A Message to Young Women
from Father Peter Dunne, S. J.:

(Excerpted from Servant of God: The Life of Mother Mary Magdalene of the Incarnation by the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, San Francisco, CA)

For the Young Woman of Noble Sentiments

Come as an adorer who stands always before the Blessed Sacrament, as a lamp which burns continuously but silently. While consuming herself in prayer, she says within her heart, "God is there—Come let us adore Him."

Have you sometimes felt the call of Jesus to this kind of religious life? Have you sometimes heard the whisper of a very quiet voice saying, "Come and follow Me?" If you have heard so gentle a murmur, do not close your eyes to this voice which comes to seek you out in order to draw you close to His Heart and teach you there the secrets of His love, a love which is often despised and unrequited. He calls you that you may be one of those who can assuage these wounds by your perpetual adoration. Perhaps the world allures you with all its attractions and beckons you to enjoy its seeming charms. Turn your back on it and go to your Savior who will place you before Himself and show you real happiness and joy, namely the glory of suffering with Him and, in the midst of these sorrows, of rejoicing with Him in time and in eternity. Go forward, and be not unappreciative of so happy a calling.

Rev. Father Peter Dunne, S.J.
San Francisco, California

When a young woman wishes to enter the Order, she spends one year in "postulancy." After this period, she receives the habit of a novice. After two years in the novitiate, the first of which is the critical "Canonical Year," the novice is ready to pronounce her three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which are taken for a three-year period. After this, the young religious, full of generosity and enthusiasm, is ready for her perpetual vows.

For admission into the Order, a girl should have a real vocation for the contemplative life and good health and should generally be between the ages of 18 and 30. For further information, please contact:

Mistress of Novices
Monastery of Perpetual Adoration
771 Ashbury Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
Tel: 415-566-2743
Fax: 415-654-4469
mpador@aol.com
www.adorejesus.org