BECOME A DIVINE MERCY
MISSIONARY FAMILY

The vocation of religious life is perhaps the most radical calling in the Church. Like Abraham, a religious is called to leave his father and mothers, brothers and sisters, his or her homeland, to detach himself or herself from all that he or she has been familiar with. And like the disciples, abandon even his old way of life, his or her fishing boat and net and follow Jesus. Jesus expressed great esteem for those “who have renounced marriage for the kingdom of heaven,” and the Church offers religious life to women and men who want to live for God alone. Not all are called to this adventure, but “whoever can accept this ought to accept it” (Mt 19:12). The Divine Mercy Missionary Family (DMMF) is a dynamic, Spirit-led religious community of men and women devoted to living and proclaiming the gospel of Christ’s abundant life and transforming mercy. To Live for God Alone This radical calling involves professing the three evangelical counsels, the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. By chastity, a religious sister or brother vows herself or himself to lifelong celibacy so that God can be her or his first and only love. By poverty, a sister or brother gives up all personal possessions: everything she or he has is owned in common with the community. By obedience, a sister or brother submits to her or his community’s rule of life and takes on whatever mission her or his superior directs. The Church has long understood the sacrifice of the evangelical counsels to be an extraordinary means of spiritual growth, because it freely adheres to the way of life Jesus himself adopted. As Sisters and Brothers: We live a common life, that means, we pray together, eat together, we owe all things in common, and we labor for the common good. A religious sister or brother begins and ends her or his day in prayer with the other members of her or his community. Community life is the constitutive element of religious life: sisters and brothers are a means to one another’s holiness. We are one family called to together to advance God’s kingdom, not as isolated missionaries but as one spiritual family. As religious sisters and brothers, we live together, work together, and die together.