The Apostolic Exhortation on consecrated life defined, in its first part, its basic role, that is: following Jesus and living with him and imitating him as poor, chaste, and obedient, clearly inviting the faithful to the Kingdom of God. This is illustrated by the diversity of gifts, of the consecrated life, that reflect all the aspects of Jesus’ visage. There are congregations that have received from the Spirit the gift of living Jesus praying on the mountain, and others have received the gift of Jesus the Teacher, the Preacher, the Priest, the physician of mankind, friend of the poor ... etc. Hence, the role of the consecrated life was to highlight Jesus' missionary activity, whether through the spiritual service of souls (the prophetic role of the consecrated life) or the social service (schools, universities, hospitals, orphanages, etc.). In this context, Pope Francis says that the consecrated life is a light on the path of the Church, and its mission is to awaken the world.

This course aims to study the vocation texts in the Bible, in its Old and New Testament. In a first stage, we review some contemporary analytical studies that have developed a particular literary type called “The Prophetic Vocation” through monitoring the most important elements of literature that are common to most of the texts that narrate a divine intervention in the life of a person chosen by the Lord who assigned to him a special task (Moses, Gideon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others). Later, we will study each of these texts, in its literary context, clarifying the specificity of each of these narrations. Then we analyse the vocation of Elijah to his disciple Elisha (1Kings 19), along with its relationship to the accounts of Jesus' calling to his disciples in the New Testament. Finally, we conclude with a presentation and an explanation of Paul's vocation and its importance in understanding the vocation today.

We used to limit this title to self-formation. However, in this course, we will try to develop it in order to help those who are consecrated to be responsible for their lives in their various dimensions, to be mature persons with personal visions and personal projects with respect to their charisma, and to be productive despite all the circumstances that they may pass through. This course is based on three main axes: 1. To know myself: its components and abilities, the purpose of these components, the dynamism of how they work and how they develop. 2. To know how to work, that is, to know how to properly lead myself in its different stages of growth and development. 3. To know how to be, that is, to move from the theoretical level to the practical level in life. Hence, the practical moral, human and religious values and principles, which I believe in, become an integral part of my personality.

This course aims at: First: Introducing the pastoralism of vocations and its purpose. The pastoralism of vocations is all that the Church does to take care of the vocation in its various forms and in its various stages: its inception, its discernment, accompaniment and taking care of it in all cases. Therefore, in a preliminary clarification, we must differentiate between the pastoralism of direct vocations and the pastoralism of indirect vocations. The direct vocations are all the pastoral activities that, whether at the individual or collective level, directly affect the vocation in its various aspects. Caring for priestly and monastic vocations in the clergy houses or formation houses is included, for example, but not limitedly, in direct pastoralism. The indirect pastoralism, on the other hand, includes every pastoral activity that introduces the believer into a dialogue with God and creates an atmosphere that enables him to live a private meeting with the Creator in order to hear His voice and answer His call. Second: Defining the concept of “vocation” and distinguishing between “vocation” in general as it includes vocation with all its dimensions (its existential dimension, its human dimension, its messianic and ecclesiastical dimension ...) and the vocation in its private dimension, so that I live the rest of the dimensions in a clear and specific framework (The call to the Consecrated life, to priesthood, to marriage...) Third: Differentiating between “Marketing of Vocations” on the one hand and spreading the “Culture of Vocation” on the other hand. Marketing is "propaganda" or "promotion des vocations," which means announcing the vocation and encouraging on it. As for spreading the "Culture of Vocation ", it is something that affects man in his being and makes him a person looking for the meaning of his existence, for the absolute truth, and eventually for God. Note: The theoretical explanation is accompanied by a treatment, real examples and tests that help to better understanding and analysis.

Since the early centuries of Christianity, the consecrated life has been a fundamental axis in the Church's history, and its various types and spirituality have rapidly flourished, starting from Egypt until the Byzantine Empire and the Western world. Therefore, convents have spread throughout the world, enriched with monks and hermits who have given their entire lives for the service of God and man. The content of the course is not limited to merely describing the "reality of life" of a group of people. Rather, it is concerned with indicating the meaning and the direction of the search for God. This process constantly yearns to the permanent imitation of Christ and to constantly realize life in him, which is expressed by the Apostle Paul when he says, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil 1:21). Our study depends on a comprehensive reading of the consecrated life’s history in its stages of development, growth and spreading, in addition to the teaching of the councils, church instructions and writings of the Church Fathers and their contemplation of their topics and their development, highlighting the fruitful wisdom of divine love.

In this course, the student will learn the following issues: The church’s view, as a teacher, regarding the formation on the consecrated life; The foundations to construct a "formation guide"; How to prepare programs of formation on the consecrated life in its various stages: Postulance, Novitiate , First Profession till Perpetual Profession, priesthood and ongoing formation. In addition, the student will learn about the content and the objectives of the formation programs in its various stages, the vow of chastity: what it is, and how to educate on it; the vow of poverty: what it is and how to educate on it; the vow of obedience: what it is and how to educate on it, formation programs on the fraternal life and formation programs on the apostolic life.