– Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

"As our Lord dwells in our souls, His prayer is ours and I want to share in it unceasingly, remaining like a little vessel at the spring, at the fountain of life, and so be able to communicate it to souls by letting its floods of charity overflow."
– Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

"Whoever enters Carmel is not lost to his own [family and friends], but is theirs fully for the first time; it is our vocation to stand before God for all."
– St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) next

"Once you are joined to the Lord, you become as omnipresent as He is. Instead of offering assistance in one particular place as doctor, nurse, or priest, in the power of the Cross you have the ability to be everywhere at once, at every scene of misery. Your compassionate love, drawn from the Redeemer's heart, can take you in all directions, allowing you to sprinkle on every side the Precious Blood that soothes, heals and redeems.

Do you see the eyes of the Crucified looking at you with a searching gaze? Are you, in all seriousness, ready to enter once again into a covenant with the Crucified? What are you going to answer?"
– St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)


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The second giving of God is the great giving
out of the portions of the seraphim,
abundances with which the soul is laden
once it has given up all things for Him.

The second growth of God is the rich growing,
with fruits no constant gathering can remove,
the flourishing of those who by God's mercy
have cut themselves down to the roots for love.

God seeks a heart with bold and boundless hungers
that sees itself and earth as paltry stuff;
God loves a soul that cast down all He gave it
and stands and cries that it was not enough.
– Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD (1905-1988)
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Lord Jesus, you call each of us to serve you in love and humility. Every vocation in the Church is holy and is given for the building up of your body the Church into a living temple. Please reveal to me the vocation you are calling me to follow, the road that will lead me to deepest intimacy with you and to the fullness of life, love and joy that are yours alone to give. Give me courage, Lord, to say yes to my vocation as Mary your mother said yes to hers. Amen.

Prayer for Vocations
Holy Spirit, who sanctify the Church
with the constant pouring out of your gifts,
place into the hearts of those called to the consecrated life
a deep-rooted and resolute passion for the Kingdom,
so that with a generous and unconditioned "yes",
they may place their entire existences at the service of the Gospel.
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Most holy Virgin, who without hesitation
offered yourself to the Almighty
for the carrying out of his plan of salvation,
pour trust into the hearts of young people
so that there may always be zealous pastors
who are able to guide the Christian people on the way of life,
and consecrated souls who may know how to witness,
in chastity, poverty, and obedience,
to the freeing presence of your risen Son.
Amen.

– Pope John Paul II


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