Do you aspire?

A week ago today, the "Desert Nuns" celebrated their first anniversary and welcomed an "aspirant" to their community!

"What is an Aspirant? This is a (3 month) time of discernment, without any commitment, when she can better understand and begin to live our life as a contemplative Poor Clare of Perpetual Adoration. She will take part in our daily life and activities, all the while discerning if this is God's Will for her. It is an increased time of prayer and discernment for both her and the Community.

"After a period of 3 months, she will be given the option of officially joining our Community as a Postulant. At this time, she will receive the Postulant garb (short veil and jumper) and will be known as 'Sister Mary'. After one year as a Postulant, she will move on to the Novitiate, receiving the Holy Habit, white veil and a new name. We ask that you keep Mary in your prayers, and all those who are discerning their vocations.

"Also, as mentioned above, this next step begins on the very day of our 1 year anniversary! It was on May 1, 2005, that we set out from our Monastery in Hanceville, to journey to the West and begin this new Foundation. Our first year was filled with much excitement, from snake bites to gila monsters, from wild fires to major house repairs! And already we find our family growing and our house too small. And so we embark on yet another step in the journey...fundraising for the new Monastery. We ask for a remembrance in your prayers and for your assistance in whatever capacity you can to make our dream a reality! With 14 vocational inquiries and more each day, we feel a great impetus to move forward rapidly to build and thus begin to accept vocations and better live our cloistered contemplative life. "
(Pictures and quoted text from the website of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration at the Monastery of Our Lady of Solitude near Phoenix, Arizona)