Vocation/Formation

We are a Congregation with fresh ideas and possibilities for the Church in Africa. We have special devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and strive in our own lives to recognize and embrace the sacrificial love of Christ and lead others to do so. Our life is one of prayer and service. We daily commune with God personally and in community. Contemplation and prayer are the sources of our strength. Together as one family of God we work for the realization of Jesus’s prayer: “That They May be One” Jn. 17:21 Becoming a Sacred Heart Sister A young woman who desires to join our Congregation as a vowed member must be willing to give herself entirely to God in consecrated life. She must be willing to be involved in discerning the Holy Spirit through constant prayer and listening. She must desire to live a life of community and have the spiritual, emotional, psychological, social and intellectual qualities needed to progress in communitarian and apostolic life of the Congregation. Initial Contact Initial contact beginning with getting acquainted with the Congregations through our vocation team, discernment process through retreats and workshops given by the vocation team. Selected candidates are expected to participate in “Live-in” experience at our postulants’ house. Formation Formation period consists in a continuing conversation of heart, a life-long deepening of her love and service of God and his people and an ever-increasing conformity to the image of Christ. Stages of formation Aspirancy Postulancy Novitiate Temporary Professed Scholasticate Final Profession Ongoing formation PRE-NOVITIATE Our formation process begins with an 18 to 24 months period spent in our formation house under the guidance of a directress. This period called “Postulancy” is not part of religious life. It is a period of preliminary period directed toward transition from lay life to religious life. It affords the candidates and the Congregation a chance to discover whether she has a vocation to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. NOVITIATE Membership in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus begins with the Novitiate period. During this period the novice is given a solid understanding of the religious life, taught the charism, patrimony, constitutions and rules of the Congregation and its special spirituality distinctively centered on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Novitiate formation affords the novice opportunity to acquire greater interior freedom and greater readiness or self-sacrifice in apostolic ministry. TEMPORARY PROFESSED  Upon completion of Novitiate formation the novice makes a temporary profession of vows for one year and continues to renew these vows for five to six years. This stage of formation is to help the young sister deepen her spiritual life, develop her personality and broaden her apostolic horizons. She receives guidance through ongoing spiritual formation in the actual living out of her vows and apostolic ministry. For more information contact: SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS SSH Generalate, P. O. Box 5521, GPO 300001, Iguosa, Benin City, Edo State. Phone: +2347058757530 E-mail: sshbenin@yahoo.com or sshvocation@yahoo.com