Formation

....from every tribe and tounge, people and nation

FORMATION

Throughout the ages, God has called men and women to be His disciples. Since 1885, God has also invited many women to serve Him and the ‘Kingdom that has no boundaries’ (Abbot Francis Pfanner) as members of our Congregation. It is the purpose of our life as CPS to give glory to God in total surrender through our commitment to religious life and thereby living the Paschal Mystery and witnessing to the redeeming love of Christ.

By virtue of a free response, indeed an individual’s free decision to follow God’s call as Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood, a woman enters a life-long process called ‘formation’ that is meant to deepen her understanding of what our Congregation’s charism, to strengthen and grow her personal relationship with God who has called her, and to find ways to serve the broken world around her.

POSTULANCY
As a postulant, the woman has chosen to live attached to one of our communities, that is, at present at Mariannhill. A year of intense searching for God’s will ensues. The postulant is accompanied by one of our Sisters, receives spiritual direction, and learns about our Congregation and its various apostolates. One key focus of this early formative stage is growing in appreciation for our Congregation’s international and multicultural character and mission. At the end of the year, the postulant can choose freely whether to enter the next phase.
NOVITIATE
With the reception into the novitiate, the postulant becomes a ‘novice’ and joins other women in a specifically designed formation programme. For two years, they are given space and time to deepen their relationship with Christ and to grow in the spiritual, theological and ecclesial underpinnings of a life as CPS. The aim is ultimately to enable each novice to make a free and full commitment to God’s call and to her involvement in our CPS mission of Christ. This commitment is expressed through the solemn profession of First Vows during a Eucharistic Celebration.
ON-GOING FORMATION
As Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood, we believe that we cannot stop with being formed more and more into the image of Christ. Thus, it is essential for our religious fidelity and our mission mandate, that we all constantly renew ourselves in the light of Sacred Scripture and in the Spirit of our Congregation. Therefore, we engage in a lifelong process of change, of being and of becoming more and more, what Christ desires us to be.
TEMPORARY PROFESSED
As a temporary professed sister, the CPS is invited to live a life of surrender to God.

Remaining faithful to the Evangelical Counsels of Obedience, Chastity and Poverty that she committed herself to, she starts to integrate her religious life with the missionary mandate of our Congregation. During the five to nine years of this phase of her life as CPS, she will be prepared for her mission and thus be asked to take full responsibility for the task that is entrusted to her for the sake of His Kingdom. Missioning to another country and thus another province of our Congregation may happen during this time.

At the end of these years, the temporary professed sister chooses whether she can commit herself to this life and its mission ‘forever’. Such profound mystery can only be grasped in faith and love. When she expresses the wish to surrender herself to God forever through our Congregation and the Church, she will be invited to make her final profession that binds her to this life ‘forever’.

STAGES OF FORMATION