ADMISSION AND FORMATION IN SOCIETAS FILII DIVINAE PRAESENTIAE MISSIONARII

 

ADMISSION AND FORMATION

FORMATION
Art. 106.
Persons who come to Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii are souls formed by God and who are willing to work with us, to bring people to the love of God in Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii. It is God Himself who brings the members to His Divine Charity. The general condition for the admission of any person as a member of Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii is the great Love of God and missionary zeal. Our Divine Lord said: it is not you who chose me. It is I who chose you. St John wrote: “Beloved let us love one another; for God is Love. In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because God sent His only Begotten Son into the world, that the members might live through Him. Herein is Love, not that the members loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, the members ought to love one another. No man has seen god at any time. If the members love one another, God dwells in us, and His Love perfect in us.”(1 John 4: 7-12)
Art. 107.
Formative training is the conscious assistance and guidance by the Congregation, especially during the novitiate and the early years of each member’s consecration. The member must cooperate earnestly in his own formation by his attentive response to the action of the Holy Spirit, by his efforts and willingness to learn and by engaging in frank dialogue with Formators and the Community (cf. Cann. 646, 652§§1-4). It is in the local community that the grace of our vocation is cultivated and shaped. It is community life that leads us gradually to understand what it means to be a member of Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii. It is in community that we realize our mutual responsibility for the formation of one another.
Interviews, close friendships among us, and spiritual direction are indispensable to our formation. Through these means we learn to grow in the interior life and to discern the movements by which the Spirit leads us to the Father.
The Lord expects our cooperation in fostering vocations. We reach out to young men and nurture their desire to unite themselves to Christ in the society by our prayer to the Lord of the harvest, by our openness and the dynamism of our lives, and by personally inviting them to join us.
ADMISSION
Art. 108.
Becoming a full member of the Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii will take the person two years and six months. At first, any person interested in the life of the Society will apply through a written application letter. If the application is accepted, the person will come for a retreat where and when he is informed about the essentials of the life of the Society. This process includes three to six months stay with the Community, during which time one would meet with certain members of the Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii, and also take psychological tests. In addition, the applicant is to present two letters of recommendation (one from his parish priest, the other from a spiritual director), baptism card, and medical fitness test from a recognized Catholic hospital. If the young man is still interested, and will be considered possible by the Society, will be admitted into Postulancy for one year, learning the Liturgy, the Church doctrine, and all about the Society. He spends another one year in novitiate where he learns about the mystery of Christ, and the spirituality of the Society, and other spiritual exercise approved by the church. Games and physical exercise and prayer are also essential programmes in the novitiate. He will take his first vow, and will be sent to study philosophy in the seminary, after which he will spend another one year for pastoral experience, before his theology. He takes his final vow, the ministries of lector and acolyte, diaconate ordination and priestly ordination. One can also take the ministries of lector and acolyte in cases where the Seminary in which one is studying arranges for such for the entire class.
The practical requirements are:
• Those desiring to be members must be debt-free.
• One must be between 18 to 40 years of age (considerations can be given to those applying for brotherhood who are above 40years of age).
• One must be single, never married and without children.
• One must be physically, emotionally, socially and psychologically healthy.

ASPIRANCY
Art. 109.
§1. Aspirants are those young people who are giving serious consideration to dedicating themselves to the religious life.
§. The purpose of the aspirancy is to allow men to complete their basic intellectual training in circumstances that assure solid understanding of Christian faith and Christian living, and which allow them to make an informed decision for or against embracing the religious life.
§3. The aspirancy programmes should provide a firm grounding in Christian doctrine, some elementary training in prayer and an experience of community living; it should be directed as lay men. It should accordingly permit aspirants freedom of communication with their social milieu and freedom of movement and decision appropriate to young men of their age. From the very beginning they will be initiated into Christian virtues, especially the virtue of love, Christian humility, chastity, self-sacrifice and detachment. The aspirants should be under the direction of a mature brother.
§4. This period lasts between four months and six months inclusive.
POSTULANCY
Art. 110.
The Superior General, the Provincial Superior or his delegate may admit interested candidates who so wish are regarded as suitable to postulancy.
Art. 111.
The purpose of postulancy is to provide a gradual spiritual and psychological adjustment of the candidate in developing the human and emotional maturity needed for a truly free and responsible decision to enter novitiate. It shall give both the candidate and the society an opportunity to appraise his aptitude for membership. The candidate should be under the direction of a mature brother appointed by the Superior General or Provincial Superior (in cases where Provinces are given the mandate to have Postulant houses).
NOVITIATE
Art. 112.
Life in the Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii begins with the novitiate (cf.can.646). The right of giving admittance to the novitiate rests with the Superior General with the consent of the Council (cf.can.641). In cases where Provinces are allowed to have novitiate, the Provincial Superior then has the right to admit people to novitiate within his province.

Art. 113.
§1. Admission of candidates to the novitiate should only take place if they are healthy, give evidence of aptitude, maturity and a generous desire to live the life of the evangelical counsels (cf. can. 642). The vows proper to the Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii are the life of stability and offering. The candidate must have great love of God and be willing to work with us in the Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii.
§2. Candidates must have completed 18 years of age, and satisfy all canonical requirements (cf.can.643)

Art. 114.
The special nature, mission and apostolate of the Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii will be considered in taking any candidate and attention should be paid to preparing the novices from the very beginning for the type of life which will be theirs in the future.
Art. 115.
The Novice Master, a perpetually professed member, is appointed by the Superior General or the Provincial Superior as the case may be, with the consent of his council. The governance of the novices is reserved to him alone, under the authority of the Superior General or Provincial Superior (as in art.111). In the direction of novices, the Novice Master should teach the novices how to effect in their lives the indispensable balance (on both the human and supernatural level) between times consecrated to apostolate and service of mankind and the more or less lengthy periods devoted to prayer and meditation to the word of God, either in solitude or in community. Under the guidance of the Novice Master the novice also has to cultivate a will which is firm and rich in initiative, and yet conforms to the demand of a vocation to an institute dedicated to contemplation and apostolic work.

Art. 116.
The purpose of the Novitiate is to initiate the novice into a basic understanding and experience to the Society of Apostolic Life and the inspiration and distinctive spirituality of the Societas Filii Divinae Praesentiae Missionarii, a spirituality which seeks to excel in love of God and our neighbor and manifests itself in habitual union with God and availability to the Holy spirit in order to foster and open charity.
Art. 117.
The programme of the Novitiate shall include studies and meditation on the Holy Scripture, instruction on the gospel ideal of charity, the evangelical counsels, the principles of prayer, Christian asceticism and religious commitment. It shall also include the doctrinal formation indispensable for the development of a supernatural life of union with God and the understanding of the religious state into the liturgical life of the Church (cf. Can. 652§2).
Art. 118.
All formal study programmes and studies directed towards obtaining diplomas or in view of professional training are excluded from the novitiate year.
Art. 119.
In order to be valid, the novitiate should be done in a house specifically designated for this purpose by the Superior General with the consent of his council. If the house is not yet canonically erected, the written consent of the Bishop of the Diocese is required. If necessary, more than one house may be designated for this purpose. Likewise, if deemed necessary for the more effective training of the novices, the Superior General, with the consent of the General Council, may authorize the transfer of the novitiate community during certain periods to another residence (cf. Can. 647§3).
Art. 120.
Due to the special nature and aim of the novitiate and also account of the close bonds which should be found among the novices, a certain separation of the novitiate group from the other members of the Institute is desirable. Nevertheless, novices may have contacts with other members of the Institute or religious of the Institutes, e.g. during Liturgical celebrations or when ill-health demands it. Novices may attend common courses in scripture and Liturgy with novices of other Congregations.

Art. 121.
During the novitiate, the novices may engage in some apostolic work. This must not, however, be for the purpose of fulfilling the apostolic commitments of the Society, but rather for the purpose of forming the novices. Its aim is to give them an experience of the apostolic activity which will be integral to their lives; to accustom them to develop and maintain union with Christ while devoting themselves to apostolic action; to put them in contact with the labour and poverty of so many people; to help understand human nature; and to bring them greater maturity and personal responsibility (cf. can. 647§3).
Art. 122.
The balancing of periods of activity and periods of retreat consecrated to prayer, meditation or study which characterize the formation of the novices, should stimulate them to remain faithful to it throughout the whole of their religious life. It would also be well for such periods of retreat to be regularly planned during the years of formation preceding perpetual profession (R.C.25). The General Chapter will therefore plan the formation as a unit from novitiate to perpetual profession.
Art. 123.
A period of absence from the Novitiate house during the Canonical year, either at interval or continuously, which exceeds a total of three months renders the novitiate invalid.
Art. 124.
Any absence of more than fifteen days must be made good (cf.can.649§1). The novice will stay more months, and will not profess with his set in the novitiate.
Art. 125.
The novice must spend the month prior to first profession in the novitiate house (R.C.n.2). Before first profession, novices will make a spiritual retreat of one full week.