A vocation is a call from God which requires a response. All who are baptized have a call from God to follow in the footsteps of His Son through marriage, through the priesthood or consecrated life or as persons who witness to Him in a celibate single life.
The consecrated life is a response to the call of Jesus first heard on the shores of the Lake of Galilee.“Come, follow Me.” This is the single most important directive in the Gospels. This call from Christ comes with a persuasive force. It is always a personal encounter with Christ. “You have not chosen me, I have chosen you…”  Those who let themselves be seized by His love are willing to give up everything in order to follow Him. The vocation to the consecrated life gives one the opportunity for making a total gift of self in the service of the Church.

Is Jesus calling you to the consecrated life as a Sister of the Divine Spirit?

To serve God’s people as a Sister is a vocation – a calling from God. Through prayer and discernment and trying out the life, one decides that this is the life that God wants for her. This decision is freely made. We choose it because it is what makes us happy.
If you discover that God is calling you to be a religious sister, it is because this is the way He has marked out for you – for your joy, for your sanctification and for His glory.
If He is calling you, be generous, say “Yes.” Come and See. In His will is your peace.

Oftentimes parents struggle with their child’s decision to pursue a religious vocation. Your parents have their own journey to make with this discernment process. Most parents, even those who struggle at first, are content to see that their child is happy and at peace. Ultimately though, you are not responsible for your parents’ feelings.

For a person who does feel those initial stirrings of the heart, that first whisper or tug that could perhaps be a call, time is needed to discern well. It takes time in prayer, time thinking, time speaking and asking questions to proceed from a mere question, to clarity, to a decision. Even though time is required for this process to unfold, it is not helpful to be in a vague, unending state of discernment. You might consider setting aside a fixed time for discerning whether you are called to religious life or not. If you are in high school or college, six months might be adequate time. That way you can fully enter into a time dedicated to praying and learning about the vocation to religious life and take concrete steps like visiting one or more communities.

This is a matter of the heart, just like dating. You don’t try to date every boy – just date the one you’re attracted to. Pick out a few Communities you feel attracted to and take one step at a time in your discernment of them. Walk through the doors as they open. Remember it is a mutual discernment: it has to be right for you and it has to be right for them, too. When you have found the right Community, you’ll know it – you’ll feel at home.

Briefly and simply, the following are the essentials:
Any good Catholic woman between the ages of eighteen and thirty years, who enjoys good physical and spiritual health and is free from any obligation and impediments and has the desire to serve God and the Church in the consecrated life can be considered for entrance into the Community.

The Sisters wear the Religious habit—always—as a sign of their consecrated life. Canon 669, §1 states: “Religious are to wear the habit of the institute, made according to the norm of proper law, as a sign of their consecration and as a witness of poverty.” In joyful obedience to the Church, and as a sign of our Consecration to God, our Sisters wear the habit at all times.
The habit is a beautiful witness to others not of the Sisters’ supposed goodness, but of the goodness of God. We are to be signs to others of God’s presence in the world; and ultimately of His deep love for all of humanity. For the Sister herself, the Habit is a constant reminder of her consecration.

A vow is defined as: “A promise made to God of a better and possible thing.” Vows are actions in which a person takes what is a matter of freedom for others and offers it to God to use as He wills: A vow is binding, and thus is different than a simple resolution. The person who is faithful to his vow to God gives God the respect owed to a faithful and loving God.

Religious take vows to dedicate their lives in a special way to Christ. Religious vows blossom from our baptismal consecration to God. By taking vows Religious make a dedication of themselves to God and are thus consecrated by God to Himself.
The vows allow the Religious to live more like Jesus Christ, the first Religious.
Sacrifice is involved in following the vows but the vows allow for a closer relationship with Jesus. The vows also allow for a growing in grace and human fulfillment.

We profess the vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. Chastity frees the heart and sexuality of a Religious to be given totally to Christ. Poverty allows the Religious to not be weighed down by material possessions, and to trust more deeply in the Providence of God. Obedience allows the Religious person to follow God in trust and fidelity as they willingly obey their superiors.
By professing the Evangelical Counsels, the Sisters renounce the world and live only for God.
When a Religious seeks to be Poor, Christ gives her His own Freedom of Spirit. To be a Religious means to be poor…abandon possession of goods and use all as a gift from God.
Chastity is a pledge of Love and obedience is its fulfillment.

Faith sees God in Authority.

Hope places confidence in His Providence.

Love seeks union with the Beloved.

These are the motives of Obedience.

Our prayer life, centered on daily Mass, is the foundation for dedicated service. As Religious we strive to take God so seriously that everything else can be taken lightheartedly. We approach God daily through Holy Mass, Meditation, Morning and Evening Prayer of Liturgy of the Hours, Rosary,  Stations of the Cross, Spiritual Reading and Visits to the Blessed Sacrament. We have a day of recollection monthly and a Holy Hour together weekly. A Sisters’ prayers are also carried out in her work in the apostolate as she becomes a “contemplative in action” in all her duties.

The Sisters all foster devotion to Our Lady, Queen of the Religious Life, Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, our Queen, our Mother and our Advocate.

Our motto—Always and Everywhere Charity—reflects our mandate individually and as a Community to seek the fullness of Charity and to live our consecration in our search for the Kingdom of God. In this seeking together, we commit ourselves to a simple life style, integrating community, prayer apostolate and commitment to the poor and underprivileged especially in our ministries of education and care of the Aged.

The Blessed Trinity is a Community of persons bound together in love. Religious Community is meant to be a shadow of the Blessed Trinity as the Sisters come together with their various personalities, talents, weaknesses, and strengths to build a Community in love.
Community life, like all family life, can be difficult at times and require a great deal of personal effort in love. The opportunity to live in Community allows the Religious the repeated opportunity to “love as God loves,” not for personal profit but for an unselfish love for one’s follow Sisters. Community living also allows for support in faithfully living the vows, for support in one’s apostolate, and support in prayer. Community life allows a Sister to grow in true Christian love as she is loved by her Sisters and she responds by loving them in God.

In Greek the word “apostle” is apóstolos and means “one who is sent out.” In the same sense Apostolic Religious are “sent out” in their charges to build the Kingdom of God.
The special object of the Congregation of the Divine Spirit is the sanctification of the Christian Family. This object is reflected in our ministries: working with and for the elderly in the House of Loreto, our home for senior citizens in Canton, Ohio, and religious education and teaching at St. James in Waynesburg, Ohio and Our Lady of Peace School in Canton, Ohio.