Stages of Discernment

► Attraction or Interest: A person feels a mysterious attraction to the idea of a serving God as a priest or religious. He feels in his heart that he was made for something more, that he is somehow invited to a deeper relationship with God and the Church. It may begin as a desire, or an attraction to religious things. Where does the attraction come from? Ultimately, the desire is from the Holy Spirit. Other things help stir the flame of desire: the witness of committed Jesuits in ministry, various promotional events and programs that are supported by families, schools, parishes, Serra Clubs, homilies, articles, books, websites. In addition, a vocation develops from personal prayer, meeting a Jesuit, knowing someone who responds to a call, personal conversation, recommendation of someone, reading literature, surfing the web, or hearing something in a homily. The person is moved to seek information, clarification, and assistance with the decision-making process. As the process moves forward, the person engages at deeper and deeper levels his interest and desires. He also begins step by step to test his own identification with the values and life of the Jesuits.

► Inquiry: A man takes the initiative to contact someone for more information. He may talk with a Jesuit he knows, send an e-mail, or make a phone call. The person will usually contact someone he has met, or he will seek out a Jesuit at a school or parish. Often this leads to the first conversation or correspondence with the vocation director, who can offer information about the Jesuits, the ministries and life of Jesuits, or the decision-making and application process.

► Information Gathering: This part of the process can be prolonged over the course of months or years. He gathers information from many sources: brochures, books, articles, stories in magazines, personal conversations with Jesuits, meeting positive role models, visiting various ministries and communities, attending discernment events.

Discerning a vocation is not unlike getting to know a person in a dating relationship. The individual should take every opportunity to seek out events and encounters with Jesuits so that he can know them better. The Information he discovers can move him to desire the vocation deeper, or challenge those desires.

► Discernment: Assisted by the vocation director, the person begins a process of regular prayer, spiritual direction, attending some events, visiting and meeting Jesuits. During this process, which can take place over months or years, it is not uncommon that interest, attraction, and desire can ebb and flow. Throughout the process the seeker follows the Ignatian tradition of evaluating his experience in the light of prayer and reflection and often includes making a retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

The individual moves through a cycle of experience, reflection, prayer many times and comes to an understanding of how God is calling.

► Prayer: A vocation is about a relationship with God and an invitation to deepen a person’s response to that relationship. Prayer is essential. It is the spiritual glue that fits the whole process together. But prayer is not something a person can master alone. We need guidance to help us pray better and to hear what the Lord is saying to us in prayer.

► Trust: The person must always seek openness, generosity and willingness to trust the promptings of the Lord.

► Act: At some point, the person surrenders the decision into God’s hands, and takes a step. The person begins to “test the waters” by talking more openly with trusted friends and family.

► Spiritual Direction: This involves finding another committed Christian who will journey with the one discerning. The spiritual director is not a counselor or problem-solver, but a companion who listens to the one praying. The director guides and gently challenges the person to be faithful to prayer. The director may offer practical suggestions on how to pray better or may help the person weighs the pros and cons of living the religious life.

► Decision: Eventually the person begins to settle on the direction in which his life is moving.

► Confirmation: After a while, the person begins to move toward more certainty about his decision. He commits more deeply to the process by working with the vocation director to set a time-frame for making a decision about formally applying to the Society of Jesus. Prayer and spiritual direction guides him through this stage. He may begin to share his experience with other discerners in a group or a retreat. Regular contact with the vocation director is important. The man continues to feel a strong desire to apply to the Society of Jesus and expresses this desire to the vocation director.

► Application Process: After the vocation director knows the man well enough to make a judgment about his readiness and aptitude for being a Jesuit, he invites him to submit an application to seek admission to the Society of Jesus as a novice. This application process generally takes three to eight weeks. This process consists of completing a written application that collects information about family, education, and employment, a written spiritual autobiography, background checks, personal references, psychological interview, interviews with several Jesuits, medical and dental exams. Once these steps are complete, the vocation director presents the full report to the provincial. The provincial, after consultation with an application committee, makes a decision to accept, defer, or reject the applicant.

► Acceptance: The applicant is approved to enter the novitiate as a novice. Sometimes there are conditions attached, with recommendations for areas of concern that should be addressed before or during the novitiate training.

► Deferral: A person’s entrance into the novitiate may be postponed until the following year while the person grows or seeks help with some area of his life.

► Rejection: The provincial decides that the person is not ready or is not a good fit for the Society of Jesus.

► Entrance: If accepted, the applicant is invited to join the Jesuit novitiate on Entrance Day in August. He is given the necessary information he needs to prepare himself and settle his affairs before moving. The vocation director and his spiritual director remain as support for him as he prepares to enter the novitiate. Once the man enters the novitiate, then the Society of Jesus assumes full legal and financial responsibility for the man’s training and education as a Jesuit. The novitiate is a two-year training program. It is designed, through various experiences of prayer, study, community life, and volunteer ministry, to test the man’s desire to live and die as a Jesuit, and to prepare him to pronounce perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the Society of Jesus.