What does it mean to become an ASC?

Being an Adorer of the Blood of Christ is not a profession like being a teacher, a nurse, a social worker, etc., but it is responding to a Divine call that arrives in unexpected ways and times.

This call is the work of God and it is felt in one’s inmost heart with an attraction of love as unique and strong as to be much different from every other love. Faced with this experience, the person called responds with a free assent and begins the path to discovering the mystery of one’s own life according to a call that becomes increasingly clear, fascinating and demanding.

The woman called will discover that being an Adorer of the Blood of Christ means to plunge into the love-wave of a God who is asking for help in saving humanity and extending the redeeming work of Jesus who pours out all his Blood, continuing to do so through the drops of blood the Adorer offers through her witness and her life spent for God.

Do you want to become an Adorer?

Do not be afraid! You will be consecrated to the adoring and redeeming love of Jesus “who shed his Blood to free us from sin and reconcile us in love.” You will acquire a contemplative eye, that is, an eye for life that will lead you to both rely on God and bend toward wounded humanity in need of you. You will be the prolongation of Jesus along humankind’s streets, a public witness of God’s love and a bearer of this saving message: “You are worth the Blood of Christ.” You will draw strength and energy from the contemplation of the adoring mystery of Christ’s Blood, from a constant listening to the Word and from the sacramental life lived together in community.

How can you understand that you have a vocation?

You can discover it through a journey of discernment and participating in various experiences that will help you in your vocational discernment. Prayer, reading and reflecting on the Word of God, some activities of serving others, asking for assistance are some of the means and experiences. Another is to contact the Adorers and ask an Adorer to accompany you in this discernment process by helping you to understand the signs of the call and making the decision of how best to respond to God’s call.

What will be the next step?

You will begin having contact with a community of Adorers which, together with you, will commit to supporting you in your journey of discernment. This first stage is called the aspirancy, which may last from a few months to a year, according to your specific needs.

And afterward?

After your vocational plan, your aptitudes and gifts and motivation have been verified, postulancy is the phase in which the discernment of the call to a life of ASC consecration continues. It is also a time of further understanding and experiences of your human growth and development, Christian and educational formation and greater familiarity with the Adorers. It is a time of living in community and mutual discernment. If, after this phase, the decision remains firm to continue the journey to be an Adorer the next phase begins.

The journey continues with a novitiate experience of two years, the time of deeper initiation to the consecrated life according to the ASC charism and spirituality. You will take on the identity of the Adorers and study the vows and Constitutions. You will enter more deeply into the requirements of discipleship in the Church and in the world. At the conclusion of this phase, you profess vows as an Adorer of the Blood of Christ.

After this phase, you are a member of the religious family of the Adorers but you will continue to deepen your formation by sharing the lifestyle and ministries of the Congregation. After renewing your religious profession of vows from year to year, for five or six years, you will make Perpetual Profession of vows.

Does it seem to you like a long journey?

Every important choice requires time, reflection and preparation. For those who wish to serve the God and the People of God, this time becomes more precious, important and fundamental for personal freedom, ongoing faithfulness and perseverance.

Do not hesitate to respond to God’s call.  Come and see !